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[Ayn-Zay-Zay]

Peace be upon you dear brother,

Please help me understand Verse 5:54 correctly.

I was reading several translation of this verse. My query is regarding the phrase highlighted below.

aAAizzatin AAala alkafireena

What should be the exact meaning  of the word aAAizzatin (أَعِزَّةٍ) in this context ?
From the trnslations below I can see the words proud, stern, lowly and dignified has been used.

From the verses 4:172-173 , 7:206 , 16:23, 31:18, 17:37, 21:19 ,25:63,  57:23 its clear that God does not like who is proud/boastful/arrogant. Again Pride was the reason that Ibless Satan was banished from heaven and became the dire enemy of human.

So I think the meaning of this word in this context should not be proud which bears a negative meaning rather it would be a positive meaning. And there is a popular slogan among muslims is "Proud to be Muslim" . I think this is not right. We should rather be humbled to submit to God Alone.

I have checked the meaning of the root word and there are several options. Among which honorable/esteemed/respectable/dignified etc bears a positive meaning. 

Ayn-Zay-Zay = mighty/potent/powerful/strong, noble/honourable/glorious, resisted/withstood, invincible, overcome (e.g. in argument), exalt, prevail, highly esteemed, precious, glory, vanity, excellent, proud and hard manner, stern.
uzza - name of an idol of the pagan Arabs regarded by them as God's daughter.
'Azza (prf. 3rd. m. sing. asim. V): Prevailed.
'Azzaznaa (prf. 1st. pl. II): We strengthened.
Tu'izzu (impf. 2nd. m. pl. II): thou honour, confer honour and dignity.
'Izzan (v. n.): source of strength.
'Izzatun (v. n.): vain pride, false prestige or sense of self respect, might honour, power.
Al-Aziizun (act. pic. m. sing.): All-Mighty, One of the names of Allah, Unassailable, invincible, powerful in evidences and arguments, strong, mighty, heavy (with 'alaa: tell hard upon).
A'azzu (elative): more powerful, that occupies stronger and more respectable position.
A'izzatan (n. pl.): most respectable and powerful, its sing. is 'Aziiyun.

Muhammad Asad

God will in time bring forth [in your stead] people whom He loves and who love Him - humble towards the believers, proud towards all who deny the truth: [people] who strive hard in God's cause, and do not fear to be censured by anyone who might censure them: such is God's favour, which He grants unto whom He wills. And God is infinite, all-knowing.

Yusuf Ali

5:54 (Y. Ali) O ye who believe! if any from among you turn back from his Faith, soon will Allah produce a people whom He will love as they will love Him,- lowly with the believers, mighty against the rejecters, fighting in the way of Allah, and never afraid of the reproaches of such as find fault. That is the grace of Allah, which He will bestow on whom He pleaseth. And Allah encompasseth all, and He knoweth all things.


Rashad Khalifa

5:54 O you who believe, if you revert from your religion, then GOD will substitute in your place people whom He loves and who love Him. They will be kind with the believers, stern with the disbelievers, and will strive in the cause of GOD without fear of any blame. Such is GOD's blessing; He bestows it upon whomever He wills. GOD is Bounteous, Omniscient.


Edip-Layth

5:54 O you who acknowledge, whoever from among you turns away from His system, then God will bring a people whom He loves and they love Him; humble towards those who acknowledge, dignified towards the ingrates; they strive in the cause of God and do not fear the blame of those who blame. This is God's grace, He bestows it upon whom He wills; God is Encompassing, Knowledgeable.



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Please share your opinion on this .

Peace

[THE SECOND CHANGE]

Dear Brother,

I recently come across your website and started reading your articles. I should thank you for great analysis.

Just today, I read your article on  "The  Qibla Change". It is good analysis, but I have one question.

The part of verse (in purple), mentions that they (possibly here they means Jews and Christian) will not follow each others' Qibla. In other words, we talking about three Qiblas. one that is followed by Muslims, Second that is followed by Jews and Third that is followed by Christians. Do I have valid observation, If yes, will you address it? I am just learner, so not disputing anything in your article.

