About the word Kitab, Kufar etc..

Kitab=Recorded, Written, a Record, the written laws/rules. Kitab has signs showing who is god, examples to lead, moral stories. Moral laws, its to be taken as a criterion for people to lead.
In the common narrative and translations, the reference to kitab is meant to be simple as book with its verses,
but in the TheQuran, it really refers to the recorded signs or laws from God and to base our actions and guidance to follow, instead of acting in selfish desires.
The book we have can also be called as Kitab, but in almost in all verses in TheQuran it seems its referring either to the collection of signs or laws(Aayats) or the record thats kept with God, on the happenings, ie, who does what for the judgment.

Kafir = literally one who covers himself off or one who keeps himself away rejecting. So Kafir is one who do not accept the signs and laws of God that are recorded, so can refer to a criminal or one who does acts against laws.

Mumin = one who believes in the kitabic signs and laws and use that as examples to lead.

Aayats are signs or laws to follow that are in the Kitab(book of signs or laws). But normally we are made to think that Aayat referred as verses of the book theQuran, but almost everywhere its the signs/laws.

Most verses we can see this, this is clear here.

2/85

Then, you are those killing one another and evicting a party of your people from their homes, cooperating against them in sin and aggression. And if they come to you as captives, you ransom them, although their eviction was forbidden to you. So do you believe in part of the Scripture(kitab) and disbelieve in part? Then what is the recompense for those who do that among you except disgrace in worldly life; and on the Day of Resurrection they will be sent back to the severest of punishment. And Allāh is not unaware of what you do.

It clearly talks about the law here, of punishing those who were killing others and driving away from homes,but some group leave them without punishing by favoring them?

2/89

And when there came to them a Book(kitab) from Allāh confirming that which was with them - although before they used to pray for victory against those who disbelieved(overcoming the trouble makers) - but when there came to them that which they recognized, they disbelieved in it; so the curse of Allāh will be upon the disbelievers.

This is related to the above 2/85 verse and talks about the hypocrisy of those people, when the same law applied to themselves over others.

3/7
It is He who has sent down to you,
, the Book; in it are verses precise - they are the foundation of the Book - and others unspecific. As for those in whose hearts is deviation , they will follow that of it which is unspecific, seeking discord and seeking an interpretation . And no one knows its interpretation except Allah. But those firm in knowledge say, "We believe in it. All is from our Lord." And no one will be reminded except those of understanding.

what are those are unspecific and precise verses here?, it should be signs or laws to follow.

I think its referring to the precise clear laws those people understood clearly why these were in practice and unspecified laws, that many cant understand initially, but asks to follow them and later will come to a clear understanding.

Literally Quran=Recitation or Reading,

But why the name Recitation/reading, those earlier days, people used poem or phrases that were often repeated to spread some moral laws, truths,hymns etc it was there in all ancient communities and even now, this helps people remember.

Quran should be collection of Aayas

Aayaas=Signs that proves Allah(common goodness provider).

Signs or Aayas, needs to have a purpose, my point is, there are Ayahs/Signs mentioned within the book, that was often read or recited to remind people about God and thats only the Quran.

The prophet read certain Aayats signs/examples/laws for people to follow, revealed by God, to announce to people at specific instances and its called as Quran in the reading itself.

Some of verses that has referenced Quran.
Saheeh Internation...

2/185
Qur'an, a guidance for the people and clear proofs of guidance and criterion.
7/204
So when the Qur’ān is recited, then listen to it and pay attention that you may receive mercy.
10/15
And when Our verses are recited to them as clear evidences, those who do not expect the meeting with Us say, "Bring us a Qur'an other than this or change it." Say,
"It is not for me to change it on my own accord. I only follow what is revealed to me. Indeed I fear, if I should disobey my Lord, the punishment of a tremendous Day."

12/2

Indeed, We have sent it down as an Arabic Qur'an that you might understand.

13/31
And if there was any qur'an by which the mountains would be removed or the earth would be broken apart or the dead would be made to speak, , but to Allah belongs the affair entirely. Then have those who believed not accepted that had Allah willed, He would have guided the people, all of them? And those who disbelieve do not cease to be struck, for what they have done, by calamity - or it will descend near their home - until there comes the promise of Allah. Indeed, Allah does not fail in promise.

some were expecting The reading after read will cause the mountains to be moved, dead to speak, etc..???

So here Verses are not just the verses, but signs, signs that proves there is God, reminds of his punishment, his rewards, his control etc.

So Quran is about God alone, his promises etc... that will be reminded to people repeatedly.

20/114

So high is Allah , the Sovereign, the Truth. And,
, do not hasten with the Qur'an before its revelation is completed to you, and say, "My Lord, increase me in knowledge."

Why not hasten?
I think it asks the messenger to wait for him to gain the knowledge well, before announcing it to public.

