Amazed by The Qur'an (2022-05-09) ​

0:00:03 The Quran continues to surprise me even though I've read it from cover to cover in English 0:00:08 at least, I just came across a couple of verses today I just wanted to share 0:00:12 uh with you which surprised me even though I've read them before and by the way I was reading 0:00:17 this book called classical Islamic theology it's a Cambridge companion it's an academic work I'm 0:00:23 reading it through um just to educate myself and the first chapter is called Quran and Hadith by 0:00:30 professor Abdul Haleem, he's a very distinguished professor at SOAS at the University of London 0:00:36 and he's a brilliant translator of the Quran and his celebrated translation of the Quran 0:00:42 into English this is it here the Quran a new translation by professor Abdul Haleem 0:00:47 published by Oxford university press which is the gold standard I'm told in academic courses 0:00:54 at universities on the Quran at least when people refer to the English of course anyway 0:00:59 the point of this is I was reading this chapter very familiar actually to be honest with its 0:01:04 themes but I want to just refresh myself again and then it says things which are beautifully put says 0:01:11 the Quran describes itself as a scripture which God sent down to his prophet and this expression 0:01:18 sent down in its various derivations is used in the Quran well over 200 times 0:01:24 in Arabic this locution conveys immediately and implicitly the principle that the origin of the 0:01:32 book is heavenly and that the and that Muhammad is no more than its receptacle 0:01:39 God is the one who speaks in the book Muhammad is addressed as o prophet o messenger do do do not do 0:01:50 they ask you say this last command appearing more than 300 times 0:01:57 sometimes the prophet is reproached and then it gives two verses uh 9 43 and 80 verses 1 to 11. 0:02:05 now I looked up these passages having written them before and I thought yeah I just looked 0:02:09 them up you know and I was just stunned again to read Surah 80 again I wanted to share it with you 0:02:17 because I thought it was very revealing not only about the Quran but also its relationship with the 0:02:23 prophet to the prophet himself and Abdul Haleem in his translation has a little paragraph before 0:02:31 his translation introducing the chapter very helpful concise to the point and he says 0:02:38 a Meccan Surah so is revealed in the first stage of the prophet's career rather than later on in 0:02:44 Medina while the prophet was speaking to some disbelieving notables hoping to convert them 0:02:51 a blind Muslim man came up to learn from him but in his eagerness to attract the 0:02:59 disbelievers to Islam the prophet frowned at him and that's the title in English of this chapter 0:03:06 he frowned this is chapter 80 of the Quran he frowned the prophet is then reproached and told 0:03:14 not to concern himself with the disbelievers the prophet himself is reproached by God in the Quran 0:03:22 in the second paragraph which I'll also read in a second there is a condemnation of man's 0:03:28 ingratitude this is the human race in general man becomes self-satisfied and forgets his 0:03:34 origin and his final return to God excuse me so I'm going to read um read this chapter 0:03:41 uh mainly for the first section where there's a lesson to that to the prophet here so it begins 0:03:48 in an English translation in the name of God the most compassionate most merciful he 0:03:56 frowned and turned his attention away simply because the blind man came to him interrupting 0:04:05 you never know oh prophet perhaps he may be purified or he may be mindful 0:04:12 benefiting from the reminder as for the one who is indifferent you gave him your undivided attention 0:04:21 even though you are not to blame if he would not be purified as for the one who came 0:04:28 to you eager to learn being in awe of God you were inattentive to him but no this revelation 0:04:38 is truly a reminder let's so let whoever wills be mindful of it it is written on pages 0:04:47 held in honor highly esteemed purified by the hands of angel scribes honorable and virtuous 0:04:59 this extraordinary passage this passage and there are others as I mentioned critical 0:05:03 of some things the prophet did proves that the prophet delivered the revelations in all honesty 0:05:11 even when his own self was uh being criticized it seems by God himself so that this speaks of 0:05:19 a very I think a very noble and beautiful way that God reproaches the prophet in a quiet gentle way I 0:05:26 think for being inattentive it seems and then in the second part of this surah surah 80 he frowned 0:05:34 we read a reminder to those people mankind who deny the resurrection and the last day and these 0:05:43 are very powerful powerful words condemned are disbelieving humans how ungrateful they are 0:05:51 to God from what substance did he create them he created them from a sperm drop and ordained 0:05:59 their development then he makes the way easy for them then causes them to die and be buried 0:06:07 then when he wills he will resurrect them but no they have failed to comply with what he ordered 0:06:14 let people then consider their food how we pour down rain in abundance and how meticulously 0:06:21 split the earth open for sprouts causing grains to grow in it as well as grapes and greens and 0:06:28 olives and palm trees and dense orchards and fruit and fodder all as a means of sustenance for you 0:06:36 and your animals then when the overwhelming the deafening blast is the the last day 0:06:45 comes to pass on that day every person will flee from their own siblings and even their 0:06:52 mother and father and even their spouse and children for then everyone will have 0:06:59 enough concern of their own on that day some faces will be bright laughing and rejoicing 0:07:08 while other faces will be dusty cast in gloom those are the disbelievers the wicked ones
0:07:18 so it's extraordinary uh chapters as I say uh it really brings home the sense of uh 0:07:24 how the prophet uh delivered the revelations that he received with complete honesty even when God 0:07:31 is addressing him and in a sense criticizing him and there's several passages like this in 0:07:37 the Quran what a remarkable book how honest it is and uh anyway I just wanted to share with you my 0:07:43 renewed amazement at the Quran when I read it again and again, till next time.