Chapter 108: Sura al-Kauther
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Peace be upon you all.
The second verse in chapter 108, "Fasalli lirabbika wainhar", translates as "so pray to your lord and sacrifice." However, many commentaries and translations say that it refers to Udhiyah (animal) sacrifice. The english translation of Al-Muntakhab, and german translations of Al-Azhar Inst. and M. Rasool and the turkish Diyanet translations directly interpret it as sacrificing animal.
I would like to know if this sacrifice specifically means to sacrifice an animal, because I do not see a form of the Arabic word Udhiyah, which means the sacrifice of an animal ("qurban", or whether it means a general form of sacrifice, as to share the goods of the "fountain of abundance" (al-Kauther) with others.
I do not speak Arabic, but I am fluent and read and try to understand the holy words in English, Turkish and German.
Thank you very much.
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peace Kubi,
Even if one cannot read Arabic one can still do a significant amount of research/verification online with respect to translations.
Here's what I would do. Since this is a very small verse, it is easy to identify words/roots and further your research. The word is "wainhar". "wa" in Arabic means "and" so take this off and you are left with "inhar". Look at the Arabic (all you need to know is Arabic letters) which will tell you the word consists of Nun-Ha-Ra. Look this up in PRL
http//www.studyquran.co.uk/PRLonline.htmArmed with this knowledge, consider the info with respect to the context and see what the possibilities are. 1082 begins with "fa" thus it is linked to 1081 (as you have already picked up on).
What has probably happened is that the word "inhar" is usually associated with animals but the word is unlikely to be exclusive to that usage, thus its more likely to be referring to general sacrifice, as you suggested.
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Thank you Wakas,
you gave me the links to websites I was looking for thanks. My problem was i could not find the exact meaning of "inhar" and whether it meant specifically animal sacrifice. I found the translations listed on my first post (i.e. the ones who translate it directly as animal sacrifice) to be incorrect, in the sense that it conveys only a part of the truth. Do you not agree that to someone who does not speak Arabic, regardless of whether he is a muslim or not, and can only research the Quran with these translations will have a distorted view of Islam. I believe they will fail to see the beauty hidden even in the shortest chapters of the Quran by little mistranslations like this.
I lived in Turkey. For muslims there Islam is mostly memorization of Arabic verses of the Quran. They never try to understand the Quran, and when a sister or brother actually wants to learn from it, they are offered poor translations as such. Most people there do not have an internet connection like I do and cannot independently find the truth. It is sad.
Sorry for going over topic.
Peace for all.
