A few thoughts on Surat al-`Ankabut

By Dr. Mohammad Akram Nadwī The surah begins with the question: “a hasiba n-nasu ‘an…” It is not right to translate hasiba as ‘think’/‘imagine’ or ‘suppose’/‘conjecture’. The meaning here is ‘reckon’, ‘calculate’, to use reason to weigh up options in order to come to a judgment about the value of this or that option. The opening verses makes it clear that people tend towards what is a miscalculation, namely that by declaring their faith, by saying that they have believed in God and His Messenger, they have assured their salvation. They have not. The miscalculation is to say ‘we have…

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Surah Al `Imran: Overview

By Dr. Mohammad Akram Nadwī The tried and tested way of teaching the Qur’an is to work through it verse by verse, striving to deepen our experience of the words of God, and to improve conscience and practice of the religion. That said, there is also some merit in stepping back, at this stage of our effort, to articulate some understanding of the surah as a whole, to see how its different themes intersect and interact, support and strengthen each other, and how they cohere with the main, fundamental principles of the teaching in the Book. Six closely linked passages…

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Surah Al-`Imran

By Dr. Mohammad Akram Nadwi The longer surahs at the beginning of the received text of the Qur’an have a complex arrangement of passages because they are simultaneously addressing three major concerns of the Qur’an, and the focus of attention alternates between these concerns. The first is to make people aware of God and the Last Day, that is, of the inevitability of achieving complete self-knowledge. That will happen, whether we will or not, when we receive and have read out the record of all our thoughts, intentions, actions and those consequences for which we are responsible. In the life…

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Surat al-Tatfif

By Dr. Mohammad Akram Nadwi “Woe unto the mean-hearted – those who, when they take the measure from people, strive to have it full, and when they measure for them, strive to make it short.” (Qurʾān 83:1-3) Although some translations render mutaffifin as fraudsters – perhaps over-influenced by the example of tatfif given in these opening verses – the meaning of tatfif is stinginess, and those who suffer this disposition, the mutaffifin, are stingy, mistrustful, mean-hearted people. Because they are mean-hearted they may pride themselves on being “crafty” in their business dealings, that is, as fraudulent as they can get…

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Some notes on Surat al-Shu`ara’

By Dr. Mohammad Akram Nadwi This surah addresses theintense anxiety that God’s Messenger, salla l-lahu `alayhiwa-sallam, suffered on account of the kinds of negative response that he got when he conveyed to the people the message that God commanded him to convey. It seems that he blamed himself (v. 26:3). The Prophet grieved that, though some of the people were his relatives, and all of them Arab speakers, the message did not so touch and move their hearts that they would be eager to believe. Was the message not clear enough? Was he failing in his responsibility of conveying it…

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Informal notes for a tafsir class on Surat al-Muddaththir

By Dr. Mohammad Akram Nadwi In my lecture I will go through the surah in detail. In these notes I take the opportunity to reflect, still in relation to this surah, five general matters that often come up when we are trying to understand the Qur’an. A: What is the relevance of reports going back to the Companions that inform us about the situation in connection with which certain verses were revealed? B: Reliable Prophetic hadiths and/or Companion reports teach us the tafsir (the explanation) of many verses and passages of the Qur’an. How can we benefit from them? C:…

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Surat al-Mursalat

By Dr. Mohammad Akram Nadwi This surah alerts us to the very evident reality that life in this world subsists within a beneficent arrangement that has been put in place and operates independently of human will and agency. Although this reality is obvious everywhere and at all times, human beings have a tendency to ignore it. They tend to forget that, although they are privileged in many ways, as compared to other creatures in the world, they are nevertheless dependent on that world and its arrangement. If, for example, a man plants an apple seed and the seed grows into…

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Surat al-Jinn

By Dr. Mohammad Akram Nadwi When someone behaves in a way that shows that they are not in control of their will, that they cannot sense what is harmful or dangerous to themselves, the Arabic word used will probably be majnun. Literally, the word means jinn-possessed. In ordinary usage it means mad. It is only if this condition persists, if the person never comes out of it, that one would say majnun with the meaning jinn-possessed. This condition in human beings, of not knowing or not caring who they are, not knowing or not caring what is hurting them, can…

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Surat al-Nazi`at

By Dr. Mohammad Akram Nadwi In the opening line, the words are related to the verb naza`a, meaning to drag away or strip out forcibly. Other common words in Arabic derived from the same root include meanings like struggle, death struggle, the agony of death. Connected here with garqa, destruction and drowning, wa-n-nazi`ati garqa brings to mind an irresistible power carrying life to its end. But that is not explicit. The next line wa-n-nashitati nashta brings to mind a rushing release of energy, of unstoppable momentum. The third verse wa-s-sabihati sabha evokes the ordered serenity of the heavens – the…

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Surat al-Kahf

By Dr. Mohammad Akram Nadwi This surah was revealed in Makkah at a time when the hostility of the Quraysh, and their fear and hatred of Islam and of the Prophet, were at their height. They adopted every measure to stop the Prophet from preaching and the people from listening to him; soon they would plot to kill him: there are hints in the surah that the command to emigrate to Madinah is imminent. At the root of the Quraysh’s fear was that they would lose their prestige as the guardians of the Ka`bah. They depended heavily on the pilgrimage…

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