25/32
And those who disbelieve say, "Why was the Qur’ān not revealed to him all at once?" Thus that We may strengthen thereby your heart. And We have spaced it distinctly.

About the word Quran.

4/82 Shaheeh International
Then do they not reflect upon the Qur’ān?1 If it had been from other than Allāh, they would have found within it much contradiction.

5/101
O you who have believed, do not ask about things which, if they are shown to you, will distress you. But if you ask about them while the Qur’ān is being revealed, they will be shown to you. Allāh has pardoned it ; and Allāh is Forgiving and Forbearing.
— Saheeh International

so what is the Quran here, how its referenced within here, is it the book we have now as commonly understood? we know from common narrative the book we have was collected by so and so after the death of prophet, compiled etc..
so it can not be referenced here, right? or is it referring to the previous revealed written down list of verses?

I am thinking of the word Quran refers to "the teachings or collection of laws made by the prophet as revealed".

Mazhar,

Thats good,

So this is in the context of war, and asks the messenger possibly the king or leader to go for war, and saying no one can ask questions except yourselves, urge the believers in participating etc...

So the cause of Allah, can be any common cause.

Thanks for your comments, I understand.
My question is, does this verse about going to war, and asking the leader not to hesitate doing it?
The word 'fight' is the one we see in the common translations.
But how we fight in the name of Allah, is it fighting just by saying the word Allah or fighting for spreading the Religion?

my main point in taking this verse, for getting the deeper meaning of the name Allah, fighting in the name of Allah should be a fight thats done for an issue hurting the community or an injustice, that is the common goodness.

Mazhar,

If you can get the exact problem with the grammar in the above verse I translated it should be better, instead of this long para.

4/84 Saheeh International..
So fight, , in the cause of Allāh; you are not held responsible except for yourself. And encourage the believers
that perhaps Allāh will restrain the might of those who disbelieve. And Allāh is greater in might and stronger in punishment.

into
So fight/put effort in the cause of Allah (for common goodness) Not others are responsible except yourselves,and encourage the other believers in this,
Allah will restrain the strength of those who deny and works against the common good.
And Allah is greater in strength and stronger in punishment.

I just look more into the semantics or logics here, and that this verse not directly referring to a military fight or war, as we infer from the common translation. We can see from the previous verse and other verses, it could be some security or fear giving issue.

Theres a timing, but its only for our comfort, i dont think its so important, saying morning and evening and day and night is to highlight its importance. Only muslims worry about the inner details, every religion has prayers and theres no such strict adherences or not much worried about the uniformity all through out the world. Even Quran didnt give that.

17/78
Establish prayer at the decline of the sun until the darkness of the night1 and the Qur’ān of dawn.2 Indeed, the recitation of dawn is ever witnessed.

It highlights the important of prayer and reading, can be translated as,

Spend time to establish your adoration/prayer after your works are completed, until you sleep, and do the recitation(reading) at early morning time, the recitation at early morning is very helpful.

17/79
And from the night, pray with it as additional for you; it is expected that your Lord will resurrect you to a praised station.

If you have time, you can pray extra in the night without sleeping, that will help you improve & raise your level before God.

Also these prayer calls on those days will be like clocks of the present days, announcing specific times so people could know and plan their works and rest accordingly.

So 24/48 is not about prayer timing but about privacy and the times are taken as pointers.

Again 11/114
And establish prayer at the two ends of the day and at the approach of the night. Indeed, good deeds do away with misdeeds. That is a reminder for those who remember.

Here its saying, "establish your adoration/prayers at morning and evening(before and after your works/day), and before sleeping, indeed good deeds do away with misdeeds, that is a reminder for those who remember."

17/80
And say, "My Lord, cause me to enter a sound entrance1 and to exit a sound exit2 and grant me from Yourself a supporting authority."

This again looks incorrect, its not referring any event, it could refer to the incoming day,
My lord make my day/work start and end better and you be always beside me an authority helping.

Iyaakka,

Yes I understand and accept your point, but I feel the Salat as Prayer is lacking something or missing to explain the true translations, Like see the angels do Salat on the prophet, do they pray on him? or do they do blessing?

The birds with their wings spread and all the beings in this world do it on the God.The Animals do seek some kind of affection by embracing.

Adore is somehow we all do, even anyone could do that so easily, a simple expression is enough and we feel a lot better. I feel 'Prayer' becomes a little more complicated and becomes a special ritual and the mainstream salat in Arabic as a non arabic i feel distant and machine or robot kind of expression.

Aqimus Salat,

Pronounce/Express/Uphold the Adoration

Instead of the word prayer, i had found a better word that i think is closer to the word 'salat. Adore(literally meaning
to love and admire somebody/something very much)

So each can do this in their own ways, adoration of something, raising their hands, clapping, singing songs, raising slogans, embracing, sujud etc.. so what should be the better method depends on what we adore.

so what could be the benefit, we adore something we desire and wants to be closer to us, so this brings happiness and blessings.

