Interesting Surah Facts

[جوري]

I don't know if such a thread already exists...

but I thought we'd start a thread about interesting sura facts...

for instance..
when suret An.Najm was first recited all the Meccans fell prostrate both Muslims and Non-Muslims


If you like the idea for this thread.. then pls continue on

:w:

[- IqRa -]

Q) Which was that Surah of the Qur'an which the Prophet Muhammed Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam) had recited when one of his enemies Utba after listening to it fell in Sajda (prostation)?

A) The first five Ayaats of Ham-Meem-Sajda

[جوري]

bump

[Ali_008]

:sl:

FOUND THIS IN ANOTHER THREAD

Surah Tahreem, Verse 1

يَا أَيُّهَا النَّبِيُّ لِمَ تُحَرِّمُ مَا أَحَلَّ اللَّهُ لَكَ
1. O Prophet! why holdest thou to be forbidden that which Allah has made lawful to thee?

The Prophet's household was not like other households. The Consorts of Purity were expected to hold a higher standard in behaviour and reticence than ordinary women, as they had higher work to perform.

But they were human beings after all, and were subject to the weaknesses of their sex, and they sometimes failed. The commentators usually cite the following incident in connection with the revelation of these verses.

It is narrated from 'Aisha, the wife of the holy Prophet (peace be on him) by Bukhari, Muslim, Nasai. Abu Dawud and others that the holy Prophet usually visited all his wives daily after 'Asr Prayer. Once it so happened that he stayed longer than usual at the quarters of Zaynab bint Jahsh, for she had received from somewhere some honey which the holy Prophet liked very much. "At this", says 'Aisha, "I felt jealous, and Hafsa, Sawda, Safiya, and I agreed among ourselves that when he visits us each of us would tell him that a peculiar odour came from his mouth as a result of what he had eaten, for we knew that he was particularly sensitive to offensive smells".

So when his wives hinted at it, he vowed that he would never again use honey. Thereupon these verses were revealed reminding him that he should not declare to himself unlawful that which Allah had made lawful to him.

The important point to bear in mind is that he was at once rectified by revelation, which reinforces the fact that the prophets are always under divine protection, and even the slightest lapse on their part is never left uncorrected.

:w:

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[جوري]

Jazakoum Allah..
come on I am sure there is more out there... share your knowledge of the suras folks

:w:

[Ibn Abi Ahmed]

:sl:

Awesome thread..can it include just ayaat as well or does it have to be surahs?

[جوري]

ayat anything to do with the Quran.. you know this first started after this amazing recitation of suret An'Najm that I heard, when I called to tell me sis how much I am in love with this sura she said, yes did you know that all the meccans upon hearing it fell prostrate both Muslims and Non-Muslims from how evocative it was.. and I told her, No I had no idea but can understand why.. so it gave me the idea for this thread :D

:w:

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So pls share any sura or aya facts I'd really appreciate it..

Jazaka Allah khyran

:w:

[Ibn Abi Ahmed]

:sl:

Here's a pretty cool gem:

In Surah Zukhruf, Allaah says:

أم أبرموا أمرا فإنا مبرمون

{Or have they plotted some plan? Then We too are planning.}

After Bayyinah's Divine Speech seminar, I've really grown to dislike translations because they're so so shallow. There is soo much lost in translation. Here's a gem on this ayah that was shared in the seminar:

The word أبرموا comes from Ibraam. The word was used back in the day by the Arabs to refer to a knot that is tied very tightly, twice. To give an illustrative example, before nails, the beams of wood that held up the roof of a building would be tied with thick, strong rope - and this rope would tie the wood very tightly twice, because after all the standing of the building depended on it. This was called Ibraam. It is a knot that is tied to ensure that it is unbroken.

The word Allaah uses in this ayah, أبرموا, comes from there. So what's really being said here is, 'Have they tied up so tightly their affair (of disbelief)? Then we too are (similarly) tying up (i.e. our decision to throw them in Hell).'

And again used in Surah al-Hijr:

ربما يود الذين كفروا لو كانوا مسلمين

{Perhaps those who disbelieve will wish that they had been Muslims.}

[جوري]

That is brilliant.. I didn't know that before although I can appreciate how the translations are lacking something very substantial in generally especially apparent in suret al'3adyat (100) which in spite of the fact that it is a very short sura, I find it to be one of the most difficult .. Jazaka Allah khyran

[جوري]

Does anyone know any facts about suret al3adyat?

Media Tags are no longer supported

[Ibn Abi Ahmed]

Does anyone know any facts about suret al3adyat?

