Surah al-Baqarah 183

 

ARABIC – 2:183

 

يٰٓـاَيُّهَا الَّذِيۡنَ اٰمَنُوۡا كُتِبَ عَلَيۡکُمُ الصِّيَامُ کَمَا كُتِبَ عَلَى الَّذِيۡنَ

 مِنۡ قَبۡلِکُمۡ لَعَلَّكُمۡ تَتَّقُوۡنَۙ -

 

ENGLISH - Surah al-Baqarah 183

 

O you! Those who want to become believer! Written / duty upon you to be in the state of abstinence as what was written on those from your acceptance, so you may remain very cautious/thoughtful/diligent.

 

Exegesis -

 

Nothing happens without our will, consent or your acceptance, this is the essence of قَبْلِكُمْ. The word قَبْلِ is a genitive noun but our scholars translate it as preposition (before). What previous generations, nations or people have to do with "fasting, roza or siyaam, WHY their reference is important to us"? The eminent translators ignore مِنْ prior to the word قَبْلِ - Is it honesty if they skip the preposition مِنْ and translate other words to complete their preconceived interpretation? How can this "both prepositions" مِنْ and قَبْلِ coming together one after other simultaneously? The prescription written upon us is according to our acceptance bases on our capabilities, abilities and our mindset. The main purpose of الصِّيَامُ is to understand / analyse our own self. When our nafs reach the development level or stage of Ramadan then Quran, Furqan and Hidayah is revealed for the benefit of agitated minds (النَّاسَ).  Depriving ourselves from food and drinks does not being us closer to Allah or make us God conscious, we just become hungry but not mutaqi.

 

URDU – 2:183

 

اے ایمان والو  پرہیز کی حالت مین رہنا  تم پر لکھ دیا گیا ہے۔ جو کہ لکھا گیا ان پر تمہاری مرصُی سے، تا کہ تم پرہیز گار رہو۔

 

تفصیل۔

 

کوءی بھی چیز اپنے مرضی کے خلاف نہیں ہوتی۔ ہماری سوچ پر وہی لکھا جاتا ہے جو ہم چاہتے ہیں یا جس سوچ کی ہم قدر کرتے ہیں۔ آیت میں لفظ َقبل  اسم مجرور ہے۔ مگر

 (Preposition) BEFORE لکھتے ہیں عام ترجمہ کرنے والےا سے

 اوراس کے پہلے کےلفظ ِمْن کا ترجمہ ہی نہیں کرتے۔ مِنٰ ٗقبلِِکٍٍٍُم کے مطلب تمہاریُِِ مرضی سے/یا تمہاری قبولیت سے (from your acceptance) ہوتا ہے۔ ہماری قابلیت کے حساب سے ہی ہمارے اوپر لکھا جاتا ہے۔ مِن٘ ٗقبُلِکُم کو سمجھنا بہت ضروری ہے۔ الصُٓیٗام کا مقصد اپنے ذہن کو قابو میں رکھنا تاکہ ہم اپنے آپ کو جان سکیں۔ رمضان انسان کی ترقی کی وہ سطح یا منچ ہے، جسمیں قرآن، ہدایت اور فرقان نازل ہوتی ہے۔ بھوکا، پیاسا رہنے سے یا سحری افطار پارٹی کرنے سے کوءی بھی متقی نہیں بنتا۔

 

HINDI - - सूरह अल बकर 183

 

"ऐ ईमान वालो सैयम की हालत मे रहना तुम पर लीख दिया गया है, जो के लीखा गया उन पर तुम्हारी मर्जी से, ताकि तुम परहेज़गार बनो"

