341. The blessed night.

Verse (44:3) says the Quran was revealed in the blessed night. Going through other verses of the Quran, we come to know which is the blessed night.

Verse 2:185 tells us the Quran was revealed in the month of Ramadan. Hence it is to be understood, the blessed night falls in the month of Ramadan. 

 Verse 97:1 says the Quran was revealed in the night of Laylatul Qadr. 

 The verse (44:3) calling it the blessed night and the verse 97:1 calling it the magnificent night denote the same night when the Quran was revealed.

 Some argue the blessed night denotes the night of 15^th of the month Shaban, but we do not find any substantiation regarding this either in the Quran, or the sunnah of Prophet Muhammad.

 The opinion, Quran was revealed on the 15^th of Shaban is against the tenets of the Quran, that says it was revealed in the month of Ramdan.

 Some Muslims guided by wrong interpretation of this verse, have created an innovation called ‘Barat’ night and are celebrating the same.

The word ‘Barat Night’ is not found anywhere in the Quran or the sunnah of Prophet Muhammad. These people have invented something which is not part of Islam by practicing a few rituals on a particular night are indeed misguiding others and themselves to a wrong path. They must realize the wrong belief that the Quran was revealed in the month of Shaban, is against the Quran which declares it was revealed in the month of Ramadan. 

They explain their wrong interpretation by saying the Quran was revealed to the first heaven in the ‘Baraat Night’ from the safeguarded master copy to be delivered in parts to Prophet Muhammad starting on the night of Lailat il Qadr. We do not find any evidence in any of the hadiths substantiating their claim. 

Please refer to point no 447 to know whether the Quran was revealed in one night. 

340. Was there any law that governed men before the age of 40.

Some ignorant people have explained this verse (46:15) as saying man reaches puberty at the age of 40, misleading the masses. 

Based on this verse, these people explain that a person can live up to the age of 40 as he desires, and only on passing this age he needs to be disciplined.

Islam never conveyed a message that man can live up to the age of 40 as per his desires, and there are no duties to be performed by him until then. 

 It is never said in this verse that man attains puberty at the age of 40, rather the message goes on as “when man attains puberty and reaches the age of 40. This cannot be understood as attaining puberty at the age of 40. Either of the two phrases is enough to convey the attaining of puberty. From this we come to understand that attaining puberty and reaching the age of 40 are distinct from each other.

We find the answer as to why the phrase “when reaching the age of 40” finds place here in this verse itself.

Generally, a person reaches his adulthood without realizing the importance of his parents, like the difficulties the mother underwent while carrying him and later in delivering. 

 The parents of a person become obsolete to him once he enters wedlock. He neglects his parents to enjoy worldly pleasures, and does not realize their importance even after one or more children are born to him. 

 When his child reaches his adulthood and starts questioning him, he understands the importance of parents by recounting his attitude towards his parents.

 A man reaches this point of view at an average age of 40. When he gets married at the age of 20, he is the father of a 20-year-old son in his 40th year.

 Man realizes the importance of his parents only when his children neglect him, and it takes this amount of time for him to understand the same.

A) The commandment to be good to parents. 

B) Difficulties the mother underwent in carrying the child in her womb.

C) The hardships she suffered in delivering the child. 

 One can easily understand the reason for the words “on reaching the age of 40” after all the above have been pointed out. 

 And this verse also says man prays as “Make my offspring desirable to me” proving the fact, he remembers his parents when he himself turns to be one.

 “Do not make my offspring treat me badly, as I did to my parents”.

 If we analyze this verse from the beginning it can be seen that man realizes the significance of parenthood in life, only on attaining the age of 40, and there is no permission from this verse, to live a life as per one’s desire.

 There is a need for regulation in man when he is in the prime of his youth, and not when his body loses all vitality, and becomes weak. 

 The effects would be disastrous for this world if everyone ventures to do whatever he/she decides, until the age of 40. 

339. Tales in the life history of Prophet Ayyub.

Exegetes have written various kinds of stories in the guise of explanations to this verse (38:44) of the Quran.

The following is a fabricated story by these people.

It seems Prophet Ayyub (AS) took an oath to subject his wife to 100 whip lashes, in a bid to fulfill the oath, picked up a grass with 100 blades and whipped his wife once with it, justifying having lashed his wife 100 times. 

Allah or His prophet did not anywhere reveal that Prophet Ayyub made a promise to whip his wife a hundred times and, there is no reason to believe something similar alluded to in this verse.

