14. THE MEANINGS OF KHAYR (GOOD) IN THE QUR’ĀN (1)

14.  THE MEANINGS OF KHAYR (GOOD) IN THE QUR’ĀN (1)

In order to understand the verses of the Qur’an extensively we have to learn the sciences of the Qur’an laid down by earlier scholars of the Qur’an. One of these sciences is Asbāb al-Nuzūl (“the causes of revelation”), means the occasions that led to the revelation of a particular verse. . Al-Zarkashī (d. 794/1392) who mentioned forty-seven sciences of the Qur’ān in his Burhān put  asbāb al-nuzūl  in the first place. Al-Suyūt.ī (d. 991/1505) who mentioned eighty sciences put it in the ninth place in his Itqān. Without knowing it the verse of the Qur’an might be misunderstood. One of the verses commonly misunderstood is the following verse:

إِنَّ الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا وَالَّذِينَ هَادُوا وَالنَّصَارَى وَالصَّابِئِينَ مَنْ

 آمَنَ بِاللَّهِ وَالْيَوْمِ الْآخِرِ وَعَمِلَ صَالِحًا فَلَهُمْ أَجْرُهُمْ عِنْدَ رَبِّهِمْ

 وَلَا خَوْفٌ عَلَيْهِمْ وَلَا هُمْ يَحْزَنُونَ (البقرة: 62(

Verily, those who believe and those who are

 Jews and Christians, and Sabians, whoever believes

 in Allah and the Last Day and does righteous

good deeds shall have their reward with their

Lord, on them shall be no fear, nor

 shall they grieve (Q. 2:62)

          This verse was revealed in answering the question of Salmān al-Fārisī about the monks with whom they had prayed in their churches, expecting the advent of Prophet Muhammad in Arabia, and advised Salmān to follow the new prophet whenever he met him. Then the above verse was revealed to explain that not only these monks, but the Jews before the advent of Prophet Isa (Jesus), and the Christians before the advent of Prophet Muhmmad s.a.w. would be safe. But those who do not want to follow the new prophet, namely, the Jews after the advent of Prophet Isa, and the Christians after the advent of Prophet Muhammad s.a.w. would not be safe.

          If we read this verse to the Jews and the Christians without explaining its meaning they would think that they do not have to become Muslims to attain salvation, and the Muslims do not have to invite non-Muslims to Islam. To correct misunderstanding, Allah revealed the following verse:

وَمَنْ يَبْتَغِ غَيْرَ الْإِسْلَامِ دِينًا فَلَنْ يُقْبَلَ مِنْهُ وَهُوَ

فِي الْآخِرَةِ مِنَ الْخَاسِرِينَ (آل عمران:85)

And whoever seeks a religion other than Islam,

 it will never be accepted of him, and in the Hereafter

 he will be one of the losers (Q. 3:85)

          Another branch of Qur’anic science is called لْوُجُوْهُ وَالنَّظّائرفِي الْقُرْآن (al-wujūh wa ’l- naẓā’ir fī al-Qur’ān) translated as “homonyms and synonyms in the Qur’ān.” Al-Zarkashī put it in number four of the 47 branches of the Qur’ānic science in his work al-Burhān, whereas al-Suyūtī put it in number 39 of the 80 branches in his work al-Itqān.

          Homonym is one of the five classes of Typographic Paronomasia. Paronomasia is the use words having similar sounds but different meanings. It is divided into Typographic Paronomasia and Visual Paronomasia. Homonym is the combination both homographs (the use of words that sound the same and have different meanings such as sun and son; plain = easy to see, to hear or to understand, and plane= flat or level surface) and homophones (words that are spelt the same but have different meanings such as advert to = refer to, and advert = (GB col.) advertisement). So, homonyms is where the sounds and the spellings of two or more words are exactly the same, but have different meanings, such as 60 seconds = 1 minute, second hand = used, not new; second class = lower class. Here we have identical words but have different meanings.

          Al-naẓā’ir is close to synonyms, namely a word which has many meanings, such as the word عَيْن  in Arabic has many meanings: letter ع, eye, spring, source, prime (of something). Here we have one word which has many meanings. In the Qur’ān we may find words which has many meanings, such as fitnah, such as: temptation, trial, sedition, riot, discord, dissention, civil strife we are having now in the Middle East. In Indonesia we mistakenly translate fitnah as “slander” which is in Arabic iftirā’ (إفْتِرَاء) and “consider” it worse than killing.

