Month: May 2019

Three Interpretations of the word “Kaaffah” in Verse 28 of Surat Saba

وَمَا أَرْسَلْنَاكَ إِلَّا كَافَّةً لِّلنَّاسِ بَشِيرًا وَنَذِيرًا وَلَٰكِنَّ أَكْثَرَ النَّاسِ لَا يَعْلَمُونَ – 34:28 Shaykh Adnan Ibrahim, in his daily classes of exegesis held in this holy month of Ramadhan, presented three interpretations of the word kaaffah in verse 28 of Surat Saba. As we shall observe, nearly all the famous translations of the Quran … Read more

Did the Imams praise Abu Bakr and Umar?

Originally posted on Shiitic Studies. ما على وجه الارض شئ أحب إلي من التقية There is nothing on the face of the Earth more beloved to me than Taqiyya – Imam al-Sadiq Introduction: This paper will be considered by some as belonging to the genre of Shi’i-Sunni polemics, but this would be a mis-characterization. It is … Read more

Salman and the Mileu of Ghulu

Originally posted on Shiitic Studies. Introduction It is not hard to account for the presence of Ghulati reports in the Imami corpus in light of the socio-historic contexts of those times. The rapid expansion of the Islamic empire meant that early Muslims came into contact with proponents of other religions. The absorption of non-Arab Mawali … Read more

The Quranic Emphasis on Intentions and the Moral Worth of an Act

Introduction G.E.M. Anscombe once decried, in a seminal piece titled Modern Moral Philosophy, the adoption of a consequentialist form of ethics by many philosophers. This view considered the moral status of an act to be determined solely by its consequences. The piece, based on the famous interpretation of it, appeared to call for a revival … Read more

Al-Fakhr al-Razi on Why Sabeans in Surat al-Maida is not in the Accusative State

There is a common grammatical question raised as to why the word ‘Sabeans’ in two very similar verses appears in two different grammatical states. In Surat al-Baqara, the verse appears in the accusative case (النصب) whilst in Surat al-Maida, the verse appears in the nominative case (الرفع). We observe in Surat al-Baqara Ayah 62: إِنَّ … Read more

Surat al-Inshirah: An Introductory Exegesis of the Meanings and Messages Contained Within

Sūrat al-Inshirāḥ: An Introductory Exegesis of the Meanings and Messages Contained Within By Shaykh Haidar Hobbollah Translated by Ali Jabbar Download PDF General Introduction Before entering our humble series of lessons on exegesis, and before embarking on exegesis of Sūrat Al-Inshirāḥ, it is necessary to draw attention to two foundational topics: 1) Why do exegesis … Read more