We went over this Surah and the phenomenal imagery in the ayaat. It was amazing. One point of benefit was as follows:

After describing the horses and the scene as it's presented in the ayaat..the riders on the horses entering with their steeds into the midst of an army..all of a sudden Allaah says:

إن الإنسان لربه لكنود

Indeed mankind, to his Lord, is ungrateful.

To someone just reading that they'd be like..what does that have to do with the scene that was painted in last few ayaat? The explanation is as follows.

The horse is a loyal animal - so much so that it will go with it's rider wherever it takes him, even to the midst of a raging battle. It is a loyal servant to the master. It does what it's master wants. The purpose of Allaah painting a scene of horses raging into battle with their riders (which to the Arabs of the time is as the most awesome action scene of a movie is to us), is to highlight the loyalty of the horse to it's master. Then when He says:

إن الإنسان لربه لكنود

Allaah is contrasting the loyalty of the horse to that of Man to his Master and Lord, i.e. Allaah. That mankind, even though Alaah created him and gave him everything and more, mankind is still ungrateful and disbelieves. The reason for using horses as an example is because to the Arabs of the time, that was what they knew and therefore the example of a horse was most relevant to them.

[جوري]

Sob7an Allah..
I have read about three different translations to this surah, almost as different as suret an'nazi3at which is another sura where if you for instance contrast pickthal to Asad you'll find them worlds apart.. Akhi, you are very knowledgeable Masha'Allah..

are you under the tutelage of a scholar or private reading?

:w:

[Ibn Abi Ahmed]

are you under the tutelage of a scholar or private reading?

:w:

No, it's just gems that I'm copying from notes that I took at:
http://www.bayyinah.com/student_center/#ARS201

An entire weekend filled with similar awesome gems.

Another awesome one:

In Surah Nahl, Allaah says:

إن إبراهيم كان أمة قانتا لله حنيفا ولم يك من المشركين
شاكرا لأنعمه اجتباه وهداه إلى صراط مستقيم

Indeed, Abraham was a [comprehensive] leader, devoutly obedient to Allah, inclining toward truth, and he was not of those who associate others with Allah. [He was] grateful for His favors. Allah chose him and guided him to a straight path.

And in Surah Luqman, Allaah says:

ألم تروا أن الله سخر لكم ما في السماوات وما في الأرض وأسبغ عليكم نعمه ظاهرة وباطنة ومن الناس من يجادل في الله بغير علم ولا هدى ولا كتاب منير

Do you not see that Allah has made subject to you whatever is in the heavens and whatever is in the earth and amply bestowed upon you His favors, [both] apparent and unapparent? But of the people is he who disputes about Allah without knowledge or guidance or an enlightening Book [from Him].


Notice the underlined words, An'um & Ni'am - both are plurals of the word: Ni'mah - which means blessing/favors. Allaah uses An'um in Surah an-Nahl and Ni'am in Surah Luqman. An'um is a plural that denotes few, meaning that it's a few blessings. Ni'am is the greater plural - it denotes a plethora of blessings.

When Allaah spoke about Ibrahim (a.s.), He says, An'um - Ibrahim was grateful for a few blessings. Knowing what we know Ibrahim (a.s.) and his great status, yet he could as a human be grateful for only a small number of blessings. And we know Ibrahim a.s. was truly one of the most grateful people ever. If he could be grateful of only a few, then what of us?

Then when Allaah speaks of Himself and the blessings he bestowed upon mankind, he uses Ni'am. Meaning that He has given us a plethora of blessings. The appropriate term is used in both places, Subhanallaah.

Now, look at the translations of both verses. Both words are translated as 'favors' - how much meaning is lost? Subhanallaah. We really need to learn the language of the Qur'an to truly appreciate the depth of meanings.

And realize after all this, that this is Speech. The Messenger (saw) spoke it to people and once he said it, there was no opportunity to take it back and correct anything. And when someone speaks, it's quoted over and over. There is no room for correction after speaking it the first time. How can this Qur'an be from other than Allaah when such precision and intricateness exists so much so that it's down to which specific words are used - and it was spoken by an illiterate man (salalahu 'alayhi wa sallam)?!

[Ibn Abi Ahmed]

:sl:

Another truly beautiful one that shows us how Allaah addresses his beloved Messenger in the Qur'an:

و الضحى
و الليل إذا سجى
ما ودعك ربك و ما قلى

To give a little history on these ayaat - they were revealed a while after the first revelation was revealed. The Arabs started to taunt the Messenger (saw) and laugh at him saying things like: 'Where is more revelation?', 'Is your Lord angry at you?' etc. So the Messenger (saw) started to feel sad that he hadn't recieved revelation for a while when Allaah revealed these ayaat.

