Engaging the Quran as Revelation
What I understand
humans, rocks & destroyed bodies
It is curious that verses in the Quran mentions human and rocks/stones as fuel for hell (2:24). Rocks, solid bodies of matter: they do not understand, feel or think as far as I can tell. Things of the same kind, for the same reason, it seems, should merit hell. I therefore think about how human…
of earthquakes and revelation
It is feb 9th 2023 today. An earthquake hit southeast Turkey and northern Syria and other places on Feb 6th. Thousands died and many more are injured and even more are affected by widespread death and destruction and suffering. I am affected. Sadenned. I wish it didn’t happen. I hope it doesn’t happen to me…
the truth about “dont judge me”
I realized something today..again…and i thought i’ll write it down..again..there are probably other blog entries where i have said this in different ways perhaps..and i have come to realize what i am about to say by what the Quran teaches..but let me just say it here without going to verses… ideas and claims are true…
9:36
إِنَّ عِدَّةَ ٱلشُّهُورِ عِندَ ٱللَّهِ ٱثْنَا عَشَرَ شَهْرًا فِى كِتَـٰبِ ٱللَّهِ يَوْمَ خَلَقَ ٱلسَّمَـٰوَٰتِ وَٱلْأَرْضَ مِنْهَآ أَرْبَعَةٌ حُرُمٌ ذَٰلِكَ ٱلدِّينُ ٱلْقَيِّمُ فَلَا تَظْلِمُوا۟ فِيهِنَّ أَنفُسَكُمْ وَقَـٰتِلُوا۟ ٱلْمُشْرِكِينَ كَآفَّةً كَمَا يُقَـٰتِلُونَكُمْ كَآفَّةً وَٱعْلَمُوٓا۟ أَنَّ ٱللَّهَ مَعَ ٱلْمُتَّقِينَ I may be wrong but I think If you read the existing english translations of this verse (and this is true of so so many other verses…perhaps even all the verses) and if you come to this verse with assumptions about who you are and aren’t, and why you are reading the verse, and…
109-1
ibada or what is called worship..what is it? kufr or what is called denial or unbelief (and the disbelievers)…what is it? who are they? i should look at my life to understand what my maker means when he tells me to say ‘o deniers..i do not worship what you worship..’ in this, i assume, is…
false living and true worship
some will say “one is distracted by the life of this world…by work, by family..by this or that…and therefore we have prayer to bring us back to god…”.they want false living (not living in God’s name) to be remedied by prayer and true worship..few times a day one will turn to god, they imagine, and…
choosing my context
Yes, there is always context – some conception of the whole or of the broader picture within which i exist at a given moment and in which I feel and think and experience something and encounter the world or some event or person and respond to it…but what this context is, is a matter of…
67:2 He made death and life…
People sometimes say, ‘its good to keep death in mind…’. its depressing..its meant to make people realize that they are transient beings and will die someday..its meant to be a ‘reality check’…but it is half true only…one sees death all around and everyday and one seeks guidance from one’s maker about this…the claim in 67:2…
wastelands
if i wasn’t careful, the people of lower, material life would have me feel that drinking a glass of tap water in my apartment is less potentially sacred than drinking from some sacred water well in some sacred land..that my soul’s thirst will be quenched when i visit such and such a place and that…
my most remotely acceptable things
Sometime I find myself in a place, a condition, which I find acceptable and nice – i am healthy, my loved ones are healthy, life is okay by and large, things are ok. they may even be really great sometimes. laughter and enjoyment. things to look forward to. life can be such that one does…
helplessness of the oppressed
There is nothing in this world, this lower realm, that does not indicate some reality that must already exist in the higher realm since this realm cannot exist, my reason says, without being given existence. The reality of things must exist in the permanent realm, with the source of all things and which must be…
