Taraweeh Tonight: Connect With The Quran – Ninth Night of Ramadan

Ramadan 2013 Posts

Ninth Night of Ramaḍān

Allāh, the Al-Mighty, says what can be interpreted to mean:

Surat al-Anfal – The Battle Gains (008)

In the Name of God, the Lord of Mercy, the Giver of Mercy!

1. They ask you [Prophet] about [distributing] the battle gains. Say, ‘That is a matter for God and His Messenger, so be mindful of God and make things right between you. Obey God and His Messenger if you are true believers:

2. True believers are those whose hearts tremble with awe when God is mentioned, whose faith increases when His revelations are recited to them, who put their trust in their Lord,

3. Who keep up the prayer and give to others out of what We provide for them.

4. Those are the ones who truly believe. They have high standing with their Lord, forgiveness, and generous provision.’

5. For it was your Lord who made you [Prophet] venture from your home for a true purpose––though a group of the believers disliked it

6. And argued with you about the truth after it had been made clear, as if they were being driven towards a death they could see with their own eyes.

7. Remember how God promised you [believers] that one of the two enemy groups would fall to you: you wanted the unarmed group to be yours, but it was God’s will to establish the truth according to His Word and to finish off the disbelievers––

8. To prove the Truth to be true, and the false to be false, much as the guilty might dislike it.

9. When you begged your Lord for help, He answered you, ‘I will reinforce you with a thousand angels in succession.’

10. God made this a message of hope to reassure your hearts: help comes only from God, He is mighty and wise.

11. Remember when He gave you sleep as a reassurance from Him, and sent down water from the sky to cleanse you, to remove Satan’s pollution from you, to make your hearts strong and your feet firm.

12. Your Lord revealed to the angels: ‘I am with you: give the believers firmness; I shall put terror into the hearts of the disbelievers– strike above their necks and strike all their fingertips.’

13. That was because they opposed God and His Messenger, and if anyone opposes God and His Messenger, God punishes them severely–

14. ‘That is what you get! Taste that!’––and the torment of the Fire awaits the disbelievers.

15. Believers, when you meet the disbelievers in battle, never turn your backs on them:

16. If anyone does so on such a day– unless manoeuvring to fight or to join a fighting group– he incurs the wrath of God, and Hell will be his home, a wretched destination!

17. It was not you who killed them but God, and when you [Prophet] threw [sand at them] it was not your throw [that defeated them] but God’s, to do the believers a favour: God is all seeing and all knowing–

18. ‘That is what you get!’––and God will weaken the disbelievers’ designs.

19. [Disbelievers], if you were seeking a decision, now you have witnessed one: if you stop here, it will be better for you. If you return, so shall We, and your forces, though greater in number, will be of no use to you. God is with the believers.

20. Believers, obey God and His Messenger: do not turn away when you are listening to him;

21. Do not be like those who say, ‘We heard,’ though in fact they were not listening–

22. The worst creatures in God’s eyes are those who are [wilfully] deaf and dumb, who do not reason.

23. If God had known there was any good in them, He would have made them hear, but even if He had, they would still have turned away and taken no notice.

24. Believers, respond to God and His Messenger when he calls you to that which gives you life. Know that God comes between a man and his heart, and that you will be gathered to Him.

25. Beware of discord that harms not only the wrongdoers among you: know that God is severe in His punishment.

Further on Allāh, the Al-Mighty, says what can be interpreted to mean:

45. Believers, when you meet a force in battle, stand firm and keep God firmly in mind, so that you may prosper.

46. Obey God and His Messenger, and do not quarrel with one another, or you may lose heart and your spirit may desert you. Be steadfast: God is with the steadfast.

47. Do not be like those who came out of their homes full of conceit, showing off to people, and barring others from the way of God– God has full knowledge of all that they do.

48. Satan made their foul deeds seem fair to them, and said, ‘No one will conquer you today, for I will be right beside you,’ but when the armies came within sight of one another he turned on his heels, saying, ‘This is where I leave you: I see what you do not, and I fear God– God is severe in His punishment.’

49. The hypocrites and those who have sickness in their hearts said,‘These people [the believers] must be deluded by their religion,’ but if anyone puts his trust in God, God is mighty and wise.

50. If only you [Prophet] could see, when the angels take the souls of the disbelievers, how they strike their faces and backs: it will be said, ‘Taste the punishment of the Fire.

51. This is caused by what your own hands have stored up for you: God is never unjust to His creatures.’

Further on Allāh, the Al-Mighty, says what can be interpreted to mean:

60. Prepare whatever forces you [believers] can muster, including warhorses, to frighten off God’s enemies and yours, and warn others unknown to you but known to God. Whatever you give in God’s cause will be repaid to you in full, and you will not be wronged.

61. But if they incline towards peace, you [Prophet] must also incline towards it, and put your trust in God: He is the All Hearing, the All Knowing.

62. If they intend to deceive you, God is enough for you: it was He who strengthened you with His help,

63. And with the believers, and brought their hearts together. Even if you had given away everything in the earth you could not have done this, but God brought them together: God is mighty and wise.

64. Prophet, God is enough for you, and for the believers who follow you.

65. Prophet, urge the believers to fight: if there are twenty of you who are steadfast, they will overcome two hundred, and a hundred of you, if steadfast, will overcome a thousand of the disbelievers, for they are people who do not understand.

66. But God has lightened your burden for now, knowing that there is weakness in you– a steadfast hundred of you will defeat two hundred and a steadfast thousand of you will defeat two thousand, by God’s permission: God is with the steadfast.

