One Verse, Multiple Meanings: Quranic Recitations Revealed

Alhamdulillah.

[Silence]

Continuing in surah al verse number 17 18 and 19. Last night we spoke a little bit about verse number 17 and that is the statement of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. He says subhanahu wa ta'ala how then will you shield yourselves and protect yourselves from the punishment of Allah is what is inferred if you disbelieve or how may you protect yourselves if you disbelieve from the punishment of a day which will turn and render even infants white-haired from its horrors. What's interesting about this verse is that the recitation that most of us are familiar with and listen to. There's actually another way to recite this verse which adds another layer of meaning. Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala says, Notice the difference. The difference is what went from that's it. instead of the original meaning. How then will you protect yourselves from a day which is so horrific that it will render even infants white-haired from its horrors if you disbelieve. That is the meaning. But if we make that second recitation from that, it then becomes what? How then will you protect yourselves from me if you disbelieve? So now Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala is from in one place saying, "How will you protect yourselves from that day?" In the second recitation, it becomes, "How then will you protect yourselves from me on that day?" And this really joins the different places in the Quran where Allah uses in that way in his linguistic sense. Sometimes he says, "Protect and shield yourselves from Allah." In other places he says, up, shield yourselves from the fire. Those two things mean that when we protect ourselves with tawa, we are really not protecting ourselves from all of Allah's names and attributes. We are only seeking protection from the anger of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, from the punishment of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. And this verse with that fat or kas it unites both meanings. How then will you protect yourselves from the punishment of that day? How then will you protect yourselves from me on that day? If you disbelieve, Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala says, notice here how he says, how are you going to protect yourselves from me if you disbelieve? Subhan Allah. And this is one of the seven reasons why we have different recitations of the Quran. If we didn't have multiple recitations of the Quran, this book would probably be six or seven times the size that it actually is. Because by making that subtle change, reciting it with a fat and then also reciting it with a with teaching the prophet Sam. Now there are two verses in one with just the difference of a fat or a and this is all through the Quran. This is one of the miracles of the Quran that it is able to tolerate and take on so many meanings with just one with just one way of writing it. and we notice that most of the recitations of the Quran which are correct which are which are or we notice that Most of these recitations, 99% of them do not affect the way that the word is written at all. It's just an issue of how it is pronounced. Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala then says in the next verse speaking about the day of judgment. Now, what is one of the reasons why a an infant would turn gray? His hair would turn gray. Allah describes it as a day when she righte here is plural for the word meaning someone whose hair is not just white it is cotton white all of it entirely not just a little bit gray It is completely white. And so what would cause an infant to turn their hair white? I would ask you, what do we associate with white hair? When we see someone with white hair, what is the co what are the causes that could be a person has white hair? Wisdom. So wherever there's white hair, there's wisdom.

[Arabic recitation]

Contain the wisdom? The wisdom is just too much. Is just is just coming out out of his pores. Is that what it is?

[Arabic recitation]

Why a person's hair would be white.

[Arabic recitation]

That's one here in this verse. What's another one?

[Arabic recitation]

Probably is genetics, but that doesn't matter for us for our purposes here. So, we have fear and we have what? Old age. Notice how the wording is ambiguous. The day of judgment. How long is it? 500 years. I wish. How long is the day of judgment? 50,000 years. So this mention of the white hair, infants hair turning white is because of the horrors of the day of judgment. But it's also because of what? Because of what? The length of the day of judgment. So this one description here holds two meanings that the day of judgment is very frightening and the day of judgment is very what long is very long. Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala then articulates this by saying that the heavens the the sky is splitting apart because of the anticipation of the day of judgment. Now when we look at the word, this comes from the root word, right? And Allah says this and says meaning when the sky splits. has a number of meanings that if we were to look at for instance all of these different words in Arabic that hold the same general meaning there are subtle differences. One of the meanings of Is that a split, this is the visual you're supposed to be getting in your mind here, is that this split seemingly comes from nowhere. It is not a split that starts at the seams of something. It starts in the middle of it and it comes out because of stress. most usually. What do I mean by that? If I were to have like for instance this clothing that I have on, you see here the seams. These this is the weakest part of the fabric. The seams where I have two pieces of fabric that I'm sewed together is not it coming apart here at the seams. And then fur would be when the fabric comes apart from a place that has no seams, has no has no place where it would logically begin. The only reason this clothing would split open that is because of what? Because of stress that is placed on the fabric, not because the stitches are weak. So if you imagine with me for instance that I have a book this book here this this square al would start in the middle here it would open this and split lengthwise or this way it wouldn't start at the edge at the weak point it would start in the middle do we understand that and this is why one of Allah's names is what What does mean? Why does that detail matter that I just told you right now? Well, what does the name mean? The opener is the originator, right? The creator of the heavens and the earth. But is different than because means the creator but means the one who creates something from nothing. Do you notice the reason why it's important that when we look at the word that the split that I just gave you, the proverbial split, it doesn't come from the seams. It doesn't come from the edges. It doesn't come from the sides. It starts in the very middle seemingly from nowhere and it splits open. This is called inar. Why? Because of the imagery of it starting from seemingly nothing. And that is why Allah's name is F. It doesn't just mean the creator. It means the creator of something from nothing. Subhanahu wa'ta'ala. And this is where we get the all of the other subsequent derivatives of this word. So for instance when a person breaks his fast it is called what right or why because they are breaking something and splitting something that is otherwise connected with which is abstinence with taking in food. right etc. There are many derivatives of of the word and and so forth. And so when Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala says, what does that mean? That means that the imagery that should be going through your mind is if we were all looking at the sky, it seems perfect and then suddenly right in the very middle it splits open and it's almost like.