तफसील - 

कोई भी चीज़ अपने मर्ज़ी के खिलाफ नहीं होती। हमारी सोच पर वही लिखा जाता है जो हम चाहते हैं या जिस सोच की हम कदर करते हैं। आयत में शब्द -قَبْلِ (genitive noun) اسم مجرور है मगर आम तर्जुमा करने वाले उसे preposition (before you) लिखते हैं और उसके पहले के शब्द  مِنْ (from) का तर्जुमा ही नही करते। مِنْ قَبْلِكُمْ के मतलब तुम्हारी मर्जी से / या तुम्हारी कबुलीयत से (from your acceptance) होता है। हमारी काबिलियत के हिसाब से ही हमारे ऊपर लिखा जाता है -  مِنْ قَبْلِكُمْ को समझना बहुत जरूरी है। الصِّيَامُ का मकसद अपने ज़हन को काबू में रखना ता के हम अपने आप को जान सकें। रमज़ान इन्सान कि तरक्की का वह स्तर या मंच है, जिसमें कुरान, हिदायत और फुरकान नाज़ील होती है। भूखा प्यासा रहने से या सहरी‌ इफ्तार पार्टी करने से कोई भी मुत्तकी नंही बनता 🙏

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WORD BY WORD AL-SIYAAM VERSES

 

Why as-siyaam is one of the most important pillars of Islam (Peace of mind)?

Can we become mutaqi (extremely cautious) by being hungry and feeding the poor?

What is as-siyaam and what is the purpose and need of it in the context of the book Quran?

Why the Quran / Furqan and Guidance are revealed to mankind in shahru Ramadan? Why not in Muharrum or in any other "Islamic month"? What is so exceptional about Ramadan?

What eating and drinking between sunrise and sunset has to do with as-siyaam?

What is Lail in relation with as-siyaam? Why cohabiting with wives in night needs permission from Allah?  

2:183 - Whatever happens is due to our acceptance, nothing happens without our will or desire. Acceptance is the key to learning.

يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُواْ – Addressed only to those who want to become believer who believe in their own script (Al-Kitab) – In other words believing in our own selves, looking inside not imitating or copying others. In the context of the book Quran believers are not the blind followers or imitators but those who are knowledgeable and have full conviction.

كُتِبَ - Written

عَلَيْكُمُ - Upon you all

الصِّيَامُ - In the state of abstinence, Control of senses, balanced state of mind

كَمَا - As what

كُتِبَ - Written

عَلَى الَّذِينَ مِن - On those from

قَبْلِكُمْ - Your acceptance - Genitive noun – 2nd person masculine plural possessive pronoun - traditionalists take it as preposition. The subject of the book Quran is about self and not about what happened to our ancestors or predecessors. 


لَعَلَّكُمْ - So that you may

تَتَّقُونَ - remain conscious of yourself, cautious, diligent, mindful, careful, thoughtful - The essence of taqwa can be inferred by correct understanding of 2:177

2:184 – The objective of as-sayaam is self assessment

أَيَّامًا – Period, moments, days

مَّعْدُودَاتٍ – of self assessment, self analysis, reckoning

فَمَن كَانَ مِنكُم - Whoever from you all

مَّرِيضًا - possess lack of knowledge

أَوْ عَلَى - Or on

سَفَرٍ - Inner Journey of self assessment in every direction

فَعِدَّةٌ مِّنْ أَيَّامٍ أُخَرَ - One can procrastinate from the period through self assessment

وَعَلَى الَّذِينَ- And those who are

يُطِيقُونَهُ - Finds inconvenience in it, / uncomfortable

فِدْيَةٌ - So he can compensate by

طَعَامُ مِسْكِينٍ - Open to or remaining in the state to educate his own static soul

فَمَن - Whoever

تَطَوَّعَ – does willingly

خَيْرًا - is better

فَهُوَ خَيْرٌ - then it is better

لَّهُ - for him

وَأَن - And that

تَصُومُواْ خَيْرٌ - Continue to remain abstinence is better

لَّكُمْ - For you

إِن كُنتُمْ - If you always want to remain

تَعْلَمُونَ - In the state of knowing

2:185

شَهْرُ – It is a state of manifestation, popular, in demand, notable, well known, full moon – mashoor, shaurat, musheer, ishtehaar, Mushaheer are some of its derivatives

