3:110

Salaam all,

This is 3:110
كُنتُمْ خَيْرَ أُمَّةٍ أُخْرِجَتْ لِلنَّاسِ تَأْمُرُونَ بِالْمَعْرُوفِ وَتَنْهَوْنَ عَنِ الْمُنكَرِ وَتُؤْمِنُونَ بِاللّهِ وَلَوْ آمَنَ أَهْلُ الْكِتَابِ لَكَانَ خَيْرًا لَّهُم مِّنْهُمُ الْمُؤْمِنُونَ وَأَكْثَرُهُمُ الْفَاسِقُونَ
Kuntum khayra ommatin okhrijat lilnnasi tamuroona bialmaAAroofi watanhawna AAani almunkari watuminoona biAllahi walaw amana ahlu alkitabi lakana khayran lahum minhumu almuminoona waaktharuhumu alfasiqoona

The Ays says:
You (plural) happened to be the best nation that was brought out to the people. You order to implement by the recognized as good, and order to stop away from the unrecognized as good, and you make yourselves safe in Allah. And if (the) people of the book made themselves safe, then it would have been better for them. Amongst them (are) the ones who make themselves safe (in Allah and the message) and the majority of them are the ones who drifted from the path.

My personal note:

The Aya gives the instruction to what makes a nation, a best nation. It mentions three conditions:

1- Enjoining good.
2- Forbidding evil.
3- Making them-selves safe in Allah.

Those are the conditions of success in any nation. This is also very complex because the ability to enjoin good and forbid evil is something that should be done only by those who are very knowledgeable, in order to prevent some from imposing personal opinions without knowledge. It is also agreed upon by the scholars of the past that the ruler should not intimidate the scholar that disagrees with the ruler in some of those issues. They also agreed that the scholar should not ask to use force against the ruler, in case the ruler committed evil or did not do a prescribed good. This is because they truly believed that force will lead to worse results on all, therefore ending up in worse evil than the one that they were trying to correct.

May God increase all in wisdom and in understanding this very sensitive point, in a way that keeps peace always in mind.


