Introduction: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cm0fcsVCxCk
Surah Anbiya is one of the earliest surahs and were among the three surahs (along with Maryam and Taha) which Abdullah ibn Mas'ud considered to be among his earliest and most valuable treasures.
This Surah covers the topics of Tawheed, Risaalah and Akhirah. It is important to note that most of the arguments that the Qur'an makes on Tawheed are spiritual in nature and appeal to man's fitrah. There are very few purely intellectual arguments that the Qur'an makes on this topic and one of these intellectual arguments are in this surah.
This virtue of this surah is that it draws people to Allah and reminds them strongly of the hereafter. This understanding of the virtue of a surah is different from most people's lay understanding that reading a particular surah x number of times results in y hasanaat. Most of the narrations on such rewards are very weak or outright fabrications.
Some of the names of surahs were named explicitly by the Prophet in ahadith. Abdullah ibn Mas'ud called this surah as Anbiya. Here, it is relevant to state that the Prophet said about ibn Masud that whatever you hear from him, know that it came from me.
Note: Another name of Surah Maryam is Surah Rahmah.
Anbiya: al-Anbiya is plural of Nabiyyun. Nabi si extracted from 2 roots. First is nabaun (an-naba: nun, ba, hamza) whihc is news which is very important and relevant. A Prophet brings news to us which is important and relevant. Another perspective is that anything which a prophet delivers is very important. Nothing at is unimportant and irrelevant. Every little details of the prophet's teaching, practice and life is important and relevant. If we considers anything unimportant then that is our shortcoming, not a shortcoming of the sunnah. Another root is nun-ba-waw :: nanbwun which means a protrusion, an elevation, a higher platform. The implication is that despite the prophet being a human, he is at a higher level than other men. They are at a more exalted status, because theyu are divinely inspired and receive revelation.
The word nabi has 2 plurals -
nabiyyoon (or nabiyyeen) - jam'us saalim (regular person plural)
Anbiya - jam'ul taqseer; broken plural.
In some places the Quran uses one or the other. According to the principles of balaaghah, the former is used when referring to a smaller number of plural (such as 3-9 or 3-12), whereas the broken plural is used when talking of a larger number. Since this surah explicitly refers to a large number of prophets, and also talks a lot about risaalah and the chain of prohets, the bigger (broken) plural is used.
Nabi vs Rasool:
1. Nowhere in the Quran or Sunnah, is there a precise definition of the two or of the precise difference between the two. This seems to hint that this is not a very important issue to be discussing.
2. However, in books of aqeedah, there are up to 10 different opinions on the difference between nabi and rasool The majority of the aqeedah scholars agree on the following position: Rasul is one who is sent with a major update to the shariah, while a Nabi is one who comes to implement the already previously revealed shariah. While there may be some minor updates to the shariah, the majority of the shariah is what was previously revealed.
3. One important observation from the Qur'an which uses both Nabi and Rasul for Muhammad (saws). The places where he has been referred to as a Rasul, Allah ta'aala is emphasizing that he is a messenger speaking on behalf of Allah and not of his own accord. He represents the authority of Allah on earth, and His guidance and legislation. The place where he is referred to as Nabi - one who brings news that is relevant and is a person who is at a higher level than the others due to his receiving revelation - it is in the context of the Prophet's interactions with people. Examples of the latter is Surah Tahreem and Ahzab.
When was this Surah revealed:
Rasul's life was 63 years. Period of prophethood was 23 years. Within the period of prophethood, there are 2 eras: Makkan (13 years) and Madinan (10 years). The Makki period can be further divided into 3 phases 1. Prophethood lasting 3 years, when the prophet was given the time to get acclimated to receiving divine revelation. This was also the time when he could develop a strong core group of believers.
2. The next 7 years when the da'wah went public, but only within Makkah. This is where the negotiations with Abu Talib happened and the Rasul was told by Allah not to compromise his stance. The end of this period was characterized by persecution, torture, of the weak of the believers. This also included the boycott for 3 years of all the believers. The last of this period was the year of great sorrow which saw the death of Khadijah and Abu Talib. The death of Abu Talib saw the beginning of the open season for the scum of the quraish to abuse and torment the Prophet.
3. The third phase was when the Prophet turned outside of Makkah. This lasted 2-3 years. The Prophet visited Taif and addressed visiting tribes during the period of Hajj. During this phase he encountered a receptive audience from the simple inhabitants from Yathrib.
