Messages

16

General Discussions / Re: Assafwah wa almarwah?

« on: August 12, 2019, 08:07:24 AM »

source

2:158 Indeed, the safa1 and the marwah2 are from the markers/tokens (sha3air)3 of God, so whoever did HaJJ 4 (at/of) the shelter/house5 or enlivened/visited6 there is no blame/error on him that he go amongst by/at them both7 and whoever volunteered good/better8 then God is Appreciative, Knowing.

1 - root: Sad-Fa-Waw. See Project Root List to read about possible meanings for given roots in this article.
2 - root: Miim-Ra-Waw.
3 - root: Shiin-Ayn-Ra. The root meanings and Quran usage suggest the word describes things/tokens/symbols/markers/practices (usually to do with sustenance/benefit) that have a deeper significance, i.e. help make us aware of something (e.g. God and His beneficience). Honouring such "sha3air" can indicate "taqwa" (forethoughtfulness/conscientiousness/piety) of the hearts, and can provide opportunity to be thankful and/or magnify God for what He has guided you - see 5:2, 22:32, 22:36-37.
4 - root: Ha-Jim-Jim. Note the perfect/past tense implies one could have done "HaJJ" but not necessarily encountered "safa" and "marwah" yet, meaning they are not compulsory aspects of "HaJJ" (or "umrah") but are accessible secondary to it. Also if they were an intrinsic part of "al HaJJ" then there would be no need to state "there is no blame on him that he should go about/amongst them". This is further reinforced by the imperfect tense "ttawwaf" which follows. As a side note, some Traditional commentators also mention this point.
5 - root: Ba-Ya-Ta. It principally means to reach the night or spend the night in and "bayt" is that place. It can be used for any structure that is utilised for such a purpose. Thus, "bayt" is closer to shelter as the conceptual meaning and within that meaning is the house. In this context it refers to the locality/region/area, wherein "al hajj" is being held, and is thus acting as a shelter/house for the people. This will be further discussed later.
6 - root: Ayn-Miim-Ra. Also perfect/past tense.
7 - root: Tay-Waw-Fa. Note it says "ttawwaf bi" which is the exact same phrase in 22:29 (involving the ancient/noble shelter/house / "al bayt al 3tiq") which most commentators take to mean "circuit" but they do not take it to mean "circuit" here. Some may argue that since there are two objects here, going to and fro is the implied meaning here rather than "circuit".
8 - the phrase "whoever volunteered good/better" is likely related to what came before, i.e. "no blame on him that he go about them". Interestingly, if it is taken as "whoever volunteered better", as I feel the implication is, then this can only mean: better than "going about/amongst safa and marwah". The obvious question then is: what is better?

2:158 clearly indicates there is a difference between HaJJ and i'tamara/visited (commonly translated as "umrah").

The additional information we have extracted about "safa" and "marwah" is as follows, which may help narrow down the possible meanings:
1) other occurrences of "sha3air of God" refer to provision of sustenance/food by means of the animals, thus they could be related to that
2) they are accessible to those who did HaJJ or visited the house/shelter, but are secondary to it
3) it is possible some might mistakenly assign blame if one goes about them or one going about them could think they are doing something negative/wrong
4) it may be possible to volunteer better than going amongst them

When we look at CAD "al safa" can refer to the animals which give much milk (said of she-camel/sheep/goat), and "al marwah" can refer to a stone where a cooking fire is started or on which an animal is slaughtered. If we opt for these meanings then the one going about them in 2:158 would be consuming food, not providing it. If so, this makes it easy to understand why this could be thought of as a negative, i.e. someone at this location could take advantage of such offerings/availability and consume aplenty without giving in return. This would also help explain why it says "whoever volunteered better" because providing food is better than consuming it, and this may tie in with verses such as 2:196 which discusses giving an offering/gift (e.g. an animal to be used for food provision). This is also the case for one who did HaJJ because even though doing HaJJ involves providing food for others, one could still consume more than they gave.
If we do choose this meaning, then we may need to consider why animals of milking are not discussed under the ordinary food to give/feed others with for one undertaking the HaJJ and this may be because it is more difficult for one to do, as the timing needs to be right for a female animal to give milk, e.g. shortly after them giving birth. Giving an animal for slaughter is much easier.
There are other possibilities for these words from CAD, e.g. "al safa" can mean "the palm tree heavy with fruit", "al marwah" can mean "a type of fragrant tree".

A plausible interpretation of "no blame on him that he go about them" is that this phrase is often used in AQ to discuss an exception/modification to the recommendation/rule/principle (e.g. 2:229, 2:282, 4:101, 4:102, 24:29, 24:58, 24:60), thus could refer to an exception, e.g. regarding slaughtering of animals on a stone (as this may be misconstrued as a throwback to idolatrous practice, see 5:3), or "marwah" can mean a stone from which blades are made even though there is no hunting or fighting in this period, or sightseeing of unique/stone landmarks at such a location could be mistaken for their veneration. Volunteering good/better in this case would be to help out at the event rather than sightseeing perhaps.

