TRULY that is CERTAINLY from the noble tasks. (Shoora 42:43)

Allah mentions this statement many times in the Qur’an:

إِنَّ ذَلِكَ مِنْ عَزْمِ الْأُمُورِ 

Certainly that is from the noble tasks. [Luqman 31:17], [aal Imraan 3:186].

When this statement occurs in the Qur’an, it is always in reference to Sabr (patience).

However, when this statement appears in Surah Shoora (42:43), something different occurs that does not in all the other ayaat. Allah (azza wa jal) states:

إِنَّ ذَ*ٰلِكَ لَمِنْ عَزْمِ الْأُمُورِ
Truly that is certainly from the noble tasks. (Shoora 42:43)

This ayah is a special case because there is an extra letter, a laam. This laam is for emphasis: certainly. But why does this ayah have more emphasis, but the rest of the similar ayaat on patience do not? Because there are Two different types of patience (sabr) being referenced for these two ayaat:

The Two types of Patience

There are many types of sabr [patience] in this deen/religion, but they all fall into two basic categories:

1. When something happens to you and you do not have the power to respond. 
2. When something happens to you and you have the power to respond and take action (ie, revenge/retaliate).

1) In situations when you cannot take take action, it is still a great thing to have patience. For example the Sahaba [companions of Prophet Muhammad] in Makkah, they did not have the power to retaliate but Allah ta’ala still commanded them to have patience and He praised those who were patient. Also with the Battle of Uhud or Ahzaab, they did not have the power to retaliate but still had patience in their situation.

2) Then the Conquest of Makkah occured, and those who overpowered the Sahaba before, those who kicked them out of their homes, those who tortured them and their families were right there–the Sahaba were easily able to take revenge. Does THAT not require sabr? Which sabr/patience is more difficult? It is the sabr that one practices when they have the ABILITY to take revenge and retaliate, but they do not!

Which is the Best Patience?

Allah ta’ala mentioned in the same ayah before that statement: وَلَمَنْ صَبَرَ وَغَفَرَ “and for the one who has patience and forgives” [Shura 42:43] This person could have had sabr, and retaliated BUT they had sabr and chose to forgive…so this ayah, the only time it occurs in the Qur’an, gets an extra laam.

وَلَمَنْ صَبَرَ وَغَفَرَ إِنَّ ذَ*ٰلِكَ لَمِنْ عَزْمِ الْأُمُورِ

“And surely, whosoever shows patience and forgives that would truly be from the noble tasks” (Shura 42:43)

If you have the upper hand and you are in a position to retaliate and respond, but you chose to forgive – that is the harder sabr, and truly from the noble tasks.

http://tayyibaat.wordpress.com/2008/…asks/#more-797

The Qur’an was Nazala, and the Torah & Gospel were Anzala. What’s the Difference?

Asalaam alaikum Warahmatulah Wabarakatuh.

The Qur’an was Nazala, and the Torah & Gospel were Anzala.

What’s the Difference?

In Surah Aal ‘Imraan, verse 3,

نَزَّلَ عَلَيْكَ الْكِتَابَ بِالْحَقِّ مُصَدِّقاً لِّمَا بَيْنَ يَدَيْهِ وَأَنزَلَ التَّوْرَاةَ وَالإِنجِيلَ

It is He Who has sent down the Book (the Quran) to you (Muhammad SAW) with truth, confirming what came before it. And he sent down the Torah and the Gospel.

Although the English translation reflects no difference in the original words that were used to convey the meaning of ‘sent down’, a look at the Arabic will show us that the form nazzala نزَّلَwas used in reference to the Qur’an while the form anzala أَنْزَلَwas used in reference to the Torah and the Gospel.

The reason for this goes back to the manner of revelation – the Qur’an was gradually revealed in a number of stages that spanned the 23 years of the Prophet Muhammad’s (sallaa Allaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam) Prophethood, as is reflected by the form nazzalawhich indicates repetition and graduality, while the Torah and the Gospel were revealed to the Prophets Musa (Moses) and ‘Eesa (Jesus) at one time, as reflected by the form anzala.

This difference is more beautifully sealed when we look at the first verse of Surah al-Qadr,

إِنَّا أَنزَلْنَاهُ فِي لَيْلَةِ الْقَدْرِ

Verily! We have sent it (this Quran) down in the night of Al-Qadr (Decree)

In this verse, Allaah has used the verb anzala – which does not reflect graduality – to describe the revelation of the Qur’an, although He previously used nazzala! The reason for this is clear when the word is considered in it’s context, as is explained by Ibn ‘Abbas and others,

“Allah sent the Qur’an down all at one time from the Preserved Tablet to the House of Might (Bayt al-‘Izzah), which is in the heaven of this world. Then it came down in parts to the Messenger of Allah based upon the incidents that occurred over a period of twenty-three years.”

Thus, it is clear that this verse is referring to Allaah sending the Qur’an down at one time to Bayt al-‘Izzah on Laylat al-Qadr, and not to its gradual revelation to the Prophet; a concept so precisely and beautifully conveyed just through knowing the meaning of the forms used in the original Arabic.

http://arabicgems.wordpress.com/2006/05/05/in-perfect-form/

The Secret Happiness..

al-Salāmu ‘alaykum wa rahmatullāh,

So important is the concept of ‘happiness’ in our lives that many people – even dating back to the days of the Greek philosophers – considered its pursuit to be the very purpose of existence.

Indeed, the Qur’an itself speaks of happiness as being one of the rewards of those whom Allah chooses to admit to Paradise. He says of the martyrs in Aal-’Imraan, verse 170,

فَرِحِينَ بِمَا آَتَاهُمُ اللَّهُ مِنْ فَضْلِهِ
They rejoice in what Allah has bestowed upon them of His Bounty

And of the reward of the pious believers [al-Insaan, verse 11],

فَوَقَاهُمُ اللَّهُ شَرَّ ذَلِكَ الْيَوْمِ وَلَقَّاهُمْ نَضْرَةً وَسُرُورًا
So, Allah saved them from the evil of that Day and gave them a light of beauty and joy.

What becomes immediately apparent upon reading the Arabic text (but once again obscured in the translation) is that two very different words have been used to convey the idea of happiness: فَرِحِينَ fariheena, which is conjugated from the noun فَرَح farah, and سُرُور suroor, and this is prevalent throughout the Qur’an. This is because there are two very different types of happiness being referred to.

فَرَح farah generally refers to transitory delights or pleasures, as is the case in bodily or worldly pleasure. For this reason, most times that فَرَح farah appears in the Qur’an, it is being censured, as in the story of Qarun [al-Qasas, verse 76],

إِنَّ اللهَ لا يُحِبُّ الَفِرحِينَ
Indeed, Allaah does not like the fariheen

But when the source of the farah is specified in the Qur’an, as in the verse from Aal-’Imraan mentioned above, the meaning becomes restricted (muqayyad) and it is no longer censured.

But perhaps a greater distinction between the two lies in the manifestation of the happiness. Whereas the expression of farah is external and with clear outward signs, suroor refers to the expansion of one’s heart with delight or pleasure wherein is quiet or tranquility, and as such it has no external sign. This is indicated by the root from which the word stems – س ر seen raa’ – the same root as the word سرّ sirr, or secret. So suroor is a secret happiness, known to one’s heart but not always seen by others, as Ibn ‘Abbas said in reference to the above verse from al-Insaan, “The نضرة nadrah is on their faces, and the سرور suroor is in their hearts.”

Such distinctions exemplify yet another example in which the translation fails and the original prevails.

http://arabicgems.wordpress.com/2008/03/16/the-secret-of-happiness/