- أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا -

 

‎يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا - The phrase "يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا" is a direct address to our nafs (psyche) and those who intend to seek faith in Allah (conscience) and Islam (Submission to Peace). It is a call to action, a reminder, or a statement of guidance directed towards those who wants to be believers.

Ya - ‎يَا is an appeal to all those collective group of inner senses, thoughts and intellect that are combine part of our nafs, ardh, samawat. All these Arabic words are feminine gender. 

Those who intends to transform themselves to safety, harmony, peace and tranquility - آمَنُوا is one who aspire to believe in themselves - ha هَا in أَيُّهَا is indicating feminine third person singular pronoun thus signifying a mechanism or process of transformation addressed to feminine energies in us - يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا are those who intend to believe in themselves because آمَنُوا is a form iv verb. Only inner peace, trust, safety, faith, harmony can bring outside safety, peace and harmony.

Some translate آمَنُوا as providing peace, safety to others, but this is wrong. If the word آمَنُوا means providing safety to others then the word must be in form ii and not in form iv. 

Form iv signifies becoming, believing in self, being at peace and not providing safety or peace to others but becoming peaceful. Momin is also form iv verbal noun which means being at peace, safety, trusting self, believing in self. 

Question regarding Fasting

This is answer to a question from my very sincere Hindu brother, the answer may also help those who wants to seek the truth. 

Very good and reasonable question but my explanation became too long. I derived my understanding through my humble study of overall verses of the book Quran.

The reason of abstinence (saum) / traditional known as fasting is to grow in self confidence, self belief and know your self, trust your inner abilities to become a better version of yourself.

Generally mind is a house of lot of uncertainties, emotions, insecurities, apprehensions, desires, hate, anger, jealousy,  rivalries, temptations, anxieties, agitation and is full of commotion. 

To make this agitated mind calm, sound and at peace it is recommended to observe abstinence popularly known as fasting. 

The book Quran says that the purpose of abstinence is to become self aware or to be self conscious (tattaqun) - (2:183). 

Abstinence is basically to develop a mindset that we must trust the natural flow in all circumstances. Whatever happens in our life must not effect us. Trust in the wisdom of Nature is imaan in Quranic terminology.

Be humble by knowing that we are very insignificant individual floating through a infinite space in minuscule spaceship called Earth. And we are not it's captain, nothing is in our hand.

What happens if we think too much about our existence or want to take control? Anxieties and desires are born because we give too much importance to ourselves and this keep our mind indulge or busy in unnecessary, useless, idle self talk within known as لَهْوَ الْحَدِيثِ (lahul- hadith) in Quranic terminology hadith are narratives happenings in our mind.

Now comes your main question 

1) Abstinence from what?

Abstinence from our urges, desires which are the reason of our anxieties, stress and tensions.

Be self accountable, assess and evaluate yourself, if you lack the ability don't give up, still continue, persist to be on the path of recover and discovery. The best way to educate our self is to start educating those who are in need (miskeen). Educating others is best part of learning. Train your mind to be calm and quite, it is better for you (2:184)

When we quite or calm our mind the revelation takes place, in it is guidance, clarity and criterion that speaks to us (Quran). This notable manifestation (shahr) is called ramadan. Whoever experiences such notable manifestation must practice abstinence - (2:185).

Sorry to share some of my thoughts in between so that you can easily able to relate with your knowledge of epic poem Ramayana. I may be wrong in my assessment but I feel that the word ramadan is a inner journey of cleansing or fighting the evil within just like ramayana in Hindu narration.

The Ramayana is also interpreted as a symbolic representation of the human journey towards self-realization and liberation from the cycle of suffering. 

Rama means pleasing, joyful or source of joy and ayanam or ayana signifies journey, travel or path.

The Inner Meaning of Ramayana Rama is the Indweller in every Body. He is the Atma-Rama, the Rama (Source of Bliss) in every individual. His blessings upsurging from that inner Spring can confer Peace and Bliss

Now again coming back to the book Quran,

The guidance is nearer to you than you can realize, you just need to call and you will receive the guidance (2:186).

Now coming to your second question.

2) What is the period which has been misunderstood as dawn to dusk?

 Verse 2:187 deals with the solution for our anxieties and our urges. Quran says it is not easy to deal with anxieties and urges, we need to resist, fight and throughly educate our desires / urges until it makes sense to us and clarity is achieved. This is traditionally known as clarity or breakthrough (dawn / fajr) from period of anxiety/ darkness (lail). 

For achieving the perfect clarity of thoughts as distinguishable as black and white, one need to use intellectual curiosity and imbibe which is mistranslated as eating and drinking while devoted to the state of humbleness (masjid). In this period one need to restrict oneself from indulging in any type addiction connected with our urges and desires.

These are some steps to bring calmness, stability to mind from agitation.

Fajr is breakthrough thinking mistranslated as dawn,

Lail is anxiety, darkness mistranslated as night.

Kulu is using intellectual curiosity mistranslated as eating

Sharibu is imbibe or absorb the knowledge mistranslated as drinking. 

Hopefully I have cleared your doubts. 

