Q U R A N A S H O R T J O U R N E Y Q U R A N A S H O R T J O U R N E Y Suite 321, North Circular Road, London, NW10 7PN T: +44(0)3000 111 365 E: [email protected] www.iERA.org COPYRIGHT OF iERA © 2017 3 Contents Page The Opening 5 Signs of God 6 True Monotheism 15 Charity 17 The Search 19 Wisdom 23 Materialism 26 Principles & Values 28 Previous Revelations 31 Mary 33 Men & Women 37 Trials and Tribulations 38 Struggle 40 Faithless 41 Reasoning 42 Forgiveness 43 The Inevitable 44 Humankind 50 4 A SHORT JOURNEY THROUGH THE QURAN P reface The Holy Qur’an is a book of guidance and spiritual progress. This book outlines the values and beliefs that can make you the best person you can be. It teaches a way of thinking that is positive, progressive and solution- oriented. Any person who adopts the worldview of this book becomes a person who believes in justice for all, equality for all and personal re- sponsibility. The Qur’an is a book of persuasion - it is a book that speaks to you like a friend. Stories of famous people are given only as a way to prove a point, laws are few and are connected with trying to make you a better person. Poetic phrases become beautiful ways to remember sound advice and good teachings. You can open the book at any page, start reading and learn something useful, In short, the Qur’an is a personal letter from God to you, asking you to become something more than you thought you could be, someone whom God loves and someone who loves His world so much that he or she will do everything in their power to take good care of it. This translation of the meaning of the Qur’an is not the same as the original Arabic Qur’an. You can use this book to get at the meanings and message of the Qur’an, but it is the original Arabic text where the message truly resides. May your search bear fruit and may the message of the Qur’an guide your way for all the rest of your days. Ameen A SHORT JOURNEY THROUGH THE QURAN 5 the opening In the name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful. Praise belongs to God, Lord of all Worlds, the Compassionate, the Merciful. Master of the Day of Judgement. It is you we worship; it is you we ask for help. Guide us to the straight path, the path of those you have blessed, those who incur no anger and who have not gone astray. [Chapter 1, Verses 1-7] Quran This is the Book in which there is no doubt, containing guidance for those who are mindful of God, who believe in the unseen, keep up the prayer, and give out of what We have provided for them; those who believe in the revelation sent down to you [Muham- mad], and in what was sent before you, those who have firm faith in the Hereafter. Such people are following their Lord’s guidance and it is they who will prosper. [Chapter 2, Verses 2-5] Clinging SubStanCe Read in the name of your Lord who created - created human beings from a clinging substance. Read, and your Lord is the Most Generous - Who taught by the pen – He taught human beings what they didn’t know before. [Chapter 96, Verses 1-5] Morning brightneSS By the sun in its morning brightness and by the moon as it follows it, by the day as it displays the sun’s glory and by the night as it conceals it, by the sky and how He built it and by the earth and how He spread it, and by the soul and its balanced (nature) and its innate awareness (of right and wrong).The one who purifies his soul succeeds and the one who corrupts it fails. [Chapter 91, Verses 1-10] 6 A SHORT JOURNEY THROUGH THE QURAN god Say, He is God the One, God the eternal. He does not give birth nor was he born and there is nothing like him. [Chapter 112, Verses 1-4] balanCe It is the Lord of mercy who taught the Quran, He created the human being and taught him to communicate. The sun and the moon follow their calculated courses, the plants and the trees submit to his designs; and the heaven He raised and imposed the balance so that you may not exceed in the balance. Weigh with justice and do not fall short in the balance. He set down the earth for his creatures with its fruits, its palm trees and sheathed clusters, its husked grain, its fragrant plants, so which of your Lord’s favours will you deny? [Chapter 55, Verses 1-13] nature It is God who splits open the seed and the fruit stone: He brings out the living from the dead and the dead from the living– that is God– so how can you turn away from the truth? He makes the dawn break; He makes the night for rest; and He made the sun and the moon to a precise measure. That is the design of the Almighty, the All Knowing. It is He who made the stars, so that they can guide you when land and sea are dark: We have made the signs clear for those who have knowledge. It is He who first produced you from a single soul, then gave you a place to stay [in life] and a resting place [after death]. We have made Our revelations clear to those who understand. It is He who sends down water from the sky. With it We produce the shoots of each plant, then bring greenery from it, and from that We bring out grains, one riding on the other in close- packed rows. From the date palm come clusters of low-hanging dates, and there are A SHORT JOURNEY THROUGH THE QURAN 7 gardens of vines, olives, and pomegranates, alike yet different. Watch their fruits as they grow and ripen! In all this there are signs for those who would believe. [Chapter 6, Verses 95-99] SignS of god So celebrate God’s glory in the evening, in