و الضحى

By the morning brightness

The translation doesn't do it justice. Duha is the early morning, when the sun has just risen and it's not yet hot - it's all misty and cool. For the Arabs, the best part of the day was Duha - because despite the sun being out, it's still cool and fresh and they could actually enjoy the sun.

So Allaah swears by it, and the reason for swearing by it is because it is being likened to the revelation. The revelation to the Messenger (saw) was as Duha was to the Arabs. The cool, fresh, misty part of the morning.

Then,

و الليل إذا سجى

And [by] the night when it covers with darkness,

The part of the night being mentioned here is the part in the depths of the night where it seems that the darkness and night will just stretch out forever.

The reason for swearing by this is because the gap between the revelation was to the Messenger (saw) as the deathly still part of the night.

And this is truly beautiful:

ما ودعك ربك و ما قلى

Your Lord has not taken leave of you, [O Muúammad], nor has He detested [you].

First Allaah says that He has not abandoned the Messenger (saw) by saying the word 'you'. Then when He says, قلى, which can mean angry/detest/dislike etc, He simple says He is not that - He doesn't say 'I am not angry at you'. When the letter 'ك' is added at the end of a word, it denotes 'you'. Allaah does not add 'ك' at the end of 'قلى' - implying that He does not even want to associate the Messenger (saw) along with His displease and description of 'angry/detest/dislike'. He is simply 'not angry', let alone being 'not angry at you'.

It's subtle, but it carries a deep meaning. It shows with how much love Allaah speaks of His beloved Messenger (saw) in the Qur'aan.

[جوري]

you know that many of the qasams that are taken in the Quran are done in the negative but not translated as such, for instance in suret al'waqi3a..
the verse reads

فَلَا أُقْسِمُ بِمَوَاقِعِ النُّجُومِ { which is translated to [Pickthal 56:75] Nay, I swear by the places of the stars -

pickthal goes for a word by word which leaves the complete essence of the verse, which is to denote .. I need not call your attention to how the stars are in their orbits, and that it is a tremendous happening if you but know!

and Allah swt knows best..

[جوري]

suret ad duha is one of the most beautiful .. it is hard to choose a most beautiful.. but it is a consoling sura I always recite it along with al'inshira (94) whenever I am really down.. and they both uplift mys soul..

sob7an Allah.. prayers are your private time with God to unburden and relieve your soul yet so many people see it as a chore.. and I used to be one of them..

[Ibn Abi Ahmed]

you know that many of the qasams that are taken in the Quran are done in the negative but not translated as such, for instance in suret al'waqi3a..
the verse reads

فَلَا أُقْسِمُ بِمَوَاقِعِ النُّجُومِ { which is translated to [Pickthal 56:75] Nay, I swear by the places of the stars -

pickthal goes for a word by word which leaves the complete essence of the verse, which is to denote .. I need not call your attention to how the stars are in their orbits, and that it is a tremendous happening if you but know!

and Allah swt knows best..

We went over this topic in the Seminar too and it was one of my favorite. The reasons Allaah swears by certain things at certain times and the response to the oaths, subhanallah it was amazing.

[Ibn Abi Ahmed]

:sl:

Here is another from my favorite ones:

Surah ale-Imraan:

سابقوا إلى مغفرة من ربكم وجنة عرضها كعرض السماء والأرض أعدت للذين آمنوا بالله ورسله ذلك فضل الله يؤتيه من يشاء والله ذو الفضل العظيم

Race toward forgiveness from your Lord and a Garden whose width is like the width of the heavens and earth, prepared for those who believed in Allah and His messengers. That is the bounty of Allah which He gives to whom He wills, and Allah is the possessor of great bounty.

Surah al-Hadeed:

وسارعوا إلى مغفرة من ربكم وجنة عرضها السماوات والأرض أعدت للمتقين

And hasten to forgiveness from your Lord and a garden as wide as the heavens and earth, prepared for the righteous.

Does anyone see a contradiction based on the translations? In ale-Imraan, Allaah says width like (but not quite) the heavens and Earth. In al-Hadeed, He says, as wide as (meaning same size as) the Heavens and Earth. So which one is it? Is the size of Paradise LIKE (almost) or the SAME as the heavens and Earth? Let's find out:

In the language of the time, السماء, which is translated as 'sky' or 'heavens' meant anything above a person. So the space above your head itself can be referred to as السماء. It is not limited.

When it comes as السماوات, then it refers specifically to the seven heavens. There is a limit.

