Ramadan 2:187

EXPLANATION & INTERPRETATION OF 2:187 - NOT A TRANSLATION

2:187 - The solution / remedy / cure for us is within us, we need to control /stop (al-siyaam) during periods of uneasiness / anxiety (lail). Self-restraint (al-ṣiyām) represents a state of conscious resistance — an inner struggle against our impulsive urges. The struggle to control / stop (al-siyaam) our strong urges from dominating us looks abusive or obscene to the impulsive urges (rafath toward nisa’). Our irresistible uncontrolled urges (nisa) actually represent us as our own garments (libās) represents us, just as we serve as a garment for them: they cover, shape, and influence our inner world, and we in turn sustain them.

The Divine Conscience (Allah) knows that we sometimes suppress or burden our psyche (nafs). Therefore, He turns us back towards balance and transforms our state. So now, we can approach our impulses with awareness (bāshirūhunna), ensuring that they do not dominate or obstruct our growth. Instead, seek what has been inscribed (kataba) for us by the Divine Conscience.

Engaging our intellect with curiosity (kulu) and imbibe internalize wisdom (ashrabu) until clarity emerges is like the white thread becoming distinctly visible from the black thread at the break of dawn (al-fajr), symbolizing breakthrough (fajr) understanding.

Then continue in disciplined restraint (al-ṣiyām) for as long as the period of inner turbulence persists. Refrain from indulgence while we dedicate our-self to a state of humility and surrender (al-masjid) — a condition of egolessness.

These are the highest principles through which one may comprehend the working of Divine Conscience. Do not approach our impulses carelessly. In this way, the Divine system makes its signs clear to restless and agitated minds (nās), so that they may continually strive to return to the original state of God-consciousness (taqwā).

More Close To The Original Arabic Script - 2:187

In the darkness of inner anxiety (lail), the seeker is not forbidden from seeking ease, expansion, and gentle resolution. For the path is not denial, but awakening. Yet abstinence (al-ṣiyām) in its deeper reality is not abstinence from food or drink- it is a metaphysical resistance: a conscious struggle against the pull of compulsive / abusive urges (rafath toward nisa’), the inclinations that draw the soul outward into dispersion.

These impulses represent our personality, that’s why they are described as a garment (libās) for you, and you are a garment for them. A garment conceal and also represents your personality So too do desires: they clothe the ego, give it texture, identity, and warmth. Yet you also sustain them through attention and identification. What you feed, lives.

The Divine Conscience — Allah — knows when the seeker oppresses his own psyche (nafs) through excess severity or unconscious repression. Therefore He turns toward him in mercy, rebalancing his interior world, transforming constriction into awareness. Spiritual discipline is not self-violence; it is refinement.

Thus, “approach them” (bāshirūhunna) does not mean blind indulgence, but conscious encounter with your abusive urges (rafath toward nisa’  - Let not your impulses become tyrants over your heart. Rather, seek what has been inscribed (kataba) for you in the hidden architecture of your being - the measure decreed by Divine Wisdom.

“Eat” (kulu) with intellectual hunger; “drink” (ashrabu) from insight. Absorb understanding until discernment dawns within you — like the white thread becoming clearly distinguished from the black thread at the breaking of dawn (al-fajr). This dawn is not merely temporal; it is the moment of inner unveiling, when confusion yields to clarity.

Then complete the fast, that is to sustain your inward restraint - as long as the phase of anxiety / agitation remains. Refrain from surrendering to lower impulses while you abide in the inner sanctuary (al-masjid), which in its inward meaning is the station of prostration: the zero-point of ego, where the self bends and only humility stands.

These boundaries are not restrictions but sacred geometries of the soul. Do not draw near to your urges (nisa) without awareness, for heedlessness reawakens dispersion. In this way, the Divine Order makes its signs clear to restless human mind (nās), so that they may return again and again to their primordial state of God-consciousness (taqwā) - the remembrance of their origin before the fragmentation of desire.

Sufi Dilemma

As a non sufi observer , since very long, I’ve been reflecting on why Sufism is spoken as completely separate from Quran and Islam. Increasingly, it’s framed—especially in Western and Wahabi discourse—as a kind of standalone, “universal” mysticism, detached from Islamic roots. 

But for this misunderstanding Sufis are equally to be blamed. They often portray themselves to be different from main stream Islam and they take pride by recognising themselves as Sufis rather than Muslim.

