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