رَمَضَانَ - of febrile, heated, passionate atmosphere, kindling of fire due to waiting, sharpness, heaving of soul ( irteqaa e nafs), nafs ki taraqi - the situation when Sun of knowledge on you, facing the heat, boiling point, pregnant with knowledge 

الَّذِيْ - Is that

أُنزِلَ - Downloaded

فِيهِ - In it

الْقُرْآنُ - The compilation / accumulation of thoughts and expression settled in mind

هُدًى - A guidance

لِّلنَّاسِ - For the agitated mind

وَبَيِّنَاتٍ - And clear explanation

مِّنَ الْهُدَى - From the guidance

وَالْفُرْقَانِ - And the Criterion

فَمَن - So whoever

شَهِدَ - Witnesses / feels / experiences

مِنكُمُ الشَّهْرَ - From you the manifestation

فَلْيَصُمْهُ - So he / she must practice abstinence in it

وَمَن كَانَ - And whoever suffering from

مَرِيضًا - Lack of knowledge

أَوْ عَلَى - Or still on

سَفَرٍ - Mental journey, searching in every direction

فَعِدَّةٌ مِّنْ أَيَّامٍ أُخَرَ – So one can procrastinate from the period of self assessment

يُرِيدُ اللّهُ – Allah wants

بِكُمُ الْيُسْرَ - with you ease

وَلاَ يُرِيدُ بِكُمُ الْعُسْرَ – And not intends with you hardship

وَلِتُكْمِلُواْ الْعِدَّةَ - And you can complete the self assessment process

وَلِتُكَبِّرُواْ اللّهَ - And that you might magnify Allah

عَلَى مَا هَدَاكُمْ - On what he guided you

وَلَعَلَّكُمْ - That you may be

تَشْكُرُونَ - Grateful

2:186 - 

Dua or call in the context of the book Quran is inner call and always for right guidance and not for material gains.

وَإِذَا سَأَلَكَ – And when ask you

عِبَادِي-  My server, My obedient slave

عَنِّي - About Me

فَإِنِّي قَرِيبٌ - Then indeed I am accessible

أُجِيبُ دَعْوَةَ - I respond the call

الدَّاعِ - Of the caller

إِذَا دَعَانِ - When he calls Me

فَلْيَسْتَجِيبُواْ – So let them respond

لِي – to Me

وَلْيُؤْمِنُواْ - And let them believe

بِي - With Me

لَعَلَّهُمْ - So that they may be

يَرْشُدُونَ - Rightly guided

2:187


أُحِلَّ – Relax / loosen up / allowed / permitted

لَكُمْ لَيْلَةَ - For you the process of anxiety

الصِّيَامِ - The Abstinence

ا لرَّفَثُ- The state of fighting / vying - Thinking mind is always in the state of war with its own self. The self assessing questions, queries and interrogations within don't let him relax - nominative masculine noun

إِلَى - Towards

نِسَآئِكُمْ - Your compelling urges - root word is ن س أ please check the classical lexicon for correct meaning. Traditionally root word of النِّسَاءَ is taken ن س و and this is the root cause of all mistranslation and interpretation. In 34:14 one of the derivative of النِّسَاءَ is present, the word is  مِنْسَأَتَهُ - the thing which drives. Here مِنْسَأَ is translated as stick or staff because it drives cattle. Our urge (النِّسَاءَ) drives our life so it is important to strike, beat, control, give it right direction, keep it balanced, take care of it. This is the essence of the infamous verse 4:34 ("wife beating")

هُنَّ - They are (Nisa)

لِبَاسٌ -  / natural cover / disposition - compound / nature of human beings is the mixture of hope and doubt - 2:42, 3:71 - the word libasun describes the nature of human beings which is represented. The best libas is taqwa.