IMPORTANT QUESTION & ANSWERS

COMMON QUESTIONS FROM QURAN ALONE FOLLOWERS.

 //Is this phrase Eid ul Adha used in Quran? If yes please let me know the ayah reference no//

//If it's not from the Quran, what's the source of this Islamic philosophy brother?//

NO OFFENCE INTENDED - 

I find this discourse of distinguishing between Quranic and non Quranic topic very insubstantial because first of all we don't have any idea what is the real essence of the word Quran. This argument is based on the belief that the book Quran is divine and all other books are created by man. Secondly when someone ask for references to validate their belief of particular statement or phrase from the book Quran that means we are placing an archaic book on a higher pedestal than our divine intellect. We must question logic behind the phrase rather than asking a question to curb or eliminate that phrase if not found in the book Quran. This is why we fail because we underestimate our own divine natural intellect in lieu of artificial man-made books. Validation or stamp of approval must always come from our own common sense (mohammad). The essence is more important than the meanings; in seeking exact meanings we lose the crux or overall essence of the word. 

There is no harm in referring or taking opinions and advices from available sources but we must never kill or underestimated our own divine common sense while dealing with ambiguous literatures such as the 114 chapter book Quran. I am telling the book Quran as ambiguous because very vast majority among us don't understand its nuance. We are just content in knowing that the book Quran unarguably is the best book from God and there is no room to doubt it. 

Popular blind belief is dangerous for an enlightened mind, good for stagnant mind. Popular beliefs leaves no room to question and when anything becomes unquestionable then the suppressed question remains alive in mind by continuously evoking the potential answers. No sane person will dare to answer the untouchable questions because religion is formed by powers of fools in large numbers. To question any popular belief is dangerous, so we are conditioned not to question or raise doubts to popular concepts or beliefs.   

God the Energy never write, dictate or print books. The ways of God is fixed and is same for everyone; it cannot be changed to suit circumstances or situations. Every cause has an effect; this is the fixed way (sunnah) of God, not the religious deity. 

The source of all knowledge or books is inspirations or experiences of man and it is universal like mathematics. Man, God, Devil is not separate or different entities but is different dimension within Man. Some books are excellent; some books are good, some average and some poor. 

I place book Quran in excellent category only because I have gauged it with my own intellect and not because it is popularly known to be divine or followed by my esteem predecessors. We must know that the book Quran is the concise version in Old Arabic language of Jewish Christian Philosophy.  The Islam we follow today is an extension of Jewish Christian sect called Ebonite.

The touchstone or the gauge to measure the genuinity of any literature must always be in coherence with the real intelligence and it must never based on conjecture of the majority. I gauge all Islamic literature with the book Quran because I know and understand its calibration. When we thoroughly understand the calibration, we must not be afraid, feel insecure or feel disdain to assess any literature, even if it is contrary to our belief. The subject of Islam is very vast therefore we must be open to take into consideration anything which helps us in improving our knowledge of Islam provided we are well versed with our Quran; the measuring instrument of All Islamic Literature. 

The attitude of not believing or considering anything apart from the 114 chapter book is utterly wrong. For me the book Quran is Furqan (Criterion) to judge wrong and right paths that lead towards peace or surrendering to the will of God. How or what I will judge if I have a preconceive notion that everything is wrong or bad apart from the book Quran. And the severe setback is that we even don't have a complete understanding of the book Quran and we bend on to study it without outside help or assistance. This is a very big dilemma which many learned "Quran alone Muslims" are facing. 

If Eidul Adha, Eidul Fitr as a catchphrase is not mentioned in the book Quran that does not mean that they have no significance in Islamic Philosophy or ritual. You accept or reject it but no one can deny its mass practice amongst the Muslim masses since ages, although they don't knowing its real significance. 

The word Eid and its derivatives are found in the book Quran - عُدْنَا - تَعُودُوا- يَعُودُونَ - - أُعِيدُوا - نُعِيدُهُ - يُعِيدُ - عِيدًا - similarly the words adha, fitr, ramadan, hajj etc also found in the book Quran in different forms. If we really yearn to decode Islam we need to consider contemplating on these words or connect all dots which are deeply rooted in Islamic Philosophy. But again I will reiterate first we must thoroughly know the book Quran because it is the only valid measuring instrument to gauge all the Islamic Philosophy. 

There are many things which "Muslims or specifically Quran alone Muslims" believe today that have no references from the book Quran but still they believe because it is a part of their continuous happenings around them or those enactments are part of that continuous thought process. All "Islamic rituals" are part of Islamic literature because we find its precedence in the followers of Islam. These rituals are actually non Quranic in nature but are part of Islamic culture or tradition.

When we trust or have faith in something, believers usually don't demand proof of its existence or happenings, because it is in their common practice and knowledge. Nevertheless we must demand logical proofs of everything, we cannot just believe in anything without logical reasoning or by self experiencing or witnessing. In Islamic Philosophy it is called shahadah or kalimah tayabah - 35:10 base of Islamic Philosophy. The words of God are Kalima tayabah, these words are signs which are not confined in books, languages or words but revealed upon deserving candidates. 