the morning, praise is due to Him in the heavens and the earth, in the late afternoon, and at midday. He brings the living out of the dead and the dead out of the living. He gives life to the earth after death, and you will be brought out in the same way. One of His signs is that He created you from dust and – lo and behold! – you became human and scattered far and wide. Another of His signs is that He created spouses from among yourselves for you to live with in tranquillity: He ordained love and kindness between you. There truly are signs in this for those who reflect. Another of His signs is the creation of the heavens and earth, and the diversity of your languages and colours. There truly are signs in this for those who know. Among His signs are your sleep, by night and by day, and your seeking His bounty. There are signs in this for those who listen. Among His signs, too, are that He shows you the lightning that terrifies and inspires hope; that He sends water down from the sky to restore the earth to life after death. There truly are signs in this for those who use their reason. Among His signs, too, is the fact that the heavens and the earth stand firm by His command. In the end, you will all emerge when He calls you from the earth. Everyone in the heavens and earth belongs to Him, and all are obedient to Him. He is the One who originates creation and will do it again– this is even easier for Him. He is above all comparison in the heavens and earth; He is the Almighty, the All Wise. [Chapter 30, Verses 17-27] purpoSe [He] who created death and life to test you [as to] which of you is best in deed- and He is the Exalted in Might, the Forgiving - [and] who created seven heavens in layers. You 8 A SHORT JOURNEY THROUGH THE QURAN do not see in the creation of the Most Merciful any inconsistency. So return [your] vision [to the sky]; do you see any breaks? Then return [your] vision twice again. [Your] vision will return to you humbled while it is fatigued. And We have certainly beautified the nearest heaven with stars [Chapter 67, Verses 2-5] refelCtion Your Lord is God, who created the heavens and earth in six stages, then established Himself on the throne; He makes the night cover the day in swift pursuit; He created the sun, moon, and stars to be subservient to His command; all creation and command belong to Him. Exalted be God, Lord of all the worlds! Call on your Lord humbly and privately– He does not like those who transgress His bounds: do not corrupt the earth after it has been set right– call on Him fearing and hoping. The mercy of God is close to those who do good. It is God who sends the winds, bearing good news of His coming grace, and when they have gathered up the heavy clouds, We drive them to a dead land where We cause rain to fall, bringing out all kinds of crops, just as We shall bring out the dead. Will you not reflect? Vegetation comes out of good land in abundance, by the will of its Lord, but out of bad land only scantily: We explain Our Revelations in various ways to those who give thanks. [Chapter 7, Verses 54-58] Creation of the univerSe Are the disbelievers not aware that the heavens and the earth were once fused to- gether in a single piece, and then We split them apart? We made every living thing from water? So won’t they believe? And We put firm mountains on the earth, lest it should sway under them, and set broad paths on it, so that they might follow the right direction, and We made the sky a protected ceiling, but they, from its signs, are turning away. It is He who created night and day, the sun and the moon, each floating in its orbit. We have not granted everlasting life to any other human being before you either [O Muhammad] A SHORT JOURNEY THROUGH THE QURAN 9 – if you die, will [the disbelievers] live for ever? Every soul is certain to taste death: We test you all through the bad and the good, and to Us you will all return. [Chapter 21, Verses 30-35] the Shadow Do you not see how your Lord lengthens the shadow? If He had willed, He could have made it stand still– We made the sun its indicator– but We gradually draw it towards Us, little by little. [Chapter 25, Verses 45-46] obServation Do the disbelievers not see how rain clouds are formed, how the heavens are lifted, how the mountains are raised high, how the earth is spread out? So remind, [O Muham- mad]; you are only a reminder. You are not over them a controller. [Chapter 88, Verses 17-22] uSing reaSon This Book is sent down from God, the Mighty, the Wise. There are signs in the heavens and the earth for those who believe: in the creation of you, in the creatures God scat- tered on earth, there are signs for people of sure faith; in the alternation of night and day, in the rain God provides, sending it down from the sky and reviving the dead earth with it, and in His shifting of the winds there are signs for those who use their reason. These are God’s signs that We recount to you [O Muhammad, to show] the Truth. If they deny God and His revelations, what message will they believe in? [Chapter 45, Verses 2-6] diSgraCe Had your Lord willed, all the people on earth would have believed. So can you [O Muhammad] compel people to believe? No soul can believe except by God’s will, and He brings disgrace on those who do not use their reason. Say, “Observe what is in the heavens and earth.” But of no avail will be signs or warners to a people who do not