Historically and spiritually, that portrayal is misleading. Sufism is not a pariah to Islam on the contrary it is its inward depth—the unfolding of its heart. It does not sit beside the faith as an optional path; it flowers from within it.

www.ahleaqal.com

QURANIC ESSENCE OF SHAJAR

QURANIC ESSENCE OF SHAJAR

2:35 - وَقُلْنَا يَا آدَمُ اسْكُنْ أَنتَ وَزَوْجُكَ الْجَنَّةَ وَكُلاَ مِنْهَا رَغَداً حَيْثُ شِئْتُمَا وَلاَ تَقْرَبَا هَـذِهِ الشَّجَرَةَ فَتَكُونَا مِنَ الْظَّالِمِينَ

And We said, "O Mankind (آدَمُ ), calm down / remain still (اسْكُنْ), you and your companion (زَوْجُكَ) is Al-Jannah, [the garden of hidden knowledge underneath which river of enlightenment flow is Al-Jannah, the real mate or companion of Adam] and both consume intelligence (كُلَا) from it abundantly (رَغَدًا) whenever you both desire. But do not come near such / differences / disputes (الشَّجَرَةَ), lest you be from the unjust [or in darkness]."

 كُلَا - second person dual imperative verb is a derivative of اكيل which also means intelligent, thoughtful it does not means eat or to devour, consume, enrich, nourishment in the context of the Quran as generally perceived by the traditionalist.

كُلُوا - Use intelligence - Actually it is a derivative of اكيل - which means intelligent and ميكائيل the source of intelligence who provides food for thought is also one of the derivative of اكل it also signifies something going into the body without chewing. Intelligence goes into the body without going through chewing process. the phrase رجل ذو اكل means a man possessing intelligence and judgement - please check Taj ul uroos and EWL lexicon page 72.

In the context of the book Quran it does not literally meaning eating through digestive system - لا تأكلوا أموالكم بينكم بالباطل” - Here أكل المال does not mean literally eating wealth -

Man is inseparable from whatever hidden knowledge he possess [Al-Jannah] - thus Al-Jannah is termed as inseparable companion; a definition of perfect pair - زَوْجُكَ also see 20:117 - without Jannah with him; man is in jahannum - without knowledge the life of man is Hell - therefore man cannot be separated from the knowledge he possessed. ZAUJ here is a masculine nominative noun, so how it can be termed as wife by the traditional translators, however the following sentence is making it very clear that Al-Jannah or the hidden garden of enlightenment is data storage device which is a 24x7 companion [ZAUJ / PAIR] of man. Al-Jannah is feminine noun - Man consumes intelligence from internal data storage device which he himself is both the serve and the consumer - it is a shared data of knowledge covered with guidance. Al-Jannah is the get-way to the state of bliss but if we gets embroiled in arguments, disputes, jealousy and hate then he/she loses Al-Jannah.

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                                   QURANIC ESSENCE OF SHAJAR

The author of the book Quran is addressing mankind to remain cool / stay calm (اسْكُنْ) and not to be divided as the entire knowledge we seek is stored within us. One only need to think deeply and it will come to him through his own internal script (Al-Kitab). Our eminent scholars have blindly copy pasted the biblical stories to the wonderful message of the book Quran.

To assign labels to oneself - whether of religion, nation, ideology, caste, or identity - is to move toward shajar, the branching multiplicity of existence. A branch, by its very nature, is a differentiation, a fragment, a particularization of the whole. When consciousness identifies with a branch, it begins to live as separation: I am this, therefore I am not that.

But the tree is prior to all branches. The tree is the unseen unity from which every branch emerges and through which each branch remains nourished. To forget the tree and cling to a branch is to mistake the part for the whole - to absolutize a relative form.

Thus, every label strengthens the illusion of multiplicity. It thickens the bark of separateness around the self, until the sap of shared being is no longer felt. One begins to defend the branch, compare branches, glorify branches - while the silent life of the tree flows equally through all.

Philosophically, this is the movement from essence to attribute, from being to form, from unity to differentiation. Metaphysically, it is the descent from the root into the periphery. Spiritually, it is exile from the living center into the geometry of identities.

To remain the tree is not to deny the branches - for branches are real as expressions - but to refuse confinement within any single branch. One lives as the trunk: grounded in the root, open to the sky, and inclusive of all differentiations without being reduced to any label.