So السماء includes within it, the Seven Heavens, the water, the 'arsh of Allaah. السماوات limits it to the seven heavens. Keep this in mind.

Now lets look again at the ayaat:

In ale-Imran, the width of Paradise is like (but not quite as big) as السماء - it is something like the Heavens, the Water, 'Arsh - but not as big as all of that.

In al-Hadeed the width of Paradise is as (around the same as) السماوات - the Seven Heavens.

Hence there is no contradiction in the ayaat - it only seems so because of the limits of translation.

Isn't that awesome? Subhanallaah. And the translation for both terms is simply 'heavens'. How much meaning is lost?

[Al-Hanbali]

A Gem from the Dream of Yusuf ('Alayhis-Salaam) http://www.suhaibwebb.com/blog/quran...alayhi-salaam/

Bismillah

In the beginning of Surah Yusuf, Allah ta’ala shares with us the private conversation between a father and son:

إِذْ قَالَ يُوسُفُ لِأَبِيهِ يَا أَبَتِ إِنِّي رَأَيْتُ أَحَدَ عَشَرَ كَوْكَبًا وَالشَّمْسَ وَالْقَمَرَ رَأَيْتُهُمْ لِي سَاجِدِينَ

(Remember) when Yusuf (Joseph) said to his father: “O my father! Verily, I saw (in a dream) eleven stars and the sun and the moon - I saw them prostrating themselves to me.” (12:4)

As usual, the gem is not captured in the English translation.

Yusuf alayhi salaam describes the stars, sun and moon prostrating to him, by using the word Saajideen. Saajideen is classified as a “Jam’ mudakkar saalim”, which means a sound masculine plural and it is only used for beings with free will such as humans and jinn.

Allah azza wa jal describes a creation that has no free will as if it has free will. We find this in other ayaat in the Qur’an as well:

In surah Inshiqaaq, Allah ta’ala describes the sky:

وَأَذِنَتْ لِرَبِّهَا وَحُقَّتْ

“And listens to and obeys its Lord.” (84:2)

Athinat is from uthun which means ear, the sky will listen to Allah ta’ala.

In surah Ahzaab, Allah azza wa jal describes:

إِنَّا عَرَضْنَا الْأَمَانَةَ عَلَى السَّمَاوَاتِ وَالْأَرْضِ وَالْجِبَالِ فَأَبَيْنَ أَن يَحْمِلْنَهَا وَأَشْفَقْنَ مِنْهَا وَحَمَلَهَا الْإِنسَانُ ۖ إِنَّهُ كَانَ ظَلُومًا جَهُولًا

Truly, We did offer the trust to the heavens and the earth, and the mountains, but they declined to bear it and were afraid of it (i.e. afraid of Allah’s Torment). But man bore it. Verily, he was unjust (to himself) and ignorant (of its results). (33:72)

The heavens, earth and mountains did not want to be given the free choice to believe or disbelieve so man was given the trust. Allah ta’ala gave us reasoning to choose what benefits us. He ta’ala gave us the choice to submit, and only the person who has true understanding will choose to obey Allah ta’ala.

So when those 11 stars, the sun and moon were commanded to prostrate themselves to Yusuf alayhi salaam in the dream, Allah ta’ala uses the form used for humans to show the reasoning and choice behind their prostration.

How many humans have the choice to prostrate to Allah and don’t do it? It only took one sajdah to remove Iblis from Jannah.

-Taken from Dr. Reda Bedeir, Tafseer Surah Yusuf.

[Na7lah]

Allah said:
(1)“By the Fig and the Olive
(2)And the Mount of Sinai
(3)And This City of Security
(4)We have indeed created man in the best of moulds ” (97:1-4)

Explanation: The Fig and the Olive are actually meant to be locations not food.

Also did you notice that the first three verses talk about the best 5 people on Earth.

(1) The Fig (At-teen) = it resembles the location where Nooh had his ship
(2) The Olive (Az-zaytoon) = where Issa (Jesus) -alayhe as salam- was born
(3) Toor ( The mount of Sinai) = When Musa alayhe as salam has talked to Allah
(4) This city of security (Makkah) = Makkah when Ibrahim alayhe as salam made dua that it would be a safe city and that Allah would send a prophet amongest them, which is Mohammad -be peace upon him- and he was from Makkah as well.

