This Ramadan, MuslimMatters reached out to our common (and not-so-regular) crew of writers asking them to share their reflections on numerous ayahs/surahs of the Quran, ideally with a deal with a particular juz – those who might have impacted them in some particular approach or have influenced how they strategy each life and deen. Whereas some contributors are well-versed in a minimum of a part of the Quranic Sciences, not all essentially are, however mirror on their selections as a approach of illustrating that our Holy Guide is approachable from numerous human views.
Introducing, A Ramadan Quran Journal: A MuslimMatters Sequence
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The Chook
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by Wael Abdelgawad
Flying over the ocean off the coast of the good central land – what the people referred to as Africa, although the hen didn’t know this – the albatross heard the sound of a boy reciting the Quran. The sound arrived on the wind like a righteous stowaway, faint however discernible. The wind was like that. It may carry the sound of a hen’s cry throughout an unlimited distance, or may snatch away and conceal even probably the most horrible noises.
Wind was one thing the albatross understood higher than any dwelling creature.
The nice hen was a glider, with a wingspan of 4 meters. He knew air currents as he knew his personal heartbeat. He may journey 100 kilometers with out flapping his wings, utilizing strategies equivalent to dynamic hovering, by which he expertly flew into an air present to realize elevation, turned, and dropped in elevation to survey for fish. If he noticed a faculty of fish he would dive straight into the wild sea and snatch one up. Actually, his title, albatross, got here from the Arabic al-ġaṭṭās, ‘the diver’, although the hen didn’t know this.
Particular tendons within the albatross’s shoulders held his wings prolonged with out effort. He may journey a thousand kilometers in a day – practically the gap between Madinah and Amman, each of which he had visited. His habitat was the complete southern hemisphere of the world, and he had crossed it a number of instances.
The albatross knew the Quran as nicely, as did all dwelling issues, for did Allah not say that the Prophet Muhammad – and due to this fact the Quran that he introduced – was a mercy to all of the worlds? And was not Allah the Lord of all of the worlds? And did this not embrace the animal world? Oh, the albatross didn’t perceive the linguistic which means of the Arabic phrases, however the Quranic essence flowed into his coronary heart as simply because the wind flowed over the ocean.
He glided in towards shore, drawn by the recitation, coming in quick and low towards the emerald hills of Cape City, South Africa.
The boy who recited the Quran was small and brown-skinned, carrying unfastened white clothes and a white cap with gold embroidery. He sat cross-legged and barefoot on the bow of a crusing boat that was tethered to the dock, and held the mushaf in his lap, reciting Surat An-Nur out loud.
The albatross prolonged his talons and landed easily on the highest mast of the boat. Folding his nice wings into his sides, he settled himself to hear.
Maybe having caught a glimpse of movement by way of his peripheral imaginative and prescient, the boy seemed up, startled, and gaped.
The albatross knew he was an uncommon sight. There weren’t lots of his sort left, the vast majority of his race having been destroyed by human poachers, poisoned by air pollution, killed by cats or rats as chicks, starved by human overfishing of the seas, or caught in fishing nets and hooks. He was a grizzled outdated survivor, over forty years outdated, although the hen himself couldn’t rely. He solely knew that he had survived his brood, his pair-bonded mate, and doubtless most of his personal chicks.
The boy referred to as out phrases that the albatross didn’t perceive, however – having had a lot expertise with people – guessed was most likely one thing like, “Baba, there’s a huge hen!”
A voice from the ship’s maintain replied gruffly, perhaps saying, “So what? Birds are in every single place. Proceed your recitation.”
Reluctantly, the boy tore his eyes from the good albatross and chanted:
Allāh is the Gentle of the heavens and the earth. The instance of His mild is sort of a area of interest inside which is a lamp; the lamp is inside glass, the glass as if it had been a pearly [white] star lit from [the oil of] a blessed olive tree, neither of the east nor of the west, whose oil would virtually glow even when untouched by hearth. Gentle upon mild. Allāh guides to His mild whom He wills. And Allāh presents examples for the folks, and Allāh is Understanding of all issues.
The hen exhaled softly by way of his nostrils, pondering, subhanAllah! What glory, what magnificence! He knew nicely that Allah was the sunshine of the heavens and earth, for was it not Allah who guided him on his journeys? Wasn’t it Allah who introduced him by way of lightning and storm, throughout huge distances of open ocean, and throughout nice landmasses, even because the people polluted the world with noise and synthetic mild? Wasn’t it Allah who managed the solar, moon and stars, by which the albatross navigated?
The hen understood that the lamp within the area of interest was the center of the believer, which is stuffed with the sunshine of Allah , and is of course inclined to Allah . As for the sunshine upon mild, it may be the sunshine of the Quran, and the sunshine of religion. And Allah knew finest.
In homes which Allāh has ordered to be raised and that His title be talked about therein; exalting Him inside them within the morning and the evenings…
[are] males who neither commerce nor sale distracts from the remembrance of Allāh and efficiency of prayer and giving of zakāh. They worry a Day by which the hearts and eyes will [fearfully] flip about –
That Allāh might reward them [according to] the perfect of what they did and enhance them from His bounty. And Allāh provides provision to whom He wills with out account [i.e., limit].
The albatross was an observer of human beings by necessity, for of their arms lay the survival of all earthly life. They usually had been making a merciless mess of it. However sure, he had seen women and men who worshiped Allah , devoted themselves to righteousness, and harmed no dwelling factor. Such folks had been unusual strangers on this world. Could Allah have mercy on them and reward them.
