Tuesday, June 6, 2017
Let Us Get Back To Basic.........al Fatihah Revisited
[ http://tafseerkoran.blogspot.my/2012/09/surah-al-fatiha-1-1-7.html ]
friends , dato, and tansri,
before we move on from surah ya seen to surah as saffat, let us get back to basic.
let us revisit surah al fatihah.
for some of us who have taken this journey together with me since sept 9th , 2012, we have covered roughly about two third of the qur'an to-date.
that is a long journey indeed.
i started this tafseerblog just shortly before that, inspired by muhammad asad aka leopold weiss. at the turn of the 20th century, leopold weiss, of jewish origin from krakow, poland, as a young man in his early 20's, was 'implanted' in the middle east by a german newspaper to report back the goings on in the muslim heartland.
but mashaallah!
man plan but Allah directs!
leopold weiss went on to become the most significant and substantive european muslim of his time. in the process he translated and explained an english version of the qur'an, '' the message of the qur'an ''.
my own personal qur'anic journey started in my early thirties. bow-tied, with a slight english twang occasionally juxtaposed with an unmistakable 'budu' accent, i was just back from london when, i was given the responsibility to be in charge of a large medical contingent looking after the health of 30,000 malaysian muslim pilgrims at haj of 1985.
even at that age , a recalcitrant ' young dr nik already decided in his mind that he was not going to be 'blinkered' by the limited world view of one or two ustaz', so despite my scant knowledge of the 'ugama', i foraged through hamka's voluminous 'tafsir al azhar', all 7,000 pages of it's 10 volumes, in a period of 6 months!
that was the beginning of what i would term as the 'permanent head damage'.
hamka, in this nusantara, i must concede , was very much under-rated.
hardly anyone reads him now.
his tafseer is brilliant.
i know.
over the years , i have gone through tafsir al azhar three time.
its contemporariness and relevance to the modern age, it's depth and breath, dealing with an ayat, beat the rather dry , rather military nuance of ibnu katsir or the 'tafseer by committee' one get from going through say 'tafseer ar rahman'.
then in the 90's came internet and the proliferation of daie like nouman ali khan, hamza yusuf, ahmad israr, suhaib webb, abu talha, ustaz latifi al patani etc and etc.
....and now we have 'whats app'.
marry all of these shaykhs and ustad together to the internet, and spiced them with 'whats app' we get a 'high octane ' combustible mix' free for international da'awah at my fingertip......... my love affair with tafseer has gone 'global under one roof'!
i have people reading this tafseer now right from alaska to vladivostok , form tokyo to dunedin , nz!.......at no cost , just my time.
alhamdullillah.
..............................
in surah al fatihah, unlike the longer surah, we are really spoilt for choice.
we have more than 3 dozen choices actually.
all good contemporary commentaries.
here, i limit it to only four.
if you are the type who keep up with contemporary politics and also a fan of sayyid qutb, i would recommend shaykh abu talha for you.
if you understand 'french' and like politics, and can put yourself in the position of a simple man from kota bharu, tuan guru nik aziz bring back happy memories of what we are missing most in our national political landscape at present.
if you are young, ustad nouman ali khan is definitely for you.
i love contemporary politics or rather i keep up with contemporary politics.
and i love sayyid qutb perspective of the qur'an .
i like his honesty and bravery in the face of grave danger and inequities of his time.
therefore after listening to all the four available here , i am biased towards listening to shaykh abu talha.......he seemed to have the right 'controlled anger', and the right dose of acceptance/ridha.
that is what i feel we muslims have to be in the present world climate.
'controlled anger' and the right dose of ridha .
that climax and perception one gest when one reaches his exposition on 'waladdho lin...', if you guys have the stamina to reach there.
i doubt that many will do.
the question time is also excellent.
listen
and when you guys finish listening to shaykh abu talha or to tok guru nik aziz or nouman ali khan, venture into my personal journey on the aspect of 'death' in 'just visiting part 2 '
dr nik isahak
[ http://drnikisahak.blogspot.my/2017/01/just-visiting-part-2.html ]
Monday, June 5, 2017
Surah Ya Seen.........Epilogue
[ final commentary by ustad nouman ali khan ]
friends, dato and tansri,
you may be oxbridge, harvard , yale or just university malaya.
you may have powerful prefix in front of your name, or long post -fixes, al haj, phd's and md's.
but if you think life is all there is, without final accountability, you are in for a huge spot of trouble , my friend.