In this verse it is merely said ‘beat’ and not “beat your wife’. This is their own addition.

It is said in this verse, ‘pick a handful of grass’ and not hundred blades of grass. 

These people do not have the basic knowledge that promises like beating a wife a hundred times need not be fulfilled at all. 

On going through this verse and those before it, we come to understand the Almighty makes some arrangements to cure Prophet Ayyub after he was afflicted with ailments.

What does the words ‘ stamp the ground beneath with your feet, this is the cool bathing place, a drink’ mean? This can mean as follows:

Commanding Prophet Ayyub to kick the ground beneath his feet, wherein a water spring is created for him to drink and bathe, is the explanation that can be offered here.

Conveying that Prophet Ayyub was cured of the ailment by drinking the water from there and taking a bath, Allah says as a continuation ‘pick a handful of grass and beat’. 

Then a question arises, where is the necessity for the words ‘do not break promises’. This is directed towards him for not fulfilling a vow due to severe illness. And since he is relieved of the illness Allah wants to execute it now. One is a remedy for his illness, and the other is the reminder of an unfulfilled promise.

 This is the message conveyed here. In this verse we find Allah praising him as a person with a lot of patience, whereas these people portray him as an impatient person with having assaulted his wife.

338. The torso on the throne of Prophet Sulaiman.

Most of the translators have presented this verse (38:34) as follows:

Indeed we subjected Sulaiman to an ordeal, then he returned to our fold.

But we present our version as follows:

“We subjected Sulaiman to a trial, and threw him on his throne as a lifeless body, he then reformed himself”. He said “Oh my Lord! Forgive me, and grant me a reign, the like of which one nobody gets after me. You are the most Magnanimous”.

This verse and the one after, says Prophet Sulaiman committed an error and later sought redemption for it.

Most of the exegetes have rendered only lies and imaginary stories regarding this verse.

The Almighty says he subjected Sulaiman to a trial, but these people as explanation say Sulaiman made a grave mistake and the Almighty tested him as a result.

What was the sin committed by him?

Some say he equated the Almighty to some other.

Some say he indulged in sexual intercourse with his wife while she was undergoing her monthly periods.

Some say he went into hiding for three days without delivering verdicts on cases submitted to him by people. 

Some others have written as he has delivered a judgment favoring his relative. 

There are several similar stories written on this subject.

There are no authentications provided for any of these stories. Other than quoting some Ikrima, or some Mujahid, or someone else, we do not find any reference 

While explaining “We threw a lifeless body on his throne” these people render all kinds of imaginary stories.

These people refer to the lifeless body as shaitan and say since Sulaiman made a mistake, Allah made the shaitan to occupy his throne is their explanation. 

And further in their explanation, say that Sulaiman was wearing a ring, and he remained as the ruler, only as long as the ring was with him. One day Sulaiman removed the ring, and handed it over to his wife and went to take a bath, knowing this a Shaitan by the name of Sakr approached her taking the form of Sulaiman and took hold of the ring, as result the ruling of the country changed to the hands of the Shaitan who ruled for forty days, later the power to rule was transferred by Allah to Sulaiman, thus goes the story. 

The word jassad in Arabic is translated as torso by these people, whereas in fact it means a human body and does not refer to a torso which is defined as a headless human body. 

A human body contains nerves, flesh bones etc. the shaitan does not have all these. These people are unaware of even the fact that such a word is not used to denote shaitan.

Can Satan take the form of a prophet, when Satan takes the form of a prophet and starts ruling a country people will obey the ruler, and believe in the guidance he professes. Would Allah misguide people when a prophet is alive. 

These exegetes did not ponder whether power to rule a country can be contained in a finger ring. 

These exegetes have given such horrible explanations to verses of the Quran. 

If these are imaginary stories, then what are the facts? 

Is it a must that an incident must be the background for revelation of this verse. If we analyze this verse properly without looking for any incident as its background, we can arrive at a proper understanding of the same.

To understand the phrase “we subjected Sulaiman to trial” does not require any background stories, Allah can test his subject in many ways. He can do it with granting riches to him or by snatching his riches or by bestowing good health on him or by spoiling the same.

It is clear when one understands that Prophet Sulaiman was subjected to a test. 

What is the explanation for the phrase “ we placed a torso on his throne”? Before going into the explanation of the phrase let’s examine whether the use of the word ‘torso’ is correct. The usage of the word torso is wrong, the correct word is ‘body’. 

