Easy to "understand" or easy to "remember/memorize"?
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Peace all.
Over and over again I and other have said "The Qur'an/God says the Qur'an is easy to understand". I believe this is from the repeated statement "Walaqad yassarna alqur-ana lilththikri fahal min muddakirin". As far as I have found in my research the root Dhal-Kaf-Rah does not carry the meaning "understand".
Any thoughts?
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"Walaqad yassarna alqur-ana lilththikri fahal min muddakirin".
Ya-Siin-Ra = become gentle/tractable/manageable/easy/submissive/liberal, become little in quantity/paltry / no weight or worth, come from left, divide into parts/portions, make easy/smooth, adapt/accommodate, play with gaming arrows (al maysiri), a game for stakes/wagers involving risk.
Dhal-Kaf-Rah = to remember, to be reminded, to take heed, an admonition.
5415 We have left this as a sign but will anyone take heed?
Walaqad taraknaha ayatan fahal min muddakirin
peaceVerse 5417 is saying the AQ is easy to commit to memory. This is an important part of /the rememberance.
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to me, its 'easy for vivification'. I take dhikr to be vivifying or bein fertile in various dimensions.
It would be good to read where this repetitive verse occurs, after the stories of Ch 54. The opening and closing of Ch 54 helps to show that it's about establishing somethin, I think.
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Exactly Farouk! Why I always think of AQ as a live book. My understanding is ever evolving/changing. We have a built in natural ability to bring life to the meanings in the message. I look upon AQ as a road map to life. sun
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Wow, that's very beautiful, Scrappy. a 'natural ability to bring life to the meanings of the message'. To me, this is the natural process of language. For years, I was stuck to what I thought was only the set of meanings available (in these ancient dead dictionaries). Then I was lucky to meet with Dr Shahrour back in 07 and he made me realise how limited these dictionaries are. Dr Shahrour showed that whenever the lexicographers didn't understand X, they would just say 'X is synonymous to Y'. Indeed understanding the Quran is a LIVING experience, the more you practice, the more the words will be elucidated. Limiting the Quran to dictionaries and grammar books is nothing more than inventing a new set of hadith.
Two books I highly recommend which theorises language in a way that to me is very Quranic are
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Sufism and Deconstruction by Ian Almond
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On Way to Language by Martin Heidegger
these show how language is tied directly to the human experience.
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Wow, that's very beautiful, Scrappy. a 'natural ability to bring life to the meanings of the message'. To me, this is the natural process of language. For years, I was stuck to what I thought was only the set of meanings available (in these ancient dead dictionaries). Then I was lucky to meet with Dr Shahrour back in 07 and he made me realise how limited these dictionaries are. Dr Shahrour showed that whenever the lexicographers didn't understand X, they would just say 'X is synonymous to Y'. Indeed understanding the Quran is a LIVING experience, the more you practice, the more the words will be elucidated. Limiting the Quran to dictionaries and grammar books is nothing more than inventing a new set of hadith.
This also goes well hand in hand with that each one of us virtually live in our own worlds... one world each... meaning that our perception constitutes our world. It is also true that everything has many different levels of understanding to it... stemming from our different personal levels of understanding, both between different individuals, and also between ourselves at different points in time. So it seems that the quran is designed to be full of 'fruits' and 'gems' regardless of your current level of understanding. The quran is an abundant source of guidance for anyone willing to learn, at any time, at any capacity.
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That's right Zulf. I think the ultra-rationalism promoted by people like GA Parwez sort of blocked this multi-dimensional reading experience. The Sufis had this from the start and I think quranists would do well to recover it.
Having said that, I learnt a lot from Mr Parwez. Just don't wanna be stuck to his ideas is all )
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Peace all.
I'm having a bit of a hard time with understanding the Qur'an without referring to dictionaries. When anyone wants to learn a foreign language, they have to learn the meanings of words and grammar. This can only be done by referring to some sort of dictionary, not by trying to figure out a "logical" meaning based on the context , because the context itself will only be understood by the meanings of those foreign words...
We would do the same thing with any other foreign book, why not the Qur'an? I do not want to assume that it is the word of God because it appears to say so, and then believe that because of this the Qur'an must be unique in that a person doesn't have to understand the language, but rather depends on "logic" to figure out what it means. This seems paradoxical.
For so long I accepted that God sent scripture to guide mankind, but as the days go by and I talk more and more with people and reflect on the Bible and the Qur'an, their history, and what we have of them today, it seems strange that God would require us to learn ancient languages in order to live our lives properly and be redeemed. I'm not totally dismissing the possibility that I may just be confused and frustrated at my inability to comprehend the logic, and I would love to hear what other have to say, as they might be more intelligent than me.
God bless you all for your input.
James
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Salam James,
Without any kind of hostility or derision, let me ask you this Why did you mention dictionaries in particular?
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Peace all.