We believe that "Quran is the revealed book of God to Mohammad through Angel Gabriel," we believe in this statement without any basis or reference, neither have we demand any proof because we have faith in what the book claims. We believe because it is the part of our faith, we don't need any references. References are only for validation of our belief. References do not require any reasoning because we believe that the source is directly from God and we must accept it without questioning.

The topmost reference point or validation must be from our own faculty to analyse, deduct logically purely based on merit and not from because it is written in some books or quoted by some eminent personalities. The main source of knowledge must come from our own investigation and study. For this to happen we must cultivate our commonsense to think, reflect, ponder, contemplate ... Always keep your mohammad alive we want to receive the revelation. 

// If every truth seeker derived his own Quran (deduced from his embedded Al-kitab in Arabiyun mobin(mother tongue), then what is the status of 114 chapter book, why it is needed, and why you quote it's verses in your articles?

The 114 chapter book is in Old Arabic, thus not possible for very vast majority to infer it; even the Arabs don't understand it. Muslims too used it today just for liturgical purpose.
It is in common knowledge that we get our day to day instructions or directions from our own conscious mind. We don't refer any book to do our routine work, common sense or embedded script is sufficient to guide us.

All religious mafia insist us to follow the God's Book, whereas in the entire book Quran it never commands us to follow or study or learn Arabic language of this 114 chapter book. But emphasis is given in the book Quran to use your intellect, ponder, think but never said to follow anything blindly.

I am a very insignificant person, my audiences are Muslims. If I don't quote verses from their own Holy Book Quran they will accuse me of heresy.

For me the book Quran is no more than measuring instrument, I judge all the Islamic literature within its parameters. It guides us what to accept and what to reject in the matter of surrender to peace or will of God / Allah. 

Doesn't matter if you understand the book Quran or not; use your mind, use your divine intellect, cultivate your commonsense but don't follow anyone blindly. 

I am not justifying or advocating rituals done in the name of God, I am just saying every rituals have significance behind it which is lost now and current rituals are hollow practice without its original spirit.

Salam / Peace

UNLEARN, LEARN THEN RELEARN

Most of us are coming from particular background and I suppose nobody was enlightened by birth. Our journey is to unlearn, learn, unlearn and then relearn. It is a continuous process of learning, at least for me. As far as I know this tiny group is without any labels or specific ideology.

There are different stages or levels of learning. In my observation 99.99% of masses are content with what they already know. Every sect of Islam is content, same way every sect of Christians, Hindus, Jews, Atheists are content. 

For example almost every Muslim knows that the meaning of word Kitab is a book. But very few of us know the nuance of this Quranic terminology of the word Kitab. Al-Kitab is not a simple book of information or book of instructions but it is a book of guidance for entire mankind who are muttaqeen. If the claim is that the Quran is for entire mankind, and it is also claim that it is kitab i mobin (with no ambiguity) then it must be in all the native languages of the world, but it also says that only muttaqoon can decode or discover it. 

Now the question is are we not muttaqeen? In the context of the book Quran, "Muttaqeen" (ٱلْمُتَّقِينَ) refers to individuals who possess a strong sense or presence of God consciousness (taqwa) in them 24x7. They are diligent, take precaution and are aware what they do.

When we explore the entire book Quran deeply we realize that the word kitab signifies our inner script which has guidance and is taught by our inherent rasul. The word Kitab does not signify a physical Arabic book of 114 chapters. Kindly refer 2:146, 2:129, 6:20, 17:14, 2:144, 78:29-30, 68:36-38, 62:2, 57:22, 56:77-81

Man, infact the entire planet Earth is very insignificant in this infinite galaxy. Ego and superiority complex make us think we are something, the fact is we are nothing. We quarrel among ourselves because we have lost our state of humbleness (sajda). Arrogant people don't want to think and come out from their self-made well or from the self-made cocoon. To each sect their ideology is dear and they hold it close to their heart. Anything contrary to their ideology is offensive to them.

I am still learning and consider myself to be still in the cocoon in spite of thinking many times that I finally broke the cocoon but then after sometime I realizes that I am in a new cocoon. I am not able to fly yet or feel the experience of liberation. I am still imprisoned in words, chained in books and different philosophies. In the age of IT revolution we are drowned in information and starving for knowledge. 

If we cannot experience, we cannot testify (shahadah) this is the backbone of almost all the religious philosophies including Islam. There is no shortcuts for gaining experience. We have to go through many internal incidents / narrations / happenings (hadith) before settling down on to one narration and that in Quranic terminology is called the Quran / Furqan. Note this narration is not 114 chapter Old Arabic language compilation recognized as the book Quran. The best narration is our own personal Quran which called accounts / happening (hadith) or events / occurrences / happenings in our mind. (39:23), (52:32-35), (53:59-62), (56:76-81), (68:44), (77:50), (4:78), (4:87) and (31:6) - (diverting talks in our mind are also hadiths)

Our personal compilation or downloading of our clear thoughts that continuously speaks, guides, warn, differentiate to us in our own language is our original Quran, Furqan. Our Quran is part of our inner script (Al-Kitab), our inner accepted direction (Qibla) and Kaba (our inner protuberance that acts like a beacon).