Monday, November 9, 2009

Capturing "The Divine Speech"

Assalaamu Alaikum,

The last two days have been a wonderful experience immersing into the beauty and intricacies of the Holy Qur'an. This is a wonderful seminar conducted by an energetic, enthusiastic, and learned teacher called Nouman Ali Khan. Unlike other Arabic programs, this program has given significant importance to the methodology of presentation. The presenter used examples, metaphors, and humorous anecdotes, to ensure that the audience maintained their attention throughout, alhamdulillah!

The first day was on the analysis of the first Sura, Sura Fathiha. We started at 7.10PM, and ended a bit after 10PM. We spent about one hour, just talking about 'alhamdulillah'. Maasha Allah, little did we realize the meaning of Surathul Fathiha was so deep. Hereafter our recitation of Sura Fathiha will never be the same.

What we learnt yesterday (second day) is that there are three types of Arabic :

1. Spoken
2. Standard / Formal
3. Classical / Ancient

And if you are going to analyse the Qur'an, we need to use Classical Arabic. If you use the first two, then you will surely find issues in analyzing and understanding the true message that Allah has sent down upon us through our Prophet, may peace and blessings of Allah be upon him. Another important item we learnt is that some of the translations do not capture the nuances in the arabic. One example is the arabic terms (note the plural) for mercy. There are two terms, one of a minor degree, and the other of a major degree. If this was translated into english, the translator would only use the word 'mercy' for either term, thereby losing the nuance of the two different arabic terms.

We also learnt on the second day that the analysis of the Quran can be done in two levels :

1. Micro : Analyse intricacies within ayahs.
2. Macro : Analyse the Qur'an at a higher level, and see the organization of the Qur'an.

We continued the micro level with the start of the analysis of Classical Arabic in the Qur'an. Then we discussed about some of the features of classical Arabic. Will share our notes in detail via a conference, insha allah.

Today is going to be the third day, where we will be doing a macro level analysis of the Qur'an, insha allah.

Here are some links for you to review :

http://www.bayyinah.com/dream/ : Nouman Ali Khan is doing a detailed study of each surah, ayah by ayah, and once he has completed, he provides the thafsir's online for public consumption.

What Aashika and I were discussing was the amazing way of Allah to guide us. Here we are, in the United States of America, and we are learning about the nuances of Classical Arabic in the Qur'an. Alhamdulillah! We would have never been able to be part of such a seminar if we were in SL, or for that matter, even if we were in Wisconsin.

One note, is as to whether we will be able to host this speaker in SL. It would be like a vacation for him, and we can use him for about 2 weekends, insha allah! He is busy through next year as well, but if we start organizing early, we may be able to finalize.

3 comments:

Tasha said...

Thansk for Sharing that! I am going to add a little more perhaps on the third day in a new post!

Anonymous said...

Brother Nouman Ali Khan is absolutely amazing. I've yet to come across someone better than him in terms of explaining the Quran in the English language. May Allah (SWT) preserve him!

Tasha said...

I agree... May Allah bless and reward him!