Preface
NOTES ON THE QURAN
Volume I
Z F Khan
إِذَا ٱلشَّمۡسُ كُوِّرَتۡ ١ وَإِذَا ٱلنُّجُومُ ٱنكَدَرَتۡ ٢ وَإِذَا ٱلۡجِبَالُ سُيِّرَتۡ ٣ وَإِذَا ٱلۡعِشَارُ عُطِّلَتۡ ٤ وَإِذَا ٱلۡوُحُوشُ حُشِرَتۡ ٥ وَإِذَا ٱلۡبِحَارُ سُجِّرَتۡ ٦ وَإِذَا ٱلنُّفُوسُ زُوِّجَتۡ ٧ وَإِذَا ٱلۡمَوۡءُۥدَةُ سُئِلَتۡ ٨ بِأَيِّ ذَنۢبٖ قُتِلَتۡ ٩ وَإِذَا ٱلصُّحُفُ نُشِرَتۡ ١٠ وَإِذَا ٱلسَّمَآءُ كُشِطَتۡ ١١ وَإِذَا ٱلۡجَحِيمُ سُعِّرَتۡ ١٢ وَإِذَا ٱلۡجَنَّةُ أُزۡلِفَتۡ ١٣ عَلِمَتۡ نَفۡسٞ مَّآ أَحۡضَرَتۡ ١٤
When the sun shall be wound round and its light is lost and is overthrown;
And when the stars shall fall;
And when the mountains shall be made to pass away;
And when the pregnant she-camels shall be neglected;
And when the wild beasts shall be gathered together;
And when the seas shall become as blazing Fire;
And when the souls shall be joined with their bodies;
And when the female buried alive shall be questioned:
For what sin was she killed?
And when the pages shall be laid open;
And when the heaven shall be stripped off and taken away from its place;
And when the Hell-Fire shall be set ablaze;
And when Paradise shall be brought near;
(Then) every person will know what he brought.
Surah 81 At-Takwir Verses 1-14
Whoever follows a path to seek knowledge, Allah will show him the way to Paradise. The angels lower their wings being pleased with the one who seeks knowledge. Whoever is in the heavens and the earth, even the fish in the sea, ask for forgiveness for the scholar. The superiority of the scholar over the worshipper is like that of the moon over all the heavenly bodies. The scholars are the heirs of the Prophet, for the Prophets did not leave behind Dinars and Dirhams, but they left behind knowledge; and whosoever receives it, receives an abundance of good fortune.
-words of Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) (as narrated by Abu Darda)
PREFACE
وَقَالَ ٱلرَّسُولُ يَٰرَبِّ إِنَّ قَوۡمِي ٱتَّخَذُواْ هَٰذَا ٱلۡقُرۡءَانَ مَهۡجُورٗا ٣٠
And the Messenger (Muhammad, pbuh) will say: ‘O My Lord! Verily, my people deserted this Quran’ Surah 25 Al-Furqan Verse 30
This book has been written for two purposes. The First purpose is to spotlight the Quran itself which has been thrown in the background of our daily life and considered fit only to decorate the vestiges of our religious bookshelves. This accusation fits well, most to me than to anyone else. Allah just guided me to pick it from the rack. The issue becomes pertinent when you see religious minded people, even those observing all formal religious rituals, lacking in their wits about the Quran. For the Companions, it was always the Quran, the Sunnah and the Shura (Consultation). For us it is the Shura (often amongst the ignorant), rarely the Sunnah and almost never the Quran. It appears we have inadvertently put the cart before the horse.
If we question ourselves, when did we last refer to the Quran for clarifying our doubts about the tenets of belief or practice, the answer in almost all cases would be in the negative. This is when Allah says in the Quran:
هَٰذَا بَلَٰغٞ لِّلنَّاسِ وَلِيُنذَرُواْ بِهِۦ وَلِيَعۡلَمُوٓاْ أَنَّمَا هُوَ إِلَٰهٞ وَٰحِدٞ وَلِيَذَّكَّرَ أُوْلُواْ ٱلۡأَلۡبَٰبِ ٥٢
This (Quran) is a message for mankind in order that they may be warned thereby, and that they may know that He is the only One Ilah (God-Allah) and that men of understanding may take heed. Surah 14 Ibrahim Verse 52
One of the possible reasons why this happened (apart from the fact that we deserted the Quran) was because of the fact that the subjects of enquiry have not been classified (formally) as has been done in the case of the Sunnah where the Hadith have been arranged subject wise in an easy to refer format. This Book is an attempt to catch that attention, an effort to put the horse before the cart.