[rk9414]

The king who ruled the "People of the ditch" (Surah Al Burooj) was Dhu Nuwas

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dhu_Nuwas

He is referred to in this hadith

http://www.searchtruth.com/book_disp...mber=7148#7148

[alcurad]

وإذ أخذ ربك من بني آدم من ظهورهم ذريتهم وأشهدهم على أنفسهم ألست بربكم قالوا بلى شهدنا أن تقولوا يوم القيامة إنا كنا عن هذا غافلين . أو تقولوا إنما أشرك آباؤنا من قبل وكنا ذرية من بعدهم أفتهلكنا بما فعل المبطلون
الأعراف:172-173


172. And (remember) when your Lord brought forth from the Children of Adam, from their loins, their seed (or from Adam's loin his offspring) and made them testify as to themselves (saying): "Am I not your Lord?" They said: "Yes! We testify," lest you should say on the Day of Resurrection: "Verily, we have been unaware of this."

173. Or lest you should say: "It was only our fathers afortime who took others as partners in worship along with Allah, and we were (merely their) descendants after them; will You then destroy us because of the deeds of men who practiced Al-Batil (i.e. polytheism and committing crimes and sins, invoking and worshiping others besides Allah)?" (Tafsir At-Tabari).

the words used here are that the children of Adam-humans- were brought out from the loins ,and their seed etc, this doe not capture what the qur'an actually says.

on the other hands if we take the words literally they mean: and as you lord took a vow from the children of Adam to testify to themselves from their appearance etc.
the word ظهورهم in Arabic has two meanings, 'appearance/emergence', and the 'back'. many translate it as 'their backs', or attempt to clarify by saying he meant their loins, since the seed of man comes from there and he's speaking about the children of Adam. and the back is connected to the loins etc.

but we needn't go far, by 'emergence' we can understand the verse to be talking about the history of mankind, note: the second part of the verse warns that the vow humans have made with their lord to testify amongst themselves prevents them from claiming ignorance by saying they didn't follow Allah's way since their fathers didn't either, and that they simply followed what they were taught.

now the words 'to testify' can also be seen in two lights, one: to testify verbally, the other: to testify by action, here the latter is meant. that is to say their own actions serve to testify to the matter.

the reason they can't use this as an excuse is that human history itself refutes it, or more clearly as Allah has sent the prophets to remind the people, no one who received revelation through them can claim ignorance. saying that their own ancestors or parents had refused it and not looking for themselves while being able to do so is again no excuse.

[جوري]

I am really loving this thread.. and learning alot Jazakoum Allah khyran..

:w:

[Ramadhan]

Allah said:
(1)“By the Fig and the Olive
(2)And the Mount of Sinai
(3)And This City of Security
(4)We have indeed created man in the best of moulds ” (97:1-4)

Explanation: The Fig and the Olive are actually meant to be locations not food.

Also did you notice that the first three verses talk about the best 5 people on Earth.

(1) The Fig (At-teen) = it resembles the location where Nooh had his ship
(2) The Olive (Az-zaytoon) = where Issa (Jesus) -alayhe as salam- was born
(3) Toor ( The mount of Sinai) = When Musa alayhe as salam has talked to Allah
(4) This city of security (Makkah) = Makkah when Ibrahim alayhe as salam made dua that it would be a safe city and that Allah would send a prophet amongest them, which is Mohammad -be peace upon him- and he was from Makkah as well.

This is very interesting and it makes sense. It also shows that the Qur'an is nuanced and layered and that we know very little about the Quran

[rk9414]

Surah Kafirun

According to ibn Abbas, the Quraish proposed to the Holy Prophet; "We shall give you so much of wealth that you will become the richest man of Makkah; we shall give you whichever woman you like in marriage; we are prepared to follow and obey you as our leader, only on the condition that you will not speak ill of our gods. If you do not agree to this, we present another proposal which is to your as well as to our advantage. "When the Holy Prophet asked what it was, they said that if he would worship their gods, Lat and Uzza, for a year, they would worship his God for the same space of time. The Holy Prophet said: "Wait awhile; let me see what my Lord commands in this regard. "Thereupon the revelation came down: Qul ya-ayyuhal¬kafirun

According to another tradition from Ibn Abbas, the Quraish said to the Holy Prophet: "O Muhammad, if you kiss our gods, the idols, we shall worship your God. "Thereupon,this Surah was sent down.

[Al Mu'minaat]

I don't know if such a thread already exists...

but I thought we'd start a thread about interesting sura facts...

for instance..
when suret An.Najm was first recited all the Meccans fell prostrate both Muslims and Non-Muslims


If you like the idea for this thread.. then pls continue on

:w:

Jazakhalah Khayran... Yes that's right--> when suret An.Najm was first recited all the Meccans fell prostrate both Muslims and Non-Muslims

Subhanalah from this we can conlcude how beautiful the quran is maashlalah..

[Bint-e-Adam]

MashAllah very interesting. Quran is so beautiful