4:125

Salaam all,

This is 4:125
وَمَنْ أَحْسَنُ دِينًا مِّمَّنْ أَسْلَمَ وَجْهَهُ لله وَهُوَ مُحْسِنٌ واتَّبَعَ مِلَّةَ إِبْرَاهِيمَ حَنِيفًا وَاتَّخَذَ اللّهُ إِبْرَاهِيمَ خَلِيلاً
Waman ahsanu deenan mimman aslama wajhahu lillahi wahuwa muhsinun waittabaAAa millata ibraheema haneefan waittakhatha Allahu ibraheema khaleelan

The Aya says:
And who is better in fulfilling obligation than one who committed his face to Allah, while making goodness, including following path of Abraham, tilting (towards Allah)?! And Allah took Abraham for Himself a close friend.

My personal note:
The Aya declares that the best path is following the path of Abraham. It is the path of those who fulfill their obligation towards Allah, by committing to Allah and His path, as followed by all the prophets ending in the prophet Muhammad (pbuh). This Aya means that Islam has a wide definition of following Allah’s command to the best of our abilities. Therefore all the prophets and all their followers were Muslim. That wider definition still applies to any person who has not received the message of the prophet Muhammad (pbuh) but still tried to commit himself/ herself to Allah to the best of his abilities.

However, Islam will not cover the person who received the message of the prophet Muhammad but rejected it, even if he is a follower of another prophet, or the person who could have easily learned about this message but neglected it.

The Aya gives Abraham a special place and name as Khalil which means close friend. Allah is a friend for all humanity, but Abraham is most deserving of that title.

Translation of the transliterated words:
Waman: and who?!
Ahsanu: better/more beautiful
Note: the root is Ha-S-N and it means beauty and goodness in all the aspects of beauty and goodness. AHSANU means better or more beautiful.
Deenan: conducting obligation/ conducting self imposed law/ conducting religion
Note: the root is D-Y-N and it means debt or law or religion. What groups them together is the concept of obligation, since religion is the obligation of man towards God. DEENAN is obligation of or religion of, with religion being the obligation of man towards God. In this context, it points to conducting those issues.

Mimman: than
Aslama: delivered/ made commit
Note: the root is S-L-M and it means dissociation from an entity to re-associate with another that is better. This carries the meaning of health and safety. It also carries the meaning of delivery from one to another and it carries the meaning of peace, since it is the dissociation from harm to peace. ASLAMA is an action that is completed. It means: the action of delivering or committing the object (wajhahu= his face) to another object (Allah) happened by the subject (third person singular).
Wajhahu: his face/ reception
Note: the root is W-J-H and it means face. It is used conceptually to mean what meets the eye or what receives others, since the face is what we meet first. WAJHA means face of or reception of. HU means him.
Lillahi: to Allah
Wahuwa: while he
Muhsinun: causing goodness/ beauty
Note: the root is Ha-S-N and it means beauty and goodness in all the aspects of beauty and goodness. MUHSIN is the one who causes or makes goodness or beauty.
waittabaAAa: and he joined and followed/made himself join and follow
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. ITTABaAAa is derived from the root T-B-Ain and it means following footsteps or join and follow footsteps. ITTABaAAais an action that completed. It means: the action of making oneself follow footsteps or join and follow footsteps of the object (millata Ibrahium= path of Ibrahim) happened by the subject (third person singular).

Millata: way of/ religion of
Note: the root is M-L-L and it means to repeat something many times that you become bored with it. MILLA is a word that is derived from this root. It means the way and used in religious terms as the way of the religion. MILLATA is way of or religion of, since the religion is the way.
Ibraheema: Ibraheem/ Abraham
Haneefan: righteous/ tilted towards God
Note: this is a word that is hard to translate. The root is Ha-N-F and it means the foot that is tilting inwards so that the sole is exposed. The Haneef is the one whose foot is tilted towards the other foot. This is then used to mean, in this context, that the person who is haneef is the one who tilts to the natural spiritual tendency and that is a tilt towards God.

Waittakhatha: and took for himself
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. ITTAKHATHA is derived from the root Hamza-KH-TH and it means taking. ITTAKHATHA is an action that is completed. It means: the action of taking for oneself the object (Ibraheem=Abraham) is completed by the subject (Allah).
Allahu: Allah
Ibraheema: Abraham
Khaleelan: close friend
Note: the root is KH-L-L and it means vinegar in one of it’s most concrete meanings. It also carries the meaning of close friendship and close intermingling between entities. The relationship could be because vinegar was a product of close mingling of the grape Juice with other material. KHALEELAN is a close friend.

Salaam all and have a great day.


Hussein