Notes on bayt and buyūt

… In houses which God permitted their raising, and therein His name is vivified…

(24/36)

A just society, one based on the guidance found in chapter 24, promotes good social organisation, interaction and laws.  In this pursuit the light mentioned in 24/35 – where God is the light of the heavens and the earth – is found in buyūt (houses) that bring to life [dhik’r] the attributes of God.  Raising these buyūt is essential to bring about the society envisioned by the Quran, as reflected in 2/189:

… it is not the righteousness that you bring the buyūt from their backs but the righteous is one who takes guard.  And bring forth the buyūt from their gates…

This bringing forth of God’s buyūt, (institutions and systems that vivify His names), is seen in the stories of several Prophets.  Musa rejected the nourishment of Firawn when he was young and was instead given wisdom and knowledge by the people of God’s bayt (28/12-14).  We then see him and his people, having escaped the Firawnic system later, focus [qib'lat] on their buyūt (10/87) in their efforts to create an islamic society.

There’s also an important contrast and relationship found in the stories of Lut and Ibrahim and their respective buyūt.  Lut’s society failed because there was uninhibited immorality and only a single bayt (51/36), and even then, it was weak (11/80).  Conversely, Ibrahim’s bayt was successful, where God’s bounty was to be witnessed (22/26-28).

There are several other verses we can draw on, but I think our ultimate goal is to raise our buyūt that vivify God’s names until our society as a whole becomes the bayt achieved by the people of Ibrahim.  A social system that is completely free from shirk, is rewarding and gives security to mankind.

Rise of the Sun (Not the Song!)

I love the song ‘House of the Rising Sun’ from end scene of the film Casino. It was about the destruction of what the Mob built in Vegas. Very dramatic.

Was reading about dhul qarnayn today and came to this aya:

Until, when he came to the rising of the sun, he found it rising on a people for
whom We had provided no covering protection against the sun (18/90)

The phrase for ‘rising of the sun’ is ‘mathla’il shams’ and this is a negative development for people who are unprotected by the sun. This is not talking about a day at the beach without sunblock! Rather, it’s talking about a source of power for certain people (like the people of saba who adored the sun besides Allah).

My focus was on the word ‘mathla’/rise though which also appear in 97/5 : peace it is until the rise of the dawn. 97/5 seems to say that after the coming of ‘the angels and spirit’ , there will be peace (salam) UNTIL the rise of the dawn. Could the dawn/fajr symbolise the breaking through of EVIL after the coming of peace?

 

 

Unas – The Lesser Known Form of An-Naas/The People

Thanks to my friend Qamar who pointed this out to me. The word ‘unas’ appears in 5 places , namely the following :

1-2:60

وَإِذِ اسْتَسْقَى مُوسَى لِقَوْمِهِ فَقُلْنَا اضْرِبْ بِعَصَاكَ الْحَجَرَ فَانْفَجَرَتْ مِنْهُ اثْنَتَا عَشْرَةَ عَيْنًا قَدْ عَلِمَ كُلُّ أُنَاسٍ مَشْرَبَهُمْ كُلُوا وَاشْرَبُوا مِنْ رِزْقِ اللَّهِ وَلا تَعْثَوْا فِي الأَرْضِ مُفْسِدِينَ

2- 7:82

وَمَا كَانَ جَوَابَ قَوْمِهِ إِلا أَنْ قَالُوا أَخْرِجُوهُمْ مِنْ قَرْيَتِكُمْ إِنَّهُمْ أُنَاسٌ يَتَطَهَّرُونَ