In this sense, true self-knowledge is de-labeling. It is the return from shajar to أصل (root), from multiplicity to unity, from names to the nameless ground of being. 

2:185 — Interpretation: Ramadan Special

 2:185 — Interpretation: Ramadan Special

The state of shahr — a notable and conscious manifestation — of Ramadan signifies a period of intense inner heat and awakening. In this state, the articulated Expression that speaks -al-Quran is revealed: a living guidance for restless and unsettled minds, containing clear explanations (bayyinat) of that guidance and the Criterion (al-Furqan) by which truth is distinguished from confusion.

Whoever among you truly witnesses such an inner manifestation should practice sawm — self-restraint and practice disciplined control. But whoever feels deficient in understanding, or becomes overwhelmed and carried away by the intensity of the experience, may postpone this period of abstention to a later time. For Allah — the ordering principle of conscience — does not intend hardship for you, but ease and balance.

Therefore, complete the process of inner reckoning with integrity. Take full account of the guidance that has been granted to you. And make Allah (Conscience) Bigger — by allowing that guidance to become a lived reality within your mind and conduct — so that you may grow in gratitude.

LISTEN TO THE CALL OF ALLAH AND ITS RASUL - Verse 8:24

LISTEN TO THE CALL OF ALLAH AND ITS RASUL

TRANSLATION OF 8:24

يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُواْ اسْتَجِيبُواْ لِلّهِ وَلِلرَّسُولِ إِذَا دَعَاكُم لِمَا يُحْيِيكُمْ وَاعْلَمُواْ أَنَّ اللّهَ يَحُولُ بَيْنَ الْمَرْءِ وَقَلْبِهِ وَأَنَّهُ إِلَيْهِ تُحْشَرُونَ

O you, who have believed, respond to Allah and to the Messenger when he calls you to that which gives you life. And know that Allah intervenes between a man and his heart and that to Him you will be gathered - Traditional translation.

For a moment for the sake of understanding if we believe this above traditional translation to be true, then how are we going to listen the call of religious Allah and His mortal prophet Mohammad rasullah. 

Are we truly listening to the call of Allah and the call of His Rasul? Do we even recognize or understand where this call is coming from? They are calling us continuously; yet are we attentive enough to hear the call? Those who imagine Allah as distant invisible deity in the seventh heaven, and the Rasul as merely lying lifeless in the city of Saudi Arabia, will never perceive this call. Such a mindset renders the call inaudible. Reflect carefully upon the essence of the verse below:

8:24 - O you who believed! The response is only for Him (conscience) and for His voice (rasul), when you are called to what gives you perpetual life; and know that Allah continuously transmutes between the approved thoughts and its intellect (Qalb / Heart), and towards Him you (all thoughts) will be continuously drove / pushed / gathered - Ahleaqal's translation.

آمَنُواْ - Those who already believed and not addressed to those who are going to believe - 3rd person masculine plural (form IV) perfect verb - 

اسْتَجِيبُواْ - Respond, reply, answer - 2nd person masculine plural (form X) imperative verb

 لِلّهِ - exclusively for Him - prefixed preposition lām to the pronoun - Allah

و - waw does not separate but joins Allah and Rasul as one - 

لِلرَّسُولِ - P – prefixed preposition lām - for - linguistically rasul means utterance without haste, easy in pace, without raising voice but expressing consecutively - a message, utterances, recitation is also a voice which continuously hangs / descends, pendent. 

 يَحُولُ - continuously transmutes, keeps on adapting, switch, encompass - 3rd person masculine singular imperfect verb - ماحول relates to movement, change, environment and surroundings - La hawla here means there is no movement / adaptation wa quwwata means and no strength to do except with Allah -  لَا حَوْلَ وَلَا قُوَّةَ إِلَّا بِاللّٰهِ.

الْمَرْءِ - approved thoughts, wholesome thoughts - not man or woman as traditionally inferred.

قَلْبِهِ - His heart / intellect -  genitive feminine singular noun

تُحْشَرُونَ - continuously pushed, crammed, drove, gathered - 2nd person masculine plural passive imperfect verb

EXPLANATION OF 8:24

To hear the voice of conscience, the book Quran first requires self belief (imaan) that there is life and speech within the human being. The Quran repeatedly addresses the human not as an empty body, but as a being into whom ruh is breathed (نفخت فيه من روحي). This breathing is not merely biological animation; it is the implantation of an inner faculty that perceives, judges, commands and responds. Without acknowledging this inner life, the call of guidance remains unheard, just as the Quran says: “They have hearts with which they do not understand”-not because the heart is absent, but because it is treated as lifeless.

