The Shajaa3ah thread.

[Editor]

Dear Shajaa3ah

as-salamu 'alaykum

I was just reflecting on the number of tawkid Allah uses in this favourite ayah of mine:

وَإِذْ تَأَذَّنَ رَبُّكُمْ لَئِن شَكَرْتُمْ لأَزِيدَنَّكُمْ وَلَئِن كَفَرْتُمْ إِنَّ عَذَابِي لَشَدِيدٌ

And (remember) when your Lord proclaimed: "If you give thanks (by accepting Faith and worshipping none but Allah), I will give you more (of My Blessings), but if you are thankless (i.e. disbelievers), verily! My Punishment is indeed severe."

If you could like write up something for us to further appreciate the emphasis used in just this ayah alone (which seems completely lacking in the translation), that'd be so totally cool. Jazakillahu khair in advance.

PS. Tis like the arabic studies version of "Dear Shajaa3ah" innit.

[Shajaa3ah]

Wa alaikum as salaam,

Before you read on, I would like you to look carefully at the English translation of the verse and see whether you pick up on any emphasis, and then to compare that with what will follow in shaa’ Allaah.

And when your Lord proclaimed: "If you give thanks , I will give you more, but if you are thankless , verily! My Punishment is indeed severe."

I would like to focus also on only one clause of the verse, as that should be sufficient to make the point clear;

لَئِن شَكَرْتُمْ لأَزِيدَنَّكُمْ

If you give thanks, I will give you more

This verse contains one of the secrets to happiness, success and contentment, and it is as though Allaah is saying to us, “I shall impart this simple secret to you if you are wise enough to take heed.” The secret? “All you have to do is be thankful to Me for what I have given you, and oh-so-much-more will come your way. All you have to do is to thank Me, and your rizq will come; you need not worry about overburdening yourself and spending sunrise to sunset seeking your rizq (although of course you should work), just give Me thanks and praise Me for what you already have!”

How is He saying all of this through this clause? By emphasizing the concept, then emphasizing it more, then emphasizing it once again, and even emphasizing it a fourth time, so that there is no doubt in our minds about it.

In just these three short words, there are four emphases; or to be even more accurate there are only two words that make up this clause for the third is entirely for emphasis. The first two emphases are the initial laam al-qasm followed by the particle إِنْ in لَئِن; the third is another laam al-Qasm in لأَزِيدَنَّكُمْand the fourth is the letter noon of emphasis in the same word. Four different instances of emphases for one concept – that if we thank Allaah for what He has already given us, He will provide us with more.

Look back now to the English translation, If you give thanks, I will give you more. There is nothing that particularly draws the reader to this verse, nothing that makes them feel like this is such an important secret and key to their life and sustenance. It is almost mocking the words of Allaah (by limitations of the language not by fault of the translators); as Diyaa’i mentioned in his article Dalaalat al-Tawkeed fee al-Jumlah al-‘Arabiyyah, one of the aims of using emphasis in Arabic is to remove all doubts from the mind of the addressee about a concept which would otherwise contain doubts.

So Allaah usually emphasizes messages in the Qur’an which we are not 100% convinced on, and the concept in question would be a prime example. The greater the doubts, or the more important the concept, the greater the number of emphases used. So when you have a concept which has been emphasized four times, this should tell us how important this concept is to us; when we restrict ourselves to reading the translation and losing out on comprehending this message, we cheat none but ourselves.

And just as this part of the verse has been emphasized four times, so too has the second part of the verse warning us of the consequences of being ungrateful; a warning from which we seemingly prefer to turn our ears by not granting ourselves access to it,

وَلَئِن كَفَرْتُمْ إِنَّ عَذَابِي لَشَدِيدٌ

but if you are thankless, verily! My Punishment is indeed severe.

Something to think about next time we complain.

_________________

Although Editor has made the title of this thread specific, and since she drew parallels with the other Dear Fulaan thread, I would just like to stress that anyone who is able may answer the questions on this one.

[BlessedMuslimah]

Dear Shajaa3ah,

I really enjoyed your above explanation - may Allah SubhanaHu Wa Ta'ala reward you.

Anyhow, there's this question that's been going through my mind for quite some time. I think I just need it to be refreshed, bas in shaa Allah you can do that here : )


I'm referring to the times that Allah SubhanaHu Wa Ta'ala repeats certain verses over in the Qur'an... namely, the one below.


