QUR'AN IL KAREEM

Navigating the Qura'an

The Qur'an is the scared scripture of Islam and testified to by more than one third of the world's population. Restated; that's approximately 2.4 Billion Muslims out a global population of  7 billion people. 

The remaining 4.7 billion can be further divided into hundreds of lesser groups, sharing beliefs in one of at least a dozen  conflicting belief systems. Among these are Catholicism, Protestantism, Mormonism, Judaism, Buddhism, Hinduism, Sikhism, Confucianism,  Pasiism,  Shintoism, Toaism, Rastafarianism, Manichaeism, Unitarianism, Zoroastrianism and Shamanism, etc.. but not in any particular order. 

Then there is also ideologies like Atheism and Agnosticsm, Communism, Paganism, Gnosticism and Mysticism which collectively cater for the   spiritual needs of non-Muslims. As can be seen, Islam is a the pre-eminent monotheistic faith of the three monotheistic faiths, surpassing Judaism by far, and close behind 

Christianity with its 600 year lead and its dozens of denominations. Among which are  Roman Catholics, Greek Orthodox, Amish, Armenian, Apostolic,Anglican, Methodist, Pentecostal, Baptist, Calvin, Puritans, Presbyterian, Quakers, Universalists, Coptic, Lutheran, Seventh-Day Adventist, Latter-day Saints, Jehovah’s Witnesses, Dominican, Trappists and Revivalists, etc... and the list goes on.

The world Muslim is an Arabic term which means "the who submits" or  "submitter" if you like. So anyone obedient to the laws of Islam, is in fact a Muslim, who willingly submits his will to that of God Almighty-Allah. Islam is said to be the world's "youngest religion" but this is not strictly true, because the Qur'an emphatically tells us that Adam submitted his will to Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala,  and so did Noah, and Abraham and Jacob, Joseph and Moses and Jesus and Muhammad (peace be upon them all), as well as all the other prophets not specifically mentioned. 

As Muslims, we make no distinction between them as they were all mighty prophets of God Almighty - Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala. This re-enforces the idea that Islam as a religion existed since time immemorial but was perverted by its followers hence the need for prophets and scriptures to guide mankind back to true belief. Abraham as well as Moses was given the Scrolls (Suhuf), David was given the Psalms (Zaboer), Moses was given the Old Testament (Torah), Jesus was given the Evangel (Injeel) and Muhammad (peace be upon them all) was given the Qur'an il Kareem.

As Muslims, we firmly believe the Qur'an is God Almighty's final revelation to all of mankind, besides it provides internal evidence to this effect. Additional internal evidence tells us that the Qur'an was revealed to prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) as a guidance to believers and that there is no doubt in it, and that the Qur'an echos that which were given to both Abraham and Moses.  

The Qur'an further reassures us that if its originator was any other than God Almighty himself, it would nave been riddled with errors and inconsistencies. The Qur'an also rectifies a perverted concept of God that existed for centuries and still does, calling mankind to worship their creator and not the created.  

Below is a short extract from Surah Baqara (Qur'an Chapter 2) that you should read with comprehension and see the magnificence for yourself. Bear in mind the Qur'an is originally an Arabic document with nuances that the English language would never be able to translate. There is end rhyme in paragraphs discussing a certain topic, and when the topic changes, the end rhyme changes, yet there is perfect clarity of verse and transfer of thought, and guidance to righteousness, admonishment to the perverted, using very few words, which are very explicit and exact. 

Its just one of its hidden miracles of the Qur'an, yet so many haters oblivious of the fact that Prophet Muhammad was un-lettered, claim that he wrote this masterpiece, all 114 chapters of it. Maintaining a constant theme using about 80 000 words, approximately 2000 of which are reused over and over. The beauty of the Qur'an is that it can be committed to memory in its entirety in a time of two years or less. This has been achieved by millions of Hufaaz over and over by during a period spanning almost 1500 years.

