Message #2456

[Zainab_M]

 


Walaikum salaam brother AOH.  Thank for this very good read.

Yes, I would agree that "word" refers to the standard laws of God that make up His ethical framework and cannot be changed.  It does not refer to the grammar of the Scripture.  And changing the words or senteces of a Divine Scripture has no bearing on His standard laws which are not subject to changes.   However, when the Almighty God says about safe-guarding the Quraan in various ayahs of the Noble Book, then that does refer to protecting the ayahs of the Quraan from being corrupted by human hands.  As we know the former Scriptures were altered.  One might ask, did Allah not protect the former Scriptures?  My answer would be, Allah is certainly more than capable of protecting anything He pleases.  At the same time, He also has His pre-ordained plan to test humankind.  Those who pass most of these tests to His satisfaction will be the triumphant ones on the Day of the Tryst.  And those who fail by carrying out violations, their violations will be proofs of their guilt.  Thus, the former altered Divine Books will be one of the greatest evidences of wrongdoing by mankind on Judgment Day.  The reason why the Almighty Allah decided to protect the Quraan unlike His former Books was because He decided not to send any more Books, prophets or messengers.  Preservation of this final Book in its orginal form, the Noble Quraan, will make it impossible for mankind (universally) to make excuses for their wrongdoing on the Final Day that they hadn't already been warned. 

I think the misunderstandings between the terms "word" and "decree" is because of faulty translation.  Like I've said earlier, I'm a reader of Pickthall's works.  He usually uses the term "law" which is much equivalent to 'decree' and sometimes he uses the term "decree" as well.  Both these terms present a very similar and clear meaning i.e. established norms of the Almighty God and the uniformity of His judgment on the basis of these ethical norms & values.

Besides, one also needs to concentrate on the background of the contents or the context of the ayah one is reading in order to perceive the possible meaning of various terms.  All of us(scholars or not) can only elucidate to the best of their abilities as we perceive it.  The final interpretation of every verse is upto Allah Himself