Qur’an Miracles You Will Hear for First Time! - Famous Translator Explains! -Towards Eternity
Published on
Why was the Quran revealed in Arabic? What is so special about it? We know that the Quran was revealed through the tongue of Prophet Muhammad (saw). So He was speaking the Quran. How can we distinguish the difference between His own speech and the Quran? Why does Allah use sounds like Alif, Laam, Meem, like ABC in the English language, or Taha, Hurufu Muqattaʿat in beginnings of some Surahs? What do they mean? And then I said, okay then, the Quran could have been revealed in Hebrew. And then I found that... Because they saw that the Quran is different, it's like a different language, using the same letter set and same words of that language.
But it's like a different language they don't know. So it's a different formula, different construction of the language. Allah said, كِتَـٰبٌ أَنزَلْنَـٰهُ إِلَيْكَ مُبَـٰرَكٌۭ لِّيَدَّبَّرُوٓا۟ ءَايَـٰتِهِۦ (38:29) "A blessed book that I have sent down to you, O Muhammad, so that they may ponder its signs." Assalamualaikum Sheikh Fadel Soliman. Thank you for accepting us and inviting to your house even, in London. And we are very honored to be interviewing with you. I want to start with who is Fadel Soliman, and can you tell us briefly about yourself? Wa alaikum assalam rahmatullahi barakatuh. Thank you very much. Fadel Soliman is a Muslim from Egypt. I live in London, in the UK.
I'm a game developer. I have four games. I am a Quran translator. I'm the director of Bridges Foundation, of course. This is not a gas station I work for. This is an organization that introduces Islam to non-Muslims and to Muslims as well, and also train Muslim public speakers and presenters. Mainly an electronics engineer. A survivor of 9/11. Many things. So why was the Quran revealed in Arabic? What is so special about it? Okay, well that's an amazing question that I did not find the answer for, except when I studied the Qira'at. Qira'at are the ten modes of recitation of the Quran and in my opinion, it is the main miracle of the Quran.
One of the miracles of the Quran is the different modes of recitation. And only the Arabic language, because of the diacritic marks, which is the fatha, damma and so on, only the Arabic language can accept the Qira'at. Recently I took a Hebrew course, and I found that in Hebrew there is also diacritic marks like dagesh and stuff like that. And then I said, okay then, the Quran could have been revealed in Hebrew. And then I found that diacritic marks were recently added to the Hebrew language by Maimonides, Moses ben Maimon, at the time of Salahuddin Ayyubi. So it's only the Arabic language that can embrace the main miracle of the Quran, which is the modes of recitation, the Qira'at.
There are two main types of variations between the modes of recitation. Like 70% of the variations, they are just performance. They do not affect the meaning. Like, for example, saying الارض or لارض or Okay, this is just performance. At the end, it just means "Al-Ard" At the end, just means "The Earth". But there is also some variations that affect the meaning. Like, for example... فَتَلَقَّىٰٓ ءَادَمُ مِن رَّبِّهِ كَلِمَـٰتٍ فَتَابَ عَلَيْهِ Thereupon Adam received words from his Lord. Thus, He granted him repentance and accepted it from him. Quran 2/37 فَتَلَقَّىٰٓ ءَادَمُ Subject "Adam" here is the subject.
But there is another Qira'ah, Qira’at Ibn Kathir al-Makki Imam ibn Kathir Al-Makki, it says The first Qira'ah, which we usually read means "Then Adam received words from his Lord and repented." The second Qira'ah makes Adam the object, and the words of the Lord, the subject. It means "Adam was received by the words of his Lord and repented." What does that mean? How can words receive a human being? It's very artistic. And at the same time it affects your tarbiyah, how you upbring yourself and your heart, how you purify your heart and mind. The first one, you know, Adam is our representative in the Quran, tells you that it is the duty of the human being to use the words of God and repent.
It is your duty to repent. But even if you repent the second Qira'ah tells you, even if you repent, it's not you who did it. It's the words of God that received you to repent. You see, mind blowing. So different meanings, but they do not contradict. And the the whole meaning is the combination of the layers of the meanings. This is mind blowing. And that's what we did when we pondered the Quran live during the pandemic. Actually we pondered the differences of the Qira'at. So couldn't this be done before the Quran in the Arabic language? This many layers of meanings in poetry, for example? Well, it was never done. But if you want to speak about what happened before the Quran...