5:114
let me say at the start, I celebrate what you may not and I do not celebrate what you may. قَالَ عِيسَى ٱبْنُ مَرْيَمَ ٱللَّهُمَّ رَبَّنَآ أَنزِلْ عَلَيْنَا مَآئِدَةًۭ مِّنَ ٱلسَّمَآءِ تَكُونُ لَنَا عِيدًۭا لِّأَوَّلِنَا وَءَاخِرِنَا وَءَايَةًۭ مِّنكَ ۖ وَٱرْزُقْنَا وَأَنتَ خَيْرُ ٱلرَّٰزِقِينَ Said Jesus, the son of Mary: ‘O God, our Sustainer! Send down…
the illogic/dishonesty of the ethical
When I begin with the assumption, and it can only be an assumption until I could see its truth and it becomes truth for me, that my maker and the one who gives me my reason, my sense of right and wrong, my feelings, my agreeableness and disagreeableness towards or about something, is speaking to…
Subhan Allah (God’s is perfection)
One travels with purpose when one travels towards an end that one has not yet attained but that one seeks and finds beloved. What I love is perfection, to be in a state that my heart feels everything is perfect as it is, even the imperfections make perfect sense. I want perfection of meaning. If…
written/determined for you (“kutiba alaykum…”) 2:178-179
When my maker says that something is written or determined for me (or for those who are safe and therefore for me insofar as I too want to be among the ones who are referred to as safe), I can either assume this claim to be true without knowing it is true (which is what…
signs, rasul, mockery
25:41 وَإِذَا رَأَوْكَ إِن يَتَّخِذُونَكَ إِلَّا هُزُوًا أَهَـٰذَا ٱلَّذِى بَعَثَ ٱللَّهُ رَسُولًا Hence, whenever they consider you, they but make you a target of mockery “Is this the one whom God sent as rasul? 30:10 ثُمَّ كَانَ عَـٰقِبَةَ ٱلَّذِينَ أَسَـٰٓـُٔوا۟ ٱلسُّوٓأَىٰٓ أَن كَذَّبُوا۟ بِـَٔايَـٰتِ ٱللَّهِ وَكَانُوا۟ بِهَا يَسْتَهْزِءُونَ And then, evil is the end of those who do evil by giving the lie to signs of God and deriding them 36:30 يَـٰحَسْرَةً عَلَى ٱلْعِبَادِ مَا يَأْتِيهِم مِّن رَّسُولٍ إِلَّا كَانُوا۟ بِهِۦ يَسْتَهْزِءُونَ OH, THE REGRETS that slaves…
2:26
Revelation should, and does, gives clues to readers about what they should seek and find in revelation. It gives clues about how I might be guided in my interpretation of its claims. Very plainly, I put it like this to myself: If I cannot ask and answer the question: “Is that true?” about a verse,…
28:77
What do i do with what i have such that it would be excellent or beautiful to do? has something excellent been done to me by my maker so that i too would do it? how is my doing it likened to his doing it? Here is a thought: He has made known to me…
eternity
“who wants to live forever? who wants eternity?” they say. “life has its miseries, even if minor ones, and to be eternally afflicted by them would be no fun at all. and even the good things in life seem to not be so good as to be desired eternally. wouldn’t one get bored? whats the…
perversity
perversity has many faces. one of its faces is the pleasure a fallen person feels when someone making an effort not to fall, falls…the [first] fallen person is vindicated. the effort to remain standing proved unsuccessful and inadequate. falling is okay and perhaps inevitable. to be a fallen person is okay. no regret is necessary,…
“i dont believe in God”
So many folks in my world say, ‘i dont believe in God.’ mostly, i console myself by reminding myself that i likely do not know what they mean by believing or by god nor they what i may mean by the same. were it not for this consolation, i would find it compelling to think…
88:10-11
In the garden of God’s presence, it is Him one speaks about – the one who is beloved and praised, to whom belongs all that exists. in His mention, one is found and all else is found and all speech that is not His mention is idle talk for it does not reach its aim,…
ease