There seems to be insufficient evidence, as per Quran, to definitively deduce the meaning of "safa" and "marwah", however we should bear in mind that whatever they are the implication is that they are not critical/compulsory aspects for one who did "HaJJ" or visited.

Yeah like you said, they are not compulsory. I am just curious. Maybe when i know Arabic it will make more sense God willingly.

Can you share your current knowledge to me about what you think the safa and the marwah are?

Did i understand it right? You think the safa and the marwah is a place where the people can receive the meat or eat the cooked offer?

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General Discussions / Assafwah wa almarwah?

« on: August 09, 2019, 06:28:49 AM »

I came to the conclusion that assafwa wa almarwah are not in Makkah close to the Temple but close to the House at Bakkah, read 2:158. Bakkah is near Jerusalem, see Psalm 84.

But what are assafwa and almarwah?

Is almarwah mount Moriah the Temple Mount in Jerusalem on which Abraham nearly sacrificed hes son Isaac? And is assafwa the rock on which Abraham nearly sacrificed hes son Isaac?

In the Quran if i do a word for word study on assafwa i come to the conclusion that it is a rock. But i can't really find the answer to almarwah other the using the Hebrew term Moriah. We see that the Quran uses this as well, an example with Mosa and Moshe.

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General Discussions / The Quran, and the Gospel, Psalms and Torah?

« on: August 07, 2019, 05:15:52 AM »

I am reading the Quran from cover to cover again and i am now at chapter 4. The verses below i stumbled on are solid evidence that the Torah, Psalms and Gospel were there in the time of the Messenger of the Quran. Why are there so many Quran centric believers who deny the previous Scriptures?

2:41, 2:91, 2:113, 3:93, 3:113, 3:199.

And some i know from the top of my head, 5:43, 5:47, 5:68, 29:46.

The verses are crystal clear and these are not all of them. Why do these people keep bashing the previous Scriptures and rejecting those Quranic verses i shared. Their only argument is 1-2 Quranic verses they misread and most of the time they just say "we can't trust the Bible", because they are still brainwashed by the sectarians who obviously don't want you to read the other Scriptures, because knowledge is wisdom..

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Islamic Duties / Re: Swalah times

« on: August 07, 2019, 12:35:16 AM »

Dear All,
Assalaamu 'alaikum

After a further analysis of the verses 11:114, 17:78, 24:58, 20:130, 50:39-40, 2:144,149-150, 76:25-26, 17:79, 62: 9-11 and 2:238, to the best of my knowledge the timed Swalah of the believers is twice daily.

Thank you.

I pray two times a day as well. My prayer is reading the Quran and i believe bowing and kneeling actually means to yield and submit to the Message while praying/reading the Quran (that's what those words mean in the Arabic language after all), especially if you do a word for word study on roekoeh and sjoedjoed in the Quran. I pray, read the Quran, from the white thread to sunrise, and from sunset until the black thread.

I don't think that assalaat alwusta means the middle prayer, but i believe it means the balanced prayer. We need to protect our balanced prayers, which are the two daily prayers, Quran sessions, especially the one at dawn.
Why do i not think it means the middle prayer, well because of a word for word study in the Quran about alwusta/balanced and because there is no "middle prayer" mentioned in 24:58 when it talks about the two daily prayers! It doesn't mention a middle prayer when it talks about noon. So that should indicate that there is no middle prayer, but that it means to protect the balanced prayers.

May God bless our prayer sessions, and protect us and guide us and enlighten us.

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General Discussions / Re: Prophet Abraham asked to sacrifice his son?

« on: August 06, 2019, 01:46:12 PM »

Salaam Joseph,

Thanks for your reply and reminding me to follow the Quran narration. 

Abraham prays for a salihin son; he is given a halim son.  When he attains the age of working along with his father, Abraham wants to test his faith and submissiveness to God, thus  talks to him about his vision of sacrificing his son who is, knowing that God is with those who are persevering in submission to Him, submits to the Divine Will.


"Allah does not call you to account for what is vain of your oaths, but He will call you to account for what your hearts have earned, and Allah is Forgiving, Forbearing" (Quran, 2:225).


Some of Allah's messengers are recognized as Haleem; for example, Abraham, the Friend of Allah, is described as, "... most surely Abraham was very tender-hearted, forbearing" (9:114), and in Surat Hud, he is praised likewise: "Most surely Abraham was forbearing, tender-hearted, oft-returning (to Allah)" (11:75).