لَّكُمْ وَأَنتُمْ لِبَاسٌ - For you and you are / natural cover / mixture / disposition / consort

لَّهُنَّ - For them

عَلِمَ اللّهُ - Allah knows / conscience knows

أَنَّكُمْ كُنتُمْ - That you were

تَخْتَانُونَ - Unfaithful

أَنفُسَكُمْ - To your soul / psyche (Nafs)

فَتَابَ - So He returned

عَلَيْكُمْ- Upon you

وَعَفَا - And removed

عَنكُمْ - Concerning you

فَالْآنَ - So now

بَاشِرُوهُنَّ - Make sense to them

وَابْتَغُواْ - And seek

مَا كَتَبَ - What is written

اللّهُ لَكُمْ - By Allah for you

وَكُلُواْ - And be thoughtful, consume intelligence

وَاشْرَبُواْ – And imbibe

حَتَّى – Until

يَتَبَيَّنَ - It becomes clear / distinct

لَكُمُ - For you

الْخَيْطُ - The true and continuous journey (without taking rest even if the hair turns white)

الْأَبْيَضُ - The apparent / crystal clear / white

مِنَ - From the

الْخَيْطِ - Journey of

الْأَسْوَدِ - The honor, dignity, eminence - traditionalist translate as black

مِنَ - From / towards

الْفَجْرِ - The breakthrough / dawn

ثُمَّ - Then

أَتِمُّواْ - Complete

الصِّيَامَ - The Abstinence

إِلَى الَّيْلِ - Till the anxiety remains

وَلاَ- And refrain

تُبَاشِرُوهُنَّ - Be sensible with them

وَأَنتُمْ - While you are

عَاكِفُونَ- In seclusion / state of pondering / devoted / dwell / stay

فِي - In

الْمَسَاجِدِ - The state of humbleness (without any ego)

تِلْكَ حُدُودُ اللّهِ - These are the limits of Allah

فَلاَ - So do not

تَقْرَبُوهَا - Come near it (Urges / Nisa)

ذَلِكَ يُبَيِّنُ اللّهُ آيَاتِهِ – Thus Allah makes clear His signs

لِلنَّاسِ - For the agitated mind

لَعَلَّهُمْ - So that you may

يَتَّقُونَ - Remain cautious / conscious / thoughtful / careful / mindful

PLEASE VERIFY ALL THE MEANINGS FROM CLASSICAL LEXICONS.

QULU / EAT

 

WHAT IS THE MEANING OF QULU / “EAT” in the context of the book Quran?

 

2:168 - O mankind! Eat of what (is) in the earth lawful (and) good. And (do) not follow (the) footsteps (of) the Shaitaan. Indeed, he (is) to you an enemy clear. – Standard translation

 

 ‏يَٓأَيُّهَا ٱلنَّاسُ كُلُوا۟ مِمَّا فِى ٱلْأَرْضِ حَلَلًۭا طَيِّبًۭا وَلَا تَتَّبِعُوا۟ خُطُوَتِ ٱلشَّيْطَنِ ۚ إِنَّهُۥ لَكُمْ عَدُوٌّۭ مُّبِينٌ ‎

 

According to the traditional translation this verse is saying “O Mankind كُلُوا    EAT WHAT IS LAWFUL AND GOOD and DO NOT FOLLOW SATAN. Indeed he for you an open enemy.

 

The above verse is equating Allah’s command of eating lawful good food with eating unlawful food. Eating unlawful food is like following satan’s step. I hope my inference is right?

 

Now let’s see what satan command us to do in the next verse

 

‏إِنَّمَا يَأْمُرُكُم بِٱلسُّوٓءِ وَٱلْفَحْشَآءِ وَأَن تَقُولُوا۟ عَلَى ٱللَّهِ مَا لَا تَعْلَمُونَ

 

2: 169 - Only he commands you to (do) the evil and the shameful and that you say about Allah what not you know. – Standard translation

 

Pay attention to the word إِنَّمَا / ONLY, it means the satan is ONLY ordering us to be evil, shameful and say about Allah what you don’t know – Here the satan is not commanding us to EAT haram / unlawful food.