        The term khayr ((خَيْر as an adjective literally means: good; excellent, outstanding, superior, admirable; better; best. As a noun it means: “good thing, blessing; benefit, interest, advantage; welfare; charity.” Al-Rāghib al-Iṣfahānī (d. 425/1132) gives the definition of khayr (good thing) as follows: it is what everybody wants, such as: ‘aql (intelligence), ‘adl (justice), faḍl (superiority, favor, kindness), and useful thing. It is the opposite of sharr (evil, calamity, injustice, harm, wickedness, vice). He divides the good thing into two categories: (a) absolute good, namely, something which is always liked by anybody in any case, such as Paradise, and (b) relative good, such as wealth; it could be good for one person in one case, but bad for another in another case. Therefore, wealth is also called “good thing” relatively, as we shall see.

Al-Dāmaghānī (d. 478/1085) mentions eight meanings of the term khayr in the Qur’ān, whereas Ibn al-Jawzī (d. 597/1201) mentions twenty-two meanings. Three out of the eight examples mentioned by both of them are as follows:

1.    الْمَال  (wealth), as in the following verses:

كُتِبَ عَلَيْكُمْ إِذَا حَضَرَ أَحَدَكُمُ الْمَوْتُ إِنْ تَرَكَ خَيْرًا الْوَصِيَّةُ

لِلْوَالِدَيْنِ وَالْأَقْرَبِينَ بِالْمَعْرُوفِ حَقًّا عَلَى الْمُتَّقِينَ (البقرة:180)

   It is prescribed for you, when death approaches

 any of you, if he leaves wealth, that he makes

 a bequest to parents and next of kin, according

 to reasonable manners. (This is) a duty

upon the pious (Q. 2:180) 

          There are two views concerning this verse:

(a)   Those who say that the bequest for the parents is 2/3 of the wealth, for the relatives 2/3 of the remaining 1/3, namely, 2/9 of the wealth, and the bequest for non-relatives will be 1/9 of the wealth, which is also the view of al-Ḥasan.

(b)   The other view says that the verse is abrogated (specified) with the verse dealing with the law of inheritance, so that the parents and the relatives will have legal shares in the inheritance, and the bequest will be to the relatives who do not have share of it. This is also the view of Qatādah. Those who have share will not get a bequest. The verse in question runs as follows:

لِلرِّجَالِ نَصِيبٌ مِمَّا تَرَكَ الْوَالِدَانِ وَالْأَقْرَبُونَ وَلِلنِّسَاءِ

 نَصِيبٌ مِمَّا تَرَكَ الْوَالِدَانِ وَالْأَقْرَبُونَ مِمَّا قَلَّ مِنْهُ أَوْ

 كَثُرَ نَصِيبًا مَفْرُوضًا (النساء:7)

 There is a share for men and a share for women

 from what is left by parents and those nearest

related, whether, the property be small or

large—a legal share.(Q. 4:7)

The explanation of the Qur’an dealing with the distribution of wealth in inheritance is given in more details in the Qur’an, more than that of praying and fasting, such as Q. 4:11.

يَسْأَلُونَكَ مَاذَا يُنْفِقُونَ قُلْ مَا أَنْفَقْتُمْ مِنْ خَيْرٍ فَلِلْوَالِدَيْنِ وَالْأَقْرَبِينَ

وَالْيَتَامَى وَالْمَسَاكِينِ وَابْنِ السَّبِيلِ (البقرة:215)

 They ask you (O Muhammad) what they should

 spend. Say: Whatever you spend of good (i.e. wealth)

 must be for parents and kindred and orphans and

the needy and the wayfarer …  (Q. 2:215)

            A companion of the Prophet called ‘Amr ibn al-Jamūḥ (عَمْرِو بْنِ الْجَمُوحِ)   told the Prophet that he had much wealth and asked him where to spend it as charity, then the above verse was revealed.   

2.    الإيْمَان (faith), as in the following verses:

وَلَوْ عَلِمَ اللَّهُ فِيهِمْ خَيْرًا لَأَسْمَعَهُمْ وَلَوْ أَسْمَعَهُمْ

لَتَوَلَّوْا وَهُمْ مُعْرِضُونَ (الأنفال:23)

 Had Allah known of any good (i.e., faith) in them,

He would indeed have made them listen; and even if

He had made them listen, they would but have turned

 away with aversion (to the truth) (Q. 8:23)

Had they faith they would have listened to the arguments and evidence. They also asked the Prophet to revive Quṣayy ibn Kilāb and others to testify the messengership of Prophet Muhammad s.a.w. Had they faith they would have heard the answer of all what they had asked. However, had this happened they would still disbelieve, as Allah had sealed their hearts.

