Al-mu'min: Qur'aanic Studies

2. But blind belief is not just that. We cannot see electricity flowing in a wire, but we believe a wire is live with electric current if a connected bulb lights, although we do not physically see the current with our eyes. We do not say our belief is a blind belief in this case.

3. We are certain in our belief in the unseen current, because of the effect – lighting of the bulb – it causes. So, blind belief precludes such cases wherein we believe in existence of even unseen things by virtue of effects these things cause.

4. Now let us consider one particular effect – out of innumerable such effects – that we can see: the coming into existence of a human new-born child. What is the cause of this effect? Parents? But, as anyone can see, they are just instruments used for bringing about the effect. They know nothing about the nitty-gritty of how a fertilised egg is transformed from a tiny speck into fully formed child in the mother’s womb, and made ready to face the harsh outside world.

5. In order to understand the conceptual enormity, the complexity and the ingenuity involved in this transformation, let us have just a rudimentary look at some of the processes the fertilised egg in the mother’s womb goes through.

6. The first thing that happens to the tiny zygote is the laying down in it of a rudimentary form of a network of vessels for circulation of blood. The heart is not yet formed, but there is a tiny bulge of the blood vessel located at its place. At the end of the first 3 weeks after conception, this infinitesimal bulge starts beating and the blood in the network of vessels starts circulating! The network comes in contact with the wall of the uterus when and where it gets nourishment and oxygen from the mother’s blood by osmosis. This continually ongoing nourishment is meticulously and methodically used in the development of the different parts – including the heart – of the foetus till it is transformed into a recognisable human child well equipped to face the outside world.

7. The mother remains consciously unaware of all the details of what is going on in her womb. Some power or force [Cause] other than her own self is just using her body to meticulously and gingerly fashion and bring into existence a new human being [effect] there.

8. That Cause cannot just be like that unconcerned electric current lighting the bulb in the example quoted above. Unlike the electric current, this Cause is superbly intelligent as to all the needs of the effect it is producing and superbly fashions it accordingly.

9. Mankind has named that unseen, super-intelligent, caring Cause as God. Belief in God cannot therefore be dismissed as blind or superstitious. The belief is the Truth based on reason and rationality.

Mohammad Shafi

Author of QUR’AANICSTUDIES – A Modern Tafsir

26^th September, 2015

Thursday, 10 September 2015

Jesus = Adam

Translation of this Qur’aanic Verse 3:59: Indeed, for Allah, the case of Jesus is like the case of Adam whom He created out of dust and then said to him "Be" and he was!

2. Jesus was likened to Adam as, unlike other men, they were both created without sexual intercourse between man and woman.

3. Besides this basic statement, Allah Almighty, it seems, ingeniously concealed in this Verse a proof – proof that the Qur’aan is genuinely divine and not man-made.

4. For, at the time the Qur’aan was revealed, over 1400 years ago – and in the manner in which it was revealed – only Allah Almighty could have made the statement in the Verse mathematically correct. Remember that the Qur’aan was not revealed all at once; it was revealed in portions over a long period stretching for 23 years! At the time of its revelation, moreover, mankind was bereft of any of the modern facilities of internet and laptops. It did not have even paper and printing press!!

5. It was in those circumstances that the Qur’aan miraculously made the statement in the above-quoted Verse mathematically correct in the sense that, throughout the entire Qur’aan, the word Eisa (Jesus) occurs 25 times and the word Aadam (Adam) also occurs exactly 25 times! I have myself verified this amazing fact. It is unlikely that those 7^th century Arabs to whom the Qur’aan was first revealed were aware of it. It came to light only recently, after the advent of computers.

6. The word Eisa occurs in Verses 2:31, 2:33, 2:34, 2:35, 2:37, 3:33, 3:59, 5:27, 7:11, 7:19, 7:26, 7:27, 7:31, 7:35, 7:172, 17:61, 17:70, 18:50, 19:58, 20:115, 20:116, 20:117, 20:120, 20:121, 36:60. And the word Aadam occurs in Verses 2:87, 2:136, 2:253, 3:45, 3:52, 3:55, 3:59, 3:84, 4:157, 4:163, 4:171, 5:46, 5:78, 5:110, 5:112, 5:114, 5:116, 6:85, 19:34, 33:7, 42:13, 43:63, 57:27, 61:6, 61:14.

Mohammad Shafi

Author of QUR’AANIC STUDIES – A Modern Tafsir

Wednesday, 7 May 2014

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.

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

Mohammad Shafi

Monday, 24 February 2014

Menstruation

Qur'aanic Verse 2:222:

Transliteration:

222. Wayas-aloonaka AAani almaheedi qul huwa athan faiAAtaziloo alnnisaa fee almaheedi wala taqraboohunna hatta yathurna fa-itha tatahharna fa/toohunna min haythu amarakumu Allahu inna Allaha yuhibbu alttawwabeena wayuhibbu almutatahhireena

Translation:

222. And they ask you about menstruation. Tell them, "It is harmful.^{412, 413} So keep away from women in menstruation, and approach them not till they're cleansed.⁴¹⁴ And when they are cleansed, go to them in the manner decreed for you by Allah.⁴¹⁵ Indeed, Allah loves those who repent and seek forgiveness, and He loves those who keep themselves clean."⁴¹⁶

^{Study Notes:}

412. Every month the uterus of an adult woman, who is not already pregnant and who has not reached the age of menopause, prepares itself for pregnancy. It prepares itself to welcome, nourish and help develop an impregnated egg for over nine months to transform it into a human form ready to come out into the open world. The preparation results in a thickened lining of the inner wall of the uterus.

413. But if the pregnancy does not happen, the thickened lining of the uterus wall gets damaged and is shed out through the vagina in the form of tissues and blood. This draining of the damaged uterus lining is known as menstruation, menses or 'the monthly period' in women. A menstruating woman could be in a vulnerable state, both mentally and physically.

414. Recent studies have revealed that there is a greater risk of transmitting AIDS and other sexually transmitted diseases through sexual intercourse during menstruation. The onslaught of AIDS in recent times could be a direct consequence of the ignorance of or blatant disregard for this divine guidance/command. Man's welfare lies in the obedience of Allah's directives.

415. Aberrations in sexual behaviour like indulging in anal sex, being unnatural and therefore not as per the divine design, are obviously not as decreed by Allah.

416. The All-knowing Allah has made the sex urge strong, obviously for the purpose of the procreation of mankind till the Last Day. It is so strong that even the pious may be tempted to taste the forbidden fruit, sometimes. That is why Allah promises forgiveness for those who may commit a sin in this regard, unintentionally, and then repent and sincerely resolve not to commit the sin again. Please also take note of the importance given to maintenance of cleanliness in general.

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

Mohammad Shafi