 

How can “saying about Allah what you don’t know” be the opposite of eating كُلُوا ? 

 

It must be clear by now that we oppose or fight Satan through enriching (كُلُوا) ourselves through knowledge, intellect and intelligence is كُلُوا . The essence of the word qulu in the book Quran is used for consuming or enriching ourselves by seeking knowledge and not by eating halal foods. The essence of QULU is to be thoughtful, cautious, consume intelligence and enrich ourselves with knowledge so that we do not follow Satan.

 

Does this mean those who eat pork, lizards, snakes, insects or other types of food not permitted by “Islamic scholars” or eat not properly slaughtered meat and drink alcohol follow the footsteps of Satan?

Akil is a Arabic name of a boy اكيل which also means intelligent, thoughtful, it does not only mean to eat or devour but it also mean to consume, enrich, nourish in the context of the book. Don’t confuse the word اكيل with the word عَقِيْل – Mikaeel مِيكَالَ is also a derivative of word كُلُوا - Mikaeel provides food or nourishment for thought, body and soul. Michael is mentioned explicitly in Bible’s chapter of Revelation 12:7-12, where he does battle with Satan and casts him out of heaven. 

In lexicon one of the meaning of اكل is intelligence and judgement رجل ذو اكل means a man possessing intelligence / judgement - check Edward William Lane page 72

MUSLIM

 

The word Muslim مُسْلِمًا is a qualifying noun / adjective, active participle (form iv). The term muslim has a very deep connotation. It is not like a degree that has to be qualified or complete a course like a doctor, lawyer, engineer or a chartered accountant the list is endless. The qualification of a muslim needs no degree or certificate or 40 days or years of religious course. The fact is neither one can be a muslim by virtue of taking birth in a "muslim family" nor by blindly following some Imams or scholars. You have to earn the title by continuously struggling against our own psyche or soul. To be sound and peaceful or remain a Muslim in any situation is not easy except for the humble and patient. Being a Muslim is not even about worshipping a single god or believing in many gods. It’s all about how we manage our thought process while peacefully fulfilling the affairs of life (deen). A muslim originally is a natural conscious mindset that surrenders to sound reason, logic and peace irrespective of circumstances. If our affair of life is not organised systematically and peacefully we are not qualified to fit into the definition of Muslim irrespective of how devotedly we are following the rituals of respective religious sect. Peace and Soundness of conscious mind is Islam. A Muslim cannot do anything which is unsound, unethical and unreasonable.

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QURAN THE BOOK OF SELF REALIZATION

QURAN THE BOOK OF SELF REALIZATION

The content of the book Quran is not for the purpose of an eulogy that continuously praises an unknown God - It is not also for individuals to memorize or sing it in a rhythmic tone or speaks about the feats of "The Creator God" to get extra rewards - The book is also not also about some "Holy Family" - The book Quran is not even about promoting God and His team of angels, messengers, prophets... The book is also not about community building or society laws neither it is about marriage, divorce or dominating female gender.

It is an anti religious and anti Sky God book. It is neither a biography nor a book of moral science that teaches permanent values or that gives an account of someone else's life or character so that we could emulate or learn from them. In fact, the specialty of the script of the book Quran is that it penetrates deep inside the reader's mind through various captivating parables and makes its presence felt, as if it is directly talking about our inner self (nafs) and how our thought control us while we remain spectators by witnessing the experience, the happenings within us. The book only talks about self (NAFS), discussing anything else is an insult of that magnificent book. 

MISWAK

The miswak (miswaak, siwak, sewak, Arabic: سواك‎ or مسواك) is a teeth cleaning twig made from the Salvadora persica tree (known as arāk, أراك, in Arabic). It is reputed to have been used over 7,000 years.

I don't know why it is exclusively attributed to Islam and Muslims when the entire world including the arch enemy of Islam Abu Jahl too was using it. As far as I know there was no invention of tooth paste or tooth brush then - So using miswak was also a habitual practice (sunnat) of Abu Jahl too.