Over and over again I and other have said "The Qur'an/God says the Qur'an is easy to understand". I believe this is from the repeated statement "Walaqad yassarna alqur-ana lilththikri fahal min muddakirin". As far as I have found in my research the root Dhal-Kaf-Rah does not carry the meaning "understand".
Any thoughts?
This question is something that has truck me aswell.... I never understood where the 'understand' came into the picture. To me it seems odd to call something 'easy to understand'. If it is easy to understand, then everyone would understand it. If not, then it would be easy to understand at least for those who find it easy to understand due to their current capacity. Juggling is easy, for those who can do it. Math is easy for those who have a talent for it or skilled in it. What does 'easy' and 'easy to understand mean'? I also wondered why people always say that the quran is easy to understand, while it used the word dhikr, which commonly is understood as 'remember'. If we insist on understanding the arabic word in question as 'understand', then it would mean that the quran is consistent, logical and free of fault and contradiction. This makes it easy to understand provided you have the capacity it takes. But even if you are a brilliant person, it would not be easy to understand something which is faulty, incoherent or contradictive in itself. So in this sense, the quran is easy to understand, as far as itself is concerned. Then it is up to us to acquire the capacity to grasp it. But what does dhikr really mean?
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Of course we can look to dictionaries in order to understand the meaning of words. I do not see anything wrong in that, how would we learn the language otherwise? peace
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Just to note guys, there are two words which approximate to understanding fiqh and fihm.
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? Remembrance
people who are not distracted by trade or commerce from the remembrance of God and the observance of prayer and the payment of the zakat -- fearing a Day when hearts and eyes will be convulsed, so that God may reward them according to the best of their deeds and give them more out of His bounty. God provides for whoever He wills without measure. (2437-3
THEN, that if they keep firmly to the path, We shall certainly shower them with blessings abundant, so as to test them by this means for he who shall turn away from the remembrance of his Sustainer, him will He cause to undergo suffering most grievous. (7216-17)
When we say Alhamdullilah, Subhan?Allah, and Masha ?Allah, etc... It should not be spoken in parrot form. How we remember/praise the God should reflect our deepest gratitude and respect for the Lord of the worlds. When we mention the Supremes? names and understand the Attributes of the Most Merciful, we are directing our reverence toward the God.
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Scrappy, i think a deeper meaning of dhikr can be obtained if we read from 24/35-36 , the verse of the light and the houses bearing light....
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When we say Alhamdullilah, Subhan?Allah, and Masha ?Allah, etc... It should not be spoken in parrot form. How we remember/praise the God should reflect our deepest gratitude and respect for the Lord of the worlds. When we mention the Supremes? names and understand the Attributes of the Most Merciful, we are directing our reverence toward the God.
peaceyes, it is easy to use some expressions in an automatic and empty way... especially if it is custom in your society. The expression 'inshallah' has been subject to this in at least Pakistan... where many people seem to use it as a means to escape responsibility and truth of opinion.
Sorry, a bit off-topic perhaps. -
Dhikr means nothing but remember, remembrance, etc.
I have read many times people using this verse (especially the 19ers / Rashad Khalifa followers) as to mean that the Quran is easy to understand. That is just plain non sense. brickwall The fact that there is doubt is the most clear prove that the quran is not easy to understand, because the translator who translated Dhikr as "easy to understand" has not understood the verse (or those who translate it as "easy to remember".
Not only that, but it would also create clear contradictions. God has already said that some people will understand God's signs, while some people will be sent astray with His signs.
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Surely Allah is not ashamed to set forth any parable-- (that of) a gnat or any thing above that; then as for those who believe, they know that it is the truth from their Lord, and as for those who disbelieve, they say What is it that Allah means by this parable He causes many to err by it and many He leads aright by it! but He does not cause to err by it (any) except the transgressors, -
apparently, the quran must be easy to commit to memory, judging from all the madrasas producing all those hafiz who can recite the arabic quran from memory... people who are otherwise uneducated or otherwise with undeveloped memory skills.
also, how easy the quran is to understand depends totally on the reader... and has nothing to do with the book itself (apart from being free from contradictions...)
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Memorising and reciting in ritual salah is a powerful exercise. I highly recommend it.
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Salam James,
Without any kind of hostility or derision, let me ask you this Why did you mention dictionaries in particular?
No hostility taken. )
I mentioned dictionaries because they seem like a good place to go to know the meaning of a word, especially one from another language. What other alternatives are there? I mean, I took French in school, and we learned the meanings of words and the grammar. I can only assume that these definitions are commonly accepted by French speakers and written down in dictionaries. My teachers never left us to guess what the meanings of the words were, and I hope they weren't just making things up as they went along.
Based on the common understanding of people on this forum, it would not be wise to rely on the testimonies of "muslim scholars" as to what a certain word or phrase means as they seem to have distorted much of what is in the Qur'an.