THE SECOND CHANGE

002.144 -45
"Indeed, We see the turning of your face (for guidance) to the heavens. So We shall surely turn you to a direction of devotion / prayer (Arabic: Qiblatan) that you will be pleased with. So turn your face in the direction of the sacred Mosque and wherever ye are, turn your faces in that direction. And indeed, the people of the Book know well that it is the truth from their Lord and God is not unmindful of what they do.  Even if you were to bring to the people of the Book all the Signs (together), they would not follow your direction of devotion / prayer (Arabic: Qibla); nor are you going to follow their Qibla; nor indeed will they follow each other's Qibla. If you after the knowledge has reached you, were you to follow their (vain) desires, indeed, you (would) then (be) surely among the wrongdoers"
Note: I am just learner, so not disputing anything in your article.

Regards,

Salamun Alaikum,

Thank you so much for taking time to write a reply to me , I was really looking forward to your reply! I am very grateful to you for your suggestions, now I know how to start!

On a different note, have you, by any chance, read this book named 'Mental Bondage in the name of God' by Aidid Safar?

His views are quite different from the rest of the people who hold Quran to be the only source of guidance. For example he says Salah doesn't mean ritual prayer, it means 'commitment' and aqamatis salah means upholding the commitments'. He says salah cannot mean ritual prayer because while there are many verses the meaning of salah as a prayer fits well, there are some other verses in the Quran where salah as a ritual prayer doesn't make any sense at all. I checked the verses in my Quran and those verses really didn't make any sense at all.

He also says Sawm is not 'fasting' but 'self discipline'. And that Zakah doesn't mean poor-due, it means to purify or purification. I checked it through the concordance and it's pretty strange that in some verses the root word of zakah is translated as purification or to purify or pure and in some verses it is translated as poor-due or poor-rate.

Even in the case of the root word of Salah, the meanings constantly shuffle from prayer to blessings to honor and support etc. I checked out all the derivatives of the root word of Salah used in Quran and the words have been translated differently. Why is this so?

I don't know what to think, but most of the arguments in his book make sense and are very logical.

What do you think??

Salams,

I came across your website.

I have not read your articles but I read the beginning of the website.

I hope to learn a lot from you.

I am a believing and practicing Muslim.

Some Hadith increase my faith but some cause confusion and decrease my faith....so I thank you for shedding light on hadeeth as a source of Islamic knowledge.

One hadith that is amazing is the Prophet's instruction on a companion on how to position a particular mosque for correct qibla.

The hadeeth is in Tabarani....and goodle earth now shows that the instructions given by teh Prophet and detailed in the hadeeth and a history book have laser pinpoint accuracy.

Please see http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=siByuKxTqp0

Please let me know your comments on this youtube.

I hope to continue diaologue to learn.

Salams,

Salaam,

Other questionable issues also with regards to music. There is one Hadith saying that in the end times there will be much music played which people state as a reason for music to be haraam.

However , you have two other instances where a song and dance where either permitted or unquestioned. First being the Hadith regarding Eid where Aisha was singing and dancing and playing a drum, the other here the prophet came to medina and the people where dining and dancing with joy for his presence. So according to traditions music is haram but the prophet allowed his wife and followers to participate in haram?

Then some people will state only the duff is permissible. Isn't the duff an instrument of percussion? To me it would seem that the duff was merely a cultural instrument of that time and place, if they happened to be in India they probably would have used a tabla or something. Additionally some say that singing can be idle talk but then wouldn't poetry be idle talk?

What is your view?

Please can you explain the following verse:

"We have offered the responsibility (freedom of choice) to the heavens and the earth, and the mountains, but they refused to bear it, and were afraid of it. But the human being accepted it; he was transgressing, ignorant." 33:72

I would appreciate it very much brother if you could explain the following ayat.

"Say, "Here is awesome news. That you are totally oblivious to. I had no knowledge previously, about the feud in the High Society." 38:67-6

Salam alaikum brother Joseph,

Thanks so much for the quick response and for the information. It is very enlightening.

1. Regarding the place of prayer, I can't remember the ayah but remember reading in the Quran that Allah asks us to flee from the place of idol worship. Keeping this in mind, is it OK to pray in mosques where the Prophet Mohammed (PBUH) is being idolised. I think 99% of mosques idolise him in one way or another and as you know even the names of the Prophet and Prophet Abraham (PBUT) are included in the salat. So is it OK to be part of such a congregation but in our hearts direct our complete worship only to God?

