how to memorise the

Last week’s question was on Dhul-Qarnayn, Ya’jooj and Ma’jooj in Soorah al-Kahf. The question was regarding the differences in the exact meaning of two words, where one of them contains an additional letter. For the full question then please refer to Dhul-Qarnay, Ya’jooj and Ma’jooj post.

The answer is:

In order to answer this question, we need to know what difference this additional letter makes. When one studies Arabic, they will come across various ways of deriving deeper meanings of words by adding one or more letters to it. This is based on a principle in the Arabic language which put simply can be stated as ‘an increase in the origin leads to an increase in the meaning’. Now in the above aayah, if we were to break it up into two parts it will be as follows:

فَمَا اسْطَاعُوا أَن يَظْهَرُوهُ

So they [Ya'jooj and Ma'jooj (Gog and Magog)] were made powerless to scale it … (Al-Kahf 18:97)

وَمَا اسْتَطَاعُوا لَهُ نَقْبًا

… or dig through it. (Al-Kahf 18:97)

The first part of the aayah refers to Ya’jooj and Ma’jooj scaling (i.e. jumping over the barrier that Dhul-Qarnayn built) whilst the second part refers to them digging through it. Despite the fact that Allaah mentions they were made powerless to perform either action, the action of them digging through the barrier is much more difficult than scaling it and thus contains the extra letter (i.e. ‘taa’) to put more emphasis on their inability to perform such an action.

This week’s question is on Soorah Kahf:

Following on from last week’s question, this week’s question is similar to that and again from the same soorah. In the well known story of Khidr and Moosa ‘alayhis-Salaam, read the following aayatayn:

قَالَ هَذَا فِرَاقُ بَيْنِي وَبَيْنِكَ سَأُنَبِّئُكَ بِتَأْوِيلِ مَا لَمْ تَسْتَطِع عَّلَيْهِ صَبْرًا

(Khidr) said: “This is the parting between me and you, I will tell you the interpretation of (those) things over which you were unable to hold patience. (Al-Kahf 18:78)

وَأَمَّا الْجِدَارُ فَكَانَ لِغُلَامَيْنِ يَتِيمَيْنِ فِي الْمَدِينَةِ وَكَانَ تَحْتَهُ كَنزٌ لَّهُمَا وَكَانَ أَبُوهُمَا صَالِحًا فَأَرَادَ رَبُّكَ أَنْ يَبْلُغَا أَشُدَّهُمَا وَيَسْتَخْرِجَا كَنزَهُمَا رَحْمَةً مِّن رَّبِّكَ وَمَا فَعَلْتُهُ عَنْ أَمْرِي ذَلِكَ تَأْوِيلُ مَا لَمْ تَسْطِع عَّلَيْهِ صَبْرًا

“And as for the wall, it belonged to two orphan boys in the town; and there was under it a treasure belonging to them; and their father was a righteous man, and your Lord intended that they should attain their age of full strength and take out their treasure as a mercy from your Lord. And I did it not of my own accord. That is the interpretation of those (things) over which you could not hold patience.” (Al-Kahf 18:82)

So now that you know additional letters in words puts greater emphasis, what do you think is the difference in meaning between the above two highlighted words?

Last Week’s Question

Throughout the Qur’aan, whenever Allaah mentions parents, he uses the Arabic word ‘waalidayn’ (which means parents) but in two verses only, found in Soorah Yoosuf, He uses the word ‘abaway’. Why the distinction in these two verses?

The answer is:

The reason why Allaah mentions ‘waalidayn’ (with emphasis on the mother) throughout the Qur’aan, is to emphasise the numerous rights the mother deserves over the father. And this in agreement with the saying of the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, when he was asked, ‘Who is the most deserving of my respect and companionship?’ He replied saying, ‘Your mother, then your mother, then your mother and then your father.’

However, in Soorah Yoosuf, ‘abaway’ is used (with emphasis on the father) and as with every letter in the Qur’aan, there is a reason for it. It is known amongst the Arabs that a woman is always preserved, protected and concealed. So she is not revealed or mentioned in public places so that people know of her and her shyness is taken away. In the aayaat where the word ‘abaway’ is used, Yoosuf (‘alayhis-salaam) is raising his mother and father in a public setting with multitudes of people from Egypt witnessing the occasion. So as a result, the word abaway is used to indicate the fact that the father (Ya’qoob, ‘alayhis-salaam) is the one who is at the forefront in full view of the spectators, whereas the mother is concealed to protect and hide her away from the eyes of the men in the crowds.

This Week’s Question

How many times have we heard that we shouldn’t rely on the translation of the meaning of the Qur’aan as it doesn’t do the Arabic language any justice at all? And subhanaAllaah some of us use some of these translations and pass on to others without fully understanding the meaning and tafseer behind it. Well this week’s question will touch upon this inshaaAllaah. When it comes to translating a word from Arabic into English, sometimes it can be quite difficult and not as easy as simply using a dictionary, so understanding the meaning through knowing the tafseer and Arabic language will help you understand it better, and thus aid in memorisation. There are many examples of this in the Qur’aan. One such example of this is in Soorah al-Kahf. If we look at the following aayah, it has been translated as follows:

فَمَا اسْطَاعُوا أَن يَظْهَرُوهُ وَمَا اسْتَطَاعُوا لَهُ نَقْبًا

So they [Ya'jooj and Ma'jooj (Gog and Magog)] were made powerless to scale it or dig through it. (Al-Kahf 18:97)

However, when we look at the above highlighted words, there seems to be a clear visual difference between the two words as one of them contains an additional letter (i.e. ‘taa’) but yet the translation seems to be the same. So what difference does this additional letter (i.e. ‘taa’) make to the above word that it doesn’t do to the other and why was it used?