Translation of the transliterated words:
Kuntum: you happened to be
Note: the root is K-W-N and it means being. KUTUM is an action that is completed that is derived from the root. It means: the action of being happened by the subject (second person plural). This in turn means: You (plural) were or you happened to be. Here, there is an important issue to touch on. The fact that the action happened does not suggest that it is not happening anymore. This is a fundamental difference between the past tense in Arabic and English. Unless there is an indication that the action is not happening anymore, then it still applies. Therefore, the meaning here suggests you were and you still are, or you happened to be and still being.
Khayra: better/ best
Note: the root is KH-Y-R and it means choice. It is also understood as good or as better, because one would chose the good over the bad. KHAYRA means: better or best.
Ommatin: nation/ people/ group
Note: the root is Hamza-M-M and it means mother or sources/origin if said as UMM and destination if said as AMM. OMMA are literally people of the same mother or source and possibly of the same destination. The word, in Arabic is used to mean nation, but it can apply to any group that may share the same goal or origin or both.
Okhrijat: was made to come out/ was made to appear
Note: the root is KH-R-J and it means coming out as a concept and then it takes specific meanings according to the context. OKHRIJAT is an action that is completed. It means: the action of making the object (third person singular feminine pointing to Omma= nation) come out happened by an undeclared subject.
Lilnnasi: to the people
Note: LI means to. ALNNASI is derived from the root the root is Hamza-N-S and it means socializing. ALNNASI are the society or the people.
Tamuroona: you order to implement/ you implement
Note: TAMUROONA is derived from the root Hamza-M-R and it means ordering something and the implementation of it. Sometimes it attains the implementation part or matter as in personal matter and so forth, and at times it is the order and implementation of the order, depending on the situation in the sentence. TAMUROONA is an action that is being completed or will be completed. It means: the action of ordering to implement is happening or will be happening by the subject (second person plural).
bialmaAAroofi: By the recognized to be good/ the acceptable
Note: Bi denotes that what comes after is a tool and/or an object or an association with an action that was mentioned or any combination of the three. In here the action is ordering to implement. ALMaAAROOF is derived from the root Ain-R-F and it means the elevated place that will be known or recognized from a distance. ALMaAAROOF is what is recognized. This is also used to mean what it good. This is because, in the Arab mind, what you recognize and acknowledge should be good to you, whereas what you do not recognize or not acknowledge is considered bad to you.
WaTanhawna: and they forbid/ and they make end or stop
Note: Wa links what is before with what is after through inclusion, either that one is included in the other or that both are included in a whole big picture. TANHAWNA is derived from the root N-H-Y and it means stopping or ending. This then takes different form according to the plane of thought of the sentence. TANHAWNA is an action that is being completed or will be completed. It means: the action of making the object (undeclared and therefore includes the subject and others as well) stop or end is made to happen by the subject (second person plural).
AAani: from/ away from
Almunkari: the unacceptable/ the unrecognized as being good
Note: The root is N-K-R and it means no recognition. This is the concept and it takes several meanings according to the context. They can mean not recognized as unknown. It can also mean not recognized as being good or acceptable and so forth. This is what the context here dictates. ALMUNKAR is the unrecognized as being good or acceptable.
Watuminoona: and make your-selves safe
Note: Wa links what is before with what is after through inclusion, either that one is included in the other or that both are included in a whole big picture. TUMINOONA is derived from the root Hamza-M-N and it means safety. TUMINOONA is an action that is being completed or will be completed. It means: the action of making oneself safe is happening or will be happening by the subject (second person plural).
biAllahi: in Allah
Note: Bi denotes that what comes after is a tool and/or an object or an association with an action that was mentioned. In here the action is making become safe. ALLAH is Allah.
Walaw: and if (with the hint that the condition did not happen)
Note: the LAW is conditional and it hints that the condition did not happen.
Amana: they made themselves safe (In Allah and His message)
Note: the root is Hamza-M-N and it means safety. AMANA is an action that is completed that is derived from the root. It means the action of making safety happened by the subject (third person plural or singular).
Ahlu: people of/ family of
Note: the root is Hamza-H-L and one concrete meaning to the word is the fat that surrounds the back of the animal. It is used conceptually to mean family or any of the people that are closely associated with the entity being discussed. This could be because they are like the fat as in they engulf and protect and so forth and gain protection at the same time. AHLU means people of or family of.
Alkitabi: the book
Note: the root is K-T-B and it means writing. ALKITAB means the process of writing and that means anything that is related to writing from the ink to the paper to the ideas that are written. The most common use of the word is the book, but it can mean the process of writing.
Lakana: then it would have happened to be
Note: LA is the response to the conditional of WALAW that came earlier. I use then for it. KANA is derived from the root is K-W-N and it means being. KANA is an action that is completed that is derived from the root. It means: the action of being happened by the subject (third personal singular). This in turn means: he were or he happened to be. Because it came after the conditional, then it takes the shape of then it would have happened to be.
Khayran: better/ good
Note: the root is KH-Y-R and it means choice. It is also understood as good or as better, because one would chose the good over the bad. KHAYRAN means: better or good.
Lahum: to them/ for them
Minhumu: of them/ from them/ amongst them
Almuminoona: the ones who make themselves safe (in Allah and the message)
Note: the root Hamza-M-N and it means safety. ALMUMINOONA means the ones who made themselves safe.
Waaktharuhumu: and the majority of them
Note: WA is a word that links what is before with what is after through inclusion. This inclusion is either in having one of the terms included in the other, or that they both are included in the bigger picture or statement. AKTHARUHUM is derived from the root is K-TH-R and it means many or numerous in all the planes of thought. One thing about that word is that it takes number in consideration. AKTHARU means: more numerous of. HUM means them. SO aktharuhum means: more numerous of them, which is basically understood as the majority of them.
Alfasiqoona: the ones who drifted from the path.
Note: the root is F-S-Qaf and it means in concrete when the seed is out of it’s pod or when the rat is out of her house or something is outside the path. This is then understood as when one is out of the right place for them. In the Qur’an, it is used to mean being outside of God’s way. ALFASIQOON are the one who left God’s path

Salaam all and have a great day.


Hussein