Before the Quran, there was no Quran. There was only poetry and prose. And this is the main miracle of the Quran. Before the Quran, there were two types of Arabic language, poetry and prose. Prose, it's normal text. Yeah. When you write an article, this is prose. You can write... Some people write... Like Shakespeare, he wrote very eloquently, yeah? Yeah, but this is not poetry, it's prose. So either poetry or prose in any language. The Quran was added as a different type. It is neither poetry or prose. That's why in our translation of the Quran, you will find that the unit of text is not called verse. Ayah is sign. Verse is the unit of text in poetry. Sentence is the unit of text in prose.
The Quran is neither poetry or prose. It's a different type. So what happened is, when God challenged the Arabs to bring a Quran like it, they couldn't. So He gave them a discount. Okay, bring ten Surahs. They couldn't. He said, more discount. One Surah. One of the Surahs of the Quran is only ten words. Surah Al-Kawthar They still couldn't. Actually, it's not they couldn't. They did not try. So they did not even try. They did not dare to do it. Though, many of them were great poets. Why didn't they dare to do that? Because they saw that the Quran is different. It's like a different language, using the same letter set and same words of that language. But it's like a different language.
They don't know how to do that. So it's a different formula, different construction of the language. So you said that Allah challenged the Kuffar. And also of course it's in the Quran. And even with these new technologies, artificial intelligence, no one can meet this challenge. So how can this happen really? AI, artificial intelligence, does what? It uses the existing information to come up with the best solution. Let's assume that, okay, which is true to an extent. So if AI existed at the time of the revelation of the Quran, it would challenge with the existing types of Arabic language, which is poetry and prose.
It would have never also met the challenge, by challenging the Quran, because the Quran didn't exist before, you understand? So that's actually the poets of the Arabs. They are like artificial intelligence, or even more intelligent, when it comes to Arabic language. And they did not even try to challenge. It's a different language, but with the same words and the same letter set. So artificial intelligence cannot even meet that. Okay, it's not about rhyming, it's about the new... Renewing formula in the language. Renewing constructions. Show me, how can you renew something? But don't quote me, and tell me that you're challenging me. Let someone do that. No one did that.
Even those who tried to do something, they just used the formula of the Quran. No, use.... The Quran renewed formulas, made new construction formulas. Show me. How can you do that? You have the language. Show me. That's it. Why does Allah use sounds like Alif, Laam, Meem, like ABC in the English language, or Taha, Hurufu Muqattaʿat in the beginnings of some Surahs. What do they mean? Well, these separate letters that come in the beginning of 29 Surahs in the Quran. There are many opinions about it. And because the Prophet (saw) did not tell us what it means, no one can say for sure what it means. But there are nice opinions that I'm going to tell you.
It is that it has to do with the challenge about the Quran. Allah challenged the Arab poets and masters of the Arabic language to come up with a Quran like this, or ten Surahs or even one Surah, and they couldn't. So Allah is challenging them in those Surahs by starting with the same letters that they are using in their poetry. And then what actually strengthens this opinion is that nearly in many of these Surahs, actually, exactly 26 out of 29, Allah speaks about the book, about His Ayat, after He mentions these letters. Alif, Laam, Meem, Zaalikal Kitaabu laa raiba feeh, and so on. But there are three Surahs that Allah does not mention the book.
Like Surah Ar-Rum, Surah Al-Ankabut, Surah Maryam. But if you look, Allah speaks about miracles directly after the letters. So the letters not necessarily about the miracle of the Quran, but they are about the miracles. So for example, in Surah Ar-Rum الٓمٓ - غُلِبَتِ ٱلرُّومُ فِىٓ أَدْنَى ٱلْأَرْضِ وَهُم مِّنۢ بَعْدِ غَلَبِهِمْ سَيَغْلِبُونَ فِى بِضْعِ سِنِينَ Alif-Lãm-Mĩm. The Romans have been overcome in the nearest land. But after having been overcome, they will overcome (their enemy) within three to nine years. Quran 30/1-4 It means, "The Romans were defeated. But after their defeat, they will be victorious..." "Within [--]" means that less than ten years. - 3 to 9 years. - Exactly.
Yeah, about nine years. Let's say nine years. Why are you putting this restriction on yourself? If the Prophet is authoring the Quran? Don't put that limit. It's a miracle that Allah, number one, foretold a future event at a time that no one could have said that. And the Prophet was just making this Quran Himself or authoring the Quran, He should have avoided saying this. And if He says it, He should not say within a few years, because like that, what if it didn't happen? Actually, the Quran says within less than ten years. The Romans were collapsing everywhere and the Persians were taking over. They took over Egypt itself. They took over everything from the Roman Byzantines.