                   Before the battle of Badr the Prophet had come to know that some of the Banī Hāshim clan and others were forced to accompany the Quraysh pagans to fight the Muslims, such as al-‘Abbās, and not to harm them. Among the captive were al-‘Abbās, his two nephews and one ally.   As captives were to pay ransom for their release, he told the Prophet that he had been Muslim before, so that he should not pay ransom. The Prophet said, Allah only knew whether he was a Muslim, and if so, Allah would reward him for it. But being a captive he had to pay ransom. When he said that he had no money, the Prophet told him that he had promised his wife to give the money he had buried to the children of al-Faḍl, ‘Abdullah, and Quthan, if he died in the battlefield. This was a secret which was revealed to the Prophet. After paying the ransom, Allah revealed the following verse:

يَا أَيُّهَا النَّبِيُّ قُلْ لِمَنْ فِي أَيْدِيكُمْ مِنَ الْأَسْرَى إِنْ يَعْلَمِ اللَّهُ

 فِي قُلُوبِكُمْ خَيْرًا يُؤْتِكُمْ خَيْرًا مِمَّا أُخِذَ مِنْكُمْ وَيَغْفِرْ

 لَكُمْ وَاللَّهُ غَفُورٌ رَحِيمٌ (الأنفال:70)

 O Prophet (Muhammad)! Say to the captives

 that are in your hands: “If Allah knows any good

 (i.e. faith) in your hearts, He will give you something

 better than what has been taken from you,

 and He will forgive you, and Allah is Oft

 Forgiving, Most Merciful.” (Q. 8:70)

          3.  الإسْلام (Islam) as in the following verses:

مَنَّاعٍ لِلْخَيْرِ مُعْتَدٍ أَثِيمٍ (القلم:12)

 Hindered of good (i.e., Islam), transgressor,

 sinful (Q. 68:12)

         Ibn ‘Abbās says that it is about the person who prevents his son and his relatives from converting to Islam. Al-Ḥasan says that it is about a person who said to his relatives that he would not get benefit at all from their becoming Muslims.

 مَنَّاعٍ لِلْخَيْرِ مُعْتَدٍ مُرِيبٍ (ق:25)

Hindered of good (i.e., Islam),

transgressor, (Q. 50:25)

        This verse was revealed concerning al-Mughīrah who prohibited his nephews from converting to Islam. Another interpretation is that of al-Ḥasan and Qatādah who say that it is about a person who prohibited people from paying the obligatory charity, the zakat.

(CIVIC, 16 October, 2015)

المصادر:

المكتبة الشاملة

الحسين الدَّامغَانِي (ت. 478\1085). قَامُوْسُ الْقُرْآن (الْوُجُوْهُ وَالنَّظَائِر(. بيروت, 1983.

ابن الجوزي (ت. 597\1201). نُزْهَة الأَعْيُنِ النَّوَاظِرِ فِيْ عِلْمِ الْوُجُوْهِ وَ النَّظَائِر. بيروت: مؤسسة الرسالة, 1405\1985.

الراغب الأصفهاني  (ت. 425\1132). مُفْرَدَات أَلْفَاظِ الْقُرْآن. دمشق: دَار الْقَلَم, 1412\1992.

تفسير الطبري (ت. 310 هـ(

تفسير القرطبى (ت. 671 هـ(

تفسير ابن كثير (ت. 774 هـ(

Abu Khalil, Dr. Shauqi, Atlas of the Qur’ān. Riyadh, Darussalam, 2003

 http://literarydevices.net/paronomasia

13. RELIGION AND BLASPHEMY (2)

13. RELIGION AND BLASPHEMY (2)

         Judaism is the religion of the Jewish people, although many of them have abandoned or neglected it. It is the religion brought by Prophet Moses (Musa) a.s.  It is over 3500 years old, and keeps developing. Its holy book is called Torah revealed to Prophet Moses, but the present day Torah (Old Testament) is no longer the pure revelation revealed to Prophet Moses, as it contains the collection of texts upon which Judaism was based.

          Although the Torah contains the idea of pure monotheism, we also find primitive and blasphemous notions, among which are as follows:

1.    God (Yahweh, Jehovah) has limited power. The Old Testament said:

“By the seventh day God had finished the work he

 had been doing; so on the seventh day he rested. And

  God blessed the seventh day and made it holy,

because on it he rested from all work of

creating that he had done.”

