Ramadan
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Greetings mz,
As you know, I've been trying to come to terms with what I understand is expected of us in terms of 'abstaining'. In my heart and in my realm of understanding, what I grasp is very similar to your understanding. That being said, Dr. Ayman's interpretation -- as he presents it--seems to make for a sound understanding Qur'anically speaking and I found myself in the last week leaning toward his interpretation. However, as the events pass in my life as this 'ramadan' progresses, I am reminded of how many people 'fast' from food and have little or no improvement in who they are or how they relate to others. As such, I've found myself bending back toward the understanding you and I share. How many times -- any of us are so 'incensed' by something that happens in our lives and in the 'heat' of the moment, we act on our urges, our desires, only to feel sorry and embarrassed later for it when we have 'cooled' down? I dare say it has happened to every single one of us. Now, if we take the Qur'anic injunction for 'abstinence' to mean abstaining from this crazy act of passion, then we have avoided an embarrassing situation.
My question to you is can this understanding of what is meant for us to do as an act of 'abstaining' work throughout the Qur'an? Have you already expounded on this and I've missed the post? If so, excuse my oversight and please direct me to your previous posts.
Thank you!
Salaams Ilisa,
yes i believe it does apply throughout the quran, but my translation is bits at different places at free-minds - i will i think bring it all together some time in the near future.
but here is a portion of the quran with original translation with as i see it.
(interesting- http//www.secretplaceministries.org/pages/articles/fasting_the_tongue.html )
Here people doing wrong??
002.181
YUSUFALI If anyone changes the bequest after hearing it, the guilt shall be on those who make the change. For Allah hears and knows (All things).
002.182
YUSUFALI But if anyone fears partiality or wrong-doing on the part of the testator, and makes peace between (The parties concerned), there is no wrong in him For Allah is Oft-forgiving, Most Merciful.On realizing/ or when they realize they are wrong they need to quite the spirit and listen to God-feel the feeling and be charitable for redemption-so as not to do it again.
2183
YUSUFALI O ye who believe! Fasting is prescribed to you as it was prescribed to those before you, that ye may (learn) self-restraint,-
002.184
YUSUFALI (Fasting) for a fixed number of days; but if any of you is ill, or on a journey, the prescribed number (Should be made up) from days later. For those who can do it (With hardship), is a ransom, the feeding of one that is indigent. But he that will give more, of his own free will,- it is better for him. And it is better for you that ye fast, if ye only knew.It was such time that portions of the quran was inspired. So quite the spirit when you realize you are in the wrong and seek redemption.
002.185
YUSUFALI Ramadhan is the (month) in which was sent down the Qur'an, as a guide to mankind, also clear (Signs) for guidance and judgment (Between right and wrong). So every one of you who is present (at his home) during that month should spend it in fasting, but if any one is ill, or on a journey, the prescribed period (Should be made up) by days later. Allah intends every facility for you; He does not want to put to difficulties. (He wants you) to complete the prescribed period, and to glorify Him in that He has guided you; and perchance ye shall be grateful.And listen to God.
2186
YUSUFALI When My servants ask thee concerning Me, I am indeed close (to them) I listen to the prayer of every suppliant when he calleth on Me Let them also, with a will, Listen to My call, and believe in Me That they may walk in the right way.And consult your partner in the matter as they may be more receptive to inspiration or having known may advice you.
2187
YUSUFALI Permitted to you, on the night of the fasts, is the approach to your wives. They are your garments and ye are their garments. Allah knoweth what ye used to do secretly among yourselves; but He turned to you and forgave you; so now associate with them, and seek what Allah Hath ordained for you, and eat and drink, until the white thread of dawn appear to you distinct from its black thread; then complete your fast Till the night appears; but do not associate with your wives while ye are in retreat in the mosques. Those are Limits (set by) Allah Approach not nigh thereto. Thus doth Allah make clear His Signs to men that they may learn self-restraint.Don?t have wrong intentions and bribe others.
002.188
YUSUFALI And do not eat up your property among yourselves for vanities, nor use it as bait for the judges, with intent that ye may eat up wrongfully and knowingly a little of (other) people's property.Such a people need to change their desires and embody the attributes to prosper.
002.189
YUSUFALI They ask thee concerning the New Moons. Say They are but signs to mark fixed periods of time in (the affairs of) men, and for Pilgrimage. It is no virtue if ye enter your houses from the back It is virtue if ye fear Allah. Enter houses through the proper doors And fear Allah That ye may prosper.God Bless.......
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Peace Layth, everyone,
The event that comes to mind could be a lunar eclipse which would turn the full moon blood red in color for a few minutes. This event would occur infrequently at one given point (say Jerusalem). The blood red color could be the
scorchtingthat the word describes.<--------- See my avatar. This is the blood red color of the full moon right after the summer solstice, which is also during the hottest time of the year (red+hot=scorching). Everyone around the world can see this with their own eyes.