It can be either translated as ‘we placed a body on his throne’, or ‘we placed him as a body on his throne’. Taking the latter translation would make us avoid all confusions with wild stories about Prophet Sulaiman.

A mistake cannot be pointed out to Sulaiman by placing a dead body on his throne, and placement of a dead body would not necessarily send a message pointing out some wrong by him. 

Let’s take the case of a terminally ill person on his deathbed. When discussing a terminally ill person’s health, we would remark that only his body is present without any significant life in him. This kind of parlance is common in most languages of the world. 

We put Sulaman as a lifeless body on the throne , he was supposed to sit and rule.

Let's take the understanding on these lines, it is being said in the Quran, Prophet Sulaiman was subjected to tribulation. We can understand it from this verse. The explanation is, he was afflicted with a severe illness, rendering him immobile and making him unable to perform his duties as a ruler, like a lifeless body. 

We tested Sulaiman (as a result of which his bodily functions were affected) rendering him similar to a lifeless body on the throne.

This is very clear and without any confusion.

What does “he then returned to our fold” mean.

The word “to our fold” is not in the original text. The word used here is “Anaba” meaning returning to the earlier state. The word ‘to our fold’ is unnecessary here, it should be as ‘he returned to his earlier state. Now let’s look at the full version of the verse. 

“We tested Sulaiman, and placed him on the throne lifeless, then he came back to his earlier state.

Do we need all kinds of imaginary stories to explain this verse, belying the fact that the Quran is easy to comprehend?

337. The wrong committed by Prophet Dawood.

Many scholars, in the name of exegesis for this verse (38:21-25) have spun several unacceptable yarns.

It is being said by these people, that Prophet Dawood already had 99 wives and took hold of another one by murdering her husband. There is no acceptable proof for this, and some tales from the Judeo- Christian scriptures have been taken to substantiate this claim.

These people do not have the basic knowledge that messengers of God will not indulge in such inhuman, base, brutal acts.

Here in this verse, the Almighty talks of an error by Prophet Dawood that was rectified by him when pointed out. Something more than enough to learn a lesson from.

There are no details either in the Quran or the sunnah of Prophet Muhammad regarding the mistake committed, but can be realized from the verse. 

A dispute is brought to the notice of Prophet Dawood, by two people wherein one says “ he has 99 goats with him and I have one, he wants to take the one from me”. After delivering the verdict in this case, Prophet Dawood prayed for forgiveness, realizing the two were angels sent by the Almighty pointing out an error by him. 

Since Prophet Dawood realized the nature of the dispute it seemed to him to point out a similar error by him, hence it can be concluded as something of the same had taken place involving him.

The nature of this case is to point out acquisition of something trivial, by someone who has a lot of possessions.

Prophet Dawood would never have realized the mistake he had committed in acquiring something from someone, though he had the same thing in abundance.

Generally such a situation does occur, when an act is committed by someone as a ruler. 

Since Prophet Dawood was a ruler, situations like legal acquisition of a subject’s land for people’s welfare, or legal acquisition of a subject’s horse, for addition to state’s arsenal, or acquisition of a fiefdom’s land area to be added to his kingdom could have taken place, and it could never be something like taking another’s wife as his own. 

336. Lying to avoid being a part of evil deeds.

In this verse (37:89) of the Quran it is mentioned as Prophet Ibrahim saying “I am sick”.

Prophet Muhammad has explained these words are lies Prophet Ibrahim uttered for sake of Almighty God.(Hadith Book Muslim:4726)

We understand from this hadith, though he was not sick, Prophet Ibrahim for the sake of Almighty said so.

In order not to take part in evil acts, such lying is not considered a crime. 

The people who hate evil are subjected to this kind unavoidable circumstances. 

For example, there could be a girl well entrenched in Islamic ideology, her husband at the same time not so adherent of Islamic principles, forces her to attend a marriage performed with the groom accepting dowry. In such circumstances if she avoids the marriage function by lying about her health would not amount to a crime being committed by her, rather an act emulating Prophet Ibrahim. 

A male youth, relying on his father for all his needs with no other option, if forced to take part in un Islamic activities at home, can suitably lie to his father to avoid himself being a part of the event. This would not amount to a crime being committed by him and would stand as an emulation of Prophet Ibrahim. 

When we are offered eatables after a puja is performed, we can refuse it after due explanation or in case we feel it might give rise to communal tension we can avoid it by lying, or get it with hatred in mind and avoid eating it.

On the whole, if there is a possibility to avoid prohibited unIslamic food or acts, it can be done the way Prophet Ibrahim has shown us.

