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I invite you to join me on my sojourn through the Quran and the hadith. Its been many moons since I have had the chance to revise them and I began again today. I look forward to any criticism/comments.
The fatiha.
Not too long ago Mostafa posted an article with links to other papers that allege the opener of the Quran was not to be found in ibn Masud's codex. I posted Bergman's landmark paper that discussed the most current evidence to the contrary, including ibn Nadim seeing a copy of ibn Masud's codex containing the fatiha.
The most interesting line of the fatiha is the last ayah in which the supplicant asks God to not make him amongst those that went astray or earned God's wrath. Yusuf Ali makes it a point to indicate that ghayr in this sentence refers not to the path itself but to the classes of people. Other translators put emphasis on the paths of each group.
The Bukhari hadith indicate that early scholars and companions grouped the Christians into "those that stray" and the Jews into "those that earned God's wrath." This is in the 6th volume of the Bukhari hadith dealing with exegesis of the Quran. The key here though, is that the hadith appears to generalize these two classes beyond the apparent implicit reference to Christians and Jews.
On another note, the Prophet of God (S) refers to this chapter as the greatest in the whole Quran. The hadith in the 6th volume that discusses fatiha dispells any of the contrived theories of the orientalists that attempt to separate fatiha from the Quran in their outlandish theories. In the hadith, the Prophet refers to fatiha as "saba al mathaani" translating to "7 oft repeated verses." This phrase is found in the Quran itself. Therefore, when the Quran and the Prophet use the phrase: "the saba al mathani (fatiha) and the grand Quran" it in no way supports the idea that ibn Masud purposefully seperated this surah out of his personal Quranic collection. The hadith itself starts off with the Prophet telling the companion that he will tell the companion about the greatest surah in the Quran itself. This proves that when the companions and the Quran refer to fatiha separately from the Quran, its mainly because fatiha has its won high stature, not because it is separate revelation from the Quran.
The first section of Surah Baqrah is also very deep. Right at the outset the Quran confirms to the reader: If you have been searching for the book that is from God, here it is. Moroever, here are the characteristics of a believer.
There are two powerful metaphors that translators (I read through 5 different translations to try and gauge the meaning) give slightly different alterations to. These metaphors are of the man that lights a fire and of a dark thundercloud.
In the preceding verses the character of a hypocrite is fleshed out. It is intriguing to note that in the modern era, both camps of people in the Muslim world refer to these ayaahs to label eachother. How I think the argument can be resolved is based on the fact that the correct group has a deep true belief in God (as per the ayaahs themselves). Who can judge this though? Only God himself. I do think that it is rather telling that the language of war has taken on Orwellian meaning these days. War is peace and peace is war. Those that are proponents of war shout that they simply want to spread peace. The Quran itself warns the hypocrite that this terminology of theirs is beguiling. It directly says: "When they are told to stop making mischief on Earth, they say: "Why we only want to make peace!."
The metaphor of the fire is powerful. Yusuf Ali and Mawdudi both translate it in such a way where the fire is lit and God either strips the fire of light or takes away the man who lit it's ability to see the light of the fire. The Penguin classic translation simply translates it as "God puts out the fire." If we take Yusuf Ali's translation as the accurate one, then the deeper meaning could be that the man lit a fire (true belief is like that fire that renders both light and heat). Generally, to the engineer and the physicist, heat is sort of a byproduct to ensure that energy is conserved. Therefore, if you translate mechanical to electrical energy or vice versa, or if you instigate a chemical reaction for a purpose, the ideal situation is one in which energy conversion occurs efficiently and the amount of heat released is limited. Therefore, the man's purpose was to light a fire with which to see. If we take Ali's translation, then fire stripped of light is simply heat. Therefore, the hypocrites false belief is like fire stripped of light. If we take the simple translation of the fire itself being put out, then the point is that the fire is belief, providing both guidance (light) and warmth (a purposeful benefit of faith). On the other hand, if we take Mawdud's rendering where the man's eyes loses the ability to see the light then its a commentary on how pure belief (represented by the fire) escapes the hypocrite.
The next ayaah, as rendered by Ali and Irving discusses a rain laden thundercloud. Pikthall neglect the word cloud and describe a rain storm. Perhaps then, the absence of the storm is the mephator for the true believer. After all, if the rain laden thundercloud or rain storm is absent, then it is a sunny day. God goes on to discuss how these hypocrites have limited sight and limit their own hearing when they try to plug their ears to drown out the terrifying thunder. The believer on the other hand has constant light that does not blind him or her and his day may be calm and temperate with steady pleasant sounds. One translator implies that God surrounds the hypocrites like this thunder storm. The others generally take the more soft meaning which indicates that God's mercy even surrounds the hypocrite and preserves them even in this terrifying situation. Another interpretation might be that the believer is focused on the benefit the rain will bring and takes good shelter, with little fear of the thunder and lightening. The hypocrite on the other hand is caught out in the open and fears the nature of what this belief structure means to his way of life and his decrepit and evil ways.
