Salaam all,
This is 5:1
يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُواْ أَوْفُواْ بِالْعُقُودِ أُحِلَّتْ لَكُم بَهِيمَةُ الأَنْعَامِ إِلاَّ مَا يُتْلَى عَلَيْكُمْ غَيْرَ مُحِلِّي الصَّيْدِ وَأَنتُمْ حُرُمٌ إِنَّ اللّهَ يَحْكُمُ مَا يُرِيدُ
Ya ayyuha allatheena amanoo awfoo bialAAuqoodi ohillat lakum baheematu alanAAami illa ma yutla AAalaykum ghayra muhillee alssaydi waantum hurumun inna Allaha yahkumu ma yureedu
The aya says:
O you (plural) who made themselves safe fulfill the dues of what was knotted. The four legged soft animals were permitted for you (plural) except what was recited upon you not permitting the hunt while you are in Ihram. Indeed Allah rules what He seeks.
My personal note:
There are several words that need addressing her. The first is ALAauQOOD which I translated as what was knotted. This term includes many categories and therefore I left it at it’s conceptual level. The categories that are included are oaths and promises, but it also includes rules and regulations that the person agreed to abide by as he or she entered Islam. Therefore the term includes personal business as well as the rules and regulations that Allah made us abide by.
The second term is the term BAHEEMA and it is used for all four legged animals. BAHEEMAT AL ANAaaM is for the “soft” four legged animals and this includes, in this context, the herbivores amongst the domesticated and other than domesticated animals.
The third term is IHRAM or HURUM which was used in the Aya. Conceptually the term means: “while in a state of ritually not violating.” The term is specifically is used for the time of Hajj where the Muslims are ritually prohibited from violating certain things including hunting as mentioned in the Aya.
The fourth term is MA YUREED which I translated as “what He seeks”. It is important to understand this as not the seeking of someone in need but the seeking that can be in two main areas which are not mutually exclusive but can often be separate:
1- What He seeks for us to do, as in what He likes us to do for our own good whether we do it or not.
2- What He seeks to happen and will make it happen. This could be in actively making it happen or allowing it to happen indirectly through His creation. And that is what actually happens in every day life.
The two meanings are not mutually exclusive, but in some statements of the Qur’an the term is used to mean number one, as in this Aya, while at other times number two is the meaning. When we do what Allah asks us to do then 1 and 2 happened and that is the best thing to occur.
Translation of the translated words:
Ya ayyuha allatheena: O those who
Note: the three words used here are callings.
Amanoo: made themselves safe
Note: the root is Hamza-M-N and it means safe or safety. AMANOO is an action that is derived from the root and that is completed. It means: the action of making the object (not mentioned and therefore the subject and the object can be the same entity here) become safe happened by the subject (third person plural). So, it ends up meaning: they made themselves safe.
Awfoo: fulfill dues/ meet dues
Note: the root is W-F-Y and it means meeting or fulfilling dues. This then takes different meanings according to the plane of thought of the sentence. One meaning could be death since it is a meeting of dues, or just a taking of someone or something depending on the situation, or other forms of meeting dues. AWFOO is an order or a request addressed to a group. It means; Meet or fulfill your (plural) dues.
bialAAuqoodi: by the contracts/ the contracts/ binding obligations/ by the knotted
Note: Bi denotes that what comes after is a tool and/or an object or an association with an action that was mentioned. If it is an object of the action then it makes it stronger. ALAAuQOODI is derived from the root Ain-Qaf-D and it means the tying of the knot in the concrete. Conceptually, it means the finishing of the process or the putting of something into effect and it also can mean making and fulfilling a contract. ALAAuQOODI are the contracts or any process that needs to be finalized or became a committed/ binding obligation.
Ohillat: made permitted
Note: OHILLAT is derived from the root Ha-L-L and it means settling. Conceptually, this settling can be in time or place of quality as in settling or solving a problem, a knot and it can extend to acceptable or enjoined words or deeds. This sentence gives the context of acceptable or enjoined or allowed. OHILLAT is an action that is completed. It means: the action of making the object (baheematu alnaaami= the domestic animal) permitted or enjoined happened by an undeclared subject.
Lakum: to you (plural)
Baheematu: four legged animal
Note: the root is B-H-M and it means the four legged animal of the land or sea. Conceptually, the term is often used for lack of clarity because there is lack of clarity in communications between man and such animals. BAHEEMATU means four legged animal.
alanAAami: the domesticated animals/ the providing animals/ the soft animals
Note: the root is N-Ain-M and it means soft in the concrete sense. In abstract, it means anything that can be understood as soft as in soft to touch and soft in treatment and soft life as in a life that does not have much hardship. ALaNAAaMI are the soft animals and that includes all predominantly herbivorous animals whether domestic or otherwise.
Illa: except/ if not
Ma: what
Yutla: recited/ closely followed
Note: the root T-L-W and it means following closely. The concrete word that is derived from the root is the baby animal after it had been weaned from the breast and who follows his mother everywhere closely. The word means the following closely and also reciting, because that involves following each word with another. YUTLA is an action that is being completed or will be completed. It means: the action of following closely or reciting of an object (MA= what) is happening upon another robject (AAaLAYKUM= upon you (plural))by an undeclared subject.
