Tuesday 25 February 2014

Huwa = He


If We had sent down this Qur'an upon a mountain, you would have seen it humbled and coming apart from fear of Allah. And these examples We present to the people that perhaps they will give thought.
[AL-HASHR Ch.59:V.21]

          In the name of Allah, The Entirely Merciful, The Especially Merciful. I started my entry with Basmallah. This is new entry with new topic and new challenge. As usual, before we begin with the new topic, let us praise to Allah for still gives us chance to enjoy His blessings and grace. Thanks to Him for letting us still alive and still healthy. At the same time, many people are dying and suffering from many diseases.

          We are still with a topic regarding about God @ Allah. I am trying to answer something that people are questioning about. So today we are to discuss about God’s gender. For Muslims, we believe that Allah has no gender. He is neither a man nor a woman. But now the question is, if Allah has no gender, why Allah uses “He” as pronouns? I already quoted verses from Quran and all the verses using “He” to refer to Allah. We also use “He” to refer to Allah in our daily life speaking.

He is Allah, other than whom there is no deity, Knower of the unseen and the witnessed. He is the Entirely Merciful, the Especially Merciful.
[AL-HASHR Ch.59:V.22]

          In Arabic and English, we have specific terms for man and woman. For example in Arabic huwa means he and hiya means she. It is also the same for –hu means his and –ha for her. But in English, only for man and woman when can do the classifying not for non-living things. For example tables, chairs, fans and others. For these non-living things, we use “it”. In Arabic, we have special case. This is because we also can do the classifying for animals and non-living things. We classified them under muzakkar and mu’annath.

          The above I mentioned is about linguists distinguish between natural gender and grammatical gender. Natural gender is determined by physiology; an animal with a male sex organ is naturally masculine and an animal with a female sex organ is naturally feminine. Grammatical gender is determined by language convention. French is the language that almost similar to Arabic in this case. Because of the influence of English in our daily life, we think that the word “He” used to describe God’s gender. But actually it is totally wrong.

He is Allah, other than whom there is no deity, the Sovereign, the Pure, the Perfection, the Bestower of Faith, the Overseer, the Exalted in Might, the Compeller, the Superior. Exalted is Allah above whatever they associate with Him.
[AL-HASHR Ch.59:V.23]

          In English, if one uses the masculine or feminine pronoun to refer to something that does not have natural gender, one is representing the thing as person, usually for powerful rhetorical effect. This rhetorical device is called personification. Language like Arabic, such masculine or feminine pronominal references carry no connotations of humanness. The femininity of shams (sun) or masculinity of qamar (moon) is grammatical gender based purely on language convention.

          Thing that I understood is that, the masculinity does not shows it greater than femininity. Based on the example above, it shows that femininity of sun is greater than the masculinity of moon. Neither is femininity a defect for the word, shams, nor masculinity a pride for qamar. In English, using "He" for something without natural gender connotes personification, but not in Arabic.


He is Allah, the Creator, the Inventor, the Fashioner ; to Him belong to the best names. Whatever is in the heavens and earth is exalting Him. And He is the Exalted in Might, the wise.

[AL-HASHR Ch.59:V.24]

          Why choose huwa over hiya? In Arabic language, grammatical masculinity is the norm, while grammatical femininity is the exception. Since in Arabic, most words are grammatically masculinity, therefore the expected grammatical gender for Allah is masculinity. Masculinity connotes powerful majesty, femininity connotes gentle mercy. The grammatical masculinity of the word Allah connotes majesty that helps us realize our servant hood to our Lord.

          I think this topic is quite heavy and difficult to understand. I hope that I already make things easier and more understandable. I already read about this topic in one book. Again that book was written by Dr. Danial Zainal Abidin, Islam The Misunderstood Religion. He is my favorite writer.  I have a collection of his books. But the book I mention before, I read it cursory because I give the book to my friend as a present. But the idea that I write in this topic, I found in one website. His explanation very good and some of it comes from there.