(Genesis 2:2-3)

The idea of resting for God implies His being tired and having limited power. This is not the nature of God the Almighty Who is infinite in His Being and all His Attributes.[1]

2.    The Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thought of his heart was only evil continually. And the Lord was sorry that he had made man on earth, and it grieved him to his heart.   (Genesis 6:5-6)

3.    God refused to forgive Adam. As for   Eve, the punishment is as follows: “To the woman he said: ‘I will greatly increase your pains in childbearing; with pain you will give birth to children. Your desire will be for your husband, and he will rule over you.’” (Genesis 3: 16).  As for Adam, the punishment is as follows: “To Adam he said, ‘Because you listen to your wife and ate from the tree about which I commanded you, ‘You must not eat of it.’ Cursed is the ground because of you; through painful toil you will eat of it all the days of your life.’” (Genesis 3:  17)[2]

4.    God in the Old Testament was portrayed like human beings: 

a.     He moulds man like a potter, planted a garden in Eden (Genesis 2:  7, 8).

b.    He walked in the garden (Genesis 3: 8).

c.     He made garments of skin for Adam and his wife (Genesis 3: 21).

d.    He came down from heaven to see the building of the Tower of Babel (Genesis 11:5).

e.     He with two angels ate and drank with Abraham (Genesis 18:1, 8). The Qur’ān also mentioned the three guests of Prophet Abraham. All were angels in human forms. The Qur’an commentator Ibn ‘Abbās said that they were: Jibrīl (Gabriel), Mīkā’īl (Michael), and Isrāfīl (the angel who will sound the trumpet on the Day of Resurrection). Being angels they did not touch the food, which made him scared, but they told him not to fear, as they were angels sent by Allah to punish the people of Prophet Lot. (Q. 51:24-28; 15:51-53)

f.        He appeared as a man and struggled with Jacob. He was overcome by him, and told him that his name was no longer Jacob but Israel, because had overcome God and men (Genesis 32:22-32); in Hosea 12:4 Jacob struggled with an angel and overcome him.

5.    There is incompatibility between good and merciful God according to theologians and that portrayed in the Bible, such as:

a.     God commanded atrocities  commanded the Israelites to enslave the cities which made peace with them, …

 and to completely wipe out all the inhabitants of the city (Deuteronomy 20:10-17) . He commanded Moses to kill every male (Numbers 31:7, 17).   

b.    He condones the murder of children. While Elisha was on his way to Bethel some small boys jeered at him, saying “Go up, you baldhead!”  He cursed them in the name of the Lord. And two she-bears came out from the woods and tore forty-two of the boys (2 Kings 2:22-24)

   In Christianity monotheism is of a peculiar or a special type, namely, the Triune God: God the Father, God the Son and the Holy Ghost, (and to some, instead, Goddess the Mother), Three in One, and One in Three, three individuals or definite persons in One, and therefore, Christianity is not purely monotheistic.

 Christians believe in the doctrine of the original sin. The sin was inherited from Adam when he disobeyed God by eating the forbidden fruit of the tree of life. Therefore all mankind after Adam are born sinful and sinners.  Paul of Tartarus in his letter to the Church in Rome he says:

Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one

man, and death through sin, and in this way death came

 to all men, because all sinned. (Romans 5:12)

There is no one righteous, not even one; there is no one

who understands, no one who seeks God. All have turned away, they have together become worthless; there is no

 one who does good, not even one. (Romans 3:10-12)

    This sin is the consequence of being the human nature deprived from its origin holiness and justice, a sin “contracted” and not “committed.” For the remission of this Paul’s doctrine of the original sin babies are baptized after birth as soon as possible. The well-known Catholic theologian St. Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274 CE) says that as original sin incurs everlasting punishment, children who have not been baptized and died in original sin will not see the kingdom of God.  However, no ordinary man could get rid of the “original sin” except someone without sin, namely, Jesus who was the incarnation of God to “redeem” or pay with his life and to bear the burden on sins of mankind (who believed in him) by suffering and dying on the Cross. So, God as the Father sacrificed His Own Son, which was the incarnation of Him. Here lie the doctrines of the Atonement and of Incarnation. In his letter to the Romans Paul said:       

          God presented him [Jesus] as a sacrifice of atonement,

through faith in his blood. He did this to demonstrate his

justice, because in his forbearance he had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished. (Romans 3:25)

The Christian theologian David Craig explains in his book What Christian Believe the doctrine of atonement as follows:

The Doctrine of Atonement claims that Jesus has

borne the penalty instead of humans so that God can

freely forgive sin. The sin, elsewhere called ‘Original Sin’,

has been punished but instead of sinful humanity paying

the price for its fallen state, it was Jesus, a sinless victim,

who paid the price and was executed. Jesus becomes a substitute for each person. Sacrificial theories refer to Jesus

as a sinless offering  who makes universal expiation of

the stain of sin. Atonement is seen as a victory against

evil and sin personified in the devil.

