Surah 2 : The Cow - Verse 1 - 7 - Study

The first verse of this Surah is : -

Surah 2 The Cow : Verse 1 says : Aleef Lam Mim.

There are a few Surahs in the Quran that begins with just letters like this. Many people have different interpretation about this verses. Some people say that there is a metamathematical code embedded in it, some people say it is a verse that challenges the people and some just say only God knows best.

Surah 3 The Family of Imran : Verse 7 says : He it is Who has revealed the Book to you; some of its verses are decisive, they are the basis of the Book, and others are allegorical; then as for those in whose hearts there is perversity they follow the part of it which is allegorical, seeking to mislead and seeking to give it (their own) interpretation. but none knows its interpretation except Allah, and those who are firmly rooted in knowledge say: We believe in it, it is all from our Lord; and none do mind except those having understanding.

Surah 12, Yusuf : Verse 1 -2 says : Alif Lam Ra These are the verses of the Book that makes (things) menifest. Surely We have revealed it - an Arabic Quran - that you may understand.

To me, these letter must have a meaning or at least a significant in the Quran. To me it is impossible that God give us this words without a meaning.

There are also some people that says these letters are actually a guide for us to read the Quran.

Let us research further on this :-

Surah 2 The Cow : Verse 1 -7 says : Alif Lam mim. This Book, there is no doubt in it, is a guide to those who guard ( against evil ). Those who believe in the unseen and keep up prayer and spend out of what We have given them. And who believe in that which has been revealed to you and that whic was revealed before you and they are sure of the hereafter. This are on a right course from their Lord and these is that shall be successful. Surely those who disbelieve, it being alike to them whether you warn them,or do not warn them, will not believe. Allah has set a seal upon their hearts and upon their hearing and there is a covering over their eyes, and there is a great punishment for them.

Surah 3 The Family of Imran : Verse 1 -3 says : Alif Lam mim. Allah (there is ) no God but He, the Everliving, the Self-subsisting by Whom all things subsist. He has revealed to you the Book with truth, verifying that which is before it, and He revealed the Tavrat and the Injeel aforetime, a guidance for people, and He sent the Furqan.

Surah 7, The Elevated Places : Verse 1 - 2 says : Alif Lam Mim Suad. A Book revealed to you - so let there be no straitness in your breast on account of it - that you may warn thereby, and a reminder close to the belivers.

Surah10, Yunus : Verse 1 says : Alif Lam Ra. These are the verses of the wise Book.

Surah 11, Hud : Verse 1 says : Alif Lam Ra ( This is ) a Book, whose verses are made decisive, then are made plain, from the Wise, All-aware.

Surah 12, Yusuf : Verse 1 -2 says : Alif Lam Ra These are the verses of the Book that makes (things) menifest. Surely We have revealed it - an Arabic Quran - that you may understand.

Surah 13, The Thunder: Verse 1 says : Alif Lam Ra. These are the verses of the Book; and that which is revealed to you from your Lord is the truth, but most people do bot believe.

Surah 14, Ibrahim : Verse 1 says : Alif Lam Ra. (This is) a Book which We have revealed to you that you may bring forth men, by their Lord's permission from utter darkness into light - to the way of the Mighty, the Praised One.

Surah 15, The Rock : Verse 1 says : Alif Lam Ra. These are the verses of the Book and (of) a Quran that makes (things) clear.

Surah 19, Marium : Verse 1 -7 says : Kaf Ha Ya Ain Suad. A mention of the mercy of your Lord to His servant Zakariya. When he called upon his Lord in a low voice, He said : My Lord! surely my bones are weekend and my head flares with hoariness, and , my Lord! I have never been unsuccessful in my prayer to Thee: And surely I fear my cousins after me, and my wife is barren, therefore grant me from Thyself an heir, Who should inherit me and ingerit from the children of Yaqoub, and make him, my Lord, one in whom Thou art well pleased. O Zakariya! We give you good news of a boy whose name shall be Yahya: We have not made before anyone his equal.

