[And they will say, “Had we but listened or used our intelligence, we would not have been among the dwellers of the blazing Fire!”]Mulk:10 They use their ‘intelligence’ and ‘logic’ to refute the Qur`ān and its message. But only on the Day of Recompense will they learn the difference between sound intelligence and a flawed one. Ibn ʿAbbās – raḍī Allāhu ʿanh – explains this āyah, “If we had only listened with the hearing of one who understands and…
[You only want to be a tyrant in the land and do not want to be of the amenders.] Qaṣaṣ:19 Firʿawn tells Mūsa ʿalayhis salām that he’s onto him. That he knows what Mūsa’s “real” intentions are for calling people to Allāh; it is not to benefit them but rather it is to give Prophet Mūsa command and supremacy over them. We know this lie couldn’t be further from the Truth. But then this is how it is with…
The bearer of Qur`ān must be recognized by his nights when people are sleeping. And by his days when people are eating, by his sadness when people are joyous, by his tears when people are laughing, by his silence when people are arguing, and by his humbleness when people are easily offended. ʿAbdullāh ibn Masʿūd, in: التبيان في آداب حملة القرآن لإمام النووي…
In sūrah al-Kahf Allāh likens the life of this world to water. Water that is sent down in the form of rain, to be more precise. [And put forward to them the example of the life of this world, it is like the water (rain) which We send down from the sky] Kahf:45 Think of the imagery being created. Rain water is never stagnant. It is constantly moving; falling down, running streams, bouncing droplets, still puddles – that…
An infant enters the palace and causes upheaval: Wet nurses are summoned and dismissed; the infant wants nothing to do with them. His screams fill the palace. Guards are everywhere, trying to maintain order. Asiyā leaves her royal duties and occupies herself with her newly adopted son, aching to sooth his cries. Firʿawn tries but fails miserably to restore order in his once peaceful palace – he is helpless in the face of a hungry infant. All of this because…