Qur’an

Linguistic Gems from the Qur’an, Day Two: Taqwa

Day 2: Taqwa Allah says in Surah Nisa, verse 9 وَلْيَخْشَ ٱلَّذِينَ لَوْ تَرَكُوا۟ مِنْ خَلْفِهِمْ ذُرِّيَّةًۭ ضِعَـٰفًا خَافُوا۟ عَلَيْهِمْ فَلْيَتَّقُوا۟ ٱللَّهَ وَلْيَقُولُوا۟ قَوْلًۭا سَدِيدًا Let those who would fear for the future of their own helpless children, if they were to die, show the same concern [for orphans]; let them fear Allah and speak …

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Fasting… In Silence?

The word for fasting in Islamic literature can appear in one of two forms – either الصوم al-sawm, or الصيام al-siyaam. So what is the difference between them, and can they be used interchangeably? Both the word الصوم al-sawm and الصيام al-siyaam are verbal noun forms from the same root – ص و م s …

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A runaway slave

al-Salāmu ‘alaykum wa rahmatullāh, The Story of Prophet Yunus in the Qur’an is told only briefly in Surah al-Anbiya and Surah Saffat, although he is referred to elsewhere, such as al-Qalam. In brief, he was sent to a people whose unresponsiveness to him and his message led to him leaving them in frustration. In Saffat …

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How the horse got his name.

al-Salāmu ‘alaykum wa rahmatullāh, The verb خالَ khaala has two different forms that also differ in pattern and meaning. The first is the verb خال khaala (perfect tense) يَخُولُ yakhoolu (imperfect tense), خَولا khawlan (verbal noun), and it means ‘to do proficiently’ or ‘to perfect’. One may use it in the phrase خَوَّلَهُ اللهُ نِعمةً …

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Love, oh love.

al-Salāmu ‘alaykum wa rahmatullāh, The word ‘love’ appeared as a noun in the Qur’an ten times – of those ten,  nine were using the word hubb حبّ,  as in the verse,   وَمِنَ النَّاسِ مَن يَتَّخِذُ مِن دُونِ اللّهِ أَندَاداً يُحِبُّونَهُمْ كَحُبِّ اللّهِ And of mankind are some who take (for worship) others besides Allah …

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Submit and obey.

al-Salāmu ‘alaykum wa rahmatullāh, Sometimes there appear mushtarak lafdhee words in the Qur’an, that sound and are written the same as one another, but appear to be somewhat different in meaning, and it is sometimes difficult to make a link between the various meanings or draw them back to an original meaning. An example of …

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