no concept, on its own, has a single, fixed, agreeable or disagreeable quality. i need to ask “as what” or “with what meaning” do i consider a concept. Ease, ‘as a sort of mud’ in which i get stuck and am thus unable to move towards something else, something i feel the need to move…
Praise be to truth
We all know that truth is praised, admired, wanted and loved. when they find it in them, with them, around them, they associate with it, are drawn to it. Those who find satisfaction of heart in truth and its glorification and realization don’t defile it by directing praise to themselves on account of their proximity…
Wal yawmil Aakhiri
Its as uncomplicated as wanting to see ones loved ones again. to find a one to whom one can entrust the life and wellbeing of ones loved ones (including oneself) is in finding safety with that other life, lasting and without death. so that one could say ( and mean) and feel in ones heart,…
we
the warmth people seek to attain or maintain by adopting the practices and perspectives of others, so that they would feel (the warmth) of being a part of some “we” is often the heat that comes from the melting of truth, a heat whose origin and end is, for me, hell
the flesh of swine
the taking of pleasure “in something higher” is tied to relinquishing a pleasure in something, by reason of something else being higher, lower. I can take pleasure in X. period. But if i come to realize that there are two kinds, not one kind, of pleasure to be had – lets say a physical pleasure…
Masjid al haram
Prostrating, for the soul, must be to something inviolable. Turning to the One who has no flaw, no death, no limit to his compassion, whose absolute and absolute compassion is inviolable turns the direction in which one prostrates ones body an inviolable place of prostration, a masjid al haram. If Wherever I turn is His…
Maker
It baffles me when I think about it – who made the one who made me? How did the first life, the first consciousness arise? Where did that something that is not nothing come from? How could there be something, the something I call a maker or creator or God? Could it be that there…
From dark to light
When I see dawn being broken by Him, when I see him bringing light after he had brought darkness of the night, I think of all the darknesses of my life – my losses and fears and worries – and I see that the truth of these darknesses, the truth of being made helpless and…
i have something to say vs. i need help from my maker
everyone always has something to say. when i talk about what helps me, i can be talking to others with things to say about what i say. this is when what i say partially falls on infertile ground and helps only me. or those who hear me are not looking to say something about what…
meaning and matter
Meaning, in this world, is attached to matter but it is not matter itself. Meaning is what is indicated by matter or by relations involving material beings. revelation, i need to decide, is going to either speak to me about matter or about meaning. In a sense, it always speaks about matter, something i can…
People of the elephant
Two elephantine things have so far become clear to me: my elephantine desires ( intense and powerful, immovable and irresistible) and my assumption about my elephantine powers and abilities (and equally huge trust in them) to bring about desired outcomes that can fulfill me and make me content. In both cases, I found myself beaten…
Struggle and inspiration
This post is not a direct engagement with a quranic verse but an observation. It seems to me that, for better or worse, a person who wants to inspire others to be grateful or wants to convince others of the value and truth of gratitude to God has to be a person who others see…
a mother’s death
I just got news that the mother of a childhood friend of mine, a woman i knew as a loving aunt back in my school years, passed away. The whatasapp announcement in the friend’s group started..”guys..terrible news..” and it was followed by responses of “i am so sorry..”, “holy shit”, “terrible news”..” i am so…
Haste & reflecting on Signs
I want my meaning and I want it now. And if I don’t find it immediately, I readily abandon my concern for truth and accept some kind of meaning to avoid being in a state of deprivation, ignorance and frustration and, perhaps most importantly, from fear of being alone (as if feeling confused and left…
reason because neccessary is nothing
There is in me a potential, a freedom to be exercised. In the name of this freedom, itself a sign of the utter unconstrained freedom of my maker, I always have the option to reject, in at least my own mind or heart, a thing or deny it my assent. This option to reject, to…
lies that deprive me of truth
إِنَّ الَّذِينَ جَاؤُوا بِالْإِفْكِ عُصْبَةٌ مِّنكُمْ لَا تَحْسَبُوهُ شَرًّا لَّكُم بَلْ هُوَ خَيْرٌ لَّكُمْ لِكُلِّ امْرِئٍ مِّنْهُم مَّا اكْتَسَبَ مِنَ الْإِثْمِ وَالَّذِي تَوَلَّى كِبْرَهُ مِنْهُمْ لَهُ عَذَابٌ عَظِيمٌ Indeed those who come forth with a baseless lie or accusation (against others) are many among you; they dont think it is bad for them. they think…
good or habit
A recent fruitful intellectual exchange had me thinking again about the notion of a “good habit”. For some time now, “good habit” has been an oxymoron for me. It still is. Good for me is that which, in my eyes, comes as bestowal from my maker and sustainer as a sign that takes me back…
Revisiting basic assumptions – a preamble to reflections on sura al-nur
I am about to embark on an engagement with Surah al-Nur. I think it is important for me to revisit some of my basic assumptions to remind myself what I understand my concerns to be as I turn to revelation, what I take to be revelation’s nature and purpose and what meanings I take particular…
seeking refuge from what? 113:2
On my own, I seek refuge from what I think is harmful and dangerous, disagreeable or hideous, cruel, unjust and the like. I don’t want to be touched by harm or pain, grief and despair, death and illness, from ignorance and poverty and so on. These are what I would say (or something like these)…
combining prayers?
The most bizzare example for me of people speaking in the most spiritual and rational manner about the prayer times – how each time is a time when God manifests his power in a most clear and unique way, justifying that human beings respond by prostration to such majesty – and then the same people…
what is all this?
يُسَبِّحُ لِلَّهِ مَا فِي السَّمَاوَاتِ وَمَا فِي الْأَرْضِ الْمَلِكِ الْقُدُّوسِ الْعَزِيزِ الْحَكِيمِ هُوَ الَّذِي بَعَثَ فِي الْأُمِّيِّينَ رَسُولًا مِّنْهُمْ يَتْلُو عَلَيْهِمْ آيَاتِهِ وَيُزَكِّيهِمْ وَيُعَلِّمُهُمُ الْكِتَابَ وَالْحِكْمَةَ وَإِن كَانُوا مِن قَبْلُ لَفِي ضَلَالٍ مُّبِينٍ 62:1-2 Nothing around me gives me the comforting impression that they are in control of their existence so that I could count…
‘alameen [worlds/realms etc]
Praise is due to the lord/sustainer of the realms… because there isn’t much praiseworthy about the sustainer of just the one realm that i can know..i couldn’t give praise to the life i see/know if the one by whose life anything was alive here was not also the sustainer with whom was life that i…
9:33…associator’s hate
هُوَ الَّذِي أَرْسَلَ رَسُولَهُ بِالْهُدَى وَدِينِ الْحَقِّ لِيُظْهِرَهُ عَلَى الدِّينِ كُلِّهِ وَلَوْ كَرِهَ الْمُشْرِكُونَ He is the One who sent His messenger with guidance and the truthful obligation/debt, so that it prevails over all obligations/debts however hateful this may be to those who associate or give a share [to something or someone as the one to…
praising God
How can I praise God? The one who speaks in the Quran. Lets back up. Do I want to experience life and the world in such a way that it makes me praise whoever who made it and gave it to me and who is doing it (because i see things can’t make themselves and…
Human view vs. revelation’s guidance
It is very human (with all the ‘I can decide to give meaning to things’ ego-centrism included) to say that a ‘messenger of God’ was someone of great moral character. It is the urge people have to extol, morally, their favorite person. It’s what one would like to do, for instance, for one’s father or…
Your God is One God
Here, today I say this about the above: if I am my owner or if I am a being of nature (even if I say I have a creator or God), then my wants and desires are just delusional and pathetic wishes of a needy/greedy impotent and wretched being. If I own myself in addition…
what i am doing not who i am
مَا كَانَ اِبۡرٰهِيۡمُ يَهُوۡدِيًّا وَّلَا نَصۡرَانِيًّا وَّ لٰكِنۡ كَانَ حَنِيۡفًا مُّسۡلِمًا ؕ وَمَا كَانَ مِنَ الۡمُشۡرِكِيۡنَ “Ibrahim was neither Jewish nor Christian; rather he was constantly turning away (from seeing things as sources of their own existence while surrendering/submitting (all things to the One source) and he was not amongst those who see things as sources…
my successful hedonism
the desire and pursuit of endless pleasure, without restraint or limit, is one way to desribe a hedonist attitude. this hedonism fails when endless pleasure is denied (in experience, in memory and in thought and anticipation of the future) unless it is replaced or substituted by what is better than it (another verse in the…
Rabb al-mashriqayn (two places of sunrise)
A Lord who wants to replace my mindless way of being the world with an awareness that things are happening at His command, by His power and will, by His wisdom and mercy, can and does tell me that he is Lord of the place of the rising of the sun – the east. And…
the easier accounting, chapter 84
The question that I think this chapter is asking me to answer is this: Do i want to be with those I love and with whom I find joy and enjoyment? [my answer here is yes!] And do I think that I can fulfill this need and desire of my soul in the conditions I…
the unblemished hand of moses, 20:22
a hand that remains empty even after taking hold of something is free from the blemish of denying the thing (and the one whose hand it is) a (re)turn to their source – such a hand is empty because it sends forth whatever love/desire grasped so all beloveds/desired may remain found and not be lost.…
revelation
anyone who uses the term revelation for something and then ties it to any particular religion, identity, social imaginary, historical context, linguistic scheme of representation, discursive tradition etc etc (fill in your favorite and most theoretically sophisticated, academic buzzword), is not talking about revelation as what it would be for a human being who looks…
when i reflect, i find truth..or i dont
When i reflect and if it is truth that i find, i am like the fallen who has stood up… i am either fallen or standing. i move from an understanding of being fallen and wounded to being healed and joyous. this is my experience as a human being who goes to his maker with…
it matters
it matters whether i go to the quran with questions about the religion of islam or i go to it with questions about the meaning of things and of my life (and concern about not having gotten it right). any number of teachers, living and dead, claim they will teach you the real/pure and the…
awareness of the source & higher/lasting existence 4:77
أَلَمْ تَرَ إِلَى الَّذِينَ قِيلَ لَهُمْ كُفُّواْ أَيْدِيَكُمْ وَأَقِيمُواْ الصَّلاَةَ وَآتُواْ الزَّكَاةَ فَلَمَّا كُتِبَ عَلَيْهِمُ الْقِتَالُ إِذَا فَرِيقٌ مِّنْهُمْ يَخْشَوْنَ النَّاسَ كَخَشْيَةِ اللّهِ أَوْ أَشَدَّ خَشْيَةً وَقَالُواْ رَبَّنَا لِمَ كَتَبْتَ عَلَيْنَا الْقِتَالَ لَوْلا أَخَّرْتَنَا إِلَى أَجَلٍ قَرِيبٍ قُلْ مَتَاعُالدُّنْيَا قَلِيلٌ وَالآخِرَةُ خَيْرٌ لِّمَنِ اتَّقَى وَلاَ تُظْلَمُونَ فَتِيلاً “Have you not seen/considered the ones…” If my…
64:5-8 bashar or messenger?
Due apologies but you will have to look up the verses yourself. To me, and I say this for the 70th time or have been saying it for 40 days (i.e. ever so often), revelation, if true in its claims, reveals. It claims to describe me and my world in a way that is better…
signs of being with the caller unto God
يَا أَيُّهَا النَّبِيُّ إِذَا جَاءكَ الْمُؤْمِنَاتُ يُبَايِعْنَكَ عَلَى أَن لَّا يُشْرِكْنَ بِاللَّهِ شَيْئًا وَلَا يَسْرِقْنَ وَلَا يَزْنِينَ وَلَا يَقْتُلْنَ أَوْلَادَهُنَّ وَلَا يَأْتِينَ بِبُهْتَانٍ يَفْتَرِينَهُ بَيْنَ أَيْدِيهِنَّ وَأَرْجُلِهِنَّ وَلَا يَعْصِينَكَ فِي مَعْرُوفٍ فَبَايِعْهُنَّ وَاسْتَغْفِرْ لَهُنَّ اللَّهَ إِنَّ اللَّهَ غَفُورٌ رَّحِيمٌ My interpretive translation. I am well aware of the assumptions I am making about how I…
Am I looking for an example? 60:4-9
The Quran claims that there is some kind of beautiful or excellent example for me in Ibrahim and “those with him” [note its not therefore Ibrahim as an individual that is exemplary but an attitude that is common between him and those ‘with him’]. This attitude is described in verse 4. Is this verse telling…
what does god mean by this example/mathal?
When revelation tells me what some people say, it also tells me why they say those words and what results obtain as a result – so that i may see if those words represent my attitude and thus my condition..so that i may be able to choose differently and get to a different outcome. consider…
where am I safe? 60:1
يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا لَا تَتَّخِذُوا عَدُوِّي وَعَدُوَّكُمْ أَوْلِيَاء تُلْقُونَ إِلَيْهِم بِالْمَوَدَّةِ وَقَدْ كَفَرُوا بِمَا جَاءكُم مِّنَ الْحَقِّ يُخْرِجُونَ الرَّسُولَ وَإِيَّاكُمْ أَن تُؤْمِنُوا بِاللَّهِ رَبِّكُمْ إِن كُنتُمْ خَرَجْتُمْ جِهَادًا فِي سَبِيلِي وَابْتِغَاء مَرْضَاتِي تُسِرُّونَ إِلَيْهِم بِالْمَوَدَّةِ وَأَنَا أَعْلَمُ بِمَا أَخْفَيْتُمْ وَمَا أَعْلَنتُمْ وَمَن يَفْعَلْهُ مِنكُمْ فَقَدْ ضَلَّ سَوَاء السَّبِيلِ O you who feel secure [do…
homeless and penniless 59:8
لِلْفُقَرَاء الْمُهَاجِرِينَ الَّذِينَ أُخْرِجُوا مِن دِيارِهِمْ وَأَمْوَالِهِمْ يَبْتَغُونَ فَضْلًا مِّنَ اللَّهِ وَرِضْوَانًا وَيَنصُرُونَ اللَّهَ وَرَسُولَهُ أُوْلَئِكَ هُمُ الصَّادِقُونَ for the poor among those who break away and go forth: those who have been driven from their homes and their possessions, seeking favor from God and His approval/acceptance, and who help God and His Apostle: it is…
O those who are given the book… (4:47)
يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ أُوتُواْ الْكِتَابَ آمِنُواْ بِمَا نَزَّلْنَا مُصَدِّقًا لِّمَا مَعَكُم مِّن قَبْلِ أَن نَّطْمِسَ وُجُوهًا فَنَرُدَّهَا عَلَى أَدْبَارِهَا أَوْ نَلْعَنَهُمْ كَمَا لَعَنَّا أَصْحَابَ السَّبْتِ وَكَانَ أَمْرُ اللّهِ مَفْعُولاً O you who have been granted the book, be safe on account of what send down, [such that] there is confirmation of the truth of all…
no to rational sacrifice, no to “enchantment”
“The fate of our times is characterized by rationalization, intellectualization and the disenchantment of the world…” said Weber in the beginning of the 20th century. Many today think that he was correct in this claim. People today speak of disenchantment and possible re-enchantment of the world. Weber puts rationalization, intellectualization and disenchantment in one box.…
The Quran as Revelation 