The fatiha.
Not too long ago Mostafa posted an article with links to other papers that allege the opener of the Quran was not to be found in ibn Masud's codex. I posted Bergman's landmark paper that discussed the most current evidence to the contrary, including ibn Nadim seeing a copy of ibn Masud's codex containing the fatiha.
The most interesting line of the fatiha is the last ayah in which the supplicant asks God to not make him amongst those that went astray or earned God's wrath. Yusuf Ali makes it a point to indicate that ghayr in this sentence refers not to the path itself but to the classes of people. Other translators put emphasis on the paths of each group.
The Bukhari hadith indicate that early scholars and companions grouped the Christians into "those that stray" and the Jews into "those that earned God's wrath." This is in the 6th volume of the Bukhari hadith dealing with exegesis of the Quran. The key here though, is that the hadith appears to generalize these two classes beyond the apparent implicit reference to Christians and Jews.
On another note, the Prophet of God (S) refers to this chapter as the greatest in the whole Quran. The hadith in the 6th volume that discusses fatiha dispells any of the contrived theories of the orientalists that attempt to separate fatiha from the Quran in their outlandish theories. In the hadith, the Prophet refers to fatiha as "saba al mathaani" translating to "7 oft repeated verses." This phrase is found in the Quran itself. Therefore, when the Quran and the Prophet use the phrase: "the saba al mathani (fatiha) and the grand Quran" it in no way supports the idea that ibn Masud purposefully seperated this surah out of his personal Quranic collection. The hadith itself starts off with the Prophet telling the companion that he will tell the companion about the greatest surah in the Quran itself. This proves that when the companions and the Quran refer to fatiha separately from the Quran, its mainly because fatiha has its won high stature, not because it is separate revelation from the Quran.
The first section of Surah Baqrah is also very deep. Right at the outset the Quran confirms to the reader: If you have been searching for the book that is from God, here it is. Moroever, here are the characteristics of a believer.
There are two powerful metaphors that translators (I read through 5 different translations to try and gauge the meaning) give slightly different alterations to. These metaphors are of the man that lights a fire and of a dark thundercloud.
In the preceding verses the character of a hypocrite is fleshed out. It is intriguing to note that in the modern era, both camps of people in the Muslim world refer to these ayaahs to label eachother. How I think the argument can be resolved is based on the fact that the correct group has a deep true belief in God (as per the ayaahs themselves). Who can judge this though? Only God himself. I do think that it is rather telling that the language of war has taken on Orwellian meaning these days. War is peace and peace is war. Those that are proponents of war shout that they simply want to spread peace. The Quran itself warns the hypocrite that this terminology of theirs is beguiling. It directly says: "When they are told to stop making mischief on Earth, they say: "Why we only want to make peace!."
The metaphor of the fire is powerful. Yusuf Ali and Mawdudi both translate it in such a way where the fire is lit and God either strips the fire of light or takes away the man who lit it's ability to see the light of the fire. The Penguin classic translation simply translates it as "God puts out the fire." If we take Yusuf Ali's translation as the accurate one, then the deeper meaning could be that the man lit a fire (true belief is like that fire that renders both light and heat). Generally, to the engineer and the physicist, heat is sort of a byproduct to ensure that energy is conserved. Therefore, if you translate mechanical to electrical energy or vice versa, or if you instigate a chemical reaction for a purpose, the ideal situation is one in which energy conversion occurs efficiently and the amount of heat released is limited. Therefore, the man's purpose was to light a fire with which to see. If we take Ali's translation, then fire stripped of light is simply heat. Therefore, the hypocrites false belief is like fire stripped of light. If we take the simple translation of the fire itself being put out, then the point is that the fire is belief, providing both guidance (light) and warmth (a purposeful benefit of faith). On the other hand, if we take Mawdud's rendering where the man's eyes loses the ability to see the light then its a commentary on how pure belief (represented by the fire) escapes the hypocrite.
The next ayaah, as rendered by Ali and Irving discusses a rain laden thundercloud. Pikthall neglect the word cloud and describe a rain storm. Perhaps then, the absence of the storm is the mephator for the true believer. After all, if the rain laden thundercloud or rain storm is absent, then it is a sunny day. God goes on to discuss how these hypocrites have limited sight and limit their own hearing when they try to plug their ears to drown out the terrifying thunder. The believer on the other hand has constant light that does not blind him or her and his day may be calm and temperate with steady pleasant sounds. One translator implies that God surrounds the hypocrites like this thunder storm. The others generally take the more soft meaning which indicates that God's mercy even surrounds the hypocrite and preserves them even in this terrifying situation. Another interpretation might be that the believer is focused on the benefit the rain will bring and takes good shelter, with little fear of the thunder and lightening. The hypocrite on the other hand is caught out in the open and fears the nature of what this belief structure means to his way of life and his decrepit and evil ways.
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