About Wa-Fa-Ya
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Salaam,
I need some inputs regarding Wa-Fa-Ya in the quran. I want to know whether it can really means to die or along that line.
Let me start with 415
415
Waallatee ya/teena alfahishata min nisa-ikum faistashhidoo AAalayhinna arbaAAatan minkum fa-in shahidoo faamsikoohunna fee albuyooti hatta yatawaffahunna almawtu aw yajAAala Allahu lahunna sabeelan
If Wa-Fa-Ya means "death" then I don't see the need for Mim-Wa-Ta which pratically means the same thing. This is obvious from 2234.
2234
Waallatheena yutawaffawna minkum wayatharoona azwajan yatarabbasna bi-anfusihinna arbaAAata ashhurin waAAashran fa-itha balaghna ajalahunna fala junaha AAalaykum feema faAAalna fee anfusihinna bialmaAAroofi waAllahu bima taAAmaloona khabeerun
In 2234, we have it translated as
And for those of you who pass away and leave widows behind, then their widows will have a required interim period of four months and ten days. So when they reach their required interim, then there is no sin upon you for what they do to themselves equitably. And God is Expert to what you do.When I checked Lane's Lexicon, I found the followings entry for Wa-Fa-Ya, besides "death/taking the soul"
- Fulfilled, performed, kept, or was faithful to...
- Paid, or rendered, to someone fully or completely his/her right or due
- Brought it
- Looked upon it (from above), looked down upon it, got a view of it
- Took or received it fully, or wholly
In 2234, another word that strikes me out is "wayatharoona" (Waw-Thal-Ra) that means basically "leave/leaving" (along that line).
Thus, I think that Wa-Fa-Ya doesn't mean death or taking of the soul. But more in line with "taken something unto one's self fully/completely" or "performing a task and complete it". I understand it as such based on 2234 where "4 months and 10 days" is involved. It means that whoever leaves his wife (azwajan) for 4 month and 10 days, then he has Wa-Fa-Ya'ed his wife (performing the task of leaving and actually complete it); and the wife may consider her marriage to the man who has left her to be void. In other words, this verse doesn't talk exclusively about a husband leaving his wife because of dying, but if a husband "disappears" for 4 months and 10 days, then the consequences still apply and the wife becomes single again and can marry another man.
In 415, while it might not change the translation by very much, still does not make Wa-Fa-Ya here means "death"; but simply a process that would reach its completion when the real "death" (Mim-Waw-Ta) comes.
Another verse that might be of interest is 3942
3942
Allahu yatawaffa al-anfusa heena mawtiha waallatee lam tamut fee manamiha fayumsiku allatee qada AAalayha almawta wayursilu al-okhra ila ajalin musamman inna fee thalika laayatin liqawmin yatafakkaroona
If we read the translation, it's talking about taking of the souls of those who are sleeping, and make it sound similar to dying. Because Wa-Fa-Ya is used, then a completion condition must exist, that is "until a predetermined time" as stated in the verse. In short, Wa-Fa-Ya here means "taken something unto one's self fully/completely" where "completely" means to do the task completely until a certain period of time.
Any thoughts are greatly appreciated, because I'm kinda confused right now about this. Thanks ;D
=adley=
PS I haven't checked all the occurence of Wa-Fa-Ya. Will do so while anyone wishes to respond.
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Hello
The word Wafa does not mean death, it only mean fullfilled
if you look again on the verses you will see that the word death was mentioned after the word "Yatawafa". i.e. Death is the one that is performing the action of fulfilling, i.e. death will be fulfilled at its appointed time for every human
Cheers
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Salaam Ahmed, Nadeem,
Thanks guys.
Yes, actually that is my current conclusion, that Wa-Fa-Ya does not mean death. Thus, in 2234 it doesn't necessarily mean leaving the spouse by dying. That is what I can read so far based on my findings of all the occurence of this root and compare it with the Lane's Lexicon.
Oh Nadeem, did you get my PM about your avatar? ;D
=adley=
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Salaam Ahmed, Nadeem,
Thanks guys.
Yes, actually that is my current conclusion, that Wa-Fa-Ya does not mean death. Thus, in 2234 it doesn't necessarily mean leaving the spouse by dying. That is what I can read so far based on my findings of all the occurence of this root and compare it with the Lane's Lexicon.
Oh Nadeem, did you get my PM about your avatar? ;D
=adley=
Hi
you have to be aware that the Ta in the word Yutafoona in 2234 will make the word to mean "To die", because if it was to mean "fulfilled" then it should be "Yuwafoona" without the Ta, the Ta actaully will make the verb performed by another entity that is ommitted, i.e. the action of fulfilling is not by those believers but by death and death is ommitted from the sentence
Salam
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Also bro you have to consider that 2234 stated "Wa Yazroon Azwaga" i.e. "they leave married women"
a husband can leave his wife under 2 possibilties really
- through death
- through divorce
if the second happnes then the husbands leave "Divorced women" not "Married women"
do you get my point?
cheers
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Salaam Ahmed,
Thanks for the lesson. Man, I need to get my basic Arabic straight soon.
Regarding 2234, I can think of one other possibility besides the two you mentioned above. That is deserting the wife by "disappearing act". You know, the guy runs off and just disappears... In this case, the women left are still married technically.=adley=
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Salaam Ahmed,
Thanks for the lesson. Man, I need to get my basic Arabic straight soon.
Regarding 2234, I can think of one other possibility besides the two you mentioned above. That is deserting the wife by "disappearing act". You know, the guy runs off and just disappears... In this case, the women left are still married technically.=adley=
Peace bro
I believe there is another verse that tackles this issue of a man deserting his wife and what the wife should do then, I'm not 100% positive but I feel I read it somewhere in the Quran, i will need sometime to find it though
cheers
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Salaam Ahmed,
Thanks for the lesson. Man, I need to get my basic Arabic straight soon.
Regarding 2234, I can think of one other possibility besides the two you mentioned above. That is deserting the wife by "disappearing act". You know, the guy runs off and just disappears... In this case, the women left are still married technically.=adley=
Hello
I think 2226 may apply to those deserted women, while 2226 is talking about rebelling wives and that their husband should desret them first for 4 months, i think it can apply both ways (on men and women)
so if a husband deserts his wife for 4 months and she wants divorce then she can seek it legally according to 2226 and 2227
cheers
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Salaam Ahmed,
Thanks for bringing 2226-227 to the issue of desertion by the husband (or the wife).
I'll look into it a bit further. Well, it seems off topic, but I guess it helps to shed some light on this issue of Wa-Fa-Ya.
Thanks.=adley=
Peace
I agree that it is off topics, i was searching last night and this verse just caught my eyes, it is clear that it is about rebelling wives and the husbands should desert them for a period of 4 months before they divorce them
what caught my eyes is the plural verb "Azamo", i felt it means both the husband and the wife however I had another thought later on and realized that it can also mean the HUSBANDS as a plural
I think i got mixed up with the hadith, the issue of desrting the wife is dicussed in details in the hadith as far as I believe and the wife can chase something called Khalih, i.e to seek divorce because of the husband desrting her, in fact I had a relative in egypt who just got divorced in such way and ironically i found that the egyptian christains use it nowdays to get divorced of their christian husbands if they desrt them
cheers