Let not your tongue mention the shame of another

لسانك لا تذكر به عورة امرئ *** فكلّـك عورات وللناس ألسـن

وعينك إن أبدت إليك معايباً *** فدعها وقل : يا عين للناس أعينُ

Let not your tongue mention the shame of another
For you yourself are covered in shame and all men have tongues.
If your eye falls upon the sins of your brother
Shield them and say: “O my eye! All men have eyes!”

Imam Shafi (Rahimullah)

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A definition of thankfulness

When Junayd was aged seven, Sari took him on the pilgramage to Mecca. At the mosque a group of religious leaders were discussing the meaning of thankfulness. Each leader expressed his own view. Then Sari said to Junayd “you must express your view.”
Junayd said “thankfulness means not using the blessings and gifts he has bestowed on you, as the means of disobeying his commands, nor as the motive for disobeying his commands.”
The leaders congratulated him for speaking so well, and they agreed that no finer definition of thankfulness could be devised. His uncle said “It is becoming plain that your special gift from God is your tongue.” Junayd wept at these words. Then Sari asked “Where did you acquire this gift?” Junayd answered: “from listening to you.”
Junayd returned home to Baghdad, where in due course he took up selling glasses. At the end of each day he closed the shop, drew down the blinds and said four hundred prayers. But after a time he gave up the shop and he devoted all his time to caring for his own soul.
Attar: Junayd

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<3

“How numerous Your favours bestowed upon me,
Favours of gifts and grace and assistance.
Your love is now my only desire and my ultimate bliss.”

– Rabia

“Sometimes in order to help, He makes us cry.
Happy the eye that sheds tears for His sake.”

– Rumi

“If you wish for light, be ready to receive light.
Nourish your ego, and be deprived of light,
If you wish to find a way out of this prison,
Do not turn away;
Bow down in worship and draw near.”

– Rumi

“A gift from man is deprivation,
but deprivation from God is benificience”

“My god
how gentle you are with me
in spite of my great ignorance
and how merciful You are with me
in spite of my ugly deeds”

-Ibn Atallah

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Al Inshiqaq 1-5/6

إِذَا السَّمَاء انشَقَّتْ
وَأَذِنَتْ لِرَبِّهَا وَحُقَّتْ
وَإِذَا الْأَرْضُ مُدَّتْ
وَأَلْقَتْ مَا فِيهَا وَتَخَلَّتْ
وَأَذِنَتْ لِرَبِّهَا وَحُقَّتْ
When the sky is rent asunder
And hearkens to (the Command of) its Lord, and it must needs (do so);-
And when the earth is flattened out
And casts forth what is within it and becomes (clean) empty
And hearkens to (the Command of) its Lord,- and it must needs (do so);- (then will come Home the full reality)

 

The meaning of the name of this Surah: الاِ نشِقاق it has been derived from the word inshaqqat in the first verse. Inshaqqat is infinitive and it means to Split asunder, there by it implies that the Surah in which mention is made of the splitting asunder of the heavens.

 

إِذَا السَّمَاء انشَقَّتْ
When the sky is rent asunder.

Idha means when, and also “if”, but this is not an unlikely if such as “low” or a medium probability if like “in”. It is better to translate as “when” because if gives a meaning of doubt that maybe this will happen and maybe it wont happen, however there is not any doubt in this statement as to whether this event will take place. Also the verb is put into the past tense, this is normally done as a result of idha, but the one of the effects of having a verb in the past is to make it more certain. This event refers to future for us, when the sky will be rent asunder will be before the last day, but the form of the verb is like an event or action which has already passed, this also emphasises Allah’s knowledge of the future and His being unrestrained by the constraints of time. Also note that samaa2 is a feminine word which is why the verb takes a ta. [Samaa2 is within the group of “nature words” which are feminine like also ardh, naar, shams and some others.]