The boy recited:
However those that disbelieved – their deeds are like a mirage in a lowland which a thirsty one thinks is water till, when he involves it, he finds it’s nothing however finds Allāh earlier than him, and He pays him in full his due; and Allāh is swift in account.
The albatross was as soon as blown far astray by a storm, and located himself over deep desert. He flew for days, using the eddies, utilizing a method often known as slope gliding to remain within the air. He grew to become desperately thirsty, and on the fourth day noticed a shimmering lake of blue amid the huge expanse of sand. He landed, solely to search out dry mud. In frustration and desperation, he took a invoice stuffed with sand, solely to choke on it. If such had been the deeds of the disbelievers, then he thanked and praised Allah that he was not one in all them.
Or [they are] like darknesses inside an unfathomable sea which is roofed by waves, upon that are waves, over that are clouds – darknesses, a few of them upon others. When one places out his hand [therein], he can hardly see it. And he to whom Allāh has not granted mild – for him there isn’t a mild.
Ths ayah made the hen’s breath catch, for it took him again to a different expertise of his by which he’d been shot and practically killed. He’d been far out over the deep ocean on a windy, pitch black evening, by which there was no moon, and heavy clouds blocked the celebs. Albatrosses may float upon the ocean when drained, however on this evening it was not potential, for the ocean was in turmoil, with large waves rising up and crashing down. It might be tough to navigate on such nights, and the inky darkness weighed on one’s spirit. An albatross’s life was lonely, however nights like that reminded him of all he had misplaced. If such was the soul of the disbeliever, it was a frightful strategy to reside.
On that exact evening, he noticed one of many immense, brightly lit container ships plying the ocean, rocking with the waves, however massive sufficient to remain afloat. It was a welcome sight, and he landed atop the pilot home to relaxation. As he sat, wings folded, head tucked into his feathers, he heard an odd sound. Lifting his head, he noticed an unlit boat approaching quickly. Understanding this was not regular, he took flight, because the conflicts of males weren’t his affair.
Circling above, he watched as human dying sticks chattered and flamed, males yelled and screamed, and the container ship caught hearth. A loud explosion made his coronary heart race, and the container ship started to checklist. Males had been washed overboard. A stray bullet – a scorching stone in his understanding – clipped his wing and he cawed in ache. Cursing himself for his curiosity he sped away, his wing dripping blood. The very last thing he noticed was the container ship sinking into the frigid, uncaring sea.
The boy’s recitation introduced him again:
Do you not see that Allāh is exalted by whomever is inside the heavens and the earth and [by] the birds with wings unfold [in flight]? Every [of them] has identified his [means of] prayer and exalting [Him], and Allāh is Understanding of what they do.
And to Allāh belongs the dominion of the heavens and the earth, and to Allāh is the vacation spot.
This verse made pleasure geyser within the albatross’s coronary heart, for it spoke of him! It was true, he did certainly exalt and reward Allah , Grasp of the sky and sea and stars, Creator of all, and the only Supplier. Excited to listen to himself talked about, the albatross unfold his wings large.
The boy stopped his recitation and seemed worriedly on the hen. Seeing this, the albatross tucked his wings once more and settled down.
Hesitantly, the boy continued:
Do you not see that Allāh drives clouds? Then He brings them collectively; then He makes them right into a mass, and also you see the rain emerge from inside it. And He sends down from the sky, mountains [of clouds] inside which is hail, and He strikes with it whom He wills and averts it from whom He wills. The flash of its lightning virtually takes away the eyesight.
Allāh alternates the evening and the day. Certainly in that may be a lesson for individuals who have imaginative and prescient.
The albatross was excited. Clouds, rain, hail, and lightning, had been a part of his every day expertise. They had been his actuality, for good or unhealthy.
The people had been free creatures, however they didn’t know they had been free. In giving them free company, Allah had elevated them, making their ‘ibadah treasured. And in giving them khilafah over the earth, Allah had enabled them to create a world of gardens and peace. But they chained themselves to meaningless possessions and killed one another out of greed. They lived within the muck, scrabbling and bleeding, forgetting how Allah had honored them.
The albatross, alternatively, was completely free, within the bodily sense. He had seen the best way fishermen and beachgoers gazed at him in longing, faces upturned, wishing they may fly as he did. But he was outdated and weary of contending with storms, waves, and starvation. He yearned for a secure place he may name house.
He was not a creature of will, nevertheless, and couldn’t change his nature.
With these turbulent ideas and feelings operating by way of his thoughts, the albatross opened his mouth and uttered the attribute – and really loud – name of his sort: “UWAY, UWAY, taak tak tak tak tak tak tak tak tak tak tak!”
It was an excessive amount of for the boy. He closed the Quran and bumped into the boathouse, calling out for his mother and father.
Ah nicely. The albatross preened his feathers for a second, then stretched out his wings, flapped a couple of instances, and located an air present. Banking into it, he climbed shortly and steered towards the tough waters off the coast of Cape Agulhas. The yellowtail and snoek had been shoaling right now of yr, and he would have a fish in his stomach quickly sufficient, inshaAllah.
THE END
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See the Story Index for Wael Abdelgawad’s fiction tales on this web site.
Wael Abdelgawad’s novels – together with Items of a Dream, The Repeaters and Zaid Karim Personal Investigator – can be found in e book and print kind on his writer web page at Amazon.com.
Associated:
– A Ramadan Quran Journal: A MuslimMatters Sequence – [Juz 17] Belief Fund And A Yellow Lamborghini
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