Please refer to explanation points 162, 236 to know more

335. The earth is spherical in shape.

Verses 37:5, 70:40, of the Quran say, He is the Lord of many directions of sunrise.

Verse 55:17 of the Quran says He is the Lord of two easts and two wests. 

We witness sunrise everyday from a single direction and not from alternate sides. Then how does the Quran talk of different directions of sunrise? Verse 55:17 of the Quran talks of two directions of sunrise and two directions of sunset. 

At a time when people believed the earth was flat, there could not be any discussion about many easts and wests. 

But now we come to know several directions of sunrise and sunset. 

The sun rises and sunset does not happen in a matter of seconds, it continues to take place every second, rising and setting at different places of the earth, with several sunrises and sunsets.

Had the earth been flat, the sunrise would start in a particular direction and disappear in the other. Because the earth being spherical in shape, every point has a direction of sunrise and a direction of sunset. 

The Quran by disclosing the existence of several sunrises and sunsets, talks of the shape of the earth like a scientist does. This is yet another proof of the Quran being the word of God. 

When the shape of the earth happens to be spherical, there will definitely be two easts and two wests. 

We from Chennai witness sunrise to our east, and people on the other side right opposite will see it disappear to their west, what we call our east.

Witnessed by people living in every point of the earth the sun rises, the Quran mentions as several directions, and in the sight of a single man from a particular point when he sees a sunrise and sunset it calls a two directions.

The Quran talks about several sunrises and sunsets, and about two sunrises to prove the earth is spherical thereby establishing the fact Quran to be the word of God.

Please refer to explanation point 274 for more details.

334. What is meant by ‘Bayyat’

The verses (48:10, 48:12, 48:18) of the Quran talk about ‘bayyat’ - a covenant undertaken by Prophet Muhammad and his comrades.

In the 6th year of Hijri, Prophet Muhammad started on his journey to Makkah for Umrah pilgrimage, along with more than a thousand of his followers.

He sent word through Usman (RA) to the residents of Makkah informing them about his visit to perform Umrah pilgrimage, and not with an intention of war.

While Usman (RA) was in talks with the Makkans, there was a delay in his return that prompted a rumour to be spread around that he is killed by the Makkans.

Prophet Muhammad was informed, he was infuriated, because of the convention messengers are not to be harmed by either side, and decided to wage a war on Makkah. 

He undertook an oath from his comrades that they will not back away from the battle at any cost. Each and every comrade personally took the vow by placing their hands on the hand of Prophet Muhammad. This is the incident mentioned in these verses of the Quran.

Since Usman (RA) returned safe in a while, there was no need for the war against the Makkans.

We can find the details regarding this in Bukhari Hadiths: 2698, 2700, 2731, 2958, 4163, 4164, 4170, 1694, 3182, 4178, 4180, and 4844 

Fraudulent spiritualists and cheaters, in order to keep their followers within their fold, and seeking blind following use this verse to their advantage.

They claim since the comrades of Prophet Muhammad undertook a covenant with him, these frauds demand similar vow from their followers, and brainwash them into a blind following. 

Once the vow has been undertaken, with the so called religious heads, these people are said to be bound by it, and not question the so called pious religious heads even if their words and deeds are against Islam. This way it blunts the thinking power in men. 

These people keep swindling the gullible by keeping under their control like their slaves.

Similarly the leaders of some movements undertake covenant with their followers, who are required to attend the leader at his beck and call, be for whatever reasons, and brainwash them to commit murder or assault as ordered by him, or run the risk of breaking the vow resulting in disobedience.

But in this verse it is clearly stated as the special privilege for Prophet Muhammad, by saying “those who undertook a covenant with you, have done the same with Allah.”

Since Prophet Muhammad was appointed by Allah as the messenger, he reserves the right to represent Him in matters of taking oath on His behalf.

It can be clearly understood, the oath undertaken with the prophet of Almighty in itself an acknowledgement, as a special status accorded to the prophet. Generally an agreement with a messenger is in fact the one with the person who sent him. 

Allah is the only One with whom an agreement can be undertaken promising to abide by whatever He commands.

And if the same covenant is undertaken with anyone else other than the Almighty, it amounts to equating someone else with God. It is a blatant equation with God Almighty.

These kinds of covenants were not undertaken by others with any of Prophet Muhammad’s comrades after his demise. 

