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Specific and words of guidance sent down at a special night

Introduction

Islam is submission to God or to His will established through our beliefs and practices while leading our life according to His teachings and laws. When He has assured us in the Quran that His word is perfect (11:1), complete (6:115) and detailed with knowledge of guidance and mercy (7:52), then it should be our conviction to discharge all our duties based on His word pertaining appropriately to remember and appreciate Him. In order to do that we should have a clear understanding of both specific words and words of guidance revealed at the special night clarifying every matter of wisdom for us (44:4).

Description of the special night

The Quran is honorable and so is the night in which the entire Quran was revealed, on the night of 27th (derived from Quran) Ramadan in 13 B.H (609 A.D). The night was a special night as the completion of the process of revealing Quran was a single night event clarifying every matter of wisdom needed for humanity. The process driven by God involving the angels and the Gabriel while God Himself established at the highest height placed the entire Quran into Muhammad’s soul bringing nearer to Him. In order to realize the volume of work done in a single night to place infinite wisdom, we may reflect to the fact that the Quran is composed of total 6346 (19x334) verses including 6234 numbered and 112 unnumbered verses distributed in 114 (19x6) suras in the composition.

This great night has been mentioned 7 times in the feminine noun form in the 7 verses of the Quran calling it “a Night of the Power” 3 times and 2 times referred as its pronoun form as well as “a Blessed Night” once and once referred as its pronoun form in the following verses of the Quran:

[97:1] Indeed, we revealed it (Quran) in a Night of the Power (laylati al-qadri).
[97:2] Do you know what a Night of the Power (laylatu al-qadri) is?
[97:3] A Night of the Power (laylati al-qadri) is better than a thousand months.
Note: The night is consecutively mentioned by name with an attribute of better than a thousand months to describe its importance while the rituals around the annual observance of the night through observing the Salatul Qadr and staying in the masjids during the last ten days of Ramadan are innovations introduced by tradition.

[97:4] The angels and the Gabriel descend therein (feehaa) by their Lord’s permission with every command.
Note: The Arabic word, feehaa being in feminine gender refers to the Night of Power while the process of revealing the Quran was done involving the Gabriel and the other angels. There is no mention here that every year the angels and the Gabriel come down with God’s command to fulfill our demand. The role what has been assigned to the Gabriel is to deliver the message to God’s chosen ones can be reflected to avoid any misinterpretation.

[97:5] Peace it (hiya) is until the advent of the dawn.
Note: The Arabic word, hiya being in feminine gender refers to the Night of Power and the revealing process continued until the dawn.

[44:3] Indeed, we have revealed it (Quran) in a night of blessing (laylatin mubaarakatin), indeed, we have been warners.
Note: The Arabic phrase, laylatin mubaarakatin refers to the night the Quran is revealed, is another attribute of a Night of the Power while Ha.Meem. and the clear scripture is an oath of God. Here is the reference why the month of Ramadan is called the blessed month but to call it a sacred month is ignorance, and violation of the sacred months as specified in the Quran (9:36).

[44:4] In it (feehaa), every matter of wisdom is clarified.
Note: God has confirmed that the Quran has built-in infinite wisdom (36:2), and just to know the meaning of the Arabic text may not be enough to comprehend the actual message in many verses without reflecting to the wisdom hidden in the text.

Specific words

It is a well-known story that when Adam and Eve were duped by the Satan, they transgressed God’s order. Afterwards, Adam and Eve deeply repented to God and earnestly asked His forgiveness for their sins (7:23). Then God gave them specific “words,” and sent them down to the earth to give them a chance to be redeemed for their sins. They used those words and God redeemed them (2:37):

[7:23] They said, “Our Lord, we have wronged our souls, and unless You forgive us and have mercy on us, we will be losers.”
[2:37] Then, Adam had received words from his Lord, so He redeemed him. Indeed, He is the Redeemer, the Merciful.
Note: The relationship can be established based on two numeric properties: the order of revelation and the digits of the relevant sura and verse number. The sura 7 is an earlier revelation (revelation order 39) while sura 2 is a later revelation (revelation order 87) and the total of the digits of sura and number of both 7:23 and 2:37 is equal, which is 12.

However, we do not exactly know the words what were given to them but we do know what are given to us as specific words. Sura al-Fatehah is given us as specific words, which has 28 words in 7 verses to redeem our sins as well as to nourish our souls as the Children of Adam. There are enough logical reasons accompanied its numeric properties to believe that it has been given as specific words to use in our praise and prayer. Its wording is quite different from the wording of the other suras is mention-worthy to be significant for this division. We recite it in Arabic to observe the contact prayer to worship God being devoted to Him to guide us to the straight path and our lips touch 19 times in its recitation where there are Baa and Meem while God has given us a tongue and two lips (90:9). Here are the full translated texts of its 7 verses for appropriate reflection during its recitation in the prayer:

[1:1] In the Name of God, the Gracious, the Merciful.
Note: We honor our God, who is very Kind and Most Merciful using the words which are the foundation of the Quran being the first verse, and the words are repeated 114 (19x6) times in it being 2 of them are numbered (1:1, 27:30) and 112 of them are unnumbered while are missing in the sura 9: Bara’ah.

