Inspired by the Quran

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...

أعوذ بالله من الشيطان الرجيم بِسْمِ اللَّهِ الرَّحْمَٰنِ الرَّحِيمِ Nowadays, there is a lot of trend of reminders. Sometimes we put alarms, sometimes we put reminders on our phones and digital assistants. What is a reminder? A reminder is to remind of something important that has been forgotten. God tells us that this Quran is a reminder for all of us... Allah ﷻ says in Surah Sad 38:87, إِنْ هُوَ إِلَّا ذِكْرٌ لِّلْعَالَمِينَ It is but a reminder to the worlds. In this ayah, Allah ﷻ tells us that this Quran is a reminder for every human being in this world. Before we came into this world, Allah ﷻ took a pledge from all of us. He asked us who will we consider our Master, our God, our Rabb. All of us attested that we will worship You as our Master, our God, and our Rabb. Your word will be the most important to us. We will obey You. Every child is born with this knowledge of Allah. Isa AS (Jesus) spoke about this as a child. But all of us are born with this knowledg...

There are three important things that we need to know about the Quran: 1. Quran is the word of God  Allah ﷻ says in Surah At-Tawbah 9:6, وَإِنْ أَحَدٌ مِّنَ الْمُشْرِكِينَ اسْتَجَارَكَ فَأَجِرْهُ حَتَّىٰ يَسْمَعَ كَلَامَ اللَّهِ ثُمَّ أَبْلِغْهُ مَأْمَنَهُ ۚ ذَٰلِكَ بِأَنَّهُمْ قَوْمٌ لَّا يَعْلَمُونَ And if any one of the polytheists seeks your protection, then grant him protection so that he may hear the words of Allah . Then deliver him to his place of safety. That is because they are a people who do not know. Torah came in the written form but Quran is the word of God.  It was spoken by Allah ﷻ to Jibreel AS (Archangel Gabriel) who spoke it to the prophet ﷺ who spoke it his companions RA. A word, a speech can never be separated from the speaker. Even today, to benefit from the Quran, we need to listen to it.  2. Quran came down from the heavens Quran came down to our beloved prophet ﷺ. He conveyed it to us as is and did not make any change or ...

In this life, we do not even open a fridge or go to the restroom without purpose. How can it be that we are in this world without any purpose? Allah ﷻ says in Surah Al-Mu’minun 23:115, أَفَحَسِبْتُمْ أَنَّمَا خَلَقْنَاكُمْ عَبَثًا وَأَنَّكُمْ إِلَيْنَا لَا تُرْجَعُونَ Then did you think that We created you uselessly and that to Us you would not be returned?" There are two days that are very important in our lives: When we are born When we understand why we were born This book - the Quran teaches us why we were born. It teaches us to love our Rabb, it teaches us how to talk to our Rabb. It tells us who our Rabb is. It is the path that takes us out from darkness into light. It tells us our purpose... Our purpose is to find our way back to jannah (Paradise) from which our parents - Adam AS and Hawwa RA were sent away. The verses of the Quran are called - ayaat (or miraculous signs). Just like we follow the road signs to walk or travel and reach our destination, Q...