Ibrahim Negm – Keynote speech International Quran Translators Conference 2023 IQRA
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We're gonna begin,
with our beloved brother, doctor Ibrahim Najim.
He's gonna be our key speaker, and we're
gonna get ready to turn to him. Let
me introduce, give you some information about him
before we begin.
Ibrahim Najim earned his bachelor's
in Islamic Studies from Al Azhar University in
Cairo,
where he graduated as the top student in
his class, and that was in
1995.
He received a distinguished fellowship to conduct research
at Harvard Law School
in 1996
and 1997,
and later
becoming a visiting scholar and researcher at Oxford
University
in 2003.
Doctor Nejem,
he obtained his PhD in Islamic studies from
the Graduate Theological Seminary
in Indiana, and this was in 2,005.
He served as an adjunct professor of Arabic
and Islamic studies at Saint John's University
in New York in 2,005.
Since 2006,
doctor Nejim has been serving as a senior
adviser
to the Grand Mufti of Egypt.
He is the secretary general for Fatwa Authorities
Worldwide.
This is an organization that coordinates
the efforts of over 70 countries
to counter radical fatwas.
Additionally,
he is the official spokesperson
for Adar al Iftar,
He's the supreme body for Islamic legal ethics,
offering guidance to Muslims on practicing their faith
in a progressive manner
across various issues.
As an established author,
he has written more than a dozen books
on Islamic legal interpretation,
countering violent extremism
and Muslim Christian relations.
Brothers and sisters, our dear audience represent
doctor Ibrahim
Najim.
Barak Alofik,
Imam Talib,
can everybody hear me?
Yes.
Brothers and sisters,
peace be with you, and,
to all of you.
And,
first of all, allow me to,
to remind myself
and you,
my brothers and sisters,
of a prophetic,
saying,
that our beloved prophet
said,
the one who does not give thanks to
people,
does not give thanks to Allah
So
we,
as Muslims, should be in the habit,
of,
saying thank you
to those who,
do,
good things
to us and good things
also for,
the sake of,
our deen and for the sake of humanity.
So allow me to,
thank
brother Sophie,
sister Naheed,
brother Mohammed Abbasi,
brother Paul Armstrong,
and, the rest of brothers and sisters,
of course, imam Talib,
sister Fitar, and and all,
the distinguished participants. And may Allah
reward you immensely
for,
taking part in this,
noble
initiative.
And, also, thanks to,
ICRA,
the International
Quranic Research,
Association,
which,
I
I I I know very well
since I was in the states for almost
15 years.
And, I I make dua for,
this organization to prosper
and to do
its its
goals,
in in serving the book of Allah and
also
serving humanity.
This conference
to me,
came at
a timely
manner.
We are witnessing
a number of challenges,
around us. 1st and foremost to the, rise
of Islamophobic,
rhetoric
A couple of days ago,
we, on night day, actually, we wake up.
We woke up at,
any
a terrible incident of burning
the Quran in Sweden.
It's not an individual,
incident,
as we know that the Islamophobic rhetoric
is on the rise,
in so many parts of the world. And
I see that this conference is,
a proper response, so to speak.
Of course, we we know that, there are
other responses
and other calls
for rights and administrations,
but I think this is the proper
response of holding,
distinguished,
panelists and scholars
to
take a proactive
role in spreading the message of the Quran,
the message of peace,
the message of coexistence,
the message of togetherness,
the message of unity,
not only for Muslims, but for,
humanity.
We are also witnessing
the, the,
the information technology,
the emerging
AI, and,
that,
a lot of young people are glued to
their smartphones.
This requires also a response from,
the scholars of the Ummah to,
think about ways to reach out,
this,
generation,
who are
glued to their smartphones. And I think
the best way to to do this is
to,
gather scholars together and see
what kind of, genre we can develop,
in terms of,
translating the book of Allah to reach out,
this massive,
young generation,
who are glued to their smartphones.
Also, we are witnessing,
a moral laxity,
all over the world, and this again requires
a response from,
the scholars
to see what we can do to,
make,
the call of the Quran,
the message of the Quran easily accessible,
to,
the rest of the people.
I know that my time is, very limited,
but let me share with you,
few points that I hope
will be of benefit
for myself and, the rest of you.
You
know,
Al Quran,
my brothers and sisters,
is known as Al Quran Al Kareem.
And Al
Karim, we can translate Al Karim,
as holy or noble,
but in Arabic language, the,
first meaning of Al Karim is, the one
who is generous.
So it is the generous Quran, and and
generosity
here,
is not only material generosity, but also it's
a moral generosity.
Generosity
means that the Quran will keep giving its
gems
and treasures
to anyone who sincerely
seeks
to tap,
into the hidden
treasures of the Quran.
And I see this as a token
of
of hope
for
a sincere scholar who wants to translate the
Quran.
Because when you absorb yourself,
with sincerity
and,
endeavor,
to tap into the treasures of the Quran.
The Quran will surely,
be generous to you.
Generosity
will never end,
until the end of time.
So rest assured that, yes, we have,
100,
if not, 1,000 of translations of the Quran,
but each translation,
gives sort of a hidden treasure
for us.