V21. O mankind, worship your Lord, who created you and those before you, that you may become righteous –

V22. [It is He] who made for you the earth a bed [spread out] and the sky a ceiling and sent down from the sky, rain and brought forth thereby fruits as provision for you. So do not attribute to Allah equals while you know [that there is nothing similar to Him].

V23. And if you are in doubt about what We have sent down [Qur'an] upon Our Servant [Muhammad], then produce a surah the like thereof and call upon your witnesses other than Allah, if you should be truthful.

V24. But if you do not – and you will never be able to – then fear the Fire, whose fuel is men

and stones, prepared for the disbelievers.

V25. And give good tidings to those who believe and do righteous deeds that they will have gardens [in Paradise] beneath which rivers flow. Whenever they are provided with a provision of fruit therefrom, they will say, "This is what we were provided with before." And it is given to them in likeness. And they will have therein purified spouses, and they will abide therein eternally.

V26. Indeed, Allah is not timid to present an example – that of a mosquito or what is smaller than it. And those who have believed know that it is the truth from their Lord. But as for those who disbelieve, they say, "What did Allah intend by this as an

example? "He misleads many thereby and guides many thereby. And He misleads not except the defiantly disobedient,

V27. Who break the covenant of Allah after contracting it and sever that which All h has ordered to be joined and cause corruption on earth. It is those who are the losers.

V28. How can you disbelieve in Allah when you were lifeless and He brought you to life; then He will cause you to die, then He will bring you [back] to life, and then to Him you will be returned.

V29. It is He who created for you all of that which is on the earth. Then He directed Himself to the heaven, [His being above all creation], and made them seven heavens, and He is Knowing of all things.

NEW YEAR'S RESOLUTION

NEW YEAR'S RESOLUTION FOR THE ISLAMIC YEAR

In the Name of Allah the Beneficent the Merciful. I bear witness that there is no deity worthy of worship except Allah (Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala), and I bear witness that Muhammad (peace be upon him) is truly His servant and Messenger. All praise and thanks are due to  Allah, the Lord of the Worlds. We seek refuge with Him from the evil of our souls, and from our sinful deeds. Whomsoever Allah guides will never be led astray and whomsoever he leads astray will never find guidance. Peace and blessings be upon our Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) his kith and kin, his companions and all those who follow in their  footsteps until he Day of Judgement.

Bismillahir Rahmaanir Raheem - In the Name of Allah The Beneficent The Merciful

I just returned from Salaatul Jumu'ah. It was the last Jumu'ah of the Islamic year 1435 AH which coincides with  24th October 2014. Tomorrow  will be the last day of the Islamic year and Sunday will be the first day of new Islamic year, known as 1st day of Muharram  1436 AH, calculated according to the Lunar calendar. However, this  last 24 hours prior to the start of the new Islamic year is a true time of  reflection. A time to take stock of our lives with its daily reminders that we are yet another year closer to its  conclusion. It's a time to assess how much of the past year was spent contemplating and remembering Allah (Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala), how much  time was spent obeying His laws and His commandments, how much time was spent emulating our beloved prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) and how much time was wasted in frivolousness time-usurping matters.

Time is of the essence, and each and every one of us only have our allotted time left which obviously varies from person  to person.  Father-Time as some would say, perpetually poses comparable rhetorical questions, among which are,  "What guarantee do you have, that when you woke-up this morning you will live to see dusk today?"  What guarantee do you  have, that when you retire to bed tonight, you will witness the light of tomorrow? "What guarantee do you even have  that you will live through this very hour?" It goes without saying that no one can boast of such a guarantee. Our only  guarantee is the death certificate that was given us the day we were born, implying "Every soul shall taste death".  Daily, we are bombarded with stark reminders of it, by funerals of family and friends, acquaintances and neighbours, and in ourselves, the emerging facial wrinkles, the emergence of a beard, the occasional grey hair, the speed at which out children grow up and the slowness of our movement as we get older.