فَإِنَّ مَعَ الْعُسْرِ يُسْرًا
So, verily, with every difficulty, there is relief:

إِنَّ مَعَ الْعُسْرِ يُسْرًا
Verily, with every difficulty there is relief.



now the instance for here specifically I'm wondering as to the concept of المعرف with an "أل" that if it comes again in front of the word in a sentence.. that it's referring to the same thing..

like for example.. if we say

جاء رجل فأكرمت الرجول

because of the "ال" in "الرجول" it means to refer to the same "رجل" in that stance...

whereas if you were to say...


جاء رجل فأكرمت رجلا

the second "رجلا" would indicate that it doesn't necessarily mean they are referring to the first "رجل" because of the absence of the "أل"

so going back to the above verses...

the two main words that are of concern are 1) الْعُسْر and 2) يُسْرًا
now because عسر is mentioned with an "ال" before it in both clauses, then it means to refer to the same difficulty...

Whereas on the other hand, because of the absence of the "ال" particle in "يُسْرًا" it refers to a different ease when mentioned the second time. Therefore, Allah SWT gives us glad tidings with the mention of two instances of ease along with the emphasis that goes along in those ayat.

Can you 1) shed some light on this concept, 2) explain it in relation to the next two ayat that follow (and a) what it tells us we should do, b) when we should do it (i.e. during the time of difficulty... between ease? or am I being too specific?)

فَإِذَا فَرَغْتَ فَانصَبْ
Therefore, when you are free (from your immediate task), still labor hard,


وَإِلَى رَبِّكَ فَارْغَبْ
And to your Lord turn (all) your attention.


3) and the expounding of the letter "ف" as well in the above?



JazakAllahu Khairan… and I apologize if my Arabic seems cracked out… trying to improve May Allah SubhanaHu Wa Ta'ala help me with this




Wasalaamu’alaykum Warhamatulahee Wabarakatuhu,

ala

[Shajaa3ah]

Wa alaikum as salaam wa rahmatullaahi wa barakaatuhu,

Originally Posted by BlessedMuslimah

1)shed some light on this concept

فَإِنَّ مَعَ الْعُسْرِ يُسْرًا
So, verily, with every hardship, there is ease:

إِنَّ مَعَ الْعُسْرِ يُسْرًا
Verily, with every hardship there is ease.

The ال issue you mentioned can be explained in one of two ways I know of:

1)al-Jurjani said that if you say,

إن مع الفارس سيفاً، إن مع الفارس سيفاً
(Indeed, the horseman has a sword, indeed the horseman has a sword)

then it means that there has to be one horseman who has two swords. So it means there is only one hardship, but two different eases. This is also the opinion held by al-Farraa’ regarding the meaning of this verse. Tha‘lab also mentioned that if the Arabs mentioned a definite noun and repeated it, then it is for emphasis and it is the same noun, but if they mentioned an indefinite noun and repeated it then they are two separate objects.

2)The repetition of the verse was for the sake of emphasis, and this is common in the Arabic language, such as when Allaah repeated the phrase in Surah Mutaffifeen: وَيْلٌ يَوْمَئِذٍ لّلْمُكَذّبِينَ which was for the sake of emphasizing the meaning in the souls and hearts of the reader.

Some of the scholars conjectured on what the ease refers to – some said it was the conquests that happened in the days of the Prophet (sallallaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam) and the Khulafaa’, others said it was the ease of this life and the Hereafter (as in the reference to Ihdaa al-Husnayan 9:52). So if it is a definite ease that is intended, the question is why is it mentioned indefinitely, without the definite marker ٱلْ ?

The answer is (wallaahu a3lam) for aggrandizement, and it is as though Allaah is saying, With the hardships you have gone through, O Muhammad, [which is in reference to the Mushriks of Makkah taunting him (sallallaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam) and the believers about their poverty and hardships until he (sallallaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam) came to believe that they were not embracing Islam due to the poverty of the Muslims and their contempt] will come a great, copious, abundant amount of ease, so do not despair of My mercy.”

The other beautiful point with regards the language is the use of إِنّ مّع (‘indeed with’) instead of, for example, إِنَّ بَعد (‘indeed, after’) because the word مع is used to indicate that something accompanies something else, so how can it be said that ease accompanies hardship when they are two completely opposite things? It was mentioned in this way (wallaahu a3lam) as though Allaah is being merciful to them by telling them that before they know it, the ease will come to them, as though they will feel it is such a short time that it is happening right then, at the exact same time as the hardship, to increase their strength and hope.