The timing I think is for our comfort and only when done in a group, we need to consider everyone in the group and plan this.

The better timing for group prayers would be,
when we start our day or work, we can do our prayers, early morning, when the sun raises, we see that as a blessing too and help start our day better.

And the end of our work or day, which normally is the evening, when everyone finish their works and participate. Thanking for the day.

The ends of the days are easy for everyone at any place to find and participate and perform.

And possibly the middle of the day noon, as many take rest in between and for lunch.

Now mainstream muslims pray using multiple verses of the Quran, which some has no relation with the adoration. Will that be right? Or Recitation(Quran) can be an additional part that could be optional for people to learn after their Prayers/Adoration.

About your question, I dont have an answer,
But
What is Quran, is it the book we have and is that referring itself in it?

No I dont think so, Quran just means the readings and the teachings given, those one has to take to heart and statements to keep in mind.
How can the book talk about itself?
like, we have given the 7 verses and the Quran, so where was the Quran then? Quran was said to released in phases? so the question is do we need to include all the verses we have into Quran? There looks no answer.

About the word Kitab? Kitab are the past laws and stories of the people that were passed from generation after generations and act as moral examples for people to follow. It is part of the Quran and not the total book.

Al qawlan in many instances referred to as the word indirectly meaning the book itself, but it actually refers to the decree or the judgements.

Also another question is some of the verses relate to the rules for the prophet and Mohammed and it applies to them in those instances, so why we should worry about those now and what are the teachings those gives currently?

most now take the total Quran as the book, the teachings looks not so important, rather the book and its verses, and we doubt the book and find magic.

Good work,
I have the same understanding on the months, about the word Ramadan, it refers to the bright moon Harvest moon days, but why the later leaders changed, could be they do not want to give any significance to anything symbolic.

About Harvest moon,

A Harvest Moon's proximity to the September equinox means that the rise times for the near-to-full phases of the Moon are nearly the same on the days before and after. So, the Harvest Moon is so-called because the difference in rise times from one evening to the next after this date is the smallest for the year.

Why is the harvest moon special?

Extra daylight The harvest moon rises shortly after sunset for several nights in a row, giving farmers extra daylight to work.

Close to the autumnal equinox The harvest moon is the full moon closest to the autumnal equinox, which is when the moon's orbit is at its minimum relative to Earth's horizon.
Cultural phenomenon The harvest moon is both an astronomical event and a cultural phenomenon.

What are some other things to know about the harvest moon?

The harvest moon can appear red because its light passes through more of Earth's atmosphere as it sinks lower in the sky.

In the Southern Hemisphere, the harvest moon occurs in March or April.
The September full moon is sometimes called the corn moon or barley moon.
The harvest moon can be a great time for stargazing

Jkhan,

I agree partly to the centralization concept,
but I have very different understanding how Quran should be seen, you are trying to make everything complicated and totally changing some of the common words.

I see everything as coming from a leader who wants to unite the people, give a better religion for them, yes with a better rule. Quran says clear,
its to motivate the believers/supporters and demotivate those who reject and come to peaceful terms. Explains things it considers illogical in the religions then.

About the word Haram, its about restricting oneself to moral good laws and discipline,
Masjid AL Haram as i said was considered to be a sanctuary with religious symbols, where people go thinking that will purify them, Safety guaranteed as long as one was there,
but follow certain standards, like dress code, no pleasure activities etc.. as they were for learning moral laws and disciplines.

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Wakas,

good work on the real meaning of Salat.

Saad-Lam-Waw (slw). E.W. Lane's Arabic-English lexicon/dictionary gives the following possible meanings of the root

prayer, supplication, petition, oration, eulogy, benediction, commendation, blessing, honour, magnify, bring forth, follow closely, walk/follow behind closely, to remain attached, to contact or to be in contact.

Reading most of the verses, the word Salat could in a way mean,
Proclaim, in favor of, publicly/openly,

So I think, Aqimus Salat, was essential one for bringing people to the religion by not going astray, always by Salat ie.

Proclamations, esp of good favorable words being delivered and this is what Aquimus Salat meant, esp it involves reading/teaching and listening.

i think the Zakat part refers the acting part or demonstration one does based on the proclamations/words given.

some of verses this gives clear understanding,

33/56
Angels and god giving favorable words for the messenger/leader, and people also should also do that with messenger and greet him while seeing him.

19/56
neglected doing the proclamations given and followed their own hidden desires.

9/5
if they repent and establish the proclamations .. then...