Inshaqqat is in form seven (on the weight of infa3ala), its root is a doubled root – sha-qa-qa. This form of 7 has the meaning of making it passive, so that the doer of the action is not explicitly told. For example kasara means he broke, and inkasara means it was broken so this makes the subject a little more vague and also it puts more emphasis onto the action itself and to the object than to the subject of the action. However we can say that the doer here is Allaah because none other than Him has power to carry out or cause such events as what are being described.

the root sha-qa-qa means to split, tear, cleave… form 7 can take the meanings to be split or cleft or also to burst, separate, break away, withdraw…

Overall the ayah is descriptive beginning an image of what will happen at the end day, which is continued and expanded in the following ayat. It is something striking and also its not something easy for the people to imagine because the sky is always above us and appears something firmly placed, fixed and permanent so this image really shows the severity of what is happening.
وَأَذِنَتْ لِرَبِّهَا وَحُقَّتْ
And hearkens to (the Command of) its Lord, and it must needs (do so);-
adhinat means listens and obeys, and this is in the active form so the subject here is the samaa2 itself with no direct object but after the “li” we see the indirect object = rabbihaa “its/her Lord.” Saying rabbihaa shows that Allah is rabb not just of humans or not just of jinns but even for the sky and earth, and everything. Like as Allah says elsewhere in Quran “qul ‘man rabb us samaaqaati wal ardh’? qul illaah.” [13:16] And rabb is not just Lord in the same meaning as English but also with the meaning of sustainer and more, which has been discussed in some of the previous ayahs which we posted.
Back to adhinat, from this root there are a few commonly used words which the meanings at first could appear to be all unrelated but if you take it back and look at it in relation to this verb you could find some commonality between them, for example udhun (ear), idhn (permission), adhaan (call to prayer) but this is digressing a bit from the ayahs..

wa 7uqqat – this means “and it must” it is right, necessary, correct, obligatory, requisite and imperative for the samaa2 to listen and obey, to hearken to the command of its Lord. As we know samaa2 is something which does not have a soul, therefore not having a choice or any control over its own actions or any decision to obey or not to obey simply Allah would order the samaa2 to do something and it would get done. But the example of this is something we could also try to apply to ourselves as Muslims, in a way to be like the samaa2 which when Allah gives the command it will simply do that, and it is the right thing for it to do.

وَإِذَا الْأَرْضُ مُدَّتْ
And when the earth is flattened out.
The structure of this ayah is exactly the same as the first ayah just simply the noun and verb are changed. It retains the same word order, same passive nature, again it is a verb with a doubled root (ma-da-da), so this repetition of sounds adds to the eloquence. Infact every ayah of these 5 ayahs all finishes with the same sound (ta), this is a feature which is quite common in the early makkan surahs. This might have also been mentioned in surat al adiyat ayah 1-5 because that is another early makkan surah which has repitition of sounds in the end of the ayahs.
Like Samaa2, Ardh is feminine as already mentioned.
Madda means to extend, spread out, lay out, lengthen. Again passive but the doer who causes this to happen is known to be Allaah because there isnt any other possibility in that. This is a reason why it doesnt need to be stated aswell, because it is obvious and clear hence the same meaning can be given without explicitly stating and this allows the meaning to be given in fewer words, hence more elloquent (elloquence is maa qalla wa dalla..)

وَأَلْقَتْ مَا فِيهَا وَتَخَلَّتْ
And casts forth what is within it and becomes (clean) empty
All of these ayahs so far have been linked with “wa”. As was discussed in surat ul mu2minoon thumma is a word which finishes each stage and moves onto the following, but here it is just “wa” so each stage could be happening together without necessarily first the sky splits and finishes, and then the earth flatterns and finishes etc but rather all could be happening simultaneously which adds to the feel of chaos which will be on that day.

alqaa means to throw, so the earth throws out or casts out what is inside it. according to interpretation given in ibn kathir this can refer to the dead bodies which are buried inside the earth, so they will be thrown out from graves and then allah will ressurect them for judgement. There are many hadiths about this how scary it will be for the people as they are ressurected into all this chaos, and also mentioned in quran in many places for example allah says about this day “yawma yaj3al ul wildaana shayba” this is because he will be resurrected with all of these things happening all around.

alqat maa feehaa could also refer to earth quakes if something came forth from within the earth like lava or molten liquids, because elsewhere in quran allah described this day by saying that the earth would shake “idha zulzilat il ardhu zilzaalahaa”

wa takhallat – this is another verb with a doubled root kha -la-la. This appears like a form 5 verb (on the weight of tafa33ala) however the standard conjugation in that case, for root kha-la-la would have been takhallalat because of the shadda in the form shape which would have been applied then splitting the two lams to be written seperately. Insha allah the next poster will be able to clarify that? Sometimes for ease of reading and for sound some letter may be dropped or changed from what it would have been strictly applying the pattern forumlas so this may be the case.