Allāh, the Al-Mighty, says what can be interpreted to mean:

Surat at-Taubah – Repentance (009)

1. A release by God and His Messenger from the treaty you [believers] made with the idolaters [is announced]––

2. You [idolaters] may move freely about the land for four months, but you should bear in mind both that you will not escape God, and that God will disgrace those who defy [Him].a

3. On the Day of the Great Pilgrimage [there will be] a proclamation from God and His Messenger to all people: ‘God and His Messenger are released from [treaty] obligations to the idolaters. It will be better for you [idolaters] if you repent; know that you cannot escape God if you turn away.’ [Prophet], warn those who ignore [God] that they will have a painful punishment.

4. As for those who have honoured the treaty you made with them and who have not supported anyone against you: fulfil your agreement with them to the end of their term. God loves those who are mindful of Him.

5. When the [four] forbidden months are over, wherever you encounter the idolaters, kill them, seize them, besiege them, wait for them at every lookout post; but if they turn [to God], maintain the prayer, and pay the prescribed alms, let them go on their way, for God is most forgiving and merciful.

6. If any one of the idolaters should seek your protection [Prophet], grant it to him so that he may hear the word of God, then take him to a place safe for him, for they are people with no knowledge [of it].

7. How could there be a treaty with God and His Messenger for such idolaters? But as for those with whom you made a treaty at the Sacred Mosque, so long as they remain true to you, be true to them; God loves those who are mindful of Him.

8. [How,] when, if they were to get the upper hand over you, they would not respect any tie with you, of kinship or of treaty? They please you with their tongues, but their hearts are against you and most of them are lawbreakers.

9. They have sold God’s message for a trifling gain, and barred others from His path. How evil their actions are!

10. Where believers are concerned, they respect no tie of kinship or treaty. They are the ones who are committing aggression.

11. If they turn to God, keep up the prayer, and pay the prescribed alms, then they are your brothers in faith: We make the messages clear for people who are willing to learn.

12. But if they break their oath after having made an agreement with you, if they revile your religion, then fight the leaders of disbelief– oaths mean nothing to them– so that they may stop.

13. How could you not fight a people who have broken their oaths, who tried to drive the Messenger out, who attacked you first? Do you fear them? It is God you should fear if you are true believers.

14. Fight them: God will punish them at your hands, He will disgrace them, He will help you to conquer them, He will heal the believers’ feelings

15. And remove the rage from their hearts. God turns to whoever He will in His mercy; God is all knowing and wise.

16. Do you think that you will be left untested without God identifying which of you will strive for His cause and take no supporters apart from God, His Messenger, and other believers? God is fully aware of all your actions.

Further on Allāh, the Al-Mighty, says what can be interpreted to mean:

38. Believers, why, when it is said to you, ‘Go and fight in God’s way,’ do you feel weighed down to the ground? Do you prefer this world to the life to come? How small the enjoyment of this world is, compared with the life to come!

39. If you do not go out and fight, God will punish you severely and put others in your place, but you cannot harm Him in any way: God has power over all things.

40. Even if you do not help the Prophet, God helped him when the disbelievers drove him out: when the two of them were in the cave, he [Muhammad] said to his companion, ‘Do not worry, God is with us,’ and God sent His calm down to him, aided him with forces invisible to you, and brought down the disbelievers’ plan. God’s plan is higher: God is almighty and wise.

41. So go out, no matter whether you are lightly or heavily armed, and struggle in God’s way with your possessions and your persons: this is better for you, if you only knew.

42. They would certainly have followed you [Prophet] if the benefit was within sight and the journey short, but the distance seemed too great for them. They will swear by God, ‘If we could, we certainly would go out [to battle] with you,’ but they ruin themselves, for God knows that they are lying.

Further on Allāh, the Al-Mighty, says what can be interpreted to mean:

71. The believers, both men and women, support each other; they order what is right and forbid what is wrong; they keep up the prayer and pay the prescribed alms; they obey God and His Messenger. God will give His mercy to such people: God is almighty and wise.

72. God has promised the believers, both men and women, Gardens graced with flowing streams where they will remain; good, peaceful homes in Gardens of lasting bliss; and– greatest of all– God’s good pleasure. That is the supreme triumph.

73. Prophet, strive against the disbelievers and the hypocrites, and be tough with them. Hell is their final home– an evil destination!

74. They swear by God that they did not, but they certainly did speak words of defiance and became defiant after having submitted; they tried to do something, though they did not achieve it, ––being spiteful was their only response to God and His Messenger enriching them out of His bounty. They would be better off turning back [to God]: if they turn away, God will punish them in this world and the Hereafter, and there will be no one on earth to protect or help them.

75. There are some among them who pledged themselves to God, saying, ‘If God gives us some of His bounty, we shall certainly give alms and be righteous,’

76. Yet when He did give them some of His bounty, they became mean and turned obstinately away.

77. Because they broke their promise to God, because of all the lies they told, He made hypocrisy settle in their hearts until the Day they meet Him.

78. Do they not realize that God knows their secrets and their private discussions? That God knows all that is hidden?

79. It is they who criticize the believers who give freely and those who can only give a

little with great effort: they scoff at such people, but it is God who scoffs at them– a painful punishment awaits them.

80. It makes no difference [Prophet] whether you ask forgiveness for them or not: God will not forgive them even if you ask seventy times, because they reject God and His Messenger. God does not guide those who rebel against Him.