07.25.06
New Project - Quran Tafsir/Commentary
My fiance and I have started a new endeavor. We are reading ten verses per day with commentary of the Quran. Then we discuss with one another and try to reflect. As Muslims reflection and contemplation is a necessity in order of our well-being, especially in a society that tries to sway us from the path of Allah (swt).
We are using Shakir’s translation and Agha Pooya Yazdi’s commentary/tafsir because its easily and readily available. So this was our first day and we completed Surah al-Fatiha, which was relatively easy. I will attempt to just summarize what we discussed, inshaAllah.
In the beginning the surah just discussed the importance of the phrase Bismillah. It is so important that if it is not recited during prayers, your prayers become baatil, or invalid! Every action we do should start with Bismillah. We must remember Him in all aspects of life. Now, we realize why we as children were drilled about saying bismillah before we eat, say alhamdulillah after we sneeze, and saying inshaAllah when we plan on doing something. We remembered (actually my fiance did) an analogy a scholar once used. Being God-conscious is like driving. We know the speed limit and we obey it, and if we think we are slick and we can trick the cops we usually break it. And sometimes we get away and sometimes the cop forgive us and lets us go, but sometimes we get hit with a hefty fine and ticket. At this point, it is too late to plead and apologize. The same can go for the laws of Islam. We can obey them. We can disobey, and if we get “caught” (caught being death) we are screwed and it’ll be too late to repent.
We also discussed how many opportunities and avenues there are to reach Him. He has given us so much. He is so close. We just need to take a few steps towards Him and He will do the rest, alhamdulillah. Then the surah (and commentary of it) went on how merciful and forgiving God is. The commentator mentioned how the Prophet and the holy Ahlul Bayt (a) were created for us, and as a mercy to mankind. They were created and chosen as humans so we can relate to them and follow them. Not that it is easy, and not that we can be anything like them, but we can try to mold our lifestyles around them and try to achieve what they have.
Lastly, the surah talked about tabarrah (or disassociation from the enemies of Islam). We should not take from those whom do evil and try to cause discord. I remembered a hadith from the Prophet where he advised us not to make friends with those that cannot influence us positively or those whom we cannot influence positively. Meaning the environment we make and put ourselves in make us who we are. We also must distant ourselves from those that hurt the Prophet (a) and his Ahlul Bayt (a).
Edward Said:
July 26, 2006 at 6:42 pm
Thank you for this great article. your comments on bismillah were
very true.
Mo Said:
July 27, 2006 at 12:48 pm
Abbas,
You are so lucky to have the fiance you have! Inshallah, may Allah bless you both. And may both of you serve Allah! Good job guys! I wish you both success…. amen!
Ali Said:
July 27, 2006 at 8:50 pm
Female fiance is two ‘e’s fiancee - hina
mabbas Said:
July 28, 2006 at 3:39 pm
lol, is that the only thing u gotta outta whole post?! a spelling mistake!
anyways.. the “police” analogy was actually taken from a majlis ..in where the maulana was saying that when people claim that “There cant be a God, I dont see him.. etc” …..he was trying to disprove that by saying that you can’t see the police either, but are always in a danger of getting a ticket if you are speeding.. etc..too much detail ..but yeah.. that also goes back to the concept of taqwa as we saw above.
Soo true..about taking a few steps towards Him, and He will take a thousand steps towards you..
naqvia Said:
July 28, 2006 at 5:50 pm
Maliha,
Haha.. I guess so. You are so right about taqwa and taking steps towards Him.
mabbas Said:
July 28, 2006 at 8:14 pm
Abbas,
I’m always right.
mabbas Said:
July 28, 2006 at 8:52 pm
just kidding of course..
Ali Said:
July 29, 2006 at 7:26 am
It’s not really a spelling mistake.. it’s something people just don’t know. It’s retarded… I mean… Fiancee/Fiance…. what a dorky word(s). Sounds waay too much like Finance…
Police analogy can fail if someone has a highend laser/radar dectector or a descrambler.
I like the Truth/False anology better. Ask the people, what came first Truth or False? And see what they say…
naqvia Said:
July 29, 2006 at 10:26 am
Ali,
Depends who you are talking to. Sometimes it makes more sense to some people and sometimes it does not. It is just a matter of perspective.
Ali Said:
July 29, 2006 at 6:46 pm
True… but when it comes to Islam… we cannot let our derivations of Tanzil to succumbto to failure. That is why I am not 100% in agreeance with people who try to find scienctifice reasonings behind the some of the sayings of the Qur’an/hadith. Science, we all know can change. Theories in particular can be falsified — the Qur’an cannot change. We must be weary of such things. Especially, against those who have a distrust towards Islam
Wa Salaam,
Ali