Notes on juz 29 (updated) I still need to listen and annotate five of the surahs but this is what I have on the first five. Among the things of interest in these surahs is Quranic prophecy of the Rashadi or Khalifa sect of Islam that has formed under Rashad Khalifa in the last few decades: surah 77 - Allahs warners (messengers, prophets) are unleashed in succession (one after another) as are those who excuse (false prophets); Allah has destroyed successive generations of people; more about the miracle of biology, Judgment Day, heaven, and hell; the Day of Decision is the Day of Separation (Judgment Day) and will come against the falsifiers and rejecters of truth, they will not be allowed to speak on this day, the ancients will also be at this day, the righteous will eat and drink pleasantly, ayah 46 about the criminals is probably mistranslated and should read closer to you will be given little to eat and drink; asks what message beyond this will the deniers believe; ayahs 29 and 30 have interesting wording, proceed to what you used to deny and a shadow of three different masses (what exactly are these three different masses is unclear from the passage) surah 76 - among themes in this surah, charity is not given to the vulnerable in need to receive their admiration and gratitude nor to be paid back by them (a passage we will come across later this month indicates funds of charity are to be used for actual charity and to pay wages to those who administer charity but by other restrictions of shareeah law, this pay may not be exorbitant above those to whom the charity is given) heaven does have children in it, eternalized youths who will be there among us the believers say prayers and worship Allah in the morning and the evening and long into the night. Muslims do what is called dhikr (also spelled zikr, means to remind the self or to mention), a form of worship that can be done informally throughout the day but that can also be done formally for as long as one wants while doing nothing else. In reviewing how this word is defined, misunderstandings are found in western sources such as the Encyclopedia Britannica that associates dhikr only with sufis (Muslims mystics that many other Muslims do not consider authentic or are suspicious of) when in fact, dhikr is commanded to be done by all believers of all faiths and is practiced by many Muslims in their daily routines. (If you do not watch tv in the evenings, you have time for dhikr, which can be combined as well with meditation.) Here is an informative article about dhikr from an authentic Muslim source: idealmuslimah/58-spirituality/remembrance/358-the-meaning-of-dhikr surah 76 ends with another statement that who will make it to heaven at the end of this lifetime is (pre)determined by Allah, only those whom He wills will come to and follow the straight path. surah 75 - the Day of Resurrection, yet another name for Judgment Day, when our bodies will be reconstructed around our souls, when the wrong doers will present evidence against themselves, when a drive will occur (leg entwined with leg, in prior surahs we were told of chains and heavy yokes around the neck) of those who neither believed nor prayed surah 74 - opens with generic instructions to all prophets to purify themselves and serve in Allahs cause, but may be interpreted also as prophecy of Imam Al Mehdi who will come forth when a trumpet is blown on a day that will be very difficult for the disbelievers who have rejected Allahs word 19 angels serve as guardians of the hell-fire, Allah has also caused their number to be a stumbling block for those who disbelieve and further elaborates how this will also cause some to increase in faith - this is a Quranic prophecy of a sect of Islam that has formed in very recent decades under Rashad Khalifa who claims to be a messenger of Allah and whose interpretations and teachings on the Quran focus on an obsession with the number 19 though Khalifa is correct the Quran in use today is not the original, he is incorrect in his mathematical analysis (based on the number 19) and interpretation that identifies only two ayats at the end of surah 9 to be removed in order to purify the Quran; Khalifa has published two translations of the Quran, in the second one he inserts his name in place of Muhammads where text is specifically addressed to the Prophet. Khalifa has added nothing substantial to the understanding of Islam but has gained a following and further notoriety among Muslims solely for his mathematical analysis of the Quran (which I will not begin to try to explain other than to say it rests upon the number 19 and for it to work 2 ayats must be removed) Here is a brief article on Khalifa. islamawareness.net/Deviant/Submitters/rashad_khalifa_purifier_or_pretender.html Note near the end of this article, the author identifies the Book of Mormon as apocrypha, indicating he understands its claim as scripture given prior to the Quran and then translated in modern times; he compares the followers of Khalifa to Mormons by saying Mormons also say others are hypocrites for saying we dont need another messenger, he then refers to 2 Nephi 29 which has rejecters of truth saying we dont need another Bible, precisely what some said in response to Prophet Muhammad and the Quran and are still saying to it. In 2 Nephi 29, the context within which people say this refers not only to the Book of Mormon but to other scriptures (to include the Quran) as well; the author draws his readers attention to the Book of Mormon chapter that gives prophecy of correction and convergence of the worlds religions into one, which is also prophecied in Islam hadeeth to be done under Mehdis leadership. The author appears to have no knowledge of that prophecy in Islam either as the article never indicates Khalifas claim is that he is Imam Al Mehdi - the article mentions neither Mehdi nor the hadeeth prophecy of religious corrections and unity - but yet it is to the key chapter of 2 Nephi 29 that gives prophecy directly coinciding with hadeeth prophecies of Mehdi that he directs his readers. Khalifa has not met one aspect of Mehdi prophecy described in hadeeth that is also confirmed in the Christian scriptures (review Christs words about John the Baptist and Elijah - John the Baptist was Elijah, Elijah will come to restore all things, Elijah must come first - and his prophecy of sheep in different pens who will become one flock) and in the apocrypha of the Book of Mormon in 2 Nephi 29 and other places. Discussion of how Khalifa has not met Mehdi prophecy, that he has contributed nothing to the understanding of Islam (there is no significance to the number 19 or any other number in Islam, the religion is about morality), and that other scriptures confirm what Mehdi is supposed to do that Khalifa has not may cause some to increase in faith as their anticipation of Mehdi grows from learning the confirmations of the other scriptures. Khalifa has not pointed out to Muslims these confirmations of hadeeth prophecies of Mehdi in the scriptures of other religions to cause this increase in faith. If the start of the surah is any clue, it will be something Imam Al Mehdi does. This surah prophecies Khalifa claiming to be Mehdi based on a meaningless analysis of the Quran that obsesses on the number 19 for no particular cause and with no affect upon moral reasoning, yet he will gain a substantial following. this surah again tells us only those whom Allah wills will come to righteousness surah 73 - as part of dhikr, we can chant the Quran rhythmically (this rhythmic chanting of Quran is not identified in this surah as formal prayer, or what Muslims call salah or salat); rhythmic chanting of Quran is better for night time than the day (so again, this rhythmic chanting is not intended to be understood as instruction for salah as it does not occur during the day (salah prayers occur at night and during the day) and is intended for prolonged night worship) endure and withdraw politely from those who speak wrongness Allah pardons those who attempt to follow the instructions to recite Quran every night for hours but cannot sustain this, read of it what you can. He tells travelers and those who are ill to read of it what they can. He instructs that regardless of how much we can read, observe regular prayers and charity, give to Allah a generous loan (put your life in service to His cause), and seek Allahs forgiveness. surah 72 - through the Prophet, the story of a group of djinn is told in which they heard the scriptures and came to be believers, further the djinn speaking in the narrative tells us some djinn are righteous (submitters), others are not (compromisers); the djinn used to listen to the scriptures being recited in heaven until barriers and weaponry was put up to keep them away, this means the djinn cannot hear recitation of scriptures unless we on earth recite them aloud
Posted on: Mon, 30 Jun 2014 02:42:04 +0000