I hope this helps.
Peace,
Ayman
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Greetings Dr. Ayman,
<--------- See my avatar. This is the blood red color of the full moon right after the summer solstice, which is also during the hottest time of the year (red+hot=scorching). Everyone around the world can see this with their own eyes.
Yes, I did see this before and realized what it is. That is what is so convincing. This is a very, very good point. In fact, this year during the time of the 'scorching heat', I thought about fasting, but didn't -- for whatever reason. Despite this, I admit that I do have it in my mind to fast the next upcoming one to see how I fare -- how it feels and what benefit I reap from it. I'm planning to do this not only because your thesis is so sound, but I did some research and there is a long history of other groups of people recognizing the significance of the full moon closest to the summer solstice --that it is a time to receive guidance and spiritual insight, so they fast or perform specific rituals. This point in particular adds significant weight to the validity of your understanding as far as I'm concerned.
Additionally, as I have mentioned in another posting here, I feel that to fast a 'ramadan' at different times every year -- out of sync with the earth and its seasons, is very disorienting. I did it for 18 years and it just never felt 'right', always a bit out of balance. In general, I found it to be very 'off-putting'.
I have still not come to a conclusion which understanding is best. I guess that what I'm hoping for in my heart, is that when I abstain from food and drink next year at the time of the 'scorching heat' that I will gain particular guidance or insight that will help improve my spiritual 'lackings'. That, certainly, would be a most satisfying outcome to this for me on a personal level. Then I will feel that I 'know' and truly understand what it means to 'witness shahr ramadan' and what Sawm means. Until then, I guess I'm still hanging.....
But thank you for your post, and giving me the opportunity to think about this yet again.
handshake
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i still could not figure out why every one of us has to fast/abstain.Where in the quran can we find this commandment?????????
As I understand it is being taken from Surah al Baqarah, from that ayat around and including ayah 185 -- but I wonder why there is only reference in this passage to being with your 'wives' and not 'spouses' if the abstention applies to both genders.
So I see your point.
Anyone got the answer??
Dr. Ayman?
Or perhaps mz's thesis fits this best?
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Peace,
Yes, Lisa now when you says it I also wonder why not mention spouses instead of "wives"?
I hope though that it isn't a male thing, like it's the male who approach his wife and not the opposite, hmm.
Peace
Maria -
As I understand it is being taken from Surah al Baqarah, from that ayat around and including ayah 185 -- but I wonder why there is only reference in this passage to being with your 'wives' and not 'spouses' if the abstention applies to both genders.
So I see your point.
Anyone got the answer??
Dr. Ayman?
Or perhaps mz's thesis fits this best?
Peace,
Yes, Lisa now when you says it I also wonder why not mention spouses instead of "wives"?
I hope though that it isn't a male thing, like it's the male who approach his wife and not the opposite, hmm.
Peace
MariaThere are two facts that we agree on
1- The quraan addresses both genders.
2- The address to both genders together takes the masculine form, which we call "generic masculine" i.e it contains the female.When we have such an address with generic masculine, the feminine it entails is also a "generic feminine", i.e it contains the male. Example 443; 56. This is what I call specific sociolinguistics of the quraan.
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443 and 56 specifically do refer to Nissa women but in 2187 ?not associate it/her/them (Hunna)? is where the confusion is arising.
May be the following Ayah may help our understandings.
002.223
YUSUFALI Your wives are as a tilth unto you; so approach your tilth when or how ye will; but do some good act for your souls beforehand; and fear Allah. And know that ye are to meet Him (in the Hereafter), and give (these) good tidings to those who believe.God Bless.
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443 and 56 specifically do refer to Nissa women but in 2187 ?not associate it/her/them (Hunna)? is where the confusion is arising.
I am not sure I understand you well. "Hunna" refers to "nisaa'ikum". It has to be "hunna". This does not affect the fact that it contains "men".
4127
1
2
3The 1,2,3 are the sub categories of "alnisaa'" and the "hunna" pronoun (both in bold)
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I am not sure I understand you well. "Hunna" refers to "nisaa'ikum". It has to be "hunna". This does not affect the fact that it contains "men".
4127
1
2
3The 1,2,3 are the sub categories of "alnisaa'" and the "hunna" pronoun (both in bold)
Sorry i meant to say it is very clear in this ayah - that it is referring to Nissa but in 2187 its not so clear.
And i thought 2223 might be a clarifier as you can't have opposing commands.
God Bless.
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Sorry i meant to say it is very clear in this ayah - that it is referring to Nissa but in 2187 its not so clear.
And i thought 2223 might be a clarifier as you can't have opposing commands.
God Bless.
Am I confused again? What is "it" in (but in 2187 it's not so clear)?
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Greetings all.....