.....Who will revive these bones when they have rotted away? (78) Say: He will revive them Who produced them at the first, for He is Knower of every creation, (79) Who hath appointed for you fire from the green tree, and behold! ye kindle from it. (80) Is not He Who created the heavens and the earth Able to create the like of them? Aye, that He is! for He is the All-Wise Creator, (81) But His command, when He intendeth a thing, is only that he saith unto it: Be! and it is. (82) Therefor glory be to Him in Whose hand is the dominion over all things! Unto Him ye will be brought back. (83)
[ translation by pickthal ]
Friday, June 2, 2017
Surah Ya Seen..........ayat 45 to ayat 54
friends, dato and tansri,
When it is said unto them: Beware of that which is before you and that which is behind you, that haply ye may find mercy (they are heedless). (45) Never came a token of the tokens of their Lord to them, but they did turn away from it! (46) And when it is said unto them: Spend of that wherewith Allah hath provided you, those who disbelieve say unto those who believe: Shall we feed those whom Allah, if He willed, would feed? Ye are in naught else than error manifest. (47) And they say: When will this promise be fulfilled, if ye are truthful? (48) They await but one Shout, which will surprise them while they are disputing. (49) Then they cannot make bequest, nor can they return to their own folk. (50) And the trumpet is blown and lo! from the graves they hie unto their Lord, (51) Crying: Woe upon us! Who hath raised us from our place of sleep? This is that which the Beneficent did promise, and the messengers spoke truth. (52) It is but one Shout, and behold them brought together before Us! (53) This day no soul is wronged in aught; nor are ye requited aught save what ye used to do. (54)
[ translated by pickthal ]
oh no!.....omg!
dr nik
.............this is an old discourse, but karen's perspective of islam is excellent
she was asked in pakistan ,..." where are the moderate westerners? "
Thursday, June 1, 2017
Surah Ya Seen.....ayat 33 to ayat 44
[ recitation , full surah, by shaykh mishary rashid al afasy ]
friends , dato and tansri,
a friend asked me the other day, 'what are the best activities to do in ramadan?'.
off the cuff i told him, ' most probably, in my relative ignorance , a trinity of astagfirullah; selawat on the nabi with its many variation [...that reminded me my usa shaykh handed me 40 pages of various variation of selawat on the nabi for my weekly wirid, but i am still stuck to just the shortest and easiest!.....my limited 'neurons' cannot take more than the shortest and the easiest... ]; and the qur'an with tadabbur and understanding, ramadan being the month of celebration of the qu'ran.
i was obviously off the mark!
this morning in a post subuh tazkirah, our group was reading 'fadilat amal', related to amal in ramadan.
'fadilat amal' is one of two voluminous standard text written specifically for tabligh groups in asia, authored by shaykh al kandalawi of india.
we are no tabligh. just a group of recalcitrant 'oldies', with no definitive tok gurus, suddenly interested in our ugama in our ripe old age!
our homes are saying goodbye to us , slowly, slowly....and the graves are calling.
in a well known hadith , nabi [pbuh] was asked a question in a similar vein by a badwi sahabat.
his answer was:
lots of astagfirullah
lots of 'laila haillallah' and its variations.
lots of doa for jannah
....and lots of doa for freedom from hell.
mashaallah, allahualam.