AAalaykum: upon you (plural)
Ghayra: other than/ not
Muhillee: making permitted
Note: the root is Ha-L-L and it means settling. Conceptually, this settling can be in time or place of quality as in settling or solving a problem, a knot and it can extend to acceptable or enjoined words or deeds. This sentence gives the context of acceptable or enjoined or allowed. MUHILLEE means: making permitted or making enjoined.
Alssaydi: the hunting
Note: the root is Sad-Y-D and it means catching what does not belong to anyone. This is then taken for mostly hunting. ALSSAYDI means the hunting in this context.
Waantum: while you (plural)
Hurumun: in Ihram/ in a state of ritually not violating.
Note: the root is Ha-R-M and it means “forbidding and forbidden to violate”. HURUM means: in a state of non violating. This term is used specifically for the time of pilgrimage when people are in a state of ritually not violating certain principles and actions.
Inna: indeed
Allaha: Allah
yahkumu: rules/ judges/ steers
Note: the root Ha-K-M and it means the steer that steers the animal. This word is used for ruling and judging as well as other meanings that contain steering as part of the concept. HAKEEM means wise or the steering. The steering means the entity that steers in the best way possible using the best tools of knowledge, compassion, justice and mercy, and that is wisdom. YAHKUMU is an action that is being completed or will be completed. It means: the action of ruling or judging is happening by the subject (third person singular).
Ma: what
Yureedu: wants/ seeks
Note: the root is R-W-D and it means in concrete the person that goes ahead of the people looking for resources. Therefore, the word has within it the meanings of pioneering, seeking and desiring. YUREEDU is an action that is being completed or will be completed. It means: the action of seeking or wanting is happening or will be happening by the subject (third person singular).
Salaam all and have a great day.
Hussein
4 comments:
Salaam Brother Hussein.
I found the concept of your breakdown of R-W-D as
“the root is R-W-D and it means in concrete the person that goes ahead of the people looking for resources. Therefore, the word has within it the meanings of pioneering, seeking and desiring.”
enlightening.
The concept seems to refer to an admirable quality of leadership, as we know it human history.
However,
“Indeed Allah rules what He seeks.” And further commentary on it,
in your explanantion of 5:1 for “inna Allaha yahkumu ma yureedu” raises some questions in my mind. It seems to imply some anthropomorphism and human emotions to the idea of the Divine whom we are accustomed to think of as being without needs, desires or emotions.
Can you explain further please, if you have time?
Salaam brother Muhammad,
You bring an interesting question that deals with God and issue of needs, emotions and desires. God does not have needs. However, the issue of emotions is something that needs more detail. Emotions in themselves are not something negative. It is giving emotions control over us that is the problem.
So, for example the issue of Irada=Wanting or seeking. Allahs does not seek us to do something because of needs. However, he may want us to do something out of two conditions or may be more that are not mutually exclusive:
1- Out of Love for the act. So, Allah wants us to worship him. He does not need us to worship him, but he loves for us to worship him. This is not because of need, but because of love for us as well as the love for the act coming from us.
2- Allah also wants us to do things for wisdom. This encompasses many things including that the act is better for us as well as for humanity and the creation as well.
You touch on important areas of difference between scholars of the past. Those who viewed emotions as a negative and therefore they denied it. Then there are those who did not see the issues of emotions as negative except for negative emotions or emotions that make the actions reactionary and God is not reactionary. However, love and mercy and so on are all emotions in a sense and I personally love to worship a loving God.
I hope this helps a little and take care brother.
Hussein
Thanks brother Hussein.
What you have written is very interesting. However, there also seem to be very complex issues involved.
What you have said certainly throws a very different light on the issue of the nature of “emotions” such as love; and also on the understanding of the use of “heart” for translating certain phrases of the Qur`an. This is a very complex area.
In my previous readings I have mostly seen Irada translated as “Will”, which can be seen as being synonymous with Desiring and therefore with Wanting or Seeking.
I suppose different users of these words have cultivated different ways of compartmentalizing and/or combining the meaning areas covered by these words.
For instance, there is a lot of “theorizing” in psychology and anthropology about “needs” and “wants” among humans, and about how to set boundaries for using those words to mean different things. Everybody, of course, does not abide by the rules preferred by this or that scholar.
There is possibly something personal in each scholar's use of these terms to describe something specific in his/her mind, and perhaps with some associated concrete image.
Salaam brother Muhammad,
You touch on some important issues of the difference between IRADA as meaning "will of God" vs it meaning "what God likes us to do".
The range of the meaning of the term covers both possibilities. Sometimes the context of the sentence limits the meaning to "will of God" as in what God plans to do and will do. In other contexts, it covers the meaning of "What God would like for us to do" and then at others, it may cover both meanings.
That may be a reason why sometimes it comes meaning one thing or another.
I hope this helps and thanks for your thoughtful response.
Hussein
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