Don't make natural things holy or unholy in the name of religion.

QURAN IS NOT THE BOOK OF VERSES

Quran is not the book of verses but it is the book of signs (آيات‎) which contains established (ٱلْمُسْتَقِيمَ) road maps (ٱلصِّرَٰطَ) for the agitated minds (الناس‎). The entire theme and context of the book Quran is human mind. One of the meaning of nafs نفس is human mind or psyche.

The truth is we all unknowingly serve and seek help from our own knowledgeable mind or the universal conscious mind (رَبِّ ٱلْعَـٰلَمِينَ) - The right guidance for the right path is also given provided we serve our conscious mind properly.

إِيَّاكَ نَعْبُدُ وَإِيَّاكَ نَسْتَعِينُ

ٱهْدِنَا ٱلصِّرَٰطَ ٱلْمُسْتَقِيمَ

We will never understand the book Quran if we study it in the context of human history or history of "The Biblical or Islamic Prophets" or in the context of "Heavenly God."

GO BEYOND WHAT YOUR PREDECESSORS COULD NOT SEE

 

Life must not be a daily battle to excel. It's a continuous struggle of thought process swinging between gloom and glow. Enjoy the challenge of roller coaster called Life. It must not be a fight against each other but against one's own self.

Life is a self searching project to understand the mystery of self, origin of thoughts, efforts to understand our own script of life, self's urges, self's desire, self's purpose, self's role and freedom to seek the enlightenment to choose the right path. A struggle to see with our own eyes and think with our own heads rather than depending or relying on writings we don't understand.

One of the popular stand of the masses while arguing is that they stood on the solid grounds of what their forefathers believed and what the majority followed. I don't summarily reject what our predecessors thought or what society thinks. But are we going to stop at where they ended or are we going to probe the pages of life further? There could be nothing more leisurely and luxurious than to believe in the illusion of a living comfortably while being parasitic on borrowed thoughts. We can rest in the comfort of our parental upbringing but the problem is the world is not standing still, it keeps on changing. And ideas have to evolve, grow further and must be conducive to adaptation according to the demand of the current situation. We cannot rely on old solutions to open new doors. We just cannot afford to relax and wait for the imaginary "Day of Judgement" or judge people by calling names - One has to take accounts for their own thoughts and deeds every moment. The alibi of the borrowed ideas will not take you anywhere except in the labyrinth of darkness.

The serious question to ask is whether my ideas are my own or borrowed. We often make others' thoughts as our own because of the inability to think for ourselves. This inability to think is often induced, institutionalised and celebrated by those having herd mentality. We have made simple religions as specialised subjects. We look to "experts" to do the religious thinking for us like how we sometimes let the quacks do the medical thinking for our own health and we don't ever make an effort to ponder independently about the consequences it may have on our mind and body. We don't feel like educating ourselves on such important matters. We let others to do thinking on behalf of our own thoughts. I would fain to buy this argument if any sane thinking mind accepted alibi.

Thinking is too important to be left in the hands of either the clerics or the ideological zealots. This is not just a matter of physical life and death. This is even much bigger. It is a question of our existence. It is a question of living between Light and Darkness.

Our own mind is the vibrant messenger don't bury it and sing unnecessary hymns upon the "holy personalities". Usually people are dumb and deaf, they don't realise it and have been ignoring the living inherent voice of the messenger for a very long time. Its high time that we heed the inherent messages, signs, indicators that are much clearer, self explanatory, relevant to self, pure, authentic & free than the what is served to us from the clergy's pulpit.

 

SHIRK

 

It is often misunderstood that mentioning Allah along with Rasul is like association of partnership (shirk) but what we failed to understand is that the book Quran emphasis that obeying rasul is like obeying allah. Those who believe Allah as a God and Rasul as His human deputy will never understand the message of the book Quran on the contrary they will be lost in the History of Middle East "Prophets".