[Arabic recitation]

It implies that something splits from the center. equal siding and so forth. The most important the most important distinction between is that begins in the middle seemingly from nowhere and it is sudden. Okay, this is the meaning of so when we have for instance two chapters of the Quran Right? If I were going to translate those two, I'd translate them the same way, right? However, if I were to dive into the deep nuances of the differences of the meanings, would mean that it splits suddenly from the very center. Whereas an in just means that it is a lengthwise split down the middle. That's what an inch is. Do we understand the differences there? So Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala says meaning that the heavens are to split from the pressure or the stress of anticipation of the day of judgment or on the day of judgment they will split. Both meanings are correct because meaning that right now the heavens are almost going to split apart because of their anticipation of the day of judgment. Allah subhanahu wa'ta'ala he says about the day of judgment right Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala says that the day of judgment it is heavy it's knowledge it's almost the inanimate objects around us the universe verse is all heavy with dread because it's almost it's all aware that the day of judgment is approaching. And so everything around us, the ground, the heavens above us are almost going to split apart because of the anticipation of that day that is swiftly approaching. Also on the day of judgment, we know that the heavens will be split, split open. They won't just be split from the sides. We will be staring at the center of the sky one moment and the next moment suddenly it is split apart into ribbons. Now I have a question here for the Arab speakers amongst us. What is strange about the the the word? What's strange about that statement? Something strange about it.

[Arabic recitation]

Or female. You know, Arabic is all male and female. Everything is masculine and feminine. There is no neutrality we have in English. Everything is male and female. Everything is referred to as male or female. Now, in order for us to understand this, sometimes in the Quran, Allah will use male in the female place and female in the male place. Why? For a very important reason. For instance, is that male or female? Huh? It's male, right? You would expect it to be what? Is the verb. The verb is supposed to be female just the just the is is female or vice versa. But you don't mix male and female together. You don't give a a noun a female verb, a male noun, a female verb, and you don't give a female noun a male verb unless there's a reason for it. Why do we have inems instead of no nation of Tammud? What meanings come from that? the Arabs. In order for us to understand this, we have to understand something about the Arab culture, the language that expresses that culture. In the Arab culture and in the Arab language, male has certain traits and female have certain traits. Male has the traits of strength, resilience, robustness. Female has the strength has the traits of delicacy, weakness, beauty, poise, things that. Each of them have their various their various meanings that are particular to the gender. Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala is using which is male giving it a female verb saying that belied their their messenger.

[Silence]

So Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala is speaking about the argument that used with their messenger. Their argument was one of extreme weakness. It was a very purile argument. It was only a veneer of disbelief in their hearts. They knew that was their messenger that he was telling the truth, but they rejected it anyways. Here we have the opposite going on. We have a seat which is female being described with a male verb. Why? Again, what does masculine carry? The meaning of the the main difference between masculine and feminine in Arabic is strength and weakness. Correct? The male carries the meaning the connotations of strength. So Allah is describing the female noun with male meaning that this heaven is being split apart with extreme violence and strength due to the due to the great anticipation of the coming and impending ing doom that the day of judgment brings with it. Then he says Allah's word and decree is what it is. It's as if it's already said and done. And this is why we find that Allah speaks about the day of judgment often in past tense. He speaks about the day of judgment which is in the future in the past tense. Why? Because it is so definite and so surely to happen that it might as well be have already been in the past. That is how certain it is. And also to us it's in the future to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. these constraints of time and observation is not the same for for Allah subhanahu wa'ta'ala. We will stop there inshallah for tonight. We'll continue this continue this what Wednesday because I'm off tomorrow. Tomorrow is my day off. She takes days off. This is this is a sign of the times, right? Okay. Subhanahu subhanahua.

[Silence]

I completely lost track of time.