Inspired by the Quran

بِسْمِ اللَّهِ الرَّحْمَٰنِ الرَّحِيمِ ب + اسم >>>    In the name The word ism with root letters و م   س means a sign. Our names are signs that point to us. Names form our identity. Interestingly, the word Bismi – doesn’t say anything about starting something. It simply says – “in the name of…” There is also no mention of any particular action like reading the Quran, eating etc. Allah ﷻ just made it simple and left it as “bismillahi…” This makes it comprehensive. We can say Basmalah anytime and for any good action in which we are seeking the blessings of Allah ﷻ. It will be meaningful in every time and situation. The word الله is the special name of Allah ﷻ Ar-Rahman and Ar-Raheem are the two attributes of Allah ﷻ. Raham refers to the inner lining of a mother’s uterus which cares for all needs of the child during pregnancy. The words that rightly come to our mind when we hear the word Rahma are love, protection, constantly caressing, caring...

Imagine if someone calls us and says that I will attack you as soon as you step out of your home. They promise it and are always lurking by the corner of the street to attack us. What will be our reaction? Won't we get some security established for ourselves and our dear ones? Quran teaches us who our enemy is and teaches us how to secure ourselves from our enemy. Allah ﷻ says in Surah An-Nahl 16:98, فَإِذَا قَرَأْتَ الْقُرْآنَ فَاسْتَعِذْ بِاللَّهِ مِنَ الشَّيْطَانِ الرَّجِيمِ So when you recite the Qur'an, [first] seek refuge in Allah from Satan, the expelled [from His mercy]. Ta’awwudh (or Isteaadha) is a simple but powerful tool through which we ask Allah ﷻ to protect us from shaytaan. Shaytaan is our biggest and most dangerous enemy. He has huge experience in making people sin right from the time of Adam AS. Moreover, shaytaan has promised Allah ﷻ that he is going to attack us human beings from left, right, front and back. When shaytaan makes the duniya so...

The literal meaning of tafseer in the Arabic language is “to open” or to explain, interpret or comment. A tafseer is a human attempt to understand the Quran given the evidence of language, history, context, prophetic sayings, comparative analysis etc. Allah’s knowledge is perfect and human knowledge is not. Tafseer is a branch of knowledge in which the meaning of the Quran is explained and its injunctions and wisdoms are described openly and clearly to the best of the author’s knowledge and ability. Allah ﷻ addresses the holy prophet ﷺ in the Quran and says in Surah An-Nahl 16:44, بِالْبَيِّنَاتِ وَالزُّبُرِ ۗ وَأَنزَلْنَا إِلَيْكَ الذِّكْرَ لِتُبَيِّنَ لِلنَّاسِ مَا نُزِّلَ إِلَيْهِمْ وَلَعَلَّهُمْ يَتَفَكَّرُونَ [We sent them] with clear proofs and written ordinances. And We revealed to you the message that you may make clear to the people what was sent down to them and that they might give thought. Allah ﷻ says in Surah Al-Imran 3:164, لَقَدْ مَنَّ اللَّهُ عَلَى الْمُؤْ...

A Surah is commonly translated as a Chapter, but it is way more than that. Neil Robinson writes in his book, Discovering the Quran: A Contemporary Approach to a Veiled text, “The difference between surahs and chapters was put succinctly by the eighteenth century Indian theologian Shah Wali-Allah of Delhi, when he wrote that the Quran should not be thought of as a book arranged in chapters and dealing with subject systematically, but rather as a collection of epistles by a king, each written for his subjects according to the requirements of the situation. The comparison of surahs with epistles (a letter, message or communication) is a highly suggestive one… We shall see later that it apparently throws light on the order in which the surahs occur. In addition, it helps to prepare the reader for many of the themes and motifs to be repeated in surah after surah, but with subtle modifications to fit the different circumstances of the recipients of the message.” Each surah contains a d...

Allah ﷻ says in Surah Jathiya 47:6, تِلْكَ آيَاتُ اللَّهِ نَتْلُوهَا عَلَيْكَ بِالْحَقِّ ۖ فَبِأَيِّ حَدِيثٍ بَعْدَ اللَّهِ وَآيَاتِهِ يُؤْمِنُونَ These are the verses of Allah which We recite to you in truth. Then in what statement after Allah and His verses will they believe? Quran has no dots or commas. Its smallest individual part or unit is separated as an Ayah (plural ayaat). Quran refers to itself as well as previous revelations as a collection of ayaat. For example, Quran refers to its own ayaat in Surah Al-Anfal 8:2, إِنَّمَا الْمُؤْمِنُونَ الَّذِينَ إِذَا ذُكِرَ اللَّهُ وَجِلَتْ قُلُوبُهُمْ وَإِذَا تُلِيَتْ عَلَيْهِمْ آيَاتُهُ زَادَتْهُمْ إِيمَانًا وَعَلَىٰ رَبِّهِمْ يَتَوَكَّلُونَ The believers are only those who, when Allah is mentioned, their hearts become fearful, and when His verses are recited to them, it increases them in faith; and upon their Lord they rely There is a reference to ayaat of previous revelation in Surah Al-Qasas 28:45, وَلَٰكِنَّا أَنشَأْ...

Every book contains smaller units of composition such as chapters, which can be further divided into sections, paragraphs or sentences. This depends greatly on the genre and content of the book. There are no dots or commas in the Quran. Its smallest unit is separated as an ayah , plural ayaat (commonly known as a verse, more details in another post). The Quran contains 114 compositions of varying sizes, which it refers to with a unique term – Surah (commonly referred as chapter, more details in another post). The Quran contains 114 Surahs. Each Surah (chapter) contains a certain number of ayaat (verses). The order of the ayaat, order of the Surahs, and the names of the Surahs all were revealed along with the text of the Quran and they have been preserved without any changes, addition or deletion. For the ease of recitation and memorization, several other divisions were later introduced. These divisions are used by readers of the Quran to complete a reading of a whole Quran in ...

Various reasons have been advanced for giving it the name Quran. And only Allah ﷻ knows best. The conventional definition of “Quran” has been made in the following words: “The words of Allah that were revealed to His Messenger ﷺ, written in Books and narrated continuously from him without any doubt.” (Reference: at-Talweeh aaal-Tawdeeh, v1, p26, printed at Mustafa Press albabi, Egypt) The word Quran is made of the Arabic letters: ق ر ا ن There are two ways that the word Quran has been interpreted by our scholars. One is with the root letters ق ر ن and the other is with the root letters ق ر ا. If we go with ق ر ن, the word becomes: Qarana, which means to flow. This tells us that the Quran has a flow. A flow cannot be achieved by dropping one line only. There needs to be one line after another, after another to create a flow. Speech can be properly understood when we recognize how its components have been organized. How parts of it correspond to other parts of it. If we take onl...

Allah ﷻ has sent human beings into this world as a matter of test, and in a return of this obligation, the rest of the creation has been placed at our service. We must now do two things:  Make the best of this world and the things created in it Keep the injunctions of Allah ﷻ in sight while using the world to our advantage and do nothing that goes against His pleasure For these two functions, we need proper knowledge. There are three means by which we receive this knowledge:  Our senses (eyes, ears, nose, mouth, hands, feet, etc.): Knowledge gained through what we see, hear, experience etc.   Our mind and reasoning : For example, science, art, history, etc.  The Wahy’ : The knowledge of things that we cannot get from our senses or mind and reasoning are bestowed upon us through wahy’. This includes knowledge of things like what manner of action will please Allah ﷻ and what will displease Him.  Importance of Wahy’ Any person who be...