          The conclusion is that Allah has no gender. The word “He” does not means natural gender as we as think about. I hope that from this entry, I already solve the misunderstood about God’s gender. I hope that this entry can helps you if anyone asking you about this topic. If there any mistakes, hope that you can correct me. The idea from the reader is most welcome so that I can improve my writing and my style of presentation.

[He is] Creator of the heavens and the earth. He has made for you from yourselves, mates, and among the cattle, mates; He multiplies you thereby. There is nothing like unto Him, and He is the Hearing, the Seeing.
[ASY-SYURA Ch.42:V.11]


~Wallahua’lam~

Monday 17 February 2014

Why "We"?


Indeed, We have warned you of a near punishment on the Day when a man will observe what his hands have put forth and the disbeliever will say, "Oh, I wish that I were dust!"
[AN-NABA’ Ch.78:V.40]

          Alhamdulillah, praise to Allah as He gives me another chance to write an entry. Before I opened my own blog, my brother in law gave me an opportunity to write in his blog. The quotation that he uses in his blog is “write not because of name”. And I used that quotation to produce an entry. It is one of the entries that I wrote in his blog and I hope that I always write not because of name.

          Tonight I read something that important to me and I hope that thing also important to all of you. One of my friend post in facebook, write anything whether an entry or novel or post not because for people to know you. But it is for people to know Allah. Masya-Allah, it is very great advice and I hope from my previous entries people starting to know Allah better than before. Insya-Allah tonight I will cover on something that very important.

We have created them and strengthened their forms, and when We will, We can change their likenesses with [complete] alteration.
[AL-INSAN Ch.76:V.28]

          People that against Islam, always trying to find mistakes in the Quran. One of them is the contradiction that occurs in the Quran. For them (people against Islam) it is contradiction, but people who learned it knows better. The contradiction that I mentioned above is Allah using the word “We” but in other place Allah uses “I”. When we say “we”, it means many or a group of. But Islam teaches us that we have only one God that is Allah. Then why He uses “We”?

          This “contradiction” is love by the Christians as they can use it to prove the concept of trinity. I used inverted comma because it seems to be contradiction but actually it is not. The Christians believe in the trinity and they say Allah uses “We” in Quran to represent Himself, Jesus and The Holy Spirit. If they really know their scripture, they will not even call themselves “Christians”. To answer this question, we cannot use English as sometimes English does not the same as Arabic.

          Arabic language is very special because it has name for singular, dual and also plural. Plural in Arabic has two meanings that are representing numbers or showing the greatness. Therefore, the word “We” used in the Quran is to show the greatness of Allah. Not to show the numbers or showing that there are many Gods. The word “We” also we can say to show grandeur (kehebatan) and greatness (kebesaran).

          Besides that, Allah uses the word “We” because it represents His entire kingdom. His kingdom includes rows of angels and also the universe. The universe consists of stars, moons, earth and others. All these mention above is the creation that will never disobey Him. We, human beings, animals, plants, demons and the other creature on the earth are also in His kingdom.

          For this case, it is the same with the king on earth. I think all kings that had ruled on this earth using the word “we” to represent his kingdom. He seldom use “I” in his speaks. This is because sometimes to make a decision for his country he has to ask for his ministers opinions. If the king gives an instruction without saying “we”, it means that only he that want to make that things happen. And it also means that he put his ministers aside. Therefore, when Allah uses the word “We” for people that familiar with the royal family they will find it normal. Only people like us that feel weird and think negatively about the word “We”.

And [mention] when We said to the angels, "Prostrate before Adam"; so they prostrated, except for Iblees. He refused and was arrogant and became of the disbelievers.
[AL-BAQARAH Ch.2:V.34]

Allah uses “We” because He feels proud to Himself and only He deserves to feel proud. He feels proud to His own power and greatness. He feels proud to His kingdom that so big. But, we as human cannot act and feel like that because we are nothing if Allah does not help us. We only His creation and we are too much feeble. Allah can take our lives whenever He want and easily can bring us back to life.