وَأَذِنَتْ لِرَبِّهَا وَحُقَّتْ
this is an exact repetition of the 2nd ayah. However in that case it was referring to as-samaa2 and now it is referring to al ardh. Just like the samaa2 the ardh also obeys Allaah’s command immediately and completely, and is totally subservient to Allaah’s will. The repetition emphasises this point. If we imagine if this ayah was delayed, and was not given earlier seperately for the samaa2 but rather given only once at this point, in the dual in order to apply for both of these things – the meaning would have come through but the emphasis would not be there so much, this impact would have been lost and also would not have retained this ending each line on the “ta” because it would have required an alif ending for the dual form.

After these 5 ayat then the sound changes, and Allah moves onto a slightly longer ayah with a different ending so it can be seen that these first 5 ayat painting this vivid picture of this day also functions to draw the attention of the people and make them listen attentively to what is coming next. These five ayahs describing something which invokes fear shows that there is a warning, Allah wants the people to take note:

يَا أَيُّهَا الْإِنسَانُ إِنَّكَ كَادِحٌ إِلَى رَبِّكَ كَدْحًا فَمُلَاقِيهِ
O thou man! Verily thou art ever toiling on towards thy Lord- painfully toiling,- but thou shalt meet Him.

So Allah emphasises to the people, and gets their attention in order to say oh mankind you will meet your Lord.. this is as if to say, so prepare for that, and then He subhaanahu wa ta3ala goes on to describe the judgment and the giving of the books in the right and left hands, the state of the two different groups of people. Hence it really is a warning and an instruction to the people to live in the right way and do not be heedless about the coming judgement. This ayah is at once be both “wa’d wa wa’eed” – both a promise and a threat. For the disbelievers and the sinners the next life will be one of pain and fear and so for them the ayah is like a threat, a warning, in order to get them to change their ways. But for the believers the next life is that which they yearn for, it is their ultimate goal and this life is for them merely a stepping stone to achieve that end. So for them the ayah is a promise that indeed that which they are hopeful will indeed come to pass, which is the meeting with their Lord. That is the ultimate bliss.

 

Key notes about the 5 Ayaat, they all finish with Ta and all the Ta has Sukoon on them. Meaning that there is a stop without motion on that specific letter. However when it comes to the recital of the ayaat, which relate to its Balaagh or eloquence, then the Ahkam of Tajweed make optional and and to some degree recommend to continue reading the 5 ayaat in one go. and stopping at the end of the 5th Ayah.

As this completes the chain of events for the 5 Ayaat.

Secondly all the Ayaat, par the first start with و this also in itself allows continuation. But also it shows that “and this” “and this” “and this” are all happening, many things happening simultaneously. The usage of the waw stops on the 5th Ayaah and that that is when the destruction of heavens and emptying of earth stops.

إِذَا السَّمَاء انشَقَّتْ
When the heaven is split asunder, As mentioned above this is the only Ayaat in the 5 that does not start with waw. Instead it starts with إِذَا the reason for this is that the usage of itha is to highlight the definite of the occasion to come. It is not a matter of if it will happen but rather it will definitely will happen, but “when” it happens. Very reflective of the authority of Allah swt and His knowledge of the future, of the beginning and the ending. It is spoken in the third person, as like a past event. Though we as humans know it hasnt happened yet Allah swt is mentioning it like it has. Showing us His knowledge of the future.

This is all referring to the Day of Judgment.

وَأَذِنَتْ لِرَبِّهَا
And listens to and obeys it’s Lord,وَأَذِنَتْ adhina lahu in Arabic does not only mean “he heard the command” but it also means “hearing the command he carried it out promptly like and obedient servant”. Therefore it the Heavens, listens to Allah swt and it splits asunder. Something very important to note, لِرَبِّهَا its lord, meaning the heavens lord, and the beauty of this is, that the heavens itself splits asunder. In this Ayaah Allah swt, does not say that one of the Angels beats it to make the heavens split asunder, or some other force is applied, but rather by its own obedience to its Lord the heavens splits asunder. And it is لِرَبِّهَا highlighting the close nature of the servant-Lord. Which tells us humans, that such great and enormous creation such as the heavens crumbles in obedience.
وَحُقَّتْ
and it must do so, this actually means, that it is right for the heavens to behave in such an obedient manner, as it has no other choice and the command of Allah and His Might and Power is so Great that there could be no other way but to obey. It just is, there is no if’s or buts, it is done. This goes together with the first part of the ayah, to show how obedient the heavens are, and then Allah says, that is the right way to be. Then the word itself contains the meaning as to why that is the right way to be, i.e Power, Greatness and Might of Allah.