Surah 20, Ta Ha : Verse 1 -2 says : Ta Ha. We have not revealed the Quran to you that you may be unsuccessful.

Surah 26, The Poets : Verse 1 -2 says : Ta Sin Mim. These are the verses of the Book that makes (things) clear.

Surah 27, The Ant : Verse 1- 6 says : Ta Sin! These are the verses of the Quran and the Book that makes (things) clear. A guidance and good news for the believers, Who keep up prayer and pay the poor-rate, and of the hereafter, they are sure. As to those who do not believe in the hereafter, We have surely made their deeds fair seeming to them, but blindly wander on. These are they who shall have an evil punishment, and in the hereafter they shall be the greatest losers. And most surely you are made to receive the Quran from the Wise, the knowing God.

Surah 28, The Narrative : Verse 1 -2 : Ta Sin Mim. These are the verses of the Book that makes (things) clear.

Surah 29, The Spider : Verse 1 -2 : Alif Lam Mim. Do men think that they will be left alone on saying, We believe, and not tried?

Surah 30, The Romans : Verse 1 -3 : Alif Lam Mim. The Romans are vanquished. In a near land, and they, after being vanquished, shall overcome.

Surah 31, Luqman : Verse 1 -2 : Alif Lam Mim. These are verses of the Book of Wisdom.

Surah 32, The Adoration : Verse1 -2 : Alif Lam Mim. The revelation of the Book, there is no doubt in it, is from the Lord of the worlds.

Surah 36, Ya Seen : Verse 1 -2 : Ya Seen. I swear by the Quran full of wisdom;

Surah 38, Suad : Verse 1 : Suad, I swear by the Quran, full of admonition.

Surah 40, The Believer : Verse 1 -2 : Ha Mim. The revelation of the Book is from Allah, the Mighty, the Knowing.

Surah 41, Ha Mim : Verse 1 -2 : Ha Mim! A revelation from the Beneficent, the MErciful God;

Surah 42, The Counsel : Verse 1 -4 : Ha Mim. Ain Sin Qaf. Thus does Allah, the Mighty, the Wise, reveal to you, and ( thus He revealed) to those before you. His is what is is in the heavens and what is in the earth, and He is the High, the Great.

Surah 43, The Embellishment : Verse 1 -3 : Ha Mim. I swear by the Book that makes things clear. Surely We have made it in an Arabic Quran that you may understand.

Surah 44, The Evident Smoke : Verse 1 -2 : Ha Mim! I swear by the Book that makes manifest ( the truth)

Surah 45, The Kneeling : Verse 1 -2 : Ha Mim. The revelation of the Book is from Allah, the Mighty, the Wise.

Surah 46, The Sandhills : Verse 1 -2 : Ha Mim. The revelation of the Book is from Allah, the Mighty, the Wise.

Surah 50, Qaf : Verse 1 : Qaf. I swear by the glorious Quran ( that Muhammad is the Apostle of Allah.)

Surah 68, Noon : Verse 1 : Noon. I swear by the pen and what the angles write.

I will take a bit of time on studying this topic as I will have to read every chapter that begins with this letters. Until then...

to be continued..........

Surah 1 : The Opening - Study - Part 2

Today I have asked several people I know on the question I have on the first Surah : The Opener,

On the word Worlds with an "S",

Surah 1 The Opener : Verse 2 says : Praise be to Allah, Lord of the Worlds,

Or some may translate it as , All the praises and thanks be to Allah, the Lord of the Alameen (mankind, jinns and all that exists).

The problem with reading translations is that, no language can compare to the language of the Quran. The reason that Quran was brought down in Arabic is because it is the richest language in the world. So it is quite hard to get an exact translation to a Quran Arabic word.

Now as for the word Alameen, after reading a few translations. I have decided that it does mean the worlds, the physical and spiritual world. The spiritual world is Barzakh does automatically also answer my second question, which is : -

Why does it mentioned only the World and Day of Judgment? Not Barzakh.