And We have certainly revealed to you verses [which are] clear proofs, and no one would deny them except the defiantly disobedient.
[AL-BAQARAH Ch.2:V.99]

          Maybe some of the readers here not satisfied with my answer. I already do my best. I also find some other reference to support my ideas here. I have read this problem that is our topic tonight in one book. The book wrote by Dr. Danial Zanial Abidin with title Tuan Bertanya, Dr. Danial Menjawab. There are many questions inside the book that discussing more details in Islam. And one of the questions is about the uses of the word “We” by Allah. So maybe you can find this book in book stores and you can get clearer answer from Dr.

          This entry is going to be my 8th entry in my blog and the 7th entry in English. My blog is still too young and my knowledge still too shallow. Of course I have to read more and learn more from experienced persons. Thank you for supporting my blog. Hope that I can be a better blogger in the future. I also hope that all my messages that I delivered in this blog can be absorb by the readers. And most important thing that, I hope I can be a good da’ie.

So know, [O Muhammad], that there is no deity except Allah and ask forgiveness for your sin and for the believing men and believing women. And Allah knows of your movement and your resting place.
[MUHAMMAD Ch.47:V.19]



~Wallahua’lam~

Wednesday 12 February 2014

Angels


The Messenger has believed in what was revealed to him from his Lord, and [so have] the believers. All of them have believed in Allah and His angels and His books and His messengers, [saying], "We make no distinction between any of His messengers." And they say, "We hear and we obey. [We seek] Your forgiveness, our Lord, and to You is the [final] destination."
[AL-BAQARAH Ch.2:V.285]

          It is good to be back again after more than a week not writing any entry. Firstly, praise to Allah as He give me chance to live and to continue my dakwah by writing an entry in this blog. According to my original plan, I want to start from the beginning that is about God. This is because in Islam the first thing to learn is to know Allah. That is the reason I wrote the entries before more on knowing God and only one about Quran.

          But today’s entry is about angels. Although I still not finish writing about God, I have to write this entry. This is because I still at home before return back to university next week. It is going to be difficult for me to write on this topic in the future because the reference is at home. So while I still at home better I take this opportunity to tell something about angels. I also take decision to write this entry because in a few entries before, I already raised the issue on why Allah needs angels as He already the Almighty.

          Before I answer the issue, I think I should tell a bit on the angels, such as the creation of the angels, their characteristics and their duties.

The Messenger of Allah () said, "Angels were created from light, jinns were created from a smokeless flame of fire, and 'Adam was created from that which you have been told (i.e., sounding clay like the clay of pottery)."
[MUSLIM]
Sunnah.com reference: Book 19, Hadith 39
Arabic/English book reference: Book 19, Hadith 1846

          In Islam, there are pillars of faith (rukun Iman) and pillars of Islam (rukun Islam). Believing in angels is one of six things in the pillars of faith. We are not Muslim if we do not believe in the existence of the angels. In the Quran, Allah does not mention the creation of the angels. The above text I quoted from hadith, which is the word of our beloved Prophet Muhammad PBUH. He said that the angels are made from the light (nur). In the Quran indirectly told us that the angels were there before human being. As mention in the Ch.2 verses 30-39, the conversation between Allah and angels.

Has there reached you the story of the honored guests of Abraham? When they entered upon him and said, "[We greet you with] peace." He answered, "[And upon you] peace, [you are] a people unknown. Then he went to his family and came with a fat [roasted] calf. And placed it near them; he said, "Will you not eat?" And he felt from them apprehension. They said, "Fear not," and gave him good tidings of a learned boy.
[ADZ-DHARIYAT Ch.51:V.24-28]

So inquire of them, [O Muhammad], "Does your Lord have daughters while they have sons? Or did We create the angels as females while they were witnesses?" Unquestionably, it is out of their [invented] falsehood that they say, "Allah has begotten," and indeed, they are liars. Has He chosen daughters over sons? What is [wrong] with you? How do you make judgment? Then will you not be reminded?  Or do you have a clear authority? Then produce your scripture, if you should be truthful.
[AS-SAFFAT Ch.37:V.149-157]

O you who have believed, protect yourselves and your families from a Fire whose fuel is people and stones, over which are [appointed] angels, harsh and severe; they do not disobey Allah in what He commands them but do what they are commanded.
[AT-TAHRIM Ch.66:V.6]

The first verses tell some characteristic of the angels. The angels refused to eat the food that was served by Prophet Abraham not because they do not want to eat. But actually they do not eat. These verses corrected the misunderstood thought of some people who says that the angels are also like human need to eat. The second verses tell us that the angels have no gender. They are neither man nor woman. In the old days, the idolatrous (musyrik) said the angels are God’s daughter. So these verses give the evidence that they are wrong. And the last verse is about the obedience of the angels. They will never disobey the order from Allah. There many other characteristics, but I only can list a few of them.