Which should make us humans think, how haughty we are in our insignificance. The Quran is full of commands more strong and firm then the command for the heavens to split asunder, yet we transgress.

وَإِذَا الْأَرْضُ مُدَّتْ
And when the earth is stretched forth, this is saying when the oceans and rivers are filled up, the mountains are crushed to pieces and scattered away, and the earth is leveled and turned into a smooth plain. This is also mentioned in Surah Ta’ha 106-107 “He will turn the earth into an empty level plain, wherein you will neither see any curves nor crease”.

Haakim in Mustadrak has related an authentic Hadith from Jabir bin Abdullah RA that Rasoolullah SAW said: “On the day of Resurrection the earth will be flattened out and spread out like the table-cloth; then there will hardly be room on it for men to place their feet” this is the meaning of مُدَّتْ
وَأَلْقَتْ مَا فِيهَا وَتَخَلَّتْ
And has cast out all that was in it and became empty, this again is in pastance, as though it has already happened. But it is indicating towards the precise knowledge of Allah swt, with detail of how it will happen. The actually description is very vivid. The earth throwing out all the dead bodies and their traces and nothing is left hidden. Sakkin on the Ta of Alqatt, means it throws it out with nothing remaining inside.
Same with Takhallat, Sakkin makes it to say, it rid, emptied, dis parted completely from all that was in it.

وَأَذِنَتْ لِرَبِّهَا وَحُقَّتْ
the explanation of this is the same as the earlier one.

There is allot of emphasis in this ayaah on the obedience of Allah’s creation towards Allah swt and the knowledge Allah swt possesses over His creation. In the 5 ayaat there are 3 events, and 2 emphasis on obedience, each time an act of obedience takes place Allah swt then mentions “that is how it should be”. Also to note, in none of the verses does Allah swt say that “We commanded the heavens”, but it is obedience by way of His wish.

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Parents: O Allaah, if You knew that I did that for Your sake, then open a way for us through which we can see the sky.

Ibn ‘Umar (may Allaah be pleased with them both) narrated that the Messenger of Allaah  (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said:

“Three men went out walking and rain began to fall on them. They entered a cave in a mountain, then a rock fell (blocking the entrance to the cave). They said to one another, Pray to Allaah by virtue of the best deeds that you have done. One of them said, O Allaah, my parents were elderly and I used to go out and tend to my flocks, then I would milk them and bring the milk to my parents for them to drink from it, then I would give some to my children. One night I came home late and found them sleeping. I did not want to wake them, and the children were crying at my feet. I kept waiting and the children kept crying until dawn broke. O Allaah, if You knew that I did that for Your sake, then open a way for us through which we can see the sky. So a way was opened for them…”

(Narrated by al-Bukhaari, 2102; Muslim, 2743).

“And We have enjoined on man to be dutiful and kind to his parents. His mother bears him with hardship. And she brings him forth with hardship…” [al-Ahqaaf 46:15]

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We find fault with the world, while the faults lie in our own selves.

We find fault with the world, while the faults lie in our own selves.
The world is not at fault; except that we are full of flaws.
We make fun of the world for no reason,
But if others spoke about us, we were no better than be mocked at.
A wolf does not eat the flesh of another of its kind,
But we eat the flesh of each other knowingly
We have worn the sheep’s clothing to deceive the people;
But woe unto the wild animal if it strays by us!
We have reduced religion to mere show and formalities.
And thus, we deceive those who look at us.

-Imam Shafi

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Patience in making dua

If you make intense supplication
and the timing of the answer is delayed,
do not despair of it.
His reply to you is guaranteed;
but in the way He chooses,
not the way you choose,
and at the moment He desires,
not the moment you desire.
The Hikam of Ibn ‘Ata’llah

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I made my hope a stairway to Your forgiveness

When my heart was hardened, and my courses constrained; I made my hope a stairway, to Your forgiveness. My sin burdened me heavily,but when I measured it by Your forgiveness, Lord, Your forgiveness was the greater.

(Imam Shafi’i in his final sickness)

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