Tuesday, January 27, 2009

4:99

Salaam all,

This is 4:99
فَأُوْلَـئِكَ عَسَى اللّهُ أَن يَعْفُوَ عَنْهُمْ وَكَانَ اللّهُ عَفُوًّا غَفُورًا
Faolaika AAasa Allahu an yaAAfuwa AAanhum wakana Allahu AAafuwwan ghafooran

The Aya says:
Then those, perhaps that Allah will erase accountability away from them, and Allah happened to be, eraser of accountability, forgiving.

My personal note:
Here the Aya continues the theme. It points that those weak people with no means to make change will not be held accountable to their lack of action. The Aya ends up emphasizing that God does remove accountability for people of some of their poor actions as well as protectively cover them.

The difference between AAaFUW and GHUFRAN is in this way:

AAaFUW is making a situation that would generally be negative (as in a sin) for the person into a neutral state as if the act never happened.

GHUFRAN does not erase the action into non existence or neutrality, but provides the person protective cover from it. Ghufran can be in degrees. Sometimes, the person is still going to suffer from the effect of sin but to a lesser extent than should be. Or it can end up being much more positive than mere neutrality of AAaFUW.

The Aya says that God does both, depending on the situation and what God’s wisdom and Mercy and Justice determine as best.

Translation of the transliterated words.
Faolaika: then those
AAasa: perhaps
Allahu: Allah
An: that
yaAAfuwa: He erases accountability/ He renders the sin null/ He makes unaccountable
Note: the root is Ain-F-W and it means erasing something through the effect of the wind. This is the concrete and in abstract it means erasing a fault from the record as in forgiving it or erasing something from one’s ownership as in giving it up to someone else. In this context, it points to not being accountable to what happened. YaAAFUWA is an action that is being completed or will be completed. It means: the action of erasing or making unaccounted the object (not mentioned but points to lack of action of the previous Aya) is happening or will be happening by the subject (third person singular pointing to Allah).
AAanhum: from them/ away from them
Note: this word takes the meaning of from, but at times takes the meaning of away from and so on. HUM means them.
Wakana: and happened to be
Note: WA is a letter that links what is before with what is after. This link is through inclusion, either one is included in the other or they are all included in the bigger sentence or bigger picture. WA often corresponds with “and/ addition” but the more encompassing meaning is in inclusion one in another or all in a bigger picture or sentence. KANA is derived from the root 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 pointing to Allah). This in turn means: He was or He happened to be.
Allahu: Allah
AAafuwwan: eraser of accountability
Note: the root is Ain-F-W and it means erasing something through the effect of the wind. This is the concrete and in abstract it means erasing a fault from the record as in forgiving it or erasing something from one’s ownership as in giving it up to someone else. In this context, it points to not being accountable to what happened. AAaFUWWAN means one who erases accountability of sins of the others.
Ghafooran: forgiving/ provider of protective cover
Note: the root is GH-F-R and it means covering for protection. The concrete word is the helmet of the fighter. GHAFOORAN is the one that covers to protect. This, in turn means protection from committing the sin and protection from the consequences of sin, which also means forgiving

Salaam all and have a great day.

Hussein

2 comments:

A. Muhammad Ma`ruf said...

Assalaamu `aleykum Brother Hussein.

Thanks much for these new readings of
4:98 and 99.

I have two questions:

1. From the explanation of 4:98:

Regarding your use of the word “instruct” to refer to the revelations received in Mecca.

I was recently in a discussion with somebody when he pointed out that the name Nafs Ammara, one of the 3 part division of the Nafs in the Qur`aan(e.g. in 12:53) and usually translated as ‘the commanding soul’ can be thought of as‘the instructing soul’.

Sometimes instruction can be as commands. There may also be
other, less threatening forms.

In the context of your translation of YAHTADOONA in 4:98, is there any relationship between the concept of “commanding”, ‘ammara’, and self-guidance?

2. About `afuuw: In regard to “the root is Ain-F-W and it means erasing something through the effect of the wind”, in your explanations of 4:99:

Is the concrte reference only to the wind that blows outside or does it also include air as it exists in human breath and as a consequnce in human speech?

Thank you very much for your time and help.

hussein said...

Salaam brother,

The way I understand YAHTADOONA is receiving guidance. This guidance can be received from their own selves or from outside. If they received from their own selves, then it can be at times covered by NAFS AMMARA. However, in the Aya 4:98, the context points to people not having the means for guidance, internally or externally, rather than people who have the means for guidance but fail to order themselves to be guided. Such people fall under the Aya 4:97.

The concrete usage of AAaFUW is of the wind that blows on the sand of Arabia and therefore makes the footprints of man or animal disappear. The conceptual range of meaning of this word is considered "literal" in the common Arabic usage. This conceptual meaning covers forgiveness in the sense of saying "nothing bad happened because I erased it, irrespective of how". It was also used beautifully in this passage "they ask you what to spend, say Al AAaFUW". So, here, it was used to point to spending the part of their money that they can do without "The money that they can erase without it producing negative effect on them or on their meeting their needs".

I hope I am helping here.

Hussein