And I feel that we have to put
this in our mind.
Every time we approach the Quran,
one thing that we have to put in
our mind is that the Quran is generous,
is Al Kareem.
My second point, as you know, my brothers
and sisters, the Quran is the last testament,
the last scripture
that Allah
revealed
for the entire humanity
humanity
until the end of time.
And that's why,
the prophet Muhammad
was tasked
with,
so many things, but the primary task of
our beloved prophet
is
to explain
this Quran.
Explain this Quran.
This was given as one of the
tasks
by Allah
to our beloved prophet
to explain
the content of the Quran.
How the prophet
explained the content
and the message of the Quran in 2
ways in 2 ways.
The first is that
he did give,
certain explanations and interpretations
of certain verses of the Quran. That's why
you find in the collection of Imam Bukhari,
for example,
a book dedicated to the book of tafsir,
the book of interpretation,
the
verses that our beloved prophet,
give explanation to. But the second most important
way
of how the how how our beloved prophet
explained the Quran is through his manners and
his action. And that's why
when, our beloved mother,
was asked about the character
and the manners of our beloved prophet,
she explained in a very,
succinct,
precise,
way. She said
Quran. His character,
was Al Quran. He was a walking Quran.
So
the companions
afterwards
started with sort of an intellectual project
for the dissemination
of this Quran.
They did not settle just in,
Mecca or Medina. They ruled the world. They
traveled across the world,
carrying this torch of knowledge,
bearing in mind that this is the book
of guidance
for all humanity.
So they started Quranic schools. They started
teaching the Quran, and and and learning the
Quran, and passing this knowledge
and treasures of the Quran to the rest
of humanity.
Until Islam,
went to,
literally every part of the world.
And right now,
since,
Islam, as sister Phitra said, is the
fastest growing religion.
Of course, it is very meritorious
to learn Arabic and to access the Quran,
from its direct source,
Al Arabiya,
but
we know that this is a long life
journey,
but we have a religious mandate, which is
my 3rd point. A religious mandate, me and
you, brothers and sisters,
carry an immense responsibility
that was
asked to us by our beloved prophet
when he said
convey on my behalf even if it is
a single verse. So we carry
this religious
responsibility.
So
how we be how we can be the
best conveyors
of the message of the Quran?
Our
beloved prophet
he was the first and foremost
teacher to us.
In the Quran,
there is a verse that speaks,
about an important element, which I see,
myself,
Yani. We are living in a in in
a bit of crisis,
because we cannot grasp the importance of this
verse,
as we should have.
The verse,
is in Surat Al Anbiya in which Allah
subhanahu talasis
Ask the people of knowledge
if you do not know.
And here, the people of knowledge are not
only the,
or the jurists
or the Muftis,
but any,
expert
in any field of life.
This is the
authority in this field, and we have to
seek the knowledge and wisdom
of the people
of knowledge in this particular field.
I feel this verse speaks to us, brothers
and sisters, translators of the Quran,
because translating
the Quran is not just a haphazard,
task
or a random task. It has become a
specialized
field of knowledge
that has certain parameters,
certain
prerequisites, and I commend,
the call,
of,
ETRA,
in this particular conference to form some sort
of an authentication
process, certain parameters,
for,
or guidelines for the translation of the Quran.
You are the people of knowledge. You are
in
this field
of,
translation,
of the Quran. And
we carry an immense
responsibility
that was explained to us by our beloved
prophet
in a famous hadith, and I will conclude
with this, the Hadith of
this Zazafina
or the Hadith of the ship,
in which our beloved prophet
told us that
the example of life is like a ship.
Some people go to the upper deck, some
people go to the lower deck.
But all of us, all of humanity are
in this ship. If we want to sail
safely to the shore,
then we have to be responsible. We have
to protect each other. The prophet keeps
on saying
that sometimes
we have to stop someone who wants to
wreck the ship.
So he's saying that the people
in the lower deck, whenever they want some
water, they have to go up, climb the
ladder to reach to the upper deck. So
one of them says, let us dig a
hole
in our share, in the lower deck, so
we can get direct access to water. The
Prophet is saying
that if they leave this guy
to what he intended to do,
then everybody will sink, everybody will drown.
So my brothers and sisters, we share an
immense,
collective
responsibility.
As I said, we are living,
in in a very challenging environment.
The primary task, especially for people who are
equipped with knowledge
of reaching out to the message,
you know, making the Quran accessible and reachable
to the people,
they carry immense responsibility.
The first step
is that we have to get together,
and alhamdulillah,
this happened under the umbrella of ICRA.
I hope this is not the last step.
This is just a starting point
for us to discuss
the best ways to reach out to to
make this message of the Quran
reach out in a crisp, in a clear
manner,
which is, as I said, a religious mandate
by our beloved prophet
Let me just make dua for and
and for the wonderful team who put this
conference together.
And let me assure you,
the grand of Egypt, Al Azhar University is
with you.
We will try to do whatever we can
to make this,
conference,
proceedings,
successful, and also,
any initiative that will come out from this
conference who we,
wholeheartedly,
supported.
Thank you again for affording me this opportunity
to speak to you.