Qur'aan, Abandoned!

Qur'aanic Verse 25:30:

Transliteration:

30. Waqala alrrasoolu ya rabbi inna qawmee ittakhathoo hatha alqur-ana mahjooran

Translation:

30. And the Messenger will say, “O my Lord! My people did indeed treat this Qur’aan as a thing abandoned.”⁵

^{Study Note:}

5. The Messenger (Muhammad, peace on him) might have said so, exasperatingly, when in the initial period of his mission the people of his own tribe would not believe him. But from the immediately preceding context it appears that this is what he would say on Judgment Day when he comes to know of the sorry fate of a large number of people who claimed to be his followers after he left this world. Have not most of the so-called Muslims of today (early part of the 21^st century A.D.) indeed abandoned the Qur’aan? Do they ever refer to it seeking guidance in the conduct of their day-to-day lives in this world? The Qur’aan urges them to stand by and abide by the Truth with patience and with trust in Allah. Do they do that? At the slightest perception of danger to any of their worldly assets, they will not hesitate to abandon the truth and thereby the Qur’aan. The Qur’aan asks them to worship none but Allah. But they run to the graves of dead saints for redressal of grievances and for bestowal of bounties. They fail to understand that such acts of theirs are tantamount to worshipping the dead saints and thereby committing the unpardonable sin of shirk. The Qur’aan asks them to believe in the Hereafter. They do profess that they believe, but they betray their disbelief in almost every act of theirs in this world. They would rather abandon their morning prayer than abandon their sweet sleep. They do not bother to study for themselves what the Qur’aan says. They will try their best to educate their children to earn a lot and to have a good status in worldly life, but they bother the least to prepare them for the Hereafter. They do many, many such things to prove the prophetic statement in this Verse right.

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An extract from Qur'aanic Studies Chapter 25, to be published soon, inshaAllah.

Mohammad Shafi

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