So it's like saying, at the time when the USSR is vanishing, that the USSR is going to be back within less than ten years. Oh, that's a big responsibility. And you are risking your actually credibility like that. Aleph, Laam, Meem here had to with this miracle. Kaf, Ha Ya, Ain, Sad. What comes after it? كٓهيعٓصٓ ذِكْرُ رَحْمَتِ رَبِّكَ عَبْدَهُ زَكَرِيَّا Kāf, Hā Yā, ‘Ain, Sād. A reminder of your Lord’s mercy towards His servant Zechariah, Quran 19/1-2 It speaks about the miracle of Prophet Zechariah having a baby while his wife was barren, and he was, like, 100 years old or something. Oh, come on, that's a miracle, too. And the last one is Surah Al-Ankabut.
الٓمٓ-أأَحَسِبَ ٱلنَّاسُ أَن يُتْرَكُوٓا۟أَن يَقُولُوٓا۟ ءَامَنَّا وَهُمْ لَا يُفْتَنُونَ Alif-Lãm-Mĩm. Do people think that they will be left to say, “We believe” without being tested? Quran 29/1-2 وَلَقَدْ فَتَنَّا ٱلَّذِينَ مِن قَبْلِهِمْ ۖ فَلَيَعْلَمَنَّ ٱللَّهُ ٱلَّذِينَ صَدَقُوا۟ وَلَيَعْلَمَنَّ ٱلْكَـٰذِبِينَ Yet certainly We have tested those before them; thus Allah will surely know the truthful and He will surely know the liars. Quran 29/3 Allah speaks about the resurrection of all human beings to be tested. Actually, that's a miracle. This shows the might of Allah.
How can billions of people after death be resurrected all together at the same moment, to be tested at the same moment? This speaks about the might of Allah. So again, the 29 Surahs spoke about miracles and about the might of Allah. 26 of them about the Quranic miracle, three of them just about miracles. For 1400 years, thousands of tafsirs have been written. Some of them are 80 volumes. What gives this depth to the Quran? Couldn't Allah have sent us His tafsir by wahy? So, for example, Surah Al-Baqarah could have been like that. 286 Ayah descended with Jibril. And then the meaning of the difficult words by Wahy, also from Jibril. And then, we could also have, like, lessons from the Surah.
By Wahy, from Allah, through Jibril. And we can also have some exercises, fill in the blanks, also by Wahy, with Jibril. Don't you think the Quran could have been much more clear? Definitely. It could have been 1 million times clearer than that. But that's only one problem. We will read it once, and read the explanation by Allah once, and fill in the blank. Finish the exercises. Give me something else to read. But this style of the Quran is sent by Allah to people who are different in the way they think. Because our minds differ, and every one of us can jump and dive, and come up with some pearls. And you jump and you come up with something else. And it keeps talking to our hearts.
I'll tell you something. Any book in the world is suitable for a certain level of education, for a certain age. The Quran is the only book that is suitable for all ages and for all level of education. A very uneducated person, or we can say, even an illiterate person who just hears it, benefits from it and likes it. And someone who holds five PhDs also read it and benefit from it. Any other book? No. So we know that the Quran was revealed through the tongue of Prophet Muhammad (saw). So He was speaking the Quran. So how can we distinguish the difference between His own speech and the Quran? What are the differences between them?
Actually, one of the ways of proving that the Quran is not the word of Prophet Muhammad (saw) is that... You know what? If I find a book that doesn't have a cover and the cover is lost? If I know the author of this book by reading the style of how the book is written, I can tell you "Listen, this is the style of Shakespeare." This is probably written by Shakespeare, or Charles Dickens, or whatever. But Prophet Muhammad (saw), His style is known. It is the Sunnah. It is the thousands of Hadith that are narrated. This is his style, okay? He learned things, Al-Hikmah, wisdom, and He gave it to us verbally. This is His style. But the Quran is a completely different style.
Any child, any Arab child can tell you the difference between. Or any child who knows Arabic, actually, to be accurate, can tell you the difference between the Quran and the Sunnah because they are completely different styles. No one can talk in a completely different style like that. So the style of Prophet Muhammad (saw) is expressed in the Sunnah. And the Quran is only by Allah.
And the Prophet (saw) was so truthful, to the extent that when Allah told Him to tell us something, He said, "Tell them." ققُلْ هُوَ ٱللَّهُ أَحَدٌ (112:1) "Say, He is Allah, the uniquely one." He didn't say, "He is Allah, the uniquely one." No, He said, "Say." So even the imperative verb, the command of Allah was given to us by Him, because He was so truthful. He doesn't have the right to omit one word. And there are things in the Quran that could have been actually omitted if it is His own handiwork. I am right now, by the way, preparing a reply to an Australian bishop that attacked Prophet Muhammad (saw) recently.
