Assalaamu’alaykum,

I am pleased to announce the launch of notes/commentary on the Qur’an in a book format and covers the first two Surahs and Surahs 51 to 114. It is a life-time project and the introduction section below the image has the idea behind it. If it helps someone in any way, that would be fantastic.

Amazon US: https://t.ly/wp0y2 | Amazon UK: https://t.ly/ZnSYl

Kindle (US): https://t.ly/FA2b0 | Kindle (UK): https://t.ly/y2FSf All countries available.

The book is quite expensive as Amazon did not allow a lower price than this due to the number of pages and colour print, and I encourage everyone not to purchase it. You can get copy/pasteable and searchable PDF on Telegram: https://t.me/tadabbur – it is free to use and share.

Introduction to the project

The wording of the Qur’an is deep and multilayered where two or more significant messages are conveyed by a single statement.

The words used by Allah (ﷻ) are structured in such a beautiful way that both sorts of understandings fit in well and apply as well. The Qur’an is like a beautiful rose with lush and thick petals; removing one petal reveals another petal underneath and so on. A simple reading of a verse is like a rose and detailed pondering over it gives us multi layers of depth and understanding.

This is the motivation behind the name of this effort.

There is no redundant verse in the Qur’an – even if something came to pass, it is still applicable to us. The notes on the Qur’an found within this book aim to understand the verses of the Qur’an not just from historical point of view but from our times as well and how the lessons and wisdoms apply to us today.

The reader will also find that the book aims to address and explain the objections against Islam and the Qur’an. Care has been taken to delve into this area without the uninteresting elements of apologetics.

The commentary also aims to educate complete and partial Hadith rejectors as to how and why Hadiths are not just essential and required, but also strongly guided towards by the Qur’an.

Approach Taken

The aim behind the project is to ponder over the Qur’an in detail with special emphasis on its applicability in our times with clarifying misconceptions, allegations, and attacks along the way. These include from anti-Islamic non-Muslims as well as deviants from amongst the Muslims. This is not the first apologetic tafsir but is one among the few of this category; I only know of one other so it might be second.

The start of the project involves pondering over each verse on its own and wisdoms derived (which must confirm to proper Islam). This first stage is more like the verse standing up for itself; the approach does not go into the circumstances of revelation and historical context; it focuses on how they affect us today even if the historical context is overlooked. This cannot be done for every verse as some verses were time based and they speak for themselves.

Why overlook circumstances of revelation? Ignoring it serves some purposes: 1) The quality of response to anti-Islamic arguments gets enhanced. Normally, in most of the cases, just letting them know the context of revelation serves the purpose but if the verse explains itself, then that is one more level of clarification and is also proof that the Qur’an is coherent; 2) This point is important and perhaps the bottom line: If you tell someone that you cannot interpret the Qur’an yourself, this has to be done by the Prophet (ﷺ). The Hadiths also cannot be taken by ordinary folk, and we need scholars for that. This project aims to address such people and their claims. If Hadiths, which have come to us through the scholars, state that this verse means such and such, modernists reject that and say that the interpretation must come from Qur’an first. Some of them reject Hadiths altogether while some say that whatever of Hadith contradicts this understanding from the Qur’an, needs to be rejected. This way they say that we trap the Qur’an into the hands of humans who interpret it willfully, making Hadiths along the way. This humble project attempts to refute this thought process. This attempt is a two-way reconciliation proving that the understanding derived by the scholars, through Hadiths, is the same if the other way approach is taken.

In short: Scholars –> Hadith –> Qur’an will yield the same result as Qur’an –> Hadith –> Scholars. By scholars I mean the Sahaba (رضي الله عنهم) (companions/disciples), the earlier and later scholars as well.

In case it is difficult to grasp as to how it can be done, then here is an example. In Surah al-Baqarah (chapter 2), we find the law of qisas (retribution); slave for a slave, free for free and so on. Does it mean that if a free person kills a slave, the former cannot be killed in return? This verse does not mean that and there is a context of revelation but pondering over the verse itself as well proves that the meaning behind the Hadith is the same as what we learn from the context of revelation; a two-way reconciliation is done. Refer Q.2:78 on how this is done.

This does not mean that the Qur’an is interpreted without prophetic guidance or scholarly input, but it is a reconciliation as stated above. If a certain verse on its own can be interpreted in many ways, the correct one (coming through the Prophet (ﷺ) and/or the scholars) is clarified in such a way that it is harmonious and is not forced upon and no gymnastics done, then no opponent of Hadiths can cry foul.

Some anti-Islamic claims state that the Qur’an is very difficult to understand at times and makes no sense with its information along with being incoherent; they state that many passages are so vague that they do not make sense on their own and only outside sources are required to understand them. Such criticisms have also been addressed. For example, read details under Q.2:102 about which some disbelievers say that reading this verse on its own does not make any sense and is very haphazard and vague; however, the reality is that it makes much sense; all you need to do is ponder.

Since the reasons for revelation for each verse are covered in extensive detail by proper scholars, this part has largely been unquoted in this work. If you open and see the context of revelation and compare it with this project, you will see complete coherence (إن شاء الله).

Valuable material has been taken from several commentaries with the most prominent ones being Tafsir ibn-Kathir, Tafsir Maududi, Tafsir Majidi (which I believe is the first apologetic tafsir) of Sh. Abdul Majid Daryabadi, and Tadabbur-i-Qur’an of Sh. Amin Ahsan Islahi (which is not centered on apologetics but does cover misconceptions and so can be grouped in this category).

Going Forward

It is planned to add a ‘Hadith Annexure’ containing Hadiths directly supported or referenced by the Qur’an. If I am unable to do so, I hope someone can take this project forward and complete this task. For example, a verse of the Qur’an, when pondered upon, instructs those without knowledge to not self-interpret and that if they do, they would be wrong. There’s a Hadith that says: Whoever gives his personal view about the Book of Allah, and it turns out to be correct is still mistaken. The Hadiths to be added to the Annexure will be those that fit perfectly like hand in glove and not just random ones loosely linked to the verse.