          I think nowadays, most Muslim kids know the angels name and their duties. Maybe you can ask one of them to tell you about that. Because it will takes longer essay if I name the angels one by one and telling you their jobs. Basically Muslims should know 10 angels, their names and their jobs. But in the Quran only a few angels are mention. And the Quran also tell us the angels have many jobs. There are angels created just to worship to Allah, there some created for human being, some as guards in heavens and hells and many more.

          Come to the most important thing. Why Allah creates the angels to do all things, if He is the Almighty? As the question not too long, I think I also do not have long answer for this. There are a few reasons in my point of view. Firstly, I think that Allah wants to show His great power by creating a creature that will never disobey Him. We can see the differences between the angels, human and devils. The devils want to make us astray. Ourselves as human, sometimes we obey and sometimes we disobey to Allah. But the angels will never act without order from Allah and will never disobey after getting the order.

          In the entry before, I already touched on the nature of Allah and one of them is should have (sifat harus). In this category it is not compulsory for Allah to create us. He created us because He wanted to and He has His own plan for the creation He made. Allah is the Most Rich (Maha Kaya) not because He has this universe, angels, human and other things. Some people say that the most accurate is Allah is the Most of the Richest (Maha Terkaya). With or without the creation He made, He already the Most of the Richest.

          When someone becomes a king, he wants to show his greatness by a few ways. Maybe he can build a very good military, he can manage his country’s economy, and he can build buildings for his people, give ease to his people and other things so that his people will say he is great. But some people will say, if Allah does all the jobs by himself that would be greater. For me, human beings want something that his brain can accept. Something that is logical. If there are many things that illogical, there will be many people that will not believe in religion.

          Allah says in the Quran that we, human have only a little knowledge on the unseen world. Only Allah knows everything. Our human brains have limitations; we have to accept this fact. Because of our brains have limitations; we have to take the revelations as our guidance. Sorry if I did not do my best. Hope we can learn something in this entry today.

…So do you believe in part of the Scripture and disbelieve in part? Then what is the recompense for those who do that among you except disgrace in worldly life; and on the Day of Resurrection they will be sent back to the severest of punishment. And Allah is not unaware of what you do.
[AL-BAQARAH Ch.2:V.85]



~Wallahua’lam~

Monday 3 February 2014

Misconception : Al-Quran


This is the Book about which there is no doubt, guidance for those conscious of Allah.
[AL-BAQARAH Ch.2:V.2]

          It is good to have another chance to write another entry. It is Allah permission and He is the one who gives the knowledge to the person He wanted. In the earlier pages in the Quran, Allah mentions that the Book has no doubt for people who believe. Because of this verse, Islam scholars very confident with Quran and always have the answer for the misunderstanding questions.

          I wanted to write this entry because I think that not very Muslim knows about this. This is my responsibility to share the knowledge that I have. This misconception was brought out by Christian scholars, Jimmy Swaggart when he had debate with Syeikh Ahmad Deedat. The debate was long ago held, about 30 years ago. The answer that I will write I quoted from Syeikh Ahmad Deedat. Thanks to him and may Allah bless him.

1.  Muslims had changed the Quran and the original Quran has been burned.

Jimmy Swaggart said that Sayyidina Usman changed the original Quran and the original one was burned up. Before I give the answer from Syeikh Ahmad Deedat, I want us to refresh on the history of our prophet Muhammad (pbuh) and the history of Quran.

