1. Al-Dīn 1 ( اَلدِّيْن) This word has been used in the Holy Qur’ān to connote the following: i) Religion and the religious law as in: أَفَغَيْرَ دِيْنِ اللهِ يَبْغُوْنَ ( ٨٣ : ٣ ) Do they seek religi...
The book of life is constantly turning its leaves. Every morning opens a new page. It adds to the leaves turned and lessens the remaining ones. The day is not far when you will be enjoying the last mo...
It is commonly held that the shā’n-i-nuzūl (occasion of revelation) is in fact the narration of a particular incident or incidents, which spurred the revelation of a verse or set of verses. I am afrai...
The issue of abrogation in the Qur’ān has remained a widely researched area of study regarding the divine book. In technical parlance, abrogation is called ‘Naskh’. If one casts a deep look at the wor...
The internet has revolutionized the field of communication. With its advent, the concepts of space and time have become immaterial as far as transmission of knowledge is concerned. The number of peopl...
The word ‘success’ has as many varied connotations attached to it -- as much as there is diversity in human thoughts. More often than not, the word is vociferously employed to gauge material abundance...
The Holy Qur’ān is the Final Testament of the Almighty. Humankind has with it this Word of God preserved word for word. With the passage of time the adherents to this sublime masterpiece have increase...
The religious history of mankind can be divided into two distinct periods. In the first period, which occupies the major portion of this history, the Almighty directly interacted with the inhabitants...
It is We Who have created you: why will you not witness the truth? Do you then see the [human seed] that you throw out? Is it you who create it, or are We the Creators? We have decreed death to be you...
Calling the Qur’ān amazing is not something done only by Muslims, who have an appreciation for the book and who are pleased with it; it has been labelled amazing by non-Muslims as well. In fact, even...
One of the long-standing objections levelled against the Qur’ān by its non-Muslim critics is that it appears to have no regular form or structure. It is said that its verses follow one another with li...
I. Preliminary Many of the early Qur’ānic sūrahs contain oaths, typical of which are the oaths sworn by the sun and the moon, day and night, and light and darkness. While both Muslim and Western schol...
I In the 1890s Richard Moulton, author of The Literary Study of the Bible, was able to justify the need for his work by pointing out that ‘Literature’, as opposed to ‘literatures’ – Greek, Hebrew, and...
Translator’s Note The Arabic text used is: Abū Ja‘far Muhammad Ibn. Jarīr Tabarī (224-310/839-923), Jamī‘al-Bayān fī Tafsīr al-Qur’ān (30 vols. In 12: Beiruit: Dāru’l-Ma‘rifah, 1406/1906; reprint of 1...
Translator’s Note The Arabic text used is: Abū Ja‘far Muhammad Ibn. Jarīr Tabarī (224-310/839-923), Jamī‘al-Bayān fī Tafsīr al-Qur’ān (30 vols. In 12: Beiruit: Dāru’l-Ma‘rifah, 1406/1906; reprint of 1...
Collection and Transmission of the Qur’an The Qur’ān we have with us today is the very one – word for word -- which was revealed to the Prophet Muhammad (sws). It was collected both in the form of a b...
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Cleanliness and ablution are the initial conditions for the prayer. One can obtain its true blessings only if one fulfils these initial conditions before offering it. Similarly, there are some initial...
The language in which the Qur’an was revealed was the Arabic of the highest level of Umm al-Qurā (Makkah) spoken by the people of the Quraysh in the Jāhiliyyah 1 period. There is no doubt that the way...
Once again, Islam is controversially in the news. Once again, western hostages have been taken – and lost their lives – in a Muslim land. Once again, certain self-appointed Muslim spokesmen have made...
