He Frowned

Qur'aanic Verse 80:1:

Transliteration:

1. AAabasa watawalla


Translation:

1. He¹ frowned and turned away


Study Note:

1. A study of the Verses that follow reveal the identity of ‘He’ here to be the Prophet (peace on him) himself. The use of the third person pronoun instead of the direct ‘You’ is obviously a subtle divine way to mitigate the embarrassment of a direct accusation. But, nevertheless, the accusation is there in the public domain! It shows that Allah Almighty had kept a close watch on even the minutest thing that the Prophet did, to steer him away from any wrong move on his part. It also shows up the transparency in which the Prophet truthfully conveyed the divine Message, even when it contained something disparaging to his own person.

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An extract from yet-to-be-published Qur'aanic Studies Manzil VII.

Mohammad Shafi