Our prophet Muhammad (pbuh) was illiterate and it leads him to do not know to write. When the revelations come down to him by Gabriel, he will pass the messages to his companion. There are a few of his friends know to write and to read, so they will write the revelation on papers or hide or other things. But in his life, he never asks his companion to compile the revelation into a book.

When our prophet died, his closest friend Sayyidina Abu Bakar became the Muslims leader. One day, come Sayyidina Umar al-Khattab to Sayyidina Abu Bakar asking him to compile the revelation into a book called Quran. But Sayyidina Abu Bakar said to Sayyidina Umar, he will not do the things that prophet never did. Day by day gone and Sayyidina Umar did not give up persuaded to compile the revelation. At last, Sayyidina Umar quoted one verse from the Quran that leads Sayyidina Abu Bakar to compile the revelation.

… And whatever the Messenger has given you - take; and what he has forbidden you - refrain from. And fear Allah; indeed, Allah is severe in penalty.
[AL-HADID Ch.59:V.7]

But at the era of Sayyidina Abu Bakar and Umar, they just collecting the pieces that containing ayah from Quran. When come Sayyidina Usman, he decided to write the revelation in the book. This is because so that people that do not memorizing the Quran also can read it. At this time, Islam already spread all over places in the world. Now come to the answer to the questions above. To write the revelation into a book, Sayyidina Usman needs Quran specialist. When I say Quran specialist meaning that the person memorizing the whole content of the Quran and also understand the messages in the Quran.

The Quran specialist did change the spelling errors. The spelling errors come from the person who write the revelation when was told to him. This is human errors. For example, when someone mention his or her name and asked us to write the name. Probably we are going to spell wrong the name. With the help of specialist they can remove all the errors.

They also add in something to the Quran that is the vowels. Before this, the Arabic words do not contain the line or mark or sign. For the Arab that understands they own language there will be no problem. But for the non-Arab people, they will find the difficulty to read and to understand the Quran. So the vowels were to make other people also can read the Quran.

Then why did Sayyidina Usman burn the pieces such as paper or hide that containing the verses and the revelation? This is because he does not want other people that have lack of knowledge about Quran to write another book. He afraid that they will make a mistake and the Quran will have many versions. So he wants to avoid it and just use the one he compile as the authentic and the main source.

Indeed, it is We who sent down the Qur'an and indeed, We will be its guardian.
[AL-HIJR Ch.15:V.9]

2.  Version and translation.

Firstly, I will talk about version. Quran only has one version, but has many translations. Let we take all the Quran that have on the earth and check each of them. All of them will contain only 114 chapters. If the book contains more of less than 114 chapters, we as Muslim will not accept it as Quran. Now check words by words, comparing two Quran that were produced by two different printers. It is also the same.

But maybe there are different in terms of the signs used. Because in the modern days the Quran was printed to make the reader easier to read it.

Or add to it (night), and recite the Qur'an with measured recitation.
Ataupun lebihkan (sedikit) daripadanya; dan bacalah Al-Quran dengan "Tartil".
[AL-MUZZAMMIL Ch.73:V.4]

          Now take a look on the number of verse. Yes, there will be a different total number of verses in some Quran. Maybe not too many Quran that have difference in total number of verses. Why there is different in total number of verses? For Arabic words there are no capital letter or small letter. We can start with AND in the beginning of the verse, it is not wrong. The position of the full stops slightly different according to different scholars. This makes the total number of verses different.

          How about translation? Translation is the matter of choosing words. The words that were chosen to be used to give the same meaning as in the Arabic words. Different people will choose different words. So the Quran has many translations including in many other languages. All of the translators have the same purpose and wanted to lead to the same meaning.

And do not mix the truth with falsehood or conceal the truth while you know [it].
[AL-BAQARAH Ch.2:V.42]

          Hope that with this simple entry, my messages can be delivered to the readers. I also hope that we gain some knowledge in this entry and can share with others. Lastly, hope with this entry we can reduce the misconception and misunderstandings about Islam.

[Moses] said, "My Lord, expand for me my breast [with assurance]. And ease for me my task. And untie the knot from my tongue, that they may understand my speech.
[TAHA Ch.20:V.25-28]



~Wallahua’lam~