I also asked my dad on this questioned which he answered : -

The first Surah is just an Opener, Surah 2 which is The Cow, is the summary of the whole Quran. So for us to get an answer we should not only refer to one Surah but the specific Surah for the topic.

Honestly this is harder then I thought, but I wont stop here, until next time.

Surah 1 : The Opening - Study

The first Surah in the Glorious Quran entitled Al - Fatihah ( The Opening ). This Surah is recited by all Muslim at least 17 times a day in the daily prayers. It is compulsory for every Muslim to recite this Surah in the daily prayers. If it is not, their prayers may not be complete.

The Quran is authored by God, as I mentioned in my earlier post. This point is very clear with every verse is a dialog of God and Muhammad s.a.w. Every verse except the verses in the first Surah which is Al - Fatihah. This is a special Surah not only because it is the first one in the book or because it is recited in prayed. It is also a very special Surah because it is the only Surah that portrays a dialog between us and God.

To me, this Surah shows that Allah s.w.t. is actually teaching mankind on how to praise Him and also on how to ask for help from Him. A lot of people usually Inserts material stuffs in their prayers when asking God for a favor. " God please give me wealth, God please give me good results in my exams, God please make my Sultan lives longer ( Usually in Friday Prayers ) and so on. To me this is a big mistake and an absolute wrong thing to do.

Imagine an adult and a small kid is talking. Obviously the adult will have a far superior knowledge then the small kid. Then the small kid suddenly telling the adult on what he think is best for him.

He says " I think I should have more allowance money, because I study hard everyday."

The adult with a superior knowledge of the world obviously already know what is best for the small kid. For the small kid to actually tell the adult on what to do is actually questioning the adult's judgement and intellectual on how to take care of him.

The same thing goes with God, if we keep on asking for material stuffs from God, it is like we think we know better then God on what is best for us. We are questioning God's judgment on us. When the truth is that God knows everything and Allah s.w.t. is the most just, if we deserve something we will be given. There is no question about that. If God knows what is best for us and He is the most just, why do we need to tell God on what is best for us?

For me the only thing we should ask from God is,

Suran 1 The Opening, Verse 6 - 7 says : Show us the straight way, The way of those on whom Thou hast bestowed Thy Grace, those whose (portion) is not wrath, and who go not astray.

The right path or the straight way is everything good for us and best for us.

This is actually the second part of the Surah which teaches us on how to ask God for help. The first part of the Surah is actually describing God to us and teaching us on how to praise him.

Surah 1 The Opening : Verse 1 - 5 says :

In the name of Allah, the Beneficent, the Merciful
Praise be to Allah, Lord of the Worlds,
The Beneficent, the Merciful.
Owner of the Day of Judgment,
Thee (alone) we worship; Thee (alone) we ask for help.

In the name of Allah, the Beneficent, the Merciful

The beneficent and the Merciful is the most known attributes of God. To me all Muslim have to recite this before doing anything, and by anything I do mean ANYTHING. Everything that we do have to be in the name of God and God alone. Everything that we do needs to be something that is a benefit for us to worship Him. Even from our prayers to driving. By this we would not do any bad things or sinful things we will only do things to worship Him. Only by this we will be guided on the "Straight Path", SirratulMustakim.

Of course this is actually a reason or intention we need to embed into our hearts. If it is already embedded we don't need to recite it anymore.

If you go to a motivation camp, they will ask you to shout "I Can!" or something like that several times. They even ask you to go to the mirror ans shout "I Can!" several times. This is to actually embed into your mind and heart that you can actually succeed.

The same theory applies on reciting Gods words several times. It is actually to embed the meaning into your heart.

Praise be to Allah, Lord of the Worlds,

This verse is telling us an attribute of God. He is the lord of the world, or some translation would say Universe. We should praise Him.