The doctrine of the original sin has been criticised by many Christian scholars, such as Prof. John Bowker, former Dean of Trinity College, Cambridge. He says that there is no original sin in the stories of Genesis which belong first to the Jews. What the Christians call “the Fall” according to the Jews is “a fall upwards, a fall into new opportunities of being human.”

Jesus himself did not teach the original sin. For him a child is born free from sin, as mentioned in Mathew as follows:

Then little children were brought to Jesus for him

to place his hands on them and pray for them. But the

disciples rebuked those who brought them. Jesus said,

“Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder

 them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as

 these.” When he had placed his hands on them,

 he went on from there. (Matthew 19:13-15)

          Jesus also said:

“See that you do not look down on one of these

 little ones. For I tell you that their angels in heaven

always see the face of my Father in heaven.”

 (Matthew 18:10)

This Teaching of Jesus is in line with the teachings of Islam. The Prophet s.a.w. said,

كُلُّ مَوْلُودٍ يُولَدُ عَلَى الْفِطْرَةِ فَأَبَوَاهُ يُهَوِّدَانِهِ وَيُنَصِّرَانِهِ

 أَوْ يُمَجِّسَانِهِ... (رواه البخاري)

Every child is born on fitrah (sinless), but it is his

parents that make him a Jew or a Christian or

a Magian… (Reported by Bukhārī)

          It is also mentioned in the Old Testament that everyone dies with his own sins, as follows:

The soul who sins is the one who will die. The son will

 will not share the guilt of the father, nor will the father share

 the guilt of the son. The righteousness of the righteous man

 will be credited to him, and the wickedness of the wicked

will be charged against him. (Ezekiel 18:20)

Instead, everyone will die for his own sin;

 whoever eats sour grapes—his own teeth will

 be set on edge. (Jeremiah 31:30)

This doctrine is confirmed by the Qur’an, as follows:

... وَلَا تَزِرُ وَازِرَةٌ وِزْرَ أُخْرَى... (الأنعام:164)

…No bearer of burdens can bear the burden

 of another… (Q. 6:164)

  The Old Testament also states that the children cannot be punished because of the sin or crime of their parents and vice versa, as follows:

Fathers shall not be put to death for their children,

 nor children put to death for their fathers; each is to

 die for his own sin. (Deuteronomy 24:16)

          This is the teaching of true religions taught by prophets sent by Allah to mankind.                      (CIVIC, 9 October, 2015)

المصادر:

المكتبة الشاملة

( تفسير القرطبى (ت. 671 هـ

تفسير ابن كثير (ت. 774 هـ)

Ansari, F.R. Which Religion. Karachi: The World Federation of Islamic Missions, Islamic Centre, 1969

Yaacob, Mohd Amin. Christianity through the Lenses of   Christian and Muslim Scholars. Kuala Lumpur: C S Multi Print Sdn. Bhd, 2004

Holy Bible: New International Version

http://www.rejectionofpascalswager.net/godbible.html

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[1] The creation of the heavens and the earth in six days is also mentioned in the Qur’ān seven times (Q. 7:54, 10:3, 11:7, 57:4, “and all that is between them” Q. 25:59, 32:4, and 50:38), but Allah did not rest on the seventh day, for He was and is always the  “most powerful” and the “almighty”; He has 99 names which are also His attributes indicating His majesty and omnipotence. “Neither slumber nor sleep overtakes Him” (Q. 2:255), “Verily, His Command, when He intends a thing, is only that He says to it, ‘Be!’ – and it is!’” (Q. 36:82); “When He decrees a matter, He only says to it: ‘Be!’ – and it is.” (Q. 2:117’ 3:47, 19:37).

[2] It is mentioned in the Qur’ān that Adam asked forgiveness from Allah. He said: “Our Lord! We have wronged ourselves. If you forgive us not, and bestow not upon us Your Mercy, we shall certainly be of the losers.” (Q. 7:23). “…. And his Lord pardoned him (accepted his repentance). Verily, He is the One Who forgives (accepts repentance), the Most Merciful.” (Q. 2:37)