Tom Facchine – Word Choice Of Allah In The Quran
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The speaker discusses the art and skill of reading between lines in the Quran, which is important for developing a strong understanding of the art. The speaker gives examples of how Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala uses specific words to describe people's emotions and actions, such as "the punishment for the pain" and "the punishment for the operation" in the title of Surah Al Baq opinion." The speaker also discusses the meaning behind the difference between words used in the title of the Quran and in English.
AI: Summary ©
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 Quran,
especially, and also the Sunnah. Because Allah Subhanahu
Ta'ala 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 subhanahu
wa ta'ala, 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
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
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 gonna
give examples of each of these three things.
Okay. So we're talking about word choice. Okay.
Let's go to the beginning of Surah Al
Baqarah. Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala, he details 3
types of people. He details the believers, and
he defines who they are. Then he talks
about the kuffar. Okay. The rejecters of truth,
and then he talks about the hypocrites.
So when he talks about the kuffar, he
says,
He says the punishment for the kuffar, the
people who deny and reject faith, adabun
avim.
He says we translate it as a great
punishment. Okay. Adab is punishment. Avim is the
word he uses to describe that punishment. Then
he starts talking about the hypocrites, umil nasimayakuluamanabilah,
he
until the end of it. And when he
talks about what's going to be their end,
he says,
He uses a slightly
different
word. He says they're going to have
a punishment,
elim.
So we had the Kufar
are going to experience,
and the hypocrites are going to experience.
Does Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala just pick 2
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 Muthena 'Abdul
Fattah from Jordan. He said that, and he,
you know, presented this to us in class.
What's the word that alim is is related
to in the Arabic language is adam,
bones. K. Bones are something that's very physical,
something very corporal. K. And this is applied
to the kuffar. The word that elim
is tied to is elem. Okay? And elem
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, stomachache or something like that, usually,
we use the word elem to describe it.
Okay. As opposed to something like jar, which
is like an injury, like a cut that's
on the surface. Right? So our professor, Mu'than
Abu Fata'h, he said that each of these
two words corresponds
to the group of people that they apply
to. Because
Allah describes the punishment for the kuffar as
adhim,
as physical and corporal,
because their denial is obvious and out in
the open, adhim. Whereas the hypocrites,
their denial is hidden
and internal.
And so the word he uses to describe
their punishment, adagun alim,
is also has connotations
of hidden and internal. And Allah knows best.
Well, this is presented by our professor,
Mutan Adar Fattah, and he's has won awards
for his research in tafsir, mashallah Tabarakallah. I
had him for 2 semesters in the university.
Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala doesn't do anything arbitrarily.
He doesn't do anything just playing around. If
there's a difference between two words, 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 aayat and there's things to reflect upon
that can make us more amazed with Allah
Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala and his book. So when
you go to the English translation
and you read, you know, 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.