To be conscious of the voice of conscience (rasul), one must first acknowledge that conscience (Allah) is not a passive or imaginary faculty, but a living presence within every human being; one that speaks continuously, whether we attend to it or not. Disbelief (Kufr) in its vitality renders its voice inaudible. Just as sound cannot be heard without accepting the reality of hearing, the guidance of conscience cannot be perceived without recognizing that it is alive and active.

This inner voice (rasul) does not call us arbitrarily; it calls us toward everlasting life; a mode of living aligned with our inner script (Al-Kitab) and purpose. It invites us toward what is fitting, balanced, and life-giving, rather than what is merely impulsive or socially imposed. In this sense, conscience does not impose a foreign path; it reveals the path that is already designed for us to tread (siratal mustaqeem).

Conscience also possesses the capacity to adapt to the life one chooses to pursue. It does not disappear when ignored, nor does it dominate when resisted. Instead, it responds to the direction of one’s will. As a person refines their intentions and choices, conscience refines its guidance; becoming clearer with sincerity and quieter or misleading with neglect.

Philosophically, conscience functions as the fulcrum between thoughts and feelings. Thoughts present possibilities and justifications; feelings convey inclinations, fears, and desires. Conscience stands at the point of balance between the two, weighing what the mind approves against what the heart experiences. It neither blindly follows emotion nor mechanically obeys reason, but integrates both into meaningful judgment.

Ultimately, conscience is the center toward which all scattered thoughts return or gather. Ideas may arise from experience, memory, fear, or desire, but they seek resolution in conscience. It is there that fragmentation becomes coherence, and confusion settles into direction. In this way, conscience is not merely a moral accessory - it is the organizing principle of inner life, the place where meaning is gathered and action is born.

WHO ARE WE?

We are all in a state of continuous becoming, evolving through different forms and expressions. Symbolism arises when the mind begins to revere or worship these forms, mistaking appearance for essence. In reality, all forms are manifestations—avatars—of a single, unified source, unfolding in diverse ways.

To elevate one avatar above another is to grant superiority to a form constructed by our own perception, while simultaneously reducing ourselves to something inferior to that mental construct. This hierarchy is not inherent in existence; it is a creation of the human mind.

All human beings, and indeed all species, share the same fundamental reality. What distinguishes them is not essence, but function—each has a unique role to fulfill within the larger harmony of existence. No role is higher or lower; each is necessary, each is meaningful and dignified.

True wisdom lies in recognizing and honoring every form and every role with respect and love. When we see beyond form to the unity that animates all, division dissolves naturally.

This understanding is the very foundation of Oneness—Tawḥīd is not the belief in one God or worshipping or idolising one God but the realisation that all multiplicity emerges from One Single source, and returns to, a single, indivisible Reality.

THEME OF THE BOOK QURAN

The book Qur’an has one central theme and one core subject, not many unrelated topics like history, geography, science, astronomy, just and fair governance, politics, calendar or months. The subject of the book Quran is Self; this clarity of subject is what gives the Qur’an its depth, coherence, and power.

A truly good book is not one that merely collects many themes together and confuses its readers with its superficial narratives, but one that focuses on a single fundamental subject and explores it thoroughly from different angles. When any book tries to deal with many independent subjects, it often loses clarity, depth and its grip upon the reader.

The book Qur’an, however, consistently revolves around one central reality—the relationship between self, consciousness, conscience, heart and soul. All its discussions—whether about Allah, Rabb, Rehman, rasul, kitab, satan, iblis, malaikah Pharaoh, Sun, Moon, Sky, Earth, mountains, sea, water, man, woman etc—are expressions of this one theme, not separate topics but all related to inner applications and senses of spiritual beings (humans).

Thus, the excellence of the Qur’an lies in the fact that everything it addresses returns to the same central focus, examined in detail, explained through various examples, and applied to every aspect of human / divine consciousness.

In this sense, the Qur’an meets the highest benchmark of a great book: focused on single subject combined with depth of treatment.