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

Ramadan 2013 Posts

Eighteenth Night of Ramaḍān

Surat al-Hajj – The Pilgrimage (022)

In the name of God, the Lord of Mercy, the Giver of Mercy 

1. People, be mindful of your Lord, for the earthquake of the Last Hour will be a mighty thing:

2. on the Day you see it, every nursing mother will think no more of her baby, every pregnant female will miscarry, you will think people are drunk when they are not, so severe will be God’s torment.

3. Yet still there are some who, with no knowledge, argue about God, who follow every devilish rebel

4. fated to lead astray those who take his side, and guide them to the suffering of the blazing flame.

5. People, [remember,] if you doubt the Resurrection, that We created you from dust, then a drop of fluid, then a clinging form, then a lump of flesh, both shaped and unshaped: We mean to make Our power clear to you. Whatever We choose We cause to remain in the womb for an appointed time, then We bring you forth as infants and then you grow and reach maturity. Some die young and some are left to live on to such an age that they forget all they once knew. You sometimes see the earth lifeless, yet when We send down water it stirs and swells and produces every kind of joyous growth:

6. this is because God is the Truth; He brings the dead back to life; He has power over everything.

7. There is no doubt that the Last Hour is bound to come, nor that God will raise the dead from their graves,

8. yet still there are some who, with no knowledge or guidance or any book of enlightenment, argue about God,

9. turning scornfully aside to lead others away from God’s path. Disgrace in this world awaits such a person and, on the Day of Resurrection, We shall make him taste the suffering of the Fire.

10. [It will be said], ‘This is for what you have stored up with your own hands: God is never unjust to His creatures.’

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

26. We showed Abraham the site of the House, saying, ‘Do not assign partners to Me. Purify My House for those who circle around it, those who stand to pray, and those who bow and prostrate themselves.

27. Proclaim the Pilgrimage to all people. They will come to you on foot and on every kind of swift mount, emerging from every deep mountain pass

28. to attain benefits and celebrate God’s name, on specified days, over the livestock He has provided for them– feed yourselves and the poor and unfortunate–

29. so let the pilgrims perform their acts of cleansing, fulfil their vows, and circle around the Ancient House.’

30. All this [is ordained by God]: anyone who honours the sacred ordinances of God will have good rewards from his Lord. Livestock have been made lawful to you, except for what has been explicitly forbidden. Shun the filth of idolatrous beliefs and practices and shun false utterances.

31. Devote yourselves to God and assign Him no partners, for the person who does so is like someone who has been hurled down from the skies and snatched up by the birds or flung to a distant place by the wind.

32. All this [is ordained by God]: those who honour God’s rites show the piety of their hearts.
33. Livestock are useful to you until the set time. Then their place of sacrifice is near the Ancient House:

34. We appointed acts of devotion for every community, for them to celebrate God’s name over the livestock He provided for them: your God is One, so devote yourselves to Him. [Prophet], give good news to the humble

35. whose hearts fill with awe whenever God is mentioned, who endure whatever happens to them with patience, who keep up the prayer, who give to others out of Our provision to them.

36. We have made camels part of God’s sacred rites for you. There is much good in them for you, so invoke God’s name over them as they are lined up for sacrifice, then, when they have fallen down dead, feed yourselves and those who do not ask, as well as those who do. We have subjected them to you in this way so that you may be thankful.

37. It is neither their meat nor their blood that reaches God but your piety. He has subjected them to you in this way so that you may glorify God for having guided you. Give good news to those who do good:

38. God will defend the believers; God does not love the unfaithful or the ungrateful.

39. Those who have been attacked are permitted to take up arms because they have been wronged– God has the power to help them–

40. those who have been driven unjustly from their homes only for saying, ‘Our Lord is God.’ If God did not repel some people by means of others, many monasteries, churches, synagogues, and mosques, where God’s name is much invoked, would have been destroyed. God is sure to help those who help His cause– God is strong and mighty–

41. those who, when We establish them in the land, keep up the prayer, pay the prescribed alms, command what is right, and forbid what is wrong: God controls the outcome of all events.

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

69. On the Day of Resurrection, God will judge between you regarding your differences.

70. Are you [Prophet] not aware that God knows all that is in the heavens and earth? All this is written in a Record; this is easy for God.

71. Yet beside God they serve that for which He has sent no authority and of which they have no knowledge: the evildoers will have no one to help them.

72. [Prophet], you can see the hostility on the faces of the disbelievers when Our messages are recited clearly to them: it is almost as if they are going to attack those who recite Our messages to them. Say, ‘Shall I tell you what is far worse than what you feel now? The Fire that God has promised the disbelievers! What a dismal end!’

73. People, here is an illustration, so listen carefully: those you call on beside God could not, even if they combined all their forces, create a fly, and if a fly took something away from them, they would not be able to retrieve it. How feeble are the petitioners and how feeble are those they petition!