Having said that, it is imperative that we make good use of every minute we have left and allocate a large part of it  to our well being in the afterlife. To quote Albert Camus  " I would rather live my life as if there is a God and die to find out there isn't, than live my life as if there isn't and die to find out there is." Having the assurance of God and the afterlife is a bug bear for many, especially those who have been mesmerized by Darwinism, because it blinds them to recognize God through his creations. This is mainly because their concept of God is completely and utterly warped. Many of them see God as Jesus incarnate and as such a divine man, yet still a man. A man with manly needs, behaviours, needs and wants. So their terms of reference to God is that of limited man with short comings, imperfect man, deficient man, finite man  and therefore find difficulty in accepting that He created everything, that no man can see him and live, that it is unbecoming and beneath God to impersonate man, that He is  Omnipresent and ubiquitous. So much for the non-Islamic concept of God.

A synopsis of the concept of God in Islam

In Islam, Allah is God, there is no God except Him. He is One, indivisible without any partner, the Alive, the Eternal  absolute. He is the First and He is the Last. He is Hearer and Knower of the invisible and the visible. Allah is the  Seer of what ye do. He is the Sovereign Lord the Holy One, the Peace, the Keeper of Faith, the Guardian, the Majestic, the Compeller, the Superb and to Him belong the most Beautiful Names. He begets not nor was he begotten and there is  nothing and no one comparable to Him.  Neither slumber nor sleep overtakes Him. His throne includes the heavens and  the earth, and He is never weary of preserving them. To Him belong the Sovereignty of the heavens and the earth and  everything between it, which He created in six days. It is He causes the night to pass into the day, and He causes the  day to pass into the night and He gives life and He gives death and unto Him is your ultimate return. He knows what  is in their hearts and minds and that which they hide, while they encompass nothing of His knowledge except what He  allows. He is the Sublime, the Tremendous. It is He who provides for you from the sky and the earth. He is Able to  do things.

Allah (Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala) created everything. The word create must not be confused with the word manufacture, because God creates from nothing but man  manufactures from whatever God created for man.  Man manufactures cars and computers, builds houses, makes clothes and  multiply in numbers etc. But if we just look at the statement "It is He who provides for you from the sky and the  earth". Rain water comes from the sky, sunlight comes from the sky. Just where would man be without these two  provision? If you said thirsty and cold, I understand your need to make jest of this, but man would be none existent.  The rain nourishes the earth producing fruit, vegetables and cotton, that grows through photosynthesis, and we eat the  flesh of animals that feeds from the earth, both sources of cotton and wool are respectively used to make cloths, not  to mention the leather from the beasts for our shoes.

We build homes from clay bricks and make cement from lime clinkers both come from the earth. The wood for our roofing  comes from the trees which grow from the earth. All sorts of steel is mined from the earth, used for roof sheeting and  motor vehicle bodies and engines, etc. The petroleum and oil which propels our motor vehicles originates from crude  oil that's mined on both land and sea, which is also the main ingredient for all things plastic and the final by product  bitchumen (tar) used to build roads.  Silicon chips for our computers are made from sand and materials, like arsenic,  selenium, boron, tungsten, gold, lead, silver, aluminium, tin, copper and other mineral  all of which comes from the earth. Man eats and drinks  and his body produce enzymes and bodily fluids to procreate.  Essentially whatever is on earth originally comes from the skies (heavens), even our forbears Adam and Gowa originates from the heavens. This is just a glimpse  of how God feeds us  from the earth and sky, joining the rest of the dots is up to you.

Can anyone imagine complete cars, aeroplanes, computers and houses falling from the heavens,  alternatively  complete cars, aeroplanes and house and clothes coming out of the earth? God endowed human intelligence is all part of  God Almighty's divine plan and some are endowed greater than others, throughout scores of millennia, He elected men from among mankind as messengers to represent Him on earth and to teach mankind  whatever else they now  know so that with their intelligence they may find God through His creations. So make a resolution today to take a step closer to Allah (Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala).