Month: June 2021

This is just a quick status update for people who follow my work.

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Original video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0AXE8ehkdMA

In this talk I cover surah 74, reading some of the notes to the forthcoming edition of The Qur’an: A Complete Revelation and explaining (again) my position on the number 19.

1 O thou, one covering himself:
2 Arise thou and warn thou!
3 And magnify thou thy Lord,
4 And purify thou thy garments,
5 And forsake thou defilement,
6 And show thou not favour seeking gain,
7 And to thy Lord be thou patient.
8 Then when the Trumpet is sounded:
9 That — that day — will be a difficult day,
10 For the false claimers of guidance not easy.
11 Leave thou Me with him whom I created alone,
12 And appointed for him wealth extended,
13 And sons present,
14 And spread before him ease.
15 Then hopes he that I should add more.
16 No, indeed! He was towards Our proofs obstinate.
17 I will burden him with a steep ascent.
18 He considered and determined,
19 (Damned be how he determined!
20 Then damned be how he determined!)
21 Then looked,
22 Then frowned and scowled,
23 Then turned away and waxed proud
24 And said: “This is only sorcery handed down.
25 “This is only the speech of a mortal.”
26 I will burn him in Saqar.
27 And what will convey to thee what Saqar is?
28 It spares not and leaves not,
29 Scorching mortal man.
30 Over it are nineteen;
31 And We have made the Guardians of the Fire only angels. And We made their number only as a means of denial for those who ignore warning, that those given the Writ might be certain, and those who heed warning might increase in faith, and those given the Writ and the believers might not doubt, and that those in whose hearts is disease and the false claimers of guidance might say: “What means God by this similitude?” Thus God sends astray whom He wills, and guides whom He wills; and there knows the forces of thy Lord only He. And this is only a reminder to mortal man.
32 No, indeed!1 By the moon,
33 And the night when it retreats,
34 And the morning when it brightens!
35 (It is one of the greatest
36 As a warning to mortal man,
37 To him who wills among you to advance or to tarry.)
38 Every soul is in pledge for what it earned
39 Save the companions of the right: —
40 In gardens, they will ask each other
41 About the lawbreakers:
42 “What brought you into Saqar?”
43 They will say: “We were not among the performers of duty,
44 “And we fed not the needy.
45 “And we discoursed vainly with those who discourse vainly,
46 “And denied the Day of Judgment
47 “Until the Certainty came to us.”
48 Then no benefit to them is the intercession of intercessors.
49 Then what ails them that they, from the reminder, turn away
50 As if they were startled donkeys
51 Fleeing from a lion?
52 The truth is, every man of them desires that he be given scriptures unfolded.
53 No, indeed! The truth is, they fear not the Hereafter.
54 No, indeed! It is a reminder,
55 So whoso wills will remember it.
56 And they will not remember save that God wills; He is worthy of prudent fear and worthy to forgive.

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Original video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f2qLYZzcuqQ

1 O thou one enwrapped:
2 Arise thou the night save a little
3 (A half thereof, or take thou a little therefrom,
4 Or add thou thereto) and recite thou the Qur’an distinctly.
5 We will cast upon thee a weighty word;
6 The emergence of the night: it is firmer of foot and more upright of speech.
7 Thou hast by day much movement,
8 But remember thou the name of thy Lord, and devote thyself completely to Him.
9 The Lord of the East and the West; there is no god save He; so take thou Him as disposer of affairs.
10 And be thou patient over what they say, and forsake thou them with a comely forsaking.
11 And leave thou Me with the deniers, the possessors of prosperity, and grant thou them respite a little.
12 With Us are shackles, and a raging fire,
13 And a food that chokes, and a painful punishment,
14 The day the earth and the mountains convulse and the mountains become a sliding sandhill.
15 (We have sent to you a messenger as a witness against you, as We sent to Pharaoh a messenger,
16 But Pharaoh opposed the Messenger, so We seized him with a calamitous grip.
17 So how will you be in prudent fear, if you deny, of a day that will make the children white-haired?
18 The sky will break apart therein; His promise will be fulfilled.
19 This is a reminder, so whoso wills might take a path to his Lord.)
20 Thy Lord knows that thou standest nearly two-thirds of the night, or a half of it, or a third of it, as does a number of those with thee. And God determines the night and the day. He knew that you would not calculate it, and has turned towards you: — so recite what is made easy of the Qur’an. He knows that there will be some sick among you, and others travelling in the earth in search of the bounty of God, and others fighting in the cause of God: — so recite what is made easy thereof, and uphold the duty, and render the purity, and lend to God a goodly loan. And what good you send ahead for your souls — you will find it with God, better and greater in reward. And ask forgiveness of God; God is forgiving and merciful.

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Original video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3MQErHm5nII

In this talk I give some part of the notes to this surah together with a full reading of the translation.

1 Say thou: “It is revealed to me, that a band of the domini listened in, and they said: ‘We have heard an amazing recitation
2 “‘Guiding to sound judgment, and we have believed in it, and will not ascribe a partnership with our Lord to anyone.’
3 “And that: ‘Exalted be the majesty of our Lord! He has taken neither consort nor son.’
4 “And that: ‘The fool among us ascribed a wanton falsehood to God.’
5 “And that: ‘We had thought that the servi and the domini would not ascribe a lie to God.’
6 “And that: ‘Men among the servi sought protection with men against the domini, so they increased them in baseness.’
7 “And that: ‘They thought, as you thought, that God would never raise up anyone.’
8 “And that: ‘We touched the heaven, but found it filled with strong guards and flames.’
9 “And that: ‘We sat there on seats to hear; but whoso listens in now finds for him a flame waiting.’
10 “And that: ‘We know not whether evil is intended for him who is in the earth, or whether their Lord intends for them rectitude.’
11 “And that: ‘Among us are those righteous, and among us are other than that; we are of diverse paths.’
12 “And that: ‘We know that we will never escape God in the earth, nor will we escape Him by flight.’
13 “And that: ‘When we heard the guidance, we believed in it; and whoso believes in his Lord, he will fear neither loss nor baseness.’
14 “And that: ‘Among us are those submitting, and among us are the unjust. And whoso has submitted, those have sought rectitude.’
15 “‘And as for the unjust, they are firewood for Gehenna.’”
16 And had they but been upright upon the path, We would have given them water to drink in abundance,
17 That We might subject them to means of denial thereby. And whoso turns away from the remembrance of his Lord, He will cause him to enter a grievous punishment.
18 And the places of worship belong to God — so call not with God to anyone.
19 “And that, when the servant of God stood up, calling to Him, they were almost a compact mass about him.”
20 Say thou: “I but call to my Lord, and ascribe not a partnership with Him to anyone.”
21 Say thou: “I have no power over you for harm or for rectitude.”
22 Say thou: “None will grant me protection against God, nor will I find, besides Him, a refuge
23 “Save notification from God and His messages.” And whoso opposes God and His messenger, for him is the fire of Gehenna; they abiding eternally therein forever.
24 When they have seen what they are promised, then will they know who is weaker in helper and fewer in number.
25 Say thou: “I know not whether that which you are promised is near, or my Lord will make for it a span.”
26 The Knower of the Unseen, He discloses not His Unseen to anyone,
27 Save to a messenger He has approved: “And that, He sends before him and after him watchers,
28 “That He might know that they have delivered the messages of their Lord; and He has encompassed what is with them, and counted all things by number.”

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Original video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=20alzWnsFYA