Meaning of hamd
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Peace be upon you Nadeem,
You translated "Alhamdu lillahi rabbi alAAalameena" as "Elevate to The God, Lord of the Worlds" and declared on basis of this that "This is what we are asked to do".
My knowledge of arabic stretches no further than 3 chapters, yet, I'm confident that the arabic quoted above doesn't contain a single verb, nor is it a question. It is a statement.
There is no preposition "To" in there do indicate direction, rather it indicates ownership. "Ilaa" is the particle you're looking for, which you'll not find in 12. The particle here is Li- which means "to" or "for" indicating possession, as opposed to "ilaa" which indicates direction.
"Al-hamdu li-llahi" = the hamd (is) for the god.
Can you explain to me, grammatically, how a verb can be 'owned' or 'possessed'?
It has to be a noun.
Nadeem
I agree that your corrections are accurate, I made an error in one verse that led me to believe "hamd" was exalt, however, the object for mankind is still the same, to become more and more God-Like....
If we take "hamd" without translating it...We can see that "hamd" is property of God(Godliness).
So "muhammad" is one who is an owner of "hamd" as well......how can you obtain that which is God's without becoming "Godlike"?
The basis is that we are created in God's likeness..according to God's pattern...we have he same powers but not the same amount.
We are SERVANTS of the God..we are to purify out spirits so that the God can manifest Its attributes through our vehicles. That which we "praise" the God for is that which the righteous humans manifest from the God working througth them, not some miraculous parting of literal seas.
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Salam Everyone,
It is my understanding that you are all "right," and you are all "wrong."
This is the beauty of the Glorious Quran! The book is about everything you think it is about all at the same time.Muhammad was a man and it is also an exalted level that we ourselves hope to achieve. The book is about history, our development as human beings as a group, and the different spiritual levels we attain as we learn and grow.
The Quran is so complex and fascinating that there are infinite stories and lessons being told for us to learn all at once. This may be one of the reasons why reading it daily is so very important. It is a living book and each time you come away with a different understanding. Usually there are multiple understandings that are all correct at once. This is much like Quantum physics.
One word can mean many different things in arabic.This maybe why these ancient languages are used in holy texts. One word means many things at once and yet with all these complexities, the Quran does not contain a single contradiction! Alhamdulillah!
Salam,
Arnab