This article in Yaqeen website shows us the tools Allah gives us to fight against genocide, the propaganda that upholds it in Palestine and elsewhere including America, and more.
There’s never been a more important moment. In a very real sense we are all Palestinians, and a few in control are censoring our voices and trying to control even our biological makeup as individuals. But the Quran is highly relevant and guides us as to how to save ourselves. Some excerpts below:
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The basic statement of tawheed, Allah’s singularity or “oneness,” is لَا إِلَٰهَ إِلَّا اللَّهُ or lā ilāha illā Allāh, explained here. This Basic Tawheed Statement is also the form of the Shahada or Islamic creed declaring there is no god but Allah – the name Allah being a form of the word “god” in Arabic that can only be One God. Since tawheed is the central tenet of Islam – monotheism – this statement is of course central to the Quran’s message.
There are six main variations of it, the most frequent being lā ilāha illā hua or لَا إِلَٰهَ إِلَّا هُوَ, which means “no god except Him,” mentioned in the Quran 30 times (with 4 variations in how this expression is framed). The total mentions of all forms of Tawheed Statement are 40, itself a significant Quranic number. Thus, there are 30 Tawheed Statements containing the words lā ilāha illā hua out of 40 total mentions in the Quran of all variations of Tawheed Statement, a significant {3,4} pairing, a structural pattern in the Quran based on the Arabic name Allah (the Most High). The contexts of these statements give us a range of insight into the meaning of tawheed (oneness/ singularity) itself.
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Although this important aya has been analyzed by the scholar Raymond K. Farrin in his paper “Surat Al-Baqarah – a Structural Analysis,” I used a different translation to keep the literal words “between their hands” because this Quranic image directly correlates with free will, which is at the heart or center of this aya and indeed of our relationship with Allah the Exalted. It is also translated “what is before them and what is behind them.”
If you’ve seen this post before, I’ve just made a major change in calculations, with apologies. Although the number of words in Ayat Al-Kursi is, as previously mentioned, 57 (3•19), which is exactly half of 114, the total number of suras in the Quran, and also 57 is the number of Surat Hadeed (“Iron”), an element whose production in stars is the point at which a star explodes into a supernova, but I’ve recalculated the letter count and found my original (in which the letter count too was a multiple of 19) was wrong, and so I’ve corrected it below.
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Surah 111 Al-Masad, less commonly called Surat Lahab (flame) directly precedes Surat Al-Ikhlas (Sincerity) #112, one of the most important surahs in the Quran, one could say its very “heart.” Since I have seen “connections” between adjacent surahs, I wondered how two so vastly different surahs could be connected. To find the answer, I examined the surah using ring composition, as the illustration shows, supplementing this analysis with other Quranic verses, as well as examining the number of words and letters in this surah, and found some striking results.
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Tawheed, the bedrock of Islam, is the immutable truth that Allah is ineffably One. It is not enough to say it is “monotheism” because Christians call themselves monotheists, but insofar as they worship Jesus the son of Mary as a god or “incarnation” or God the Almighty, All-Merciful, no, this is not monotheism and it is a violation of tawheed, sometimes translated “oneness.” The Quran is unequivocal and emphatic about this, quintessentially made clear in Surat Al-Ikhlass. In particular one needs to examine the word Al-Samad.
These days, with the proliferation of fake news and online influencers who invent entire realities to erase people’s understanding of what is true and what is false, where often the greatest deceivers present themselves as the most sincere truth-tellers, we are as a society in great need of somehow finding our way, our lost sense of reality. From another perspective,
وَلَا تَلْبِسُوا الْحَقَّ بِالْبَاطِلِ وَتَكْتُمُوا الْحَقَّ وَأَنتُمْ تَعْلَمُونَ
Continue readingAnd do not mix the truth with falsehood or conceal the truth while you know [it].
Surat Al-Baqara 2:42
Ring Composition of Ayat Al-Nur, Surat Al-Nur 24:35
This illustration reveals the connection between light and knowledge, otherwise not quite so obvious, by comparing the sections highlighted with the same color which form corresponding pairs starting with the first and last, then pairing them in mirror fashion towards the middle section which is the center and focal point of the aya. There is an expression “knowledge is light” or Al’alm nur in Arabic, and if one contemplates this statement more deeply, one finds that knowledge must be truth, ie stands up to the light of scrutiny, and further, the infinite and complex nature of that which needs to be illuminated is such that only God can be Omniscient. This observation is highlighted in this aya, which the analysis of this form of composition helps us see more clearly.
It’s a common statement, used to counter non-Muslims’ erroneous idea that Islam is a warlike religion, that “Islam Means Peace.” Others, including many scholars and translators, assert that “Islam means submission——to submit to Allah.” But do either of these words convey the meaning of Islam in Arabic as used in the Quran? An examination of the possible translations for a Quranic word can often lead to a better understanding of Islam and/or the Quran and its message. And so I will introduce what I believe to be another possible interpretation/ translation of the word “Islam” in English, which is the word “surrender.”
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The Quran frequently refers to issues relating to Truth and lies; distinguishing between them is critical, in many ways the defining point of guidance. In fact, faith itself is predicated on that distinction, the purpose of the Quran and other divine revelations being to guide us to the truth and, as a part of that guidance, to help us recognize and avoid falsehood.
From Al-Nisa’ 4:105:
إِنَّآ أَنزَلْنَآ إِلَيْكَ ٱلْكِتَٰبَ بِٱلْحَقِّ لِتَحْكُمَ بَيْنَ ٱلنَّاسِ بِمَآ أَرَىٰكَ ٱللَّهُ ۚ وَلَا تَكُن لِّلْخَآئِنِينَ خَصِيمًا
We have sent down to you the Book with the Truth that you may judge between the people by that which Allah has shown you, and do not be an advocate for the treacherous.
“The Book” here is the Quran, and the “you” is Prophet Mohammad. This aya clearly states that the Quran was sent down (the literal meaning of the word tanzeel which is often translated as “revealed”) with Truth, which is to be the criterion by which judgment, distinguishing right from wrong, is made. The “treacherous” are those who betray trust; they are in essence liars, betrayers (the literal meaning here) of the Truth, purveyors of falsehood. This is especially critical because the danger of being fooled by lies is always present. The Quran then “grounds” or provides a foundation for the faithful in Truth, from which they can be empowered by that knowledge to make good choices.
A not-infrequent complaint from Christians about Islam is that the Islamic idea of Allah is not personal enough. Another complaint from people in arguments against religion generally is that God is too impersonal. There is this general belief that God created the universe (if they even believe that), then left it alone to fend for itself, retiring into abstract glory to answer, perhaps, a prayer or two. The first idea, of a personal God, seems based on human interpersonal relations. The second on possibly kings or dictators. Neither idea is true of Allah, the Almighty, All-Merciful, who describes Himself in the Quran as being “closer than your jugular vein.” (Surat Qaf 50:16)
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One of the most important and yet illusory elements of human life is time. It begins for us when we are born and when time as we know it ends, this is signified by our death. So our concept of time is completely tied up, for us, with birth and death. But for Allah, who is neither born nor dies, time cannot be as we know it. For Allah, time has no boundaries. Many thinkers have thought of this as a circle. Continue reading
114 Chambers 