The Second purpose is to spotlight the various themes of the Quran, scattered throughout, repeated and referred to in various manners. The idea is to help summarize the views inherent in the Quran on various topics of relevance. However, the more you read this book, the more convinced you become of the failed attempt it makes to summarise the subjects of the Quran. The idea, therefore, is not to replace the Quran by a ready referencer (for that would be the greatest disservice to my labour put forth in compiling this book) but to convince that we need to read the Quran, again and again (with understanding, of course, that goes without saying).
Even while placing the spotlight on the various themes, several important aspects of the Quran (that give it its divine and poetic flair) have been left untouched. Also, because this book is intended for the readership of the believers, those aspects of the Quran that address the unbelievers have not been included. Yet again, certain themes which would have required greater space for detailing have also been given a miss, with a hope that they shall be touched upon in a future endeavour, Allah willing. To keep this book simple, verses detailing Sharia rulings have been touched only where it is essential to the basic understanding of the theme in question. The word ‘Prophet’ wherever used, unless otherwise mentioned, refers to Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) and has to be understood as such. Also, it is pertinent to mention here that there is no verse in this book from the Quran that would require prostration. The division of this book into four parts is only notional.
I believe, by now, you might have understood that I am not a writer and therefore I have written nothing in this book. This treatise is just a compilation of verses of the Quran in separate themes, together with explanation of those verses in the light of the Sunnah, and the views of the Companions as well as the celebrated commentators.
It is reported on the authority of Abu Sa’id Khudri: “We were sitting and writing what we were hearing from Allah’s Messenger (pbuh) that he turned his attention to us and said: ‘What is this that you are writing?’ We said, we are writing that what we are hearing from you. Whereupon, he said, ‘Are you writing another Book along with the Book of Allah? Keep the Book of Allah separate and make its text pure so that there may not be confusion in it’”. To prevent such confusion, the text of the Quranic Translation in this book is kept in Bold letters, the words of our Prophet (pbuh) are kept Italicised, and the rest is kept in Normal font. Also, the verses in Arabic in Full have been kept (with only theme-relevant part as English translations) so as to keep the text pure as directed by our Prophet (pbuh) in the mentioned Hadith.
I would like to acknowledge that the concept of the book is not totally new, because an attempt of the same could be found in Fazail-e-Amaal Vol II (though not done so exhaustively), by Maulana Md Zakariyya Kaandhlawi. Also, an incidental outcome can be seen in Riyadh-Us-Saleheen by Imam Abu Zakariya Yahya and Bin Sharaf An-Nawawi (translated by S M Madni Abbasi in English). May Allah bless them both.
May this book help all believers advance from Islam to Iman, from Iman to Ihsan.
CONTENTS
PART I – UNDERSTANDING CONCEPTS
Beautified Life 2
Burden 13
Deeds, Death, Reward and Punishment 19
Forgiveness and Repentance 48
Grades and Differences 77
Intercession 92
Kingdom, Honour, Sustenance and Provision 105
Life of the world 118
Rope of Allah and the Straight Path 134
Test and Trial 155
Trust and Justice 168
PART II – BELIEFAND FAITH
Auliya and Wali 186
Covenant (of Allah) 195
Dominion 200
Knowledge and Quran 206
Love of Allah (and the Messenger, pbuh) 232
Rivals (to Allah) 244
Satan (Shaitan) 254
Hell and Paradise 272
PART III – QUALITIES OF BELIEVERS
Al-Muttaqun and Al-Abrar 282
Men of Understanding 301
Muhsin 309
Perfect Entrance (into Islam) 319
Some (last) Hours (parts) of the Night 348
Patience and As-Salat 354
PART IV – DIRECTIVES TO FOLLOW
Al-Maruf Al-Munkar 386
Greeting 397
Intoxicants and Gambling 401
Libas (Raiment) and Rish (Adornment) 403
Parents 406
Pride and Arrogance 419
Property 441
Remembrance (of Allah) 446
Riba (Usury) 456
Rumour, Conversation, Speech 461
Spending 479
Supplication 499
The Debtor 514
Womb and Orphan 516
Women and children 527
WE FINISH WITH THE TWO QUESTIONS 557
THANKS 558