A token unto them is the dead earth. We revive it, and We bring forth from it grain so that they eat thereof; (33) And We have placed therein gardens of the date-palm and grapes, and We have caused springs of water to gush forth therein, (34) That they may eat of the fruit thereof, and their hands made it not. Will they not, then, give thanks? (35) Glory be to Him Who created all the sexual pairs, of that which the earth groweth, and of themselves, and of that which they know not! (36) A token unto them is night. We strip it of the day, and lo! they are in darkness. (37) And the sun runneth on unto a resting-place for him. That is the measuring of the Mighty, the Wise. (38) And for the moon We have appointed mansions till she return like an old shrivelled palm-leaf. (39) It is not for the sun to overtake the moon, nor doth the night outstrip the day. They float each in an orbit. (40) And a token unto them is that We bear their offspring in the laden ship, (41) And have created for them of the like thereof whereon they ride. (42) And if We will, We drown them, and there is no help for them, neither can they be saved; (43) Unless by mercy from Us and as comfort for a while. (44)
[ translation by pickthal ]
dr nik
[ commentary part 9 ]
.........we, pathetic souls!
Wednesday, May 31, 2017
Surah Ya Seen......ayat 21 to ayat 32
friends, dato and tansri,
"at the micro level you can practice islam 200 %. do it within your own four walls...even upside down if you like.....
but at the macro level, if you cannot collectively accept lgbt and gay right marriages; felt inclined to introduce hudud, hijab etc and etc...or planning to govern yourselves by syariah etc etc and etc even if you are 90 % muslim predominant country;........we will label you; we will incarcerate you; and at worse we will get security council to give us clearance to bomb and invade you!......in the mean time if you must insist not to follow us, we will spread misinformation about you; we will 'label' and 'talibanized ' you; and occasionally we will drone you to oblivion!..or at minimum, declare you to the whole wide world that you are a pariah state!.
if we cannot do it the legal way , we will do it the illegal way.
we will arm your rebels. we will initiate no-fly zones in your own country.
we will sow seeds of discords, discontent and dissension amongst subsection of your populace to cause popular uprising.
we will arm the 'right rebels' [.... if we arm the wrong rebels, we get syria!....]
we will arm the 'right rebels' [.... if we arm the wrong rebels, we get syria!....]
we will carpet bomb your country and hang your leaders!"
this is the prevailing sentiment and predominant world view going on in the world today.
Follow those who ask of you no fee, and who are rightly guided. (21) For what cause should I not serve Him Who hath created me, and unto Whom ye will be brought back? (22) Shall I take (other) gods in place of Him when, if the Beneficent should wish me any harm, their intercession will avail me naught, nor can they save? (23) Then truly I should be in error manifest. (24) Lo! I have believed in your Lord, so hear me! (25) It was said (unto him): Enter paradise. He said: Would that my people knew (26) With what (munificence) my Lord hath pardoned me and made me of the honoured ones! (27) We sent not down against his people after him a host from heaven, nor do We ever send. (28) It was but one Shout, and lo! they were extinct. (29) Ah, the anguish for the bondmen! Never came there unto them a messenger but they did mock him! (30) Have they not seen how many generations We destroyed before them, which indeed returned not unto them; (31) But all, without exception, will be brought before Us. (32)
It was said (unto him): Enter paradise. He said: Would that my people knew (26) With what (munificence) my Lord hath pardoned me and made me of the honoured ones! (27)
the conclusion of the above epic qur'anic saga, told and retold many million times over up toth this millenium,' that young man from the outskirt of the town ' was 'droned' [ slaughtered, stoned to death or beheaded, whichever was fashionable according to his time....some say the place was modern day antioch, in present day syria, allahualam. ].
he did not 'die'.
death is just a transition for want of a better term.
a veil.
he entered jannah!
individuals like him don't die.
there is a present day story as epic as the above, presenting at all ages, if you care to read and decipher history with a qur'anic perspective:
It was said (unto him): Enter paradise. He said: Would that my people knew (26) With what (munificence) my Lord hath pardoned me and made me of the honoured ones! (27)
the conclusion of the above epic qur'anic saga, told and retold many million times over up toth this millenium,' that young man from the outskirt of the town ' was 'droned' [ slaughtered, stoned to death or beheaded, whichever was fashionable according to his time....some say the place was modern day antioch, in present day syria, allahualam. ].
