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Archive for the ‘Holy Quran study’ Category

Submitted by Ikram.

Abortion is hot topic issue in every U.S. election and a major right-left divide exemplified by the protests last week when honorary doctorate was conferred on President Obama at Notre Dame University http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OgJoM_7zo4c. The main argument for anti-abortion movement, which is primarily a Catholic view, is that life starts at conception. 

Quran addresses early life as children, which could be extended to include intrauterine period. As far as killing and maltreatment of children is concerned, Quran is very clearly against it e.g. 

17:31. And do not kill your children for fear of want. It is We Who provide for them as well as for you. Indeed, the killing of them is a great sin. 

6:137. Just (as their associate-gods turned the polytheists away from Allâh) so did they make (even so monstrous a deed as) the killing of their children seem fair to a large number of the polytheists, with the result that they ruin them and that they obscure for them their religion. And if Allâh had (enforced) His will they would not have done so, so leave them alone and that what they forge. 

6:140. Certainly, they suffer a loss (those) who kill their children in folly (and) ignorance, and forbid (themselves) what Allâh has provided for them; forging lies in the name of Allâh. They have indeed gone astray and they are not rightly guided. 

And Quran goes even further by decreeing to prevent unwanted children by banning indecencies, which Christian world protects as a right: 

6:151. Say, `Come, I will rehearse to you what your Lord has made binding on you; it is that you shall associate not any thing as partner with Him, and that you shall be good to parents, and that you waste not your children because of poverty. It is We Who make provisions for you as well for them too. (Allâh has also enjoined upon you that you) approach not indecencies, whether open or hidden, and that you kill no soul which Allâh has made sacred, except in the cause of justice.’ This has He enjoined you with, so that you may (learn to) abstain (from evil). 

But, where Quran differs from Catholic point of view is that it defines start of life after embryo has reached a certain level of maturity and is a separate entity from the mother tissue as follows: 

23:12. We create a human being from an extract of clay;

23:13. Then We reduce him to a drop of sperm (and place him) in a safe depository;

23:14. Then We form the sperm into a clot; then We develop the clot into a lump of flesh; then We fashion bones out of this lump of flesh, then We clothe the bones with flesh, thereafter We evolve him into another being. Therefore blessed be Allâh the Best of Creators. 

At a molecular level, the Catholic doctrine implicitly defines start of a new separate life when the nucleic acids of both parental gametes mix. But this is a flawed argument. Mixing of different nucleic acids happens all the time e.g. when a virus infects a human cell, it embeds into the host DNA. Viral nucleic acid mixing with the host DNA is commonly called infection. And subsequently as part of host defenses there is constant shedding of such infected cells (with nucleic acids from two different sources) from the body, which cannot be termed as abortion. 

As to what is that embryonic stage of another being (23:14) referred above, I would let an embryologist comment on it. By common knowledge it is probably at about a month old embryo. 

[The Holy Quran – Translation by Allama Nooruddin]

Submitted by Ikram.

In the religious tradition of the world, we see a repeating pattern where a prophet comes to certain people; a book is revealed; the believers reap success; then there is a gradual decline of the spirit of the message and status of the believers; future generations await the return of the same or similar prophet in the hope that he will return the believers to previous glory and in the process win battle victory over the disbelievers. And when the divine finally arrives, the same people who awaited him in the first place reject him at the door. Why?

If one follows the religious thought, one sees that over the time monotheistic traditions are diluted or distorted; some of the religions turn polytheistic; mythology takes hold; priesthood emerges which solidifies its hierarchy; organized religions take shape which soon spreads its tentacles into the socio-economic-political fabric of the society; there is constant struggle between the secular and religious wings; and then the divine arrives who is rejected. Why?

Besides Mithra for Zoroastrians, Kalki Avtar for Hindus, Meeta for Buddists, for Jews, Christians and Muslims there is a common name of Messiah.