By Worlds or Universe, to me it means everything, the Universe and everything in it. He is the master and everything in the Universe should praise Him. By the word " praise" it means that, not only praising Him with our mouths but also our hearts. By this it means that we should do as he commands, and his commands is to worship him. The meaning of the word worship can also be define better but I am afraid to run to far from the topic, so I might blog about this some other time.

Everything in this Universe is already submitting to him commands. The planets circling its orbit to tiny animals completing the chain of nature. Only us human beings are a bit stubborn to submit to Him, just because we are granted with a brain. As humans being humans, with a little bit of knowledge we tend to be arrogant.

The Beneficent, the Merciful.

This is again the most known attributes from the 99 God has. This may be a repetition from the first verse we discussed. But if you look closely, this verse is inserted in between verse 2 and 3.

Praise be to Allah, Lord of the Worlds,
The Beneficent, the Merciful.
Owner of the Day of Judgment,

After saying that He is the lord of the worlds, He says that He is "

The Beneficent, the Merciful." and after that "

Owner of the Day of Judgment,".

This is actually to compliment the first verse and the third verse. Yes He is the Lord of the Worlds and Yes He is the Owner of the Day of Judgment. But at the same time He is most Beneficent and Merciful.

Picture this, If there is a King that has absolute power over us. He could do anything to us. He can take away our lives and even he can make us suffer if he wants to. We would be terribly afraid as we know someone has the power on our future and our life. We are afraid that the King might miss use his powers and do harmful things to us.

That is why it God Mentioned although He is the Lord of the Worlds and and also Owner of the Day of Judgment. He is also Most Beneficent and Merciful. We do not need to be afraid of Him, unless we disobey him of course.

Owner of the Day of Judgment,

In some translations it is also mentioned Master of the Day of Judgment. By the word Owner and Master, to me it means "has full control". He may bring forth the Day of Judgment to us anytime he pleases. In the Day of Judgment His say is the ultimate say and no other say may go above it. But keep in mind he is also the most Beneficent and Merciful. As discussed earlier, although He has the power over the Universe and the the Day of Judgment, he rules with the attributes of Beneficent and Merciful.

Thee (alone) we worship; Thee (alone) we ask for help.

This verse shows us that we should worship Him alone and Him alone can give us a helping hand.

We should not ask help from another human being nor other then God as only Him can help us to the right path. Even if there is another human being helping us to do something, we should know that Allah s.w.t. is the one that made him help us. Without Allah s.w.t. , no one will be able to help us. We should always ask help from God first then only seek others. When we are out of a problem, thank God first then only others.

This completes our study on the first Surah, thou there is still a few things that confuses me. Why did He mentioned Lord of the Worlds, with an "S". Does this mean this world and the world of the Jins? Another thing is he mentioned Lord of the Worlds and Owner of the Day of Judgment. I was thought that there are three stages of a human being, first the world we live in today, the world when we are dead and the Day of Judgment. But here it is only mentioned two of the three I mentioned. I will study more on this and will blog about it when I think I have got the answer.

Surah 1 : The Opening

بِسْمِ اللّهِ الرَّحْمـَنِ الرَّحِيم

الْحَمْدُ للّهِ رَبِّ الْعَالَمِين

الرَّحمـنِ الرَّحِيم

مَـالِكِ يَوْمِ الدِّين

إِيَّاك نَعْبُدُ وإِيَّاكَ نَسْتَعِين

اهدِنَــــا الصِّرَاطَ المُستَقِيمَ

صِرَاطَ الَّذِينَ أَنعَمتَ عَلَيهِمْ غَيرِ المَغضُوبِ عَلَيهِمْ وَلاَ الضَّالِّين

Translation

In the name of Allah, the Beneficent, the Merciful

Praise be to Allah, Lord of the Worlds,

The Beneficent, the Merciful.

Owner of the Day of Judgment,

Thee (alone) we worship; Thee (alone) we ask for help.

Guide us on the straight path,

The path of those whom Thou hast favored;

Not (the path) of those who earn Thine anger nor of those who go astray.

(1 : 1-7)