3- 7:160

وَقَطَّعْنَاهُمُ اثْنَتَيْ عَشْرَةَ أَسْبَاطًا أُمَمًا وَأَوْحَيْنَا إِلَى مُوسَى إِذِ اسْتَسْقَاهُ قَوْمُهُ أَنِ اضْرِبْ بِعَصَاكَ الْحَجَرَ فَانْبَجَسَتْ مِنْهُ اثْنَتَا عَشْرَةَ عَيْنًا قَدْ عَلِمَ كُلُّ أُنَاسٍ مَشْرَبَهُمْ وَظَلَّلْنَا عَلَيْهِمُ الْغَمَامَ وَأَنْـزَلْنَا عَلَيْهِمُ الْمَنَّ وَالسَّلْوَى كُلُوا مِنْ طَيِّبَاتِ مَا رَزَقْنَاكُمْ وَمَا ظَلَمُونَا وَلَكِنْ كَانُوا أَنْفُسَهُمْ يَظْلِمُونَ

4 – 17:71

يَوْمَ نَدْعُوا كُلَّ أُنَاسٍ بِإِمَامِهِمْ فَمَنْ أُوتِيَ كِتَابَهُ بِيَمِينِهِ فَأُولَئِكَ يَقْرَءُونَ كِتَابَهُمْ وَلا يُظْلَمُونَ فَتِيلا

5- 27:56

فَمَا كَانَ جَوَابَ قَوْمِهِ إِلا أَنْ قَالُوا أَخْرِجُوا آلَ لُوطٍ مِنْ قَرْيَتِكُمْ إِنَّهُمْ أُنَاسٌ يَتَطَهَّرُونَ

So what we have are:

a. one occurence speaking of judgement day where EVERYONE is equal before Allah  (17/71)

b. two occurences with musa’s people (2/60 and 7/160) after their deliverance from firaun’s system. They appear to be an equitable society hence they’re all ‘unas’

c. two occurences with lut’s people (7/82 and 27/56) showing that his people see his folks as ‘unas’ purifying themselves (and perhaps challenging their power)

The RnR – The Key to the Quran

For some time, I have been contemplating the role of the RnR (Ar-Rahmaan Ar-Raheem) combination in the Quran. I call it RnR for short but there is also the significance of RnR meaning ‘Rest and Recuperation’.

The RnR in the Quran opens every (and I do mean EVERY) chapter. It reminds us of the fundamental principle of reading – that each chapter reflects the Rahmaniyyah (protective womb-like aspect) and Raheemiyyah (evolutionising womb-like aspect) of Allah.

These two concepts by themselves appear lots of times but together only appear a few times outside the bismillahs (2/163, 27/30, 41/2 and 59/22).

I believe these two concepts also help explain the so-called ‘oaths’ in the Quran such as ‘by the sun and its splendour’ (91/1). If we consider the basmalah first, 91/1 wouldn’t need an oath, it would be an example of the RnR in action.

The RnR truly is the key to the Quran. Study it deeply.

 

What is the ‘kitab’ of 3/7 ?

The interpretation of Ch 3 Vs 7 of the Quran has a great variety of opinions among Quranists and even Traditionalists. For me, the ‘kitab’ mentioned in this book is a fluctuating system of signs. I believe this bexause the ‘decisive signs’ are the mother of the book and signs are very personal and fluctuating from person to person. The discussion about this can be seen here.

Salat

Salat thread on QRAC

Quran Based Jummah Announcements

Thank you to Tatiana for this Announcement:

AsA everyone!!!! So sorry for the late notice, I got a little caught up with life… inshAllah, tomorrow we will be holding two Jummah sessions on Paltalk!!! Chatroom location is here: http://www.paltalk.com/g2/group/1421814718 The chat will be open tomorrow and while it is open you can easily find this chat room in paltalk.

First session is at ****10:30AM GMT*********

Second session is at ******20:00PM GMT****** (4PM EST)

Please join us tomorrow at either or BOTH times!!!!

*After tomorrow, we will be changing the name of the Jummah room to Quran Based Jummah, but the link will not change, it will be the same room, same link.

Salamun alaikum and good night all.

Additional from Imraan: Here is a short note that could be helpful if read before the Jummah talk on “What is Quran and how do we implement it?” on Friday.

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/31518815/Quran%20Definition.pdf

 

more useful links

Quranists Network

Quranists Network Facebook groups