"So we gave him the glad tidings of a boy [Ishmael] possessing forbearance" (Quran, 3:101).

Al- Haleem quite often overlooks sins and covers up shortcomings.  Al-Haleem shields those who indulge in sins with His forgiveness, pardons those who violate His laws,  is not slighted by the rebellion of the rebellious, and no oppression of any oppressor can ever provoke Him.  He shows gentleness because He is so powerful can delay judgment.

At the human level, haleem knows how to overcome his emotions and passions, calms down his anger when insulted, restrains himself from doing violence.

"And We gave him in exchange a Great Sacrifice" can be understood at the physical level as the Great Sacrifice of animals abolishing the practice of human sacrifice; and on the spiritual level, the animal in man was to be sacrificed to the divine in him.

3:101 doesn't mention the word Ishmael..

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General Discussions / Re: Prophet Abraham asked to sacrifice his son?

« on: August 06, 2019, 01:44:35 PM »

Good point Wakas. The great sacrifice also involved Ibrahim's separation from his wife and Ismail !!

That was actually a fight which separated them. Read the Torah. Even until this day the Israelites and Arabs hate each other.

The Quran doesn't give the name of the son who was going to be sacrificed. The Torah and the Gospel both say it was Isaac, by name, and i checked the Hebrew and Greek. The Quran again tells us that it confirmed the Torah and the Gospel. So there should be no doubt about who the sacrificed son was.

I think God wanted to see if Abraham could support Jesus Christ by asking him to sacrifice hes son to God. Remember how God made a substitute when Abraham was going to sacrifice Isaac, which symbolic can mean that it wasn't Isaac who was going to come with the big changes, but it was Jesus Christ, who sacrificed himself as a lamb to God who teaches us how to love God and each other.

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General Discussions / Re: Prophet Abraham asked to sacrifice his son?

« on: August 06, 2019, 01:39:51 PM »

Peace Joseph,

I do not believe the source of the vision was God but of course He knowingly allowed it to be interpreted that way to create a paradigm shift.  Ritual human sacrifice has been in the human psyche for so long. Aztecs, Incas, Phoenicians, Greeks, Romans. Remember Agamemnon wants to sacrifice his daughter Iphegenia to Artemis who stops the wind?


'Shall I give my firstborn for my sin, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?' (Micah 6:7 ),
Isaiah 30:27–33 indicates an acceptance of child sacrifice in the early Jerusalem practices, to which the law in Leviticus 20:2–5 forbidding child sacrifice is a response.

Quran 6:137  And in like manner, their associate gods have made killing their children seem fair to many pagans, so that they may ruin them and cause confusion in their religion. Had God pleased, they would not have done so; so leave them to their false inventions.

Isn't Micah 6:7 talking about giving your firstborn as a sacrifice to the Temple, to dedicate himself to Scripture etc.

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General Discussions / Re: Apps for reading the Quran on the go

« on: August 05, 2019, 05:58:44 AM »

I sent you an email (you can also contact me via any of the above sites). As a side note I do not recommend making your TEL number public but it's up to you. You can contact site admin to remove it if you want.

I don't see any email on s1c4r1us3a3ni@gmail.com, also not in my spam?

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General Discussions / Re: Is it okay for a man to perform Hajj for other person or a dead person ?

« on: August 04, 2019, 02:01:34 PM »

Dear Brother Joseph ,
As sa la mu alaikum . Hope you are doing fine. I need your opinion that is it permissible for a man to perform to represent other ? ( it is called Hajj for other even he is already died) .
In what stage  performing Hajj of a person is compulsory ? What is wisdom of perform Hajj ? 
Please input your thought in the following situation if Quran prescribe for Hajj ?

1.  If I have bank loan
2.  I get handsome salary but do not have savings .

3. If I well settled and no loan with any one but my many neighbours are poor and my country is under developed country where many duties to the poor , patients who are not getting treatment  for sake of money.

Some Islamic scholar inspire people to perform Umrah Hajj. again and again .
Where I think the person who already perform Hajj once why he should need to perform Hajj again ?

I will be glad if you can take out your time for me.

The reason to perform the Pilgrimage to Makkah is to remember God and to feed the poor with your sacrifice. All those other rituals they do which can't be found in the Quran are false.

People who die, you can't do anything for them anymore. To each hes own deeds.

Also the idea that you do the Pilgrimage to gain "good deeds" is an illusion and you are probably infected with the fabricated narrations and their wishful thinking.

Read the Quran on what the Pilgrimage is.

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General Discussions / Re: Apps for reading the Quran on the go

« on: August 04, 2019, 01:56:49 PM »

I think improving/updating corpus.quran.com is a good idea. In their forum there are quite a number of grammar corrections which have not been updated AFAIK. I have been in contact with the people behind the site/data, but its current status is that further development has stopped.