I'm okay with the 'hunna'...but now that I've looked at the Arabic text, why use 'women' instead of 'wives' ???
(I hadn't looked before my previous post, sorry if I've confused anyone.)And what of 'r-fa-thu'?
**(From PRL Ra-Fa-Tha = sexual conduct, lie with for sexual relationship, behave obscenity, immodest speech, sexuality, lewdness.
rafath n.m. 2187, 2197, LL, V3, p 284, 285)
??
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Furthermore......
Think back to mz's post....and wonder along with me about the root for 'women' being the same as the root for 'forgetting' or 'to dismiss from the mind'..... hmm
and...that 'r-fa'-thu' can mean 'immodest speech'..... hmm
and...that l-b-s- can mean 'to wear/cover/envelope/concel/conform/cloak/disguise/obscure/confound/mystify/render a thing confused to another' and 'to occupy himself within a thing/become involved with or entangled/ to mix/mingle', etc. hmm
Now there's food for thought! eat
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Greetings lk,
Interesting....
Also, I was just looking, and 1926 came to my attention. Here, it is clearly stated in Arabic that 'S-w-m' is to abstain from speaking. No interpolations, no assumptions, no reading between the lines.
Verily I have vowed to the Most Gracious abstinance I am not speaking 'in-see-yann' -- Samia, please help me out....can this be seen also as a form four active participle of the root 'n-s-w' or 'n-s-y'?? If so, then we can tie this in to my message above....
in that case the translation might be something like
Verily, I have vowed to the Most Gracious abstinance I am not speaking in the way of forgetting (as an active participle -- can that be?)
Please, Arabic grammarians help me out!
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Salaam all
I will address your posts by trying to explain the root for these problematic words
Women In the quraan, two words were used for women
1- nisaa' from the root nuun seen hamza, which means the late, the left behind. Also used in the prohibited usuary "rib al-nasee'a", where the first agreement is changed when the one in debt asks for more time (delay of payment).2- nuswa from the root nuun, seen wau to forget the forgotten.
Some linguists refer the word "insaan and insiyyun " to this root; but the majority refer it to the root alif nuun seen, the opposite of wild.The two meanings (tamed and forgotten) might be related somehow being quiet (tamed/ not wild) will lead to being forgotten (my understnding)..
Seen wau meem stagnation, opposite of movement; and used for abstaining from eating and drinking (movement of the digestive system), talking (movement of the buccal apparatus) and walking (movement of motor muscles). The object of abstaining, therefore, has to be mentioned (absatining from talikg, eating, moving).
References http//www.baheth.info/all.jsp?tm=
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Peace ILisa,
Yes, I did see this before and realized what it is. That is what is so convincing. This is a very, very good point. In fact, this year during the time of the 'scorching heat', I thought about fasting, but didn't -- for whatever reason. Despite this, I admit that I do have it in my mind to fast the next upcoming one to see how I fare -- how it feels and what benefit I reap from it. I'm planning to do this not only because your thesis is so sound, but I did some research and there is a long history of other groups of people recognizing the significance of the full moon closest to the summer solstice --that it is a time to receive guidance and spiritual insight, so they fast or perform specific rituals. This point in particular adds significant weight to the validity of your understanding as far as I'm concerned.
Indeed, this moon is very dramatic and noteiceable. It is natural that people all over used it as a marker because everyone can easily witness it and you don't need some self-proclaimed religious authority to tell you "now is the right time". The picture in my avatar is from the first time I observed it and abstained accordingly. It is funny because someone was mentioning that "Ramadan is here a couple of weeks ago" in front of my daughter and her natural reaction was that she got very excited and said "can we go see the red moon?" Of course, the person was talking about the sectarian meaningless Ramadan and not the meaningful "shahr ramadan". This dramatic sighting of the red moon is a marker even for young children. I bet you that no Sunni adults (let alone kids) ever say "let's go witness "shahr ramadan"".
Additionally, as I have mentioned in another posting here, I feel that to fast a 'ramadan' at different times every year -- out of sync with the earth and its seasons, is very disorienting. I did it for 18 years and it just never felt 'right', always a bit out of balance. In general, I found it to be very 'off-putting'.
I have still not come to a conclusion which understanding is best. I guess that what I'm hoping for in my heart, is that when I abstain from food and drink next year at the time of the 'scorching heat' that I will gain particular guidance or insight that will help improve my spiritual 'lackings'. That, certainly, would be a most satisfying outcome to this for me on a personal level. Then I will feel that I 'know' and truly understand what it means to 'witness shahr ramadan' and what Sawm means. Until then, I guess I'm still hanging.....
But thank you for your post, and giving me the opportunity to think about this yet again.
handshakePersonally, I find that the correct course of action (in this and all issues) is to follow the best available understanding while keeping in mind that no human understanding is absolutely perfect and so be open to better understandings as they become available.
Peace,
Ayman