Salam Joseph,

Can we use intercession / help of the Prophet or him as our Wasilah to God?

Dear Joseph,

Is stoning to death for adultery prescribed by the Quran?

Did the Prophet Marry Hazrat Ayesha at the Age of 6?

...Also, the other is homosexuality. My concern this time is I've heard some so called 'scholars' say this is a practice punishable by death. What in your opinion is a true Islamic position on this? Thanks ...

...The first is the issue of tattoos. I think mostly, Muslims believe them to be haram. I have no problem with this being true, even though I've never really seen any mention of them in the Qur'an, but its the stories and messages about the image of the tattoo coming to life in the hereafter o punish you and all sorts of nonsense like this that worries me. What's your opinion on tattoos and their permissibility? ...

Do you think that prophet would have recited "Attahiyat" ( Tashahud) in his Salat or is something that was added afterwards?

Secondly, I feel we are only meant to recite the Quran in prayers. I am not sure I understand how we can read prayers in any language apart from Arabic. Please can you clarify?

It is clearly stated in the Koran (Sura 5:21) that God gave the Land of Israel to the Children of Israel and ordered them to settle there. In addition, it is predicted that before the End of Days, God will bring the Children of Israel to retake possession of the Land, gathering them from the different countries and nations (Sura 17:104).

Now, if the above is true, then what are The Palestinians living on that land supposed to do? Fight them or share the land with them in view of Allah's promise?

Thanks.

Mubashir

Salam ...

Today when I went for Jummah Salah

The Imam said:

1. Allah tested Ibrahim (AS) with respect to sacrifthe sacrfice of his son. Why does Allah need to test anybody? Does He not know the future as well the present as well as the past?

[Should not the proper way of putting is Allah was making Ibrahim to test his faith against what he (Ibrahim) claimed to believe?]

2. In memory of that incident of sacrifice, Muslims all over the world MUST offer an animal for sacrifice. Not just those at Hajj. [Is this true?] The Imam also said that based on a hadith, when a Muslim sacrfices an animal the amount of sins washed away are equal to the hair in his body!!

3. We celeberate Eid because to pariticpate in the joy of the Hajis who complete this obligation and the fact that all their sins are washed off (per hadees) and they come back as newborn babies. Meat must be distributed in three portions. One for relatives, One for the poor, One for (I forgot who!). What is the point of sending meat to our relatives who are participating in the Qurbani and sending meat to our house anyway? Should not all the meat be given to those in need starting with relatives who cannot afford a sacrifice and then to those in need (like a food bank?).

[If the purpose of Qurbani is to sacrifice something for Allah why not, in this day and age, donate money in His cause?]

Regards,

Mubashir

"With respect to the term Muslim, there are some scholars who say that anybody who believes in peaceful existence, is a Muslm (regardless of faith for which Allah alone is the judge)"

Mubashir

Dear Brother,

Salam

Could you please explain what the proper translation of 29:45 should be? Does Salat forbids, restrains, prohibits, prevents OR stops shameful and bad deeds?

The reason I am asking it that there is a difference between the terms used by translators below. Compared to other terms used, "stops" is totally different; It implied that a person who regularly performs salat does not engage in fuwahishaat and Munkar.

Taken to wider meaning of the term Salaat (establishing a system) "Stops" makes sense as in an Islamic state steps are taken by law enforcing authorities to stop people from engaging in objectionable behavior.

Thanks.

Mubashir

[SURAH 17 : BANI ISR'AEL]

Dear Br Joe Salaam

Thanks for sending the links below and particularly the Aqsa article.

Parwez and a few other scholars attribute Masjid Aqsa (farthest mosque) to be in Medina and not Jerusalem. Before the Apostle immigrated to Medina there was a budding Muslim community and regular prayers were being held there at a designated place. We also find that then and later on that Masjid and it's environs were blessed by Allah.

Parwez's Exposition can be read here: http://www.tolueislam.com/Parwez/expo/exposition.htm:


SURAH 17 : BANI ISR'AEL

(1) (The atmosphere in Makkah had become unbearable for the Jama'at-ul-Momineen and there was a little hope that the message of Islam would be accepted by those who had not only rejected it but planned to kill the Rasool.) Limitless glory to Allah who moved his devotee one night from the sacred mosque (of Makkah) to the farthest mosque (in Madina - where atmosphere was much more conducive) and its environs We had blessed. The purpose of the migration was that the promises made by Allah with him in Makkah should be fulfilled. Most certainly Allah is all Hearing and All-Seeing (20/23). (Therefore every decision of His is based on Knowledge and Wisdom.)