Surah Anbiya was revealed in the beginning of the 3rd Makkan phase. Thus, this surah was revealed in the 10th or 11th year of Prophethood, when he (saws) was around 50-51 years old. What can we learn from this? The core message of the Quran is based on the message being communicated, and is not constrained to the reason for revelation - this is an important principle of tafseer of the Qur'an. However, we must be careful not to disregard the context in which the Quran was revealed. The middle ground is this - know when the surah was revealed so we have some human element/connection to the ayaat so we can extract lessons for ourselves.
This surah will tell us how to persist and persevere against all odds and circumstances in our journey of faith. How to stand strong when things are tough. How to fall back on your faith, when circumstances are not to your liking. This is a serious oversimplification, but it is very important to understand.
The primary objective of this Surah is to explain to us how the Prophets faced the hardships they faced with, and also how they delivered the message in the hard circumstances they faced. What were the best practices they adopted in surviving themselves in times of tribulation and also the best practices they adopted in delivering the message to their nation in unfavorable circumstances.
Introduction Part 2 and Ayat 1: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fi3m83hviFY
Layout/Structure of the Surah:
This is surah 21. There are 2 sequences of the Quran - the order of revelation and the sequence in the mus-haf. This was preceded by Surah Taha. Surah Anbiya mirrors surah Taha. There are 3 major portions of Surah Taha. The first portion addresses the Prophet (saws), consoling him, comforting him in the face of adversity and opposition and strenghtens his resolve until the completely delivers the message. The second portion of the surah describes the experiences of Musa (ahs) in detail, which serves as a precedent to the experiences of the Prophet (saws). The third portion deals with the consequences of decisions taken by the recipients of Prophets, especially those who rejected the message.
Surah Anbiya supports the Messenger and comforts him, in the first part. The middle of the surah talks about many, many prophets to convey the consolation that just as Allahh took care of the Prophets of old and their nations, he will also take care of the Prophet. Thus, it presents precedents of many prophets of old. The end of the surah addresses the prophet saying that he should just stick to what he has been commanded to do, and Allah will take of those who oppose him. There are consequences for every person, and the decisions and actions the take.
The first passage deals with Ayaat 1-15, comforting and strengthening the prophet.
Ayah 16-29 comprise the next passage.
Surah Anbiya is one of the earliest surahs and were among the three surahs (along with Maryam and Taha) which Abdullah ibn Mas'ud considered to be among his earliest and most valuable treasures.
This Surah covers the topics of Tawheed, Risaalah and Akhirah. It is important to note that most of the arguments that the Qur'an makes on Tawheed are spiritual in nature and appeal to man's fitrah. There are very few purely intellectual arguments that the Qur'an makes on this topic and one of these intellectual arguments are in this surah.
This virtue of this surah is that it draws people to Allah and reminds them strongly of the hereafter. This understanding of the virtue of a surah is different from most people's lay understanding that reading a particular surah x number of times results in y hasanaat. Most of the narrations on such rewards are very weak or outright fabrications.
Some of the names of surahs were named explicitly by the Prophet in ahadith. Abdullah ibn Mas'ud called this surah as Anbiya. Here, it is relevant to state that the Prophet said about ibn Masud that whatever you hear from him, know that it came from me.
Note: Another name of Surah Maryam is Surah Rahmah.
Anbiya: al-Anbiya is plural of Nabiyyun. Nabi si extracted from 2 roots. First is nabaun (an-naba: nun, ba, hamza) whihc is news which is very important and relevant. A Prophet brings news to us which is important and relevant. Another perspective is that anything which a prophet delivers is very important. Nothing at is unimportant and irrelevant. Every little details of the prophet's teaching, practice and life is important and relevant. If we considers anything unimportant then that is our shortcoming, not a shortcoming of the sunnah. Another root is nun-ba-waw :: nanbwun which means a protrusion, an elevation, a higher platform. The implication is that despite the prophet being a human, he is at a higher level than other men. They are at a more exalted status, because theyu are divinely inspired and receive revelation.
The word nabi has 2 plurals -
nabiyyoon (or nabiyyeen) - jam'us saalim (regular person plural)
Anbiya - jam'ul taqseer; broken plural.
In some places the Quran uses one or the other. According to the principles of balaaghah, the former is used when referring to a smaller number of plural (such as 3-9 or 3-12), whereas the broken plural is used when talking of a larger number. Since this surah explicitly refers to a large number of prophets, and also talks a lot about risaalah and the chain of prohets, the bigger (broken) plural is used.