Following quote (http://www.islamreligion.com/articles/363/viewall/) unless interpreted allegorically reflects a mythology no less than those of Greeks or Romans with the only difference that Muslims have not yet carved statues or made paintings of various characters addressed therein:

“God will send the Messiah, son of Mary, who will descend at the white minaret on the eastern side of Damascus wearing two garments, lightly dyed with saffron, his hands resting on the wings of two Angels.  When he lowers his head, beads of perspiration will fall from it, and when he raises it up, beads like pearls will scatter from it.  Every non-believer who smells him will die, and his breath will reach as far as he is able to see.” (Saheeh Muslim)

This kind of phenomenon is fully addressed in Quran where it clearly elucidates the metaphysical expectations of the expecting from the expected divine:

17:90. And they say, `We will never believe unless you cause a spring to gush forth for us from the earth,

17:91. `Or there be a garden of date-palms and vines for you, and you cause the streams to gush forth abundantly in its midst,

17:92. `Or, as you assert (and claim that it shall happen), cause the heaven to fall down upon us in fragments, or bring Allâh and the angels face to face with us,

17:93. `Or, there be a house made of gold for you, or you ascend into the heaven; but we will not believe in your ascending till you bring down to us a book that we can read.’…

But the fact of the matter is that a divine has to come into this world through a natural birth, childhood, adolescence, middle age, reaches his maturity before declaring his revelations in plain words and actions which might seem too simplistic to the onlookers:

17:93. … (Say), `Glory be to my Lord! I am not but a human being (sent as) a Messenger.’

17:94. And nothing has prevented the people from believing when the guidance came to them except their sayings, `Has Allâh raised a human being (like us) as a Messenger?’

Quran ridicules such mythological expectations as follows:

17:95. Say, `Had there been angels on the earth (in place of human beings) walking about secure and sound We (too) would have invariably sent down an angel from heaven as a Messenger to them.’

With the above underpinnings of myth inspired human mind and its counter reaction to a divine, any Messianic advent will naturally suffer such dogmatic rejection. I see the case of Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmed as no different. For such a divine rejection:

17:96. Say, `Allâh suffices as a witness between me and you. Surely, He is Ever Aware of and sees His servants full well.’

17:97. He whom Allâh guides (to the straight and right path) is the only one rightly guided, but those whom He abandons to perish, you will find no protecting friends for them apart from Him…

[The Holy Quran – Translation by Nooruddin]

This has been submitted by Ikram.

I came across the following verses of “Al-Mursalât – Those Sent Forth – Translation by Nooruddin” with corresponding contextual implications coming to my mind which are enclosed in […] below:

77:1. I call to witness those (messengers of Truth) who are sent forth to spread goodness (in continual series), [literally – Prophets, Mujaddids]
77:2. Those that drive off forcefully (falsehood and forces of evil as chaff is carried before the wind), [by divine truth and logic]
77:3. And those that spread (the truth) far and wide, [by uplift of the followers/believers in all aspects of life, and their success becomes a global moral force to reckon with and the truth spreads by their example and dialogue]
77:4. And those that fully distinguish (the right from the wrong),
77:5. And those carrying the Message of (rising to) eminence far and wide (- the Qur’ân),
77:6. (And those presenting this source of eminence) in an attempt to purify (some) from the abomination of sin and to warn (others),
77:7. Verily, that which you are promised must come to pass.
77:8. So when the small stars will be made to lose their light, [literally – light pollution in urban centers where most of population lives; allegorically – prominent power centers e.g. British Empire, Lehman Brothers etc.]
77:9. And when the heaven shall be opened, [literally – by science and technology e.g. spaceships, (hubble and chandra) telescopes etc.; allegorically – unveiling of truth by free mind]
77:10. And when the mountains shall be blown down to pieces, [literally – highways; allegorically – dogmas and clergy of any religion]
77:11. And when the Messengers shall be made to appear (in the guise of one person) at the appointed time. (It is after that the Resurrection shall take place).

*** Then who is alluded by 77.11?

*** Is it Prophet Muhammad PBUH? But the verse speaks of the future while it was being revealed to him and that too in context of “end of times”?

