Auron ka hai Payaam aur, mera Payaam aur hai,/ Ishq key dardmand ka tarz-e-kalaam aur hai!
(Iqbal)
By the way Muslims, it is an Aayat – I mean a passage of the Qur’an – and not a “verse” like most of you call it in the English language.
An Aayat, as I have tried to explain I don’t know in how many places, is a sign, a miracle, a marker, a pointer to something else. It is a proclamation from Allah that the Qur’an – or any of its Aayats – could have come only from Allah and not from a human source.
Therefore, every Aayat cries out to the reader that it is – and the whole Qur’an is – a miracle from God Almighty.
And anyone with any level of intelligence can see that it is indeed the case. For, the miraculous nature of the Aayats of the Qur’an is self-evident. Of course, it is self-evident when Allah wants to make it plain to you and the Qur’an would talk to you. If not, all you see is a one great big blur of dark ink.
Wa huwa alaihim ‘amaa
As for the expression “verse,” it means poetry, no matter how you cut it. And Allah says more than once in the Qur’an that Qur’an is not poetry.
Wa maa allamnaahush shi’r wa maa yambaghee lah
Wa maa huwa bi-qawli shaa’ir
So, Muslims, that is why to me the word “verse” as translation for Aayat is not only not acceptable but deeply objectionable. In fact, I consider it fairly close to some kind of a Tahreef (interpolation and changing) of the Qur’an – not in words, but in meaning.
It is one of those examples, like Salaat and Salaam, where Muslims became the victims of their own errant translation – but perhaps much more serious than either one of those other examples.
Latin, French or Arabic: Take Your Pick
Maybe someday, somewhere, Allah will give us an opportunity to address some of these things in greater depth. The question right now is how do you render this ocean of meaning and connotation – whether it is with regard to Salaat, Salaam or Zakaat – into a small cup such as a word or even a phrase?
It is a case of Darya Ko Koozay Main Band Karna, as they say in Urdu – pack the ocean in a jar. How can you do it?
My answer: You cannot!
What should we do then? My submission: use these untranslatable divine expressions representing a divine culture and a slice of Paradise-on-Earth, the way they are – the way they came originally from Allah, the way Allah uses them – and then work to get the English-speaking world, and the rest of the world, to accept and use them in their original form.
It can be done.
It is no different from the way the world learned to use Latin and French expressions while making use of the English language. Except that Latin and French do not exactly represent Paradise on earth, even though they are, like all other languages in the world, a part of the mercy of Allah on human beings, as it is he, as the Qur’an says, who taught human beings language and gave them the power of expression – Wa ‘allamahul bayaan.
But Arabic is a bit different in some ways. And Arabic is the language of the Qur’an. And it is the language of Paradise.
And as the language of the Qur’an, Arabic is easy, simple and powerful. Repeat: Arabic is easy, simple and powerful. It is a divine gift of the most spectacular kind in mortal human hands.
Arabic is not a “classic” language – fit for museums – as some Muslims rush to characterize it. Subhanallah! Allah is Hayy and Qayyoom. And Allah’s book came to put life in dead bodies. Limaa yuhyeekum!
Arabic is the language of life. And it is the language, not antiquity, but of Eternity – and it is the language of Paradise. And we want to kill it already – before this world is even ended?
And then Muslims wonder what went wrong with them? They run around asking everyone: Can you please tell us what is wrong with us Muslims.
Sure, I can tell the Muslims a thing or two about what is wrong with them. Let us sit down and talk.
What Is Wrong with the Muslims?
At least that is what the Qur’an says. What is wrong with Muslims is not what most Muslims think is wrong with them – even though it is all part of the same equation.
It is not America, even though the present American administration seems to have set itself on a needlessly foolish collision course with Islam and Muslims on the one hand and with universal canons of human decency and international law on the other hand.
It is not Israel, even though Israel in its guilt, paranoia and short-sightedness may see Islam and Muslims as its natural enemies and may dream of living in a world that is free of trouble-making Muslims, inspired by Islam, who question and combat its genocidal policies.
It is not the Hindus either, even though there are those among Hindus who may hate Islam and Muslims beyond all rhyme or reason.
But none of them is the real enemy of Islam and Muslims. They cannot be. For, they have not been given that kind of power by God Almighty over Islam and Muslims. The only enemy the Muslims need to really fear is Shaitan. And he of course has legions of helpers and supporters on earth in the form of both humans and jinns.
And if you look around you can see who many of them are. With some training, you can recognise many of them.
This is not mythology or philosophy. This is what the Qur’an says. For Muslims, Shaitan is as real as the air they breathe. In fact, Hadith warns us that Shaitan runs through people’s veins like blood.
How About Nafs and Hawaa?
And then the Muslims have another mortal enemy to worry about: themselves.
Among the worst enemies of Muslims are the following:
their generalized and persistent state of ignorance and backwardness;
their smugness and even arrogance in their ignorance;
their mutual fights, bickering, disputes and quarrels;
their contentment with their state of mediocrity;
the squalor and filth in which millions of Muslims live around the world;
their abandoning the path of education, inquiry, science and life-skills;
their sometimes false, fraudulent, incompetent, self-serving friends and minions;
their general lack of leadership, initiative, resourcefulness and proactivity;
their sad lack of understanding of the present;
their even sadder lack of proper perspective on the past;
their dangerous shortness and narrowness of vision with regard to the future;
all the tyrannies and dictatorships that plague Muslim life and culture at all levels and stifle the very breath out of Muslim life everywhere;
all the leaders, rulers and people in power that keep selling Muslims out to the same old bidders, or to new ones, for the same old rock-bottom cheap price, or for an even lower one if they can, every day;
And a good bit of their so-called “religious” scholarship and leadership, much of which you will not trust to fix your car or bicycle, or the leak in your roof, leave alone to run and manage the world of Allah for you and for the rest of humanity.
I can go on if you want me to, but that is who the real enemies of Islam and Muslims are: Muslims themselves – and their ways, their often un-Islamic ways. And it is their culture – their often decadent, backward and un-Islamic culture. A self-defeating and dysfunctional culture of pervasive un-Islam and post-Islam that seems to pervade all too many lives, homes, communities, institutions and societies in the Muslim world.
And it is often their Nafs. And their Hawaa. Those are often some of the critical variables in this equation of the great Muslim tragedy – and loss, as the Qur’an calls it: Khusr.
. Paraphrase: It is not the musings of a poet.. Paraphrase: We did not teach him poetry, nor is it appropriate for him to be considered a poet.. Paraphrase: They are blinded by it.