Nabi vs Rasool:
1. Nowhere in the Quran or Sunnah, is there a precise definition of the two or of the precise difference between the two. This seems to hint that this is not a very important issue to be discussing.
2. However, in books of aqeedah, there are up to 10 different opinions on the difference between nabi and rasool The majority of the aqeedah scholars agree on the following position: Rasul is one who is sent with a major update to the shariah, while a Nabi is one who comes to implement the already previously revealed shariah. While there may be some minor updates to the shariah, the majority of the shariah is what was previously revealed.
3. One important observation from the Qur'an which uses both Nabi and Rasul for Muhammad (saws). The places where he has been referred to as a Rasul, Allah ta'aala is emphasizing that he is a messenger speaking on behalf of Allah and not of his own accord. He represents the authority of Allah on earth, and His guidance and legislation. The place where he is referred to as Nabi - one who brings news that is relevant and is a person who is at a higher level than the others due to his receiving revelation - it is in the context of the Prophet's interactions with people. Examples of the latter is Surah Tahreem and Ahzab.
When was this Surah revealed:
Rasul's life was 63 years. Period of prophethood was 23 years. Within the period of prophethood, there are 2 eras: Makkan (13 years) and Madinan (10 years). The Makki period can be further divided into 3 phases 1. Prophethood lasting 3 years, when the prophet was given the time to get acclimated to receiving divine revelation. This was also the time when he could develop a strong core group of believers.
2. The next 7 years when the da'wah went public, but only within Makkah. This is where the negotiations with Abu Talib happened and the Rasul was told by Allah not to compromise his stance. The end of this period was characterized by persecution, torture, of the weak of the believers. This also included the boycott for 3 years of all the believers. The last of this period was the year of great sorrow which saw the death of Khadijah and Abu Talib. The death of Abu Talib saw the beginning of the open season for the scum of the quraish to abuse and torment the Prophet.
3. The third phase was when the Prophet turned outside of Makkah. This lasted 2-3 years. The Prophet visited Taif and addressed visiting tribes during the period of Hajj. During this phase he encountered a receptive audience from the simple inhabitants from Yathrib.
Surah Anbiya was revealed in the beginning of the 3rd Makkan phase. Thus, this surah was revealed in the 10th or 11th year of Prophethood, when he (saws) was around 50-51 years old. What can we learn from this? The core message of the Quran is based on the message being communicated, and is not constrained to the reason for revelation - this is an important principle of tafseer of the Qur'an. However, we must be careful not to disregard the context in which the Quran was revealed. The middle ground is this - know when the surah was revealed so we have some human element/connection to the ayaat so we can extract lessons for ourselves.
This surah will tell us how to persist and persevere against all odds and circumstances in our journey of faith. How to stand strong when things are tough. How to fall back on your faith, when circumstances are not to your liking. This is a serious oversimplification, but it is very important to understand.
The primary objective of this Surah is to explain to us how the Prophets faced the hardships they faced with, and also how they delivered the message in the hard circumstances they faced. What were the best practices they adopted in surviving themselves in times of tribulation and also the best practices they adopted in delivering the message to their nation in unfavorable circumstances.
Introduction Part 2 and Ayat 1: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fi3m83hviFY
Layout/Structure of the Surah:
This is surah 21. There are 2 sequences of the Quran - the order of revelation and the sequence in the mus-haf. This was preceded by Surah Taha. Surah Anbiya mirrors surah Taha. There are 3 major portions of Surah Taha. The first portion addresses the Prophet (saws), consoling him, comforting him in the face of adversity and opposition and strenghtens his resolve until the completely delivers the message. The second portion of the surah describes the experiences of Musa (ahs) in detail, which serves as a precedent to the experiences of the Prophet (saws). The third portion deals with the consequences of decisions taken by the recipients of Prophets, especially those who rejected the message.
Surah Anbiya supports the Messenger and comforts him, in the first part. The middle of the surah talks about many, many prophets to convey the consolation that just as Allahh took care of the Prophets of old and their nations, he will also take care of the Prophet. Thus, it presents precedents of many prophets of old. The end of the surah addresses the prophet saying that he should just stick to what he has been commanded to do, and Allah will take of those who oppose him. There are consequences for every person, and the decisions and actions the take.
The first passage deals with Ayaat 1-15, comforting and strengthening the prophet.
Ayah 16-29 comprise the next passage.
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