None of the comrades of Prophet Muhammad undertook covenants with either Abu Bakr (RA), or Umar(RA), or Usman (RA), or Ali (RA) expressing desire to follow their commands without questioning them at all. 

Even if one does not understand the word “bayyat” in the light of the Quran and sunnah of Prophet Muhammad, it is enough if he understands the general meaning, which would keep him away from these unscrupulous groups. 

Bayyat means undertaking a vow. Undertaking a vow means pleading to be governed by someone or some act with another person who is connected with it. This is called owing allegiance or pledge undertaken.

We cannot make a pledge with Khadija to marry Fatima.

 When one pledges to us to sell goods from a shop, we would question whether he is the owner of the shop.

We cannot submit an application for admission to one college at another. We can pledge only to the one who is the absolute owner or the one who is absolutely responsible. 

Similarly a pledge can be undertaken with one who is authorised by the absolute owner. If I had authorised someone to sell my belongings then anyone can buy from that person, and also undertake a pledge with the same person on my behalf. 

We understand this very well in our worldly affairs. Anyone acting against these principles is considered an insane person, and a verdict is passed as null and void the agreements entered with others.

But we selectively forget and blunt ourselves when it comes to matters regarding our religious affairs. 

Allah is our master and the rest of all of us are his slaves is the basic ideology of Islam. And this is beset within the phrase “Lailaha Illallah”

Since Allah is our master and we are his slaves, we can pledge to do whatever He commands us to, and we can also undertake a pledge with the prophet, as a representative of the Almighty. We cannot undertake a vow with any one else.

We cannot surrender ourselves wholly to any one else other than God Almighty, because man is out and out a slave of Allah alone, and Allah is the absolute owner to the pledge to be undertaken by man. And whoever claims the pledge to be undertaken with him, or whoever undertakes such a pledge, is considered a great sinner of having equated with God. 

We have seen people, who have undertaken vows in the name of Tareeqa or Amir, of having lost their power to think, and indulging in acts against Islam like a herd of sheep.

It is confirmed these people are indulging in acts equating God with others. 

Telling religious leaders and leaders of movements that we are ready to do whatever they command, and undertaking vow with them is a great sin in Islam. 

Anyone undertaking an oath with someone else other than Almighty Allah gives up the place of Allah to him, this is equating God Almighty with that person

It is the religious duty of Muslims to fulfill the oath undertaken with Prophet Muhammad who fulfilled it himself only to the best of his ability.

I undertook a pledge with Prophet Muhammad by saying that ‘I will bind myself to whatever you command me to’. To this the prophet corrected me to say ‘to the best of my efforts’.

Narrator: Jarir bin Abdullah.

Book : Bukhari 7204 

There is a need to fulfill the covenant undertaken with even Prophet Muhammad, only to the extent possible is shown by the prophet himself to us. But the unscrupulous spiritualists tend to portray themselves as above the prophet and try to unknowingly drive away the Muslims from Islam. It is the religious duty of good Muslims to break the pledge undertaken by them with any other. When a better pledge comes across, the prophet of Islam has said, breaking the previous one is not a crime.

Prophet Muhammad has said that “ when I have undertaken a pledge with Allah, and come across something better I will not hesitate to give up the pledge already undertaken.

Bukhari: 3133, 4385, 5518, 6649, 6721, 7555 

Those who undertake pledge, with some other than God Almighty, are to come out of it by themselves, and it is their religious duty.

When a person assumes a political office as head of a government, we accept him and owe allegiance to him, because this is something to do with him exclusively as a government head.

This kind of undertaking was given by the people while accepting Abu Bakr (RA) as the head of the state after the demise of Prophet Muhammad,(SAW) and also while accepting Umar (RA) after the demise of Abu Bakr. We can undertake a pledge with those we have financial transactions, this something to do with people transacting finance. 

Likewise the seller of a property and the buyer can undertake a pledge between themselves in transacting the deal. Here each individual establishes his right to sell and buy a property and take pledge respectively. 

While joining an organisation, undertaking a pledge with its owner is allowed, because it is something to do with his organisation.

Those who are in the custody of ‘bayyat gangs’ should seek repentance from God Almighty for having surrendered the ownership belonging to God to someone else, and offering the eligibility of Prophet Muhammad to ordinary persons.

The phrase in this verse saying “those who undertook the pledge with Prophet Muhammad, indeed undertook with Allah” needs to be looked into with a little seriousness.

Initiation into spiritualism, undertaking pledge, spiritualism do not find place in the religion of Islam.To know more on this subject please refer to explanation points 81, 182, 273.