74. They have no grasp of God’s true measure: God is truly most strong and mighty.

75. God chooses messengers from among the angels and from among men. God is all hearing, all seeing:

76. He knows what lies before and behind them. All matters return to Him.

77. Believers, bow down, prostrate yourselves, worship your Lord, and do good so that you may succeed.

78. Strive hard for God as is His due: He has chosen you and placed no hardship in your religion, the faith of your forefather Abraham. God has called you Muslims ––both in the past and in this [message]––so that the Messenger can bear witness about you and so that you can bear witness about other people. So keep up the prayer, give the prescribed alms, and seek refuge in God: He is your protector––an excellent protector and an excellent helper.

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

Surat al-Mu’minoon – The Believers (023)

In the name of God, the Lord of Mercy, the Giver of Mercy

1. [How] prosperous are the believers!

2. Those who pray humbly,

3. who shun idle talk,

4. who pay the prescribed alms,

5. who guard their chastity

6. except with their spouses or their slaves ––with these they are not to blame,

7. but anyone who seeks more than this is exceeding the limits––

8. who are faithful to their trusts and pledges

9. and who keep up their prayers,

10. will rightly be given

11. Paradise as their own there to remain.

12. We created man from an essence of clay,

13. then We placed him as a drop of fluid in a safe place,

14. then We made that drop into a clinging form, and We made that form into a lump of flesh, and We made that lump into bones, and We clothed those bones with flesh, and later We made him into other forms ––glory be to God, the best of creators!––

15. then you will die

16. and then, on the Day of Resurrection, you will be raised up again.

17. We created seven levels above you: We are never unmindful of Our creation.

18. We sent water down from the sky in due measure and lodged it in the earth––We have the power to take it all away if We so wish––

19. with it We produced for you gardens of date palms and vines, with many fruits there for you to eat,

20. and a tree, growing out of Mount Sinai, that produces oil and seasoning for your food.

21. There is a lesson for you in livestock: We produce milk for you to drink from their bellies. And they have many other benefits: you eat them

22. and you ride on them, as you do in ships.

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

51. Messengers, eat good things and do good deeds: I am well aware of what you do.

52. This community of yours is one– and I am your Lord: be mindful of Me–

53. but they have split their community into sects, each rejoicing in their own.

54. So [Muhammad] leave them for a while steeped [in their ignorance].

55. Do they reckon that, by giving them wealth and sons,

56. We race to give them good things? They really have no idea!

57. Those who stand in awe of their Lord,

58. who believe in His messages,

59. who do not ascribe partners to Him,

60. who always give with hearts that tremble at the thought that they must return to Him,

61. are the ones who race toward good things, and they will be the first to get them.

62. We do not burden any soul with more than it can bear– We have a Record that tells the truth– they will not be wronged.

63. But the disbelievers’ hearts are steeped [in ignorance of ] all this; and there are other things besides this that they do.

64. When We bring Our punishment on those corrupted with wealth, they will cry for help:

65. ‘Do not cry out today: you will get no help from Us.

66. Time and time again My messages were recited to you, but you turned arrogantly on your heels,

67. and spent the evening making fun of [the Qurʾān].’

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

91. God has never had a child. Nor is there any god beside Him– if there were, each god would have taken his creation aside and tried to overcome the others. May God be exalted above what they describe!

92. He knows what is not seen as well as what is seen; He is far above any partner they claim for Him.

93. Say, ‘Lord, if You are going to show me the punishment You have promised them,

94. then Lord, do not include me among the evildoers!’

95. We certainly are able to show you the punishment We have promised them.

96. Repel evil with good– We are well aware of what they attribute to Us–

97. and say, ‘Lord, I take refuge with You from the goadings of the evil ones;

98. I seek refuge with you, Lord, so that they may not come near me.’

99. When death comes to one of them, he cries, ‘My Lord, let me return

100. so as to make amends for the things I neglected.’ Never! This will not go beyond his words: a barrier stands behind such people until the very Day they are resurrected.

101. On that Day when the Trumpet is blown, the ties between them will be as nothing and they will not ask about each other:

102. those whose good deeds weigh heavy will be successful,

103. but those whose balance is light will have lost their souls for ever and will stay in Hell–

104. the Fire will scorch their faces and their lips will be twisted in pain.

105. ‘Were My messages not recited over and over to you and still you rejected them?’

106. They will say, ‘Lord, our waywardness overcame us and we went astray.

107. Lord, take us away from this and if we go back to our old ways, then we shall really be evildoers.’

108. He will say, ‘Away with you! In you go! Do not speak to Me!

109. Among My servants there were those who said, “Lord, We believe. Forgive us and have mercy on us: You are the most merciful of all.”

110. But you kept on laughing at them: so intent were you on laughing at them that it made you forget My warning.

111. Today I have rewarded them for their patience: it is they who will succeed.’

112. He will say, ‘How many years were you on earth?’

113. and they will reply, ‘We stayed a day or a part of a day, but ask those who keep count.’

114. He will say, ‘You stayed but a little, if you had only known.

115. Did you think We had created you in vain, and that you would not be brought back to Us?’

116. Exalted be God, the true King, there is no god but Him, the Lord of the Glorious Throne!

117. Whoever prays to another god alongside Him– a god for whose existence he has no evidence– will face his reckoning with his Lord. Those who reject the truth will not prosper.

118. Say [Prophet], ‘Lord, forgive and have mercy: You are the most merciful of all.’