Originally Posted by BlessedMuslimah

2)explain it in relation to the next two ayat that follow (and a) what it tells us we should do, b) when we should do it (i.e. during the time of difficulty... between ease? or am I being too specific?)

First in the surah Allaah mentioned His previous blessings upon the Prophet (sallallaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam), and then He followed it up with promising that more were to come. So in the last two ayahs He told the Prophet (sallallaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam) to be thankful and exert himself in worship, and when he is free from one duty to move on to the next.

a) There has been a lot said on what it means we should do specifically, but the gist of it is that it means when you finish from one act of ‘ibaadah, follow it up right away with another, be it salah or du‘aa’ or da‘wah or Jihad or matters of the dunya, or istighfaar or dhikr etc. Do not sit around doing nothing.

b)I don’t know what it says about when we should do it.

Originally Posted by BlessedMuslimah

3)and the expounding of the letter "ف" as well in the above?

I think the "ف" is just a conjunction used to indicate continuation (‘due to what has been said then do such and such.’) The "ف" used in this manner can carry the same meaning as ثُمَّ but the difference is that the "ف" is after a shorter period of time. Wallaahu a3lam.

I hope that answered your questions.

[Catalyst]

BaarakAllaahu feeki

[AbuIlyaas]

al-salaamu `alaikum,

Here's a question that's been bugging me for some time (I cut'n'pasted it from my al-maghrib posts. I can't remember if I've ever asked it here before, if I have then I have forgotten the answer):

Soorah al-Bayyinah

Is there any significance to the inclusion of the word 'Abadan' in ayaah 8, compared to ayaah 6 where it is not used.

In Ayaah six it's 'khaalideena feehaa' describing the disbelievers in the hell fire. Translated as "... and al-Mushrikun will abide in the Fire of Hell."

In Ayaah eight it's 'khaalideena feehaa abadan' describing the believers in Paradise. Translated as "... They will abide therein forever, ..."

From the English the difference seems to be the additional 'forever' referring to the believers' abiding. But isn't the disbelievers' abiding in Hell fire also 'forever'?

So I wanted to know if they were any significance to the presence of the word 'abadan' in realtion to the believers and not the disbelievers? Is there some particular honour attached to the believers in this ayaah with the additional 'abadan'?

[Shajaa3ah]

Catalyst, wa iyyaakum.

AbuIlyaas, Wa alaikum as salaam,

Every single word and letter in the Qur'an is there for a specific reason. Not a single letter has been added or replaced by another in a different ayah without there being a specific purpose behind it.

al-Razi mentioned this issue in his tafseer and said that there are a number of reasons: one is to indicate that Allaah’s Mercy is greater than His Anger; he also said there is a narration that Allaah said, “O Dāwūd, make My creation love Me.” Dāwūd (‘alayhis salaam) asked, “And how shall I do that?” to which Allaah replied, “Mention to them the vastness of My Mercy.” Although al-Razi did not mention the authenticity of this narration, he said that the purpose behind mention of abadaa in relation to the righteous is along the same lines.
Wallaahu a3lam. That is all I could find on it.

[AbuIlyaas]

Jazaakum Allaahu khairan, and yeah it was a bad use of the word significance. What I meant really was have any scholars commented on it (which you answered, thank you).

The other question I had is have there been any scholatic comments on places where Allaah addresses mankind as Insaan rather than Naas? Like in soorah al-Infitaar ayaah 6, Allaah says Yaa Ayyuha-l-Insaan rather than Yaa Ayyuha-l-Naas?

[Shajaa3ah]

Wa iyyaakum.

The difference in meaning between naas and insaan is that naas is the plural form whereas insaan is the generic form (the singular being insiyy).

I couldn't find anything explicitly stated about the difference, nor could I figure out a general rule, but from what I gathered with regards this specific verse is that insaan was used because a specific person/group of people are being addressed; in the verse you mentioned for example, al-Qurtubi said that Allaah is addressing those who denied the resurrection; Ibn 'Abbas said it was al-Walid ibn al-Mugheerah, and 'Ikrimah said it was Ubayy ibn Khalf.

It also works in verses like 18:54 and 16:4, for example, because in these instances insaan is said in the tafseers to refer to the disbeleivers.

Where it doesnt seem to work is verses like 15:26, so Allaahu a3lam. Hopefully someone who has better knowledge of this will answer in shaa' Allaah.

[AbuIlyaas]

jazaakum Allaahu khairan for that answer, especially the other ayaat that you cited, it was good to reading them within the context of the point you made.