(2) (Hijra is not a new phenomenon. It was part of the programme of almost all the Rusul. It played an especially prominent part in the case of Moses.) Moses was given the book for the guidance of the Bani-Isr'ael enjoining them not to take for guidance, any one but Allah.
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Wonder if you ever thought in these terms as well? We all well know according to the Hadees story the Apostle went there and led Salaat of all the previous messengers and then went up to meet Allah. However this does not makes sense as in those days there was no masjid or temple there. The place was in ruins !!

On another note when we read this Sura (17) we find Allah promised to bring the children of Israel back to their promised land (which they had lost due to their misdeeds). If this is true and we did find them coming back over there in 1947 despite all odds and heavy opposition they were able to establish a foothold back in that land, then a question that arises is what are Palestinians supposed to do whose lands the Jews took over? Should they have accommodated them on basis of this Prophecy? Was/is it right for them to oppose them politically, religiously and militarily? Wonder what are your views on this point?

I am reading an Urdu article that seems to suggest that Qibla Awwal was always the Sacred House in Mecca and not the temple in Jerusalem. The verse that deals the "fools" commenting over why were the Muslims turning towards Mecca to pray actually refers to a question asked by the Jews, says the writer. He says it were the Jews and their sympathisers and others non believers  who wanted to know why the Muslims pray towards the Sacred House in Mecca when the established Qibla (according to their understanding) was in Jerusalem?. I have not read the entire article yet but the writer has given ample proofs from the Qur'an to claim that the First House that was established to represent One God by Abraham was in Mecca and never in Jerusalem. He wants to know why the Jews changed it from Mecca to Jerusalem? With respect to the verse in Qur'an where we read  Allah was letting the Apostle know that He noticed Muhammad (PBUH) turning his face to the sky and that soon He would fulfil his desire,  was, according to the rider, the Apostle's wish to have jurisdiction over Mecca and not (as alleded) that he wished to turn his direction of prayer from Jerusalem to Mecca. He was already praying towards Mecca!


Regards,

Mubashir 

Dear Brother Joe, Salaam

I think those trying to question the traditional definition of different rituals in Islam and particularly Salaat seem to be influenced by it's emphasis in the Qur'an verses what they see in their societies where the objectives of these rituals are failing to give them decent life.

I wonder if you have written or thinking of writing an article to explain why rituals are not helping the Ummah not only in this day and age but over the past many hundreds of years of Muslim decline?

Here is food for thought:

[A litmus test for a society to see that their dedication to religion is working or not is to see how people behave.]

Right now in Muslim countries, the situation of human rights, justice for the poor, good governance, is really pathetic and does not suit people who live and die by Qur'an and Hadith/Sunnah. Little they wonder in spite of all their rituals, why their countries suffer from:

-Bad governance

- Corruption, nepotism, discrimination based on ethnicity, bribery, favoritism
- Lack of affordable education
- Lack of affordable health care
- Lack of affordable housing
- Lack of employment opportunities
- Lack of clean streets and drinking water
- Women bashing justified by questionable interpretation of religion
- Lack of respect for those visiting government institutions to get things done
- Child molestation
- Child marriages
- Feudal lords
- Tribalism
- Honour killings
- It is not what you know, who you know syndrome
- Superstition and asking favours from long dead saints
- Lack of tolerance and aversion to healthy debates
- Lack of discipline and aversion to following regulations
- No rule of Law
- Obscurantism and sectarianism runs supreme. Extremism is taken as true faith.
- Lack of affordable justice
- Showing off and tendency to 'œthrow one's weight around'
- Lack of common courtesy
-Lack of contribution towards ethics, science and technology
-Treating minorities like trash and hoping they would be influenced by Islam

As patients belonging to a sick Ummah, we need to sit up and ask the doctors of religion what are they feeding us in the name of a cure? It is not working for hundreds of years!! We need to examine the medicine to make sure it is the right one.

That is, as a thinking people, our responsibility.

Thanks,

Mubashir