3:20

Salaam all,

This is 3:20
فَإنْ حَآجُّوكَ فَقُلْ أَسْلَمْتُ وَجْهِيَ لِلّهِ وَمَنِ اتَّبَعَنِ وَقُل لِّلَّذِينَ أُوْتُواْ الْكِتَابَ وَالأُمِّيِّينَ أَأَسْلَمْتُمْ فَإِنْ أَسْلَمُواْ فَقَدِ اهْتَدَواْ وَّإِن تَوَلَّوْاْ فَإِنَّمَا عَلَيْكَ الْبَلاَغُ وَاللّهُ بَصِيرٌ بِالْعِبَادِ

Fain hajjooka faqul aslamtu wajhiya lillahi wamani ittabaAAani waqul lillatheena ootoo alkitaba waalommiyyeena aaslamtum fain aslamoo faqadi ihtadaw wain tawallaw fainnama AAalayka albalaghu waAllahu baseerun bialAAibadi

The Aya says:
So, if they disputed you (Muhammad) then say: I have committed my face to Allah, and those who followed me (also committed their faces to Allah). And say to those who were given the book and to the un-booked: have you committed yourselves to God’s path? So, if they committed themselves to God's path, then they have guided themselves, and if they followed their own direction, then your obligation, (is) only the delivery of the message, and Allah (has) deep insight in the servants.

My personal note:
Committing means that he is ready to receive his Lord and his message, since the face is what receives and meets and accepts. The Aya also points to the fact that the message is to be delivered to it’s destination, the people, and that is the job of the prophet and of us as his followers.

I want to add that the face brings about a sense of direction that one is facing and a reception or a readiness to receive. So, when the prophet says “I committed my face to Allah”, he is saying I am committing myself in Allah’s direction and I am ready to receive Him and His message at the same time.

Translation of the transliterated words:
Fain: Therefore if
Hajjooka: they debated you/ they happened to debate you (singular)
Note: The root is Ha-J-J and it means pursuit. This could be a pursuit of a place or a person or knowledge and so forth. It can also mean an annual pursuit where people congregate in a particular place in a repeating fashion and so forth. The meaning changes according to the occasion and so forth. HAJJOOKA is an action that is completed and was derived from the root. It means: The action of pursuit happened in an interactive manner between the subject (third person plural) opposite the object KA which means you (singular). Here, this interactive opposition of pursuits takes the meaning of debate or dispute.
Faqul: then say
Note: the root is Qaf-W-L and it means saying. FA means therefore or so or then. QUL is an order form addressed to a single person. It means: say.
Aslamtu: I made committed/ I made delivered
Note: the root is S-L-M and it means dissociation of a link for a re-association with another that is usually 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. ASLAMTU is an action that is completed that is derived from the root. It means: the action of dissociating from old and associating to new entity was made to happen by the subject (first person singular) to the object (wajhi=my face). This takes the meaning of committing or delivering and both are not mutually exclusive.
Wajhiya: my face/my reception and direction
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. WAJHIYA means my face in concrete or my reception and direction in a conceptual manner, since the face indicates a direction and a readiness to receive and they are not mutually exclusive.
Lillahi: To Allah
Wamani: As well as whomever/ and whoever
ittabaAAani: made themselves followed me/ followed my footsteps
Note: the root is T-B-Ain and it means following footsteps or following behind, or joining and following. ITTABaAAa is an action that is completed that is derived from the root. It means: the action of making oneself follow or join and follow happened to the subject (third person singular) and he/she followed the object NI which means me.
Waqul: and say
Note: WA means and. QUL: the root is Qaf-WL and it means saying. QUL is an order addressing a single person and it means: Say.
Lillatheena: to who
Ootoo: Who were given/ who were brought
Note: the root is Hamza-T-Y and it means coming with determination. The concrete word is for the water that flows in a place where it did not rain, therefore suggesting that the water came from somewhere else. OOTOO is a completed action that is derived from the root. It means: the action of coming happened to object (third person plural) by an undisclosed subject. It then means literally: they were brought/something was made to come to them.
Alkitaba: the book
Note: the root K-T-B and it means putting things together as in grouping the herd together or closing the lips or writing (the most common use), because in writing, one puts the letters and the ideas together. ALKITABA means, the process of writing or the book or anything related to it from the ideas to the ink and paper to the place where all is put together.
Waalommiyyeena: and the un-booked
Note: WA means and. ALOMMIYYEENA is derived from the root Hamza-M-M and it means mother if written OMM and destination if written AMM. OMMU means mother of. The word also suggests source of or origin of. ALOMIYYEENA is plural of the people who are stuck to the source but not able or do not have the means to move towards the destination. It is used to point to people without education and in this instance, mainly to the people that have not yet received a book from God.
Aaslamtum: Did you commit yourselves to God’s path?
Note: the root is S-L-M and it means dissociation of a link for a re-association with another that is usually 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. AASLAMTUM is a question that is posed to a group of people. It means: did you commit yourselves to God’s path? Or did you become Muslim.
Fain: So, if
Aslamoo: They committed themselves to God’s path/ The became Muslim
Note: the root is S-L-M and it means dissociation of a link for a re-association with another that is usually 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. ASLAMOO is an action that is completed that is derived from the root. It means: the action of dissociating from old and associating to new entity was made to happen by the subject (third person plural) to the object which is not mentioned here and therefore the object is the subject itself. In this Aya, the meaning becomes: They committed themselves to God’s path, or they became Muslim.
Faqadi: therefore (with emphasis)
Ihtadaw: They made themselves guided/ they gifted themselves with guidance
Note: the root is H-D-Y and it means gift. The gift is anything that is prized, and that includes guidance since it is the best of gifts. IHTADAW is an action that is completed that is derived from the root. It means: the action of guidance or gifting guidance was made to happen by the subject (third person plural) to itself.
Wain: and if
Tawallaw: They took their own direction
Note: the root is W-L-Y and it means direction or following direction. TAWALLAW is an action that is completed that is derived from the root. It means: the action of making oneself follow own direction happened by the subject (third person plural).
Fainnama: So only
AAalayka: on you (singular pointing to the prophet Muhammad and it carries the meaning of obligation here)
Albalaghu: the delivery of the message/ making the message reach it’s destination.
Note: the root is B-L-GH and it means reaching a destination. It is used for the child that becomes an adult and for any action that reached it’s intended destination. This includes communicating clearly so that your message reaches the ones you are talking to. ALBALAGHU means: making the message reach the destination, or the delivery of the message.
waAllahu: and Allah
baseerun: has deep insight
Note: the root is B-Sad-R and it is the sense of the eye. It also has the meaning of seeing deeply. Seeing deeply means the concrete, but it can be applied to the deep vision of the brain, the insight. BASEERUN means seeing deeply or has deep insight
bialAAibadi: in the slaves/ the servant/ the creation
Note: Bi suggests that what comes after it is either an association with the action, a tool of the action or an object of the action or any combination of the three. If bi serves as an object of the action that it serves as an emphasis of the action. ALAAiBADI is derived from the root Ain-B-D and it means slave or servant. ALAAiBADI are the slaves or the servants and it is potentially pointing to all of God’s creation since all are His slaves or servants.

Salaam all and have a great day


Hussein