3/39
here i think it means, when Zechariah was standing waiting for the proclamation

4/103
An outside session where the leader giving his proclamations to people, should be in groups and protected.
4/104
If stopped attending/doing this session due to some issues, then remember God while standing sitting or lying and then come/do later when in good condition,
attending this is fixed at specified terms/time intervals.

Jkhan,

In your translations, you give multiple words for a single word, doesnt make it more readable.
Also You want Quran to be applied to modern society as it is, so you are replacing new suitable words which i think is difficult to grasp the right meaning behind these verses.

I believe Quran was for a particular society and came in a particular period and need to be read in those contexts.

About Qibla, Each community consider some elements to be more valuable and construct rituals and monuments to represent those,
as a soceity the Arabs needed a qibla, so the Quran verses shows or gives a qibla for the newly formed Arab muslim community which i think the Masjid Al Haram,
which represent the sacred duty of doing good and selfless sacrifice for the benefit of the community.

Qibla can represent the knowledge, wealth, a mountain peak representing greatness of god, or a prophets birth place or of some importance, etc.
Jews Christians and other have their own Qiblas, but Quran suggests a different thing for the early muslim community.

Communities do not change their thoughts about what is great or important,
example in Indian religions,there are two major sects, some religion follow the goodness/happiness part of God, like wealth and strength and always aim for those,
but some others follow entirely opposite things like sacrificing, giving away, fasting, pain rituals like piercing, walking on fire embers, walking long distance to temples as rituals.
They think these benefit them in some way.

Here God is being seen in two entirely different ways, one in happiness and another indirectly in difficulties and sacrifice,
which is correct? depends on many things like the culture and even the individual status of people, what they needed and how they view whats important.

So Quran says, each one follow their own qibla, and here it associates the qibla also as a symbol that shows which messenger the people were following before,
like the past messengers who brought the rituals and religion.

Many instance of MAH still looks to refer to this as a place where restrictions comes into effect, but as i said, in many instances it refers to the mode of discipline/restricting one's self over the opposite of like going for a fight or acting without any order. May be with time, some wrong understanding crept in.

I am looking parallels of Haram to the Indian concept of Santana dharma/Aram, which is the root behind Indian religions and even we can say behind most religions, where principles of discipline and restrictions get priority over one's self/ego. Here as a community the act of not killing animals at will, preserving vegetation, ecosystem, wealth distribution and community welfare etc gets prioritized over anything else.

Theres a verse in Quran, that talks about killing less aged animals and destroying crops by people, 2/205, shows how community welfare gets prioritized over self ego and selfish desires.

The problem was Quran was taken by most literally and meant to be applied globally without considering the circumstances and time these advises were given.Even many verses in Quran, it says each have their own qibla, deen, direction to face etc..and its not about institutionalizing a religion, but an advice given to those Arabs to follow the advises of the leader, by establishing Salat(the primary laws to govern) and contributing to society.

It asks the Jews and Christians that whether all the leaders came in the past were only Jews or Christians? so in a way its saying leaders do come for all nations to guide and work for the welfare of the people.

Yes it asks the leader to fight, for maintaining order and removing fitnah, i am seeing a lot to learn by leaders now from Quran, instead of taking the verses to be mere ritual reciting in a Salat and part of specific religion that need to be spread through out the world.

So it all revolves around how we take the Quranic verses and i think the current Tafsirs were entirely bogus and do not reflect the true picture on the primary purpose of the Quran. The Quranic mainstream history has a lot of loopholes on how it was transmitted, compiled and later spread etc.

Eventhough Masjid Al Haram, refers to a place in many verses, in some verses 2140-150 its about its literal meaning, which i think is closer to "Dicipline/Morals/Following the Restrictions",
for example 2150, "so people will not have any arguments except the law breakers/wrong doers".

So the Qibla will the discipline/law+rules, and to follow those, whereever one go or is in,

The Masjid Al Haram, can refers to a sanctuary,and initially used by some sects and later taken over by the muslims,where fighting was forbidden and used for religious sacrifices at the time of Hajj, and also looks to be a center for the community, where its people unite.

Sanctuaries were built for such purposes, since very ancient times, by the Jews, Romans, Nabateans, Greek and even the Pyramids can be a type of sanctuary.

Mount Hermon has a lot of old temples, the word Hermon comes from the word Haram,
Jerusalem Temple mount is called Haram al shariff,

Nabatean Arab Sanctuaries were there dedicated their Gods, in places like Petra and many other places.

can you address the problems with my translation?

I am seeing three different scenarios,

First is participating in Hajj without any delay, and shaving the heads only after the sacrifice reaches its destination, if cannot do the head shaving, then fasting or extra offering in ransom.

Second is prevented in traveling to Hajj and arriving after the Hajj, and thats Umrah as they had put extra effort.

Third is returning back without participating or unable reach the masjid al haram, which can be satisfied with fasting.