Tom Facchine – Minute with a Muslim #065 – The Art of Reading Between The Lines

			Now we're going to talk something a little bit more technical. We're talking about the art and the
skill of reading between the lines. This is an extremely, extremely important skill to develop when
engaging with the Koran especially, and also the Sunnah, because Allah subhanaw taala treats us like
intelligent people, He treats us like intelligent people in expecting us to use our reason in giving
us these sorts of criteria and also not spelling absolutely everything out explicitly. There are
certain things that he I don't want to say hides in the text that's a little too dramatic, but
something less than hides, he implies them, okay, he implies them. And there's a few different ways
		

			in which that happens. Sometimes Allah subhanaw taala he uses very specific words. So he uses
certain word choice and in that word choice, there are certain subtle meanings that are beautiful to
reflect upon. Other times Allah subhanaw taala uses a particular order of words the syntax and he
has a message for us in the in the word order that he uses. And then other times and this is my
favorite one, Allah's pronta otter, he responds to doubts that the reader is having or might have
without actually naming the doubt whatsoever, he anticipates it and responds to it but never says
what it is. And I'm going to give examples of each of these three things. Okay, so when we're
		

			talking about word choice, okay, let's go to the beginning of Surah Al Baqarah, Allah Subhana Allah
he details three types of people. He details the believers and he defines who they are. Then he
talks about the Kufa Okay, the rejecters of truth and then he talks about the hypocrites so when he
talks about the kofod He says in a lady in a cafe Russophone alley and up to home mmm totally at
home now you may known him Allahu Allah Calobra him or Allah seminary him What are the other sorry
Himadri Shaohua what a home are they born are Veeam he says the punishment for the coup follow the
people who deny and reject faith are their Boon alim. He says a week translated as a great
		

			punishment. Okay, that was punishment. Alim is the word he uses to describe that punishment. Then he
starts talking about the hypocrites Amina NASCI may Akoto am and a biller who until the end of it
and when he talks about what's going to be there and he says what a home are they're born Aleem. He
uses a slightly different word. He says they're going to have them on a punishment Aleem. So we had
the Kufa are going to experience Adi Boon Alim and the hypocrites are going to experience all that
Boon Aleem, does Allah subhanaw taala just pick two random words or might there be a meaning behind
the difference between these two words and might the difference between these two words reflect
		

			something about the people that they apply to and describe our professor, one of my favorite
professors in the Islamic University of Medina, his name was Muthana other Fatah from Jordan. He
said that and he presented this to us in class. What's the word that Alim is related to in the
Arabic language is awesome bones Okay? Bones are something that's very physical, something very
Corporal okay and this is applied to the Kufa the word that Aleem is tied to IS LM Okay, and LM is a
type of pain but it's usually a hidden pain that you can't see if you have a headache or you have
some sort of stomach ache or something like that. Usually we use the word LM to describe it. Okay,
		

			as opposed to something like Jarrah which is like an injury like a cut that's on the surface. Right?
So our Professor Martha novel of attack, he said that each of these two words corresponds to the
group of people that they apply to because Allah subhanaw taala describes the punishment for the
coup far as Alim as physical and Corporal because their denial is obvious and out in the open Alim
whereas the hypocrites their denial is hidden and internal. And so the word he uses to describe
their punishment or that one Alim is also has connotations of hidden and internal and Allah knows
best. This is presented by our professor with another Fatah and he has won awards for his research
		

			and tafsir Michel Tabata Cola, I had him for two semesters in the university, Allah subhanaw taala
doesn't do anything arbitrarily. He doesn't do anything just playing around. If there's a difference
between two worlds you best believe that there's a purpose behind that difference whether we can
know it or not. That's a different thing. And you know, there's we, we might get close to it or we
might not we don't have certain knowledge, but there's a out and there's things to reflect upon,
that can make us more amazed with a loss of power to Allah and his book. So when you go to the
English translation, and you read, it's a great punishment.
		

			This is the level of contemplation
		

			and inflection and implied meaning that is hidden from us when we're engaging in the Quran in a
language other than what Allah revealed it in