*** Is it Mirza Ghulam Ahmed, who claimed to be a Mujaddid and allegorical representation of Jesus, Krishna, Mehdi etc.? But to my knowledge he did not refer to this verse in his claims.

Other comparative translations can be viewed at: www.islamawakened.org/Quran/default.htm

You may like to read the article in The Daily Telegraph of London: Crows may be smarter than apes.

The Holy Quran says:

“Then Allah sent a crow scratching the ground to show him how to cover the dead body of his brother. He said: Woe is me! Am I not able to be as this crow and cover the dead body of my brother? So he became of those who regret.” (5:31).

Maulana Abdul Haq Vidyarthi of our Jamaat was very interested in relating statements of the Quran about the natural world to scientific research and external knowledge (e.g. behaviour of the bee, the spider, the ant, what trees do, etc.), and wrote much about how God’s creation is superior to man’s and what moral lessons man can learn from each of these.

During this month of Ramadan I plan to post one section (ruku) from a Part of the Holy Quran everyday for people to ponder on. The part from which a section will be selected will be Part 1 on the first day, Part 2 on the second day and so on for thirty days. The section could be any in that part. I will try my best to keep to this schedule.

The post will be a pdf file and will contain only the translation, with brief explanatory notes abbreviated and sometimes adapted from Maulana Muhammad Ali’s English commentary. Each link opens a new window.

Study for fast no. 30.
Study for fast no. 29.
Study for fast no. 28.
Study for fast no. 27.
Study for fast no. 26.
Study for fast no. 25.
Study for fast no. 24.
Study for fast no. 23.
Study for fast no. 22.
Study for fast no. 21.

Study for fast no. 20.
Study for fast no. 19.
Study for fast no. 18.
Study for fast no. 17.
Study for fast no. 16.
Study for fast no. 15.
Study for fast no. 14.
Study for fast no. 13.
Study for fast no. 12.
Study for fast no. 11.

Study for fast no. 10.
Study for fast no. 9.
Study for fast no. 8.
Study for fast no. 7.
Study for fast no. 6.
Study for fast no. 5.
Study for fast no. 4.
Study for fast no. 3.
Study for fast no. 2.
Study for fast no. 1.

The Holy Quran instructs human beings as follows:

Say: Travel in the earth then see how He makes the first creation, then Allah creates the latter creation. Surely Allah is Powerful over all things.” (29:20)

This is what Charles Darwin did. He travelled in the earth and from his scientific observations (“then see”) he deduced what the “first creation” of life must have been like by looking at the “latter creation”. His theory and conclusions may not necessarily be correct in all respects, but what he did corresponds to what this verse tells people to do.

According to the Quran, God told Moses:

“Go you and your brother with My messages and be not remiss in remembering Me. Go both of you to Pharaoh, surely he is inordinate; Then speak to him a gentle word, perhaps he may be mindful or fear.” (20:42-44)

This indicates the way to preach. One might expect that a hard-hearted, arrogant tyrant such as this Pharaoh would pay no attention to “a gentle word” from a lowly man from an enslaved community like Moses, and he would only respond to some terrifying threat. But we are told to try gentleness in the first place, as this may change a mind that we don’t expect.

“So their Lord accepted their prayer, (saying): I will not suffer the work of any worker among you to be lost whether male or female, the one of you being from the other. So those who fled and were driven forth from their homes and persecuted in My way and who fought and were slain, I shall truly remove their evil and make them enter Gardens wherein flow rivers — a reward from Allah. And with Allah is the best reward.” (3:195)

The words highlighted above, “the one of you being from the other” (ba`zu-kum min ba`z), are generally taken to mean that men and women are born, each from the other. We too have been accepting them in this sense.

However, one or two translators render these words as “you are all as each other” or “each is like the other”. Maulana Muhammad Ali in Bayan-ul-Quran has also given this as an alternative interpretation. He writes in note 592:

“Or it means that you, men and women, are alike in terms of behaviour and qualities. … You all are one, you are like kindred.”

Thus, “you, men and women, are the same as each other” is a meaning of these words.