I only know basic HTML/webpage stuff, although I have used CMS like Wordpress, forums etc. I run and project managed some sites, e.g.

www.Misconceptions-About-Islam.com
www.StudyQuran.org
www.studyquran.co.uk/PRLonline.htm (and it's app)
www.AreYouMuslim.com
www.Learn-About-Islam.com
www.Quran434.com
www.Muhammad-Asad.com
https://ahadithstudies.wordpress.com
https://fazlur-rahman.livejournal.com
and a few others.

I was thinking about updating the PRL app in the future, hence my Q to you, but it's unlikely at this stage.

Yeah i see how corpus.quran.com is still a biased word for word translation. May God protect us and guide us.

Nice, may God protect you and bless your work. The community really needs a good place to learn Arabic and use the root dictionaries, those translations are so biased even the Quran centric ones.
I wont start with a project until i mastered Arabic and until have at least 7-10 years of experience as a web developer, so you won't see me building anything soon.

Please add me on whatsapp so that we can stay connected +31 658953229. God willingly we can support each other in our works.

Greetings from Holland/Morocco.

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General Discussions / Re: Apps for reading the Quran on the go

« on: August 04, 2019, 04:20:38 AM »

peace all,

You may wish to look at: https://www.personalquran.com

It's not an app though but compatible for mobile viewing.

s1c4r1us, can you develop apps?

Not yet. I am also focusing on web development.

I have a diploma in app development (3 years) and i am now studying software engineering (4 years) and in my second year.

My level: I know the basics of how a programming language works, i know the basics of OOP, MVC and some other patterns. I worked with a couple of backend frameworks to develop basic web apps (for learning purposes). Now i am learning the full stack, i am learning Angular for the frontend and i am learning Node/Express for the backend, and with ElectronJS it's possible to deploy it to mobile and desktop as well. So it's a perfect stack to learn.

My goal is to make a better quran.com/corpus.quran.com which has more features, it will have root dictionaries, a place to learn the language, and a forum etc. I basically want to provide the best features and for free etc., I am very dedicated to this goal.
I am planning on making this when i have at least 10 years of experience in the field. So you wont see such a website popping up until then, God willingly.

What about you? May God protect you and guide you and bless your works as well.

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General Discussions / Re: Apps for reading the Quran on the go

« on: August 02, 2019, 01:23:03 AM »

Peace to all.

I am looking for a good Android app for comparative English translation reading of the Quran.

Preferably devoid of destracting commentary from non Quranic sources.

All this while I was using the excellent "Quran Translations" app by Mercan Software, but the owner seems to have abandoned the project since 2015. Unfortunately this app, in its current outdated state, is not compatible with newer phones.

I once saw a post somewhere that Islamawakened.com was producing an app. But I can't seem to find it published anywhere on their webpage or on Google's Playstore.

Suggestions are much appreciated.

I am a web developer. 99% of the apps are biased and are sunni/shia apps.

You are better of if you use a translation such as the one of free-minds.org and you use the app adobe reader for it, and you check the translation by using corpus.quran.com and you check corpus.quran.com again by using a root dictionary such as the one at studyquran.co.uk

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Islamic Duties / Re: Prayer

« on: July 25, 2019, 01:57:48 AM »

Hello,
   I understand that standing up and sujood are prescribed on us in the Quran as a part of prayer. But my question is does the Quran ever state why this is how we should pray? I guess essentially what I am asking is why are these required and not simply just praying in your head or something similar 5 times throughout the day?

I hope this explanation of the brother who knows Arabic will help you: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4APNPrfRORQ

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Islamic Duties / Re: Best explanation i saw about salaat, ever.

« on: July 25, 2019, 01:56:44 AM »

Salaam all,

I must say that the explanation is not good at all in my opinion. He is completely trying to change well known words, twisting them to fit his agenda.

What is shocking to me is that people may just start following his thinking because they feel that he is some Arabic language specialist so what he says must be true!

People like him don't want to physically prostrate to their Creator..he feels he is beyond this and instead has these mysterious 'study sessions several times a day'

And this definition of salaat 'following closely' doesn't make sense as he is struggling to define it properly, let alone his feeble attempts to define bowing, prostrating etc !

What's wrong about hes explanation?

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General Discussions / Re: "Muhammad was not from Mecca" by Sam Garrans

« on: July 24, 2019, 06:54:23 PM »

Salaam Br. Wakas,

Can you please let me know your thoughts (summary) on where Masjid al-Haram (Kaba) is and whether you agree with the subject "Muhammad was not from Mecca" or not?
The forum links your provided are taxing and confusing to follow.

Thanks,
Student.

Isn't the Quran clear about Masjid alHaraam being in Makkah according to 48:24-25?