he did not 'die'.
death is just a transition for want of a better term.
a veil.
he entered jannah!
individuals like him don't die.
there is a present day story as epic as the above, presenting at all ages, if you care to read and decipher history with a qur'anic perspective:
[ a voice from the grave....... a grand tour of jannah ]
dr nik
Monday, May 29, 2017
Surah Ya Seen........ayat 13 to ayat 21
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=If3uGVcixAE
[ recitation by qari ziyad patel, south africa ]
[ commentary by ustad nouman ali khan, part 4 ]
[ part 5 ]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KJW55LhDWJQ
[ part 6 ]
Coin for them a similitude: The people of the city when those sent (from Allah) came unto them; (13) When We sent unto them twain, and they denied them both, so We reinforced them with a third, and they said: Lo! we have been sent unto you. (14) They said: Ye are but mortals like unto us. The Beneficent hath naught revealed. Ye do but lie! (15) They answered: Our Lord knoweth that we are indeed sent unto you, (16) And our duty is but plain conveyance (of the message). (17) (The people of the city) said: We augur ill of you. If ye desist not, we shall surely stone you, and grievous torture will befall you at our hands. (18) They said: Your evil augury be with you! Is it because ye are reminded (of the truth)? Nay, but ye are froward folk! (19) And there came from the uttermost part of the city a man running. He cried: O my people! Follow those who have been sent! (20) Follow those who ask of you no fee, and who are rightly guided. (21)
[ translation by pickthal ]
eight years ago in 'pearls & gem' i wrote that in america and europe ' , there will come a time when those who pray five times a day at the mosque; or keep long beards beyond certain centimetres; etc etc ; will have their names and addresses in some supercomputers as they form some basis related to 'stereotyping'......they are potentially 'dangerous' characters!..... terror suspects!
today it is a reality.
islam is the 21st century bogeyman.
....he is the one from the uttermost part of the city who come running. He cried: O my people! Follow those who have been sent! (20) Follow those who ask of you no fee, and who are rightly guided. (21)
he needs to be exterminated like vermin... !
Beautified is the life of the world for those who disbelieve; they make a jest of the believers. But those who keep their duty to Allah will be above them on the Day of Resurrection. Allah giveth without stint to whom He will. [ 2 : 212 ]
...and lest we go off with the wrong notion that jannah is already reserve for us, let us ponder just 2 ayat proceeding from the previous one,
Or think ye that ye will enter paradise while yet there hath not come unto you the like of (that which came to) those who passed away before you? Affliction and adversity befell them, they were shaken as with earthquake, till the messenger (of Allah) and those who believed along with him said: When cometh Allah's help? Now surely Allah's help is nigh. ( 2 : 214)
there is no free ticket.
life is a struggle.
and if you are a purveyor of truth, it is an uphill one.
dr nik
Saturday, May 27, 2017
Surah Ya Seen..........ayat 3 to ayat 12
[ recitation: ayat 1 to ayat 12 ]
In the name of Allah, the Beneficent, the Merciful
Ya Sin. (1) By the wise Qur'an, (2) Lo! thou art of those sent (3) On a straight path, (4) A revelation of the Mighty, the Merciful, (5) That thou mayst warn a folk whose fathers were not warned, so they are heedless. (6) Already hath the word proved true of most of them, for they believe not. (7) Lo! We have put on their necks carcans reaching unto the chins, so that they are made stiff-necked. (8) And We have set a bar before them and a bar behind them, and (thus) have covered them so that they see not. (9) Whether thou warn them or thou warn them not, it is alike for them, for they believe not. (10) Thou warnest only him who followeth the Reminder and feareth the Beneficent in secret. To him bear tidings of forgiveness and a rich reward. (11) Lo! We it is Who bring the dead to life. We record that which they send before (them), and their footprints. And all things We have kept in a clear Register. (12)
[ commentary by ustad nouman ali khan , part 2 ]
[ commentary, part 3 ]
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