[1:2] All praise belongs to God, Lord of the worlds.
[1:3] The Gracious, the Merciful.
[1:4] Master of a Day of the Judgment.
Note: We appreciate God being grateful to Him for everything what He has given us as well as expecting our success when we will meet Him.

[1:5] You alone we worship and You alone we ask for help.
Note: We make our total submission to God and ask Him reflecting that none can give us except He what we need.

[1:6] Guide us to the straight path.
[1:7] A path of those You have bestowed favor upon them; not of those who have incurred wrath on them, nor of the strayers.
Note: We ask God to guide us to the straight path clarifying it for us to be prevented from the wrong one.

Words of guidance

God’s guidance is the true guidance (2:120, 6:71) and He guides the believers to a straight path (22:54) what has been even confirmed when He sent Adam and his wife down to earth on the event of their transgression in Heaven for another chance. Thus, those who follow His guidance will be rewarded while those who turn away from His guidance will be punished. This is the system that we inherit as the Children of Adam and that if we do not follow His guidance, we will go astray, and that may be a known fact to many of us. However, here are a few words in the first 5 verses of sura 2: al-Baqarah from the words of guidance that we can reflect to better understand our guidance to become successful:

[2:1] Alif.Laam.Meem.
Note: The Quranic initial, Alif.Laam.Meem is a gateway between specific words and the words of guidance, and the position of the initial between sura 1 (revelation 5) and sura 2 (revelation 87) confirms its role as a gateway. Sura 1: al-Fatehah is given as specific words for us and the rest of the Quran, i.e., from sura 2: al-Baqarah to sura 114: al-Naas is given as words of guidance for us.

[2:2] That scripture, there is no doubt in it (feehi), is a guidance for the righteous.
Note: The Quranic initials, Alif.Laam.Meem is not only a gateway but also an oath of God to affirm us that there is no doubt in this scripture, which is a guidance for us to become righteous, and the position of this initial at the very beginning of the sura confirms its role as statement of oath of God.

[2:3] Those who believe in the unseen, and observe the contact prayer (Salat), and spend from their provision.
Note: God has not given us vision to see certain entities that we need to believe such as God and His angels, as well as Heaven and Hell to be our final abode based on our works while we are to practice Salat, the prime source of nourishing our souls.

[2:4] And those who believe in what is sent down to you, and what was sent down of before yours, and with regard to the Hereafter they are certain.
Note: What was revealed to us, i.e., the Quran and what was revealed before us, and the Hereafter is also part of our core belief.

[2:5] Those are on guidance from their Lord, and those are the successful ones.
Note:There is a guarantee of success for those who are on guidance from their Lord.

Even from a few words at the very beginning of our guidance is an opportunity for us to educate ourselves to become successful. The words that we can reflect are: the gateway between specific words and the words of guidance, the oath of God to assure us to become righteous through His guidance, believing in God and His angels, what is revealed to us and what was revealed before us, in the Hereafter and our consequences in the Hereafter (Heaven and Hell), spending for others from our provision and practicing the contact prayer (salat), which is a prime source of nourishing our souls being on guidance of our Lord.

Mathematical confirmation

A set of 19 verses is isolated from the Quran dealing with the process of revealing the Quran in a single night, the specific words given us for our praise and prayer and the words of guidance at the very beginning of our guidance. If the relevant sura and verse numbers are added, the total is a multiple of 19 => 209 = 19x11 (see details in the table below):

table3

Note: This mathematical confirmation is an explicit proof that God has clarified every matter of wisdom in the great night (laylatul qadr) with an opportunity to make a distinction between specific words given in the 7 verses of sura 1: al-Fatehah to recite in the prayer and the rest of the Quran as words of guidance to follow to become righteous representing the first 5 verses of sura 2: al-Baqarah.

Conclusion

The review of a set of 19 pertinent verses depicts that God has revealed the Quran in a special night called “The Night of Power” clarifying every matter of wisdom including specific words as well as the words of guidance for us. There is also a hint in the very sura 97: al-Qadr consisting of 30 words to confirm the 27th night of the month in which the entire Quran was placed into Muhammad’s soul but there is no commandment in the sura for the annual observance of the night through any type of ritual except introduced by tradition. While there is a reference of the night to be blessed night and the night in which every matter of wisdom is clarified in couple verses of sura 44: al-Dukhan. The Quranic initials: Alif.Laam.Meem. serve as a gateway between specific words and the words of guidance as well as statement of oath of God because of the position between sura 1 and sura 2 being at the beginning of sura 2: al-Baqarah. 28 words in sura 1: al-Fatehah is given us as specific words as Children of Adam to recite in the Salat prayer without combining any other parts from the words of guidance which are to be followed. There are also mention of proper beliefs, awareness of Hereafter and key practice in the first 5 verses of sura 2: al-Baqarah representing the words of guidance with an assurance to be successful.

It is clear from this study that God has infinite wisdom and so does the Quran to have an explicit proof to understand the process of revealing the entire Quran to be a single night event and to make it a clear difference between the specific words and the words of guidance to perfect our salat with correct recitation even from a small set of verses of Quran. Hence, it may be an opportunity for those who want to be aware of appropriate beliefs, awareness of the Hereafter and accurate practice of salat to be successful in the Hereafter disregarding misinterpretation, misconceptions, corruptions and innovations found around them.
Peaceful Friday, salaam and God bless.
Tafazzal (2/23/2018).