And he said that the Ayah that speaks about Jesus, that says he is Ruhullah or Kalimatullah, you know, the Spirit of Allah and the Word of Allah, is actually copied from John, from the Gospel of John. And I'm telling him, thank you so much for giving me another proof. Because if it's Prophet Muhammad's (saw) decision what to put in the Quran, what not, why would he actually copy from the Gospel something that sounds exactly the opposite of His teachings? That Jesus is not God and is not the Son of God? He should have stayed away from something that may sound like that. And that's why we keep explaining what the "Word of God" means. And there are several "Words of God" and so on.
And what does, like, for example... "Word of God" means miracle. So Adam was considered a Word of God, and Jesus was considered the Word.... So it's not only one Word. Actually, there are Words of God that are infinite. God said that "Had the ocean been ink, it could have exhausted even seven oceans with it before the Words of God run out." See here. So there are Words of God. Not only Jesus, so... But Prophet Muhammad (saw) could have stayed away from this. That will create some issues. So this is the issue. Prophet Muhammad (saw) did not have any role in choosing what to say and what not, and many Ayahs were actually doing tarbiyah for Prophet Muhammad (saw), purification for Him.
Actually, this Ayah is a message to us. He is telling us, because Allah is telling Him, عَبَسَ وَتَوَلَّىٰٓ 1 أَن جَآءَهُ ٱلْأَعْمَىٰ وَمَا يُدْرِيكَ لَعَلَّهُۥ يَزَّكَّىٰٓ أَوْ يَذَّكَّرُ فَتَنفَعَهُ ٱلذِّكْرَىٰٓ 4 أَمَّا مَنِ ٱسْتَغْنَىٰ فَأَنتَ لَهُۥ تَصَدَّىٰ He frowned and turned away when the blind man approached him. But what could make you realize that perhaps he was seeking to purify himself, or to be reminded so that the reminder would benefit him? So Allah is actually here, like, blaming Prophet Muhammad for giving more attention to the leaders of the kuffar, okay? Over a blind believer. If you think about it, what the Prophet (saw) did is very logical.
Because it's a very important meeting. Had the Prophet (saw) succeed in convincing the leaders of the kuffar, there could have been no Badr or Uhud or no one dying. It's very logical what he did. But Allah is telling Him, "The weakest companion is dearer to Allah, and more important for Allah, than all those disbelievers." So, give more attention. It's like Allah is sending us a love message. "I love you and I'm telling your Prophet to take care of you more than He cares about convincing non-believers." Amazing. It's like messages of love. So why does Allah use "We" for Himself in the Quran? It's the royal "We." One of the names of Allah is "Al-Malik," The King.
When the King speaks, he says, "We, the King of England, are opening the museum." Allah is the King, the real King. So it's called the royal "We". In English, the royal "We". It exists in every language, by the way, so it doesn't mean that Allah is more than one. It's only one, definitely. But He is Al-Malik, and He can speak in this form also. Allah shifts to "Ana", to "I", when he speaks about Himself as Zat as... And He speaks about Tawhid, but he goes to "Nahnu". “Khalaqnaakum” Speaks with the royal "We" when He speaks about His might, His mightiness, His ability to do things.
“Inni ana rabbuka”, ”Inni anallah” When He speaks about Himself, about Tawhid mainly, that there is no Lord, no God except Him. Because there cannot be two gods. There cannot. Yeah, but the issue is why not? Because if there is more than one God, then this means that either both of them cannot do everything, and like that, none of them is God. Or one of them is not needed. And this makes him not God. How can a book that was revealed 1400 years ago in Arabia appeal to this day and age? Do you believe that the Quran is universal and timeless? Well, that's the miracle of the Quran. I told you that, you know, yeah... Every book has a certain level that it is suitable for.
So even, you know, children's books, it says this is three plus, this is seven plus, this is twelve plus. So a three year old will not benefit from a book for a 12 year old. Of course, a PhD holder will not benefit from a three year old book. The Quran is the only book that is suitable for all ages and for all levels of education. And that's the miracle of it. But the problem is when we don't use it properly. The Quran is a medication. Allah said, وَنُنَزِّلُ مِنَ ٱلْقُرْءَانِ مَا هُوَ شِفَآءٌ وَرَحْمَةٌۭ لِّلْمُؤْمِنِينَ ۙ And We bestow from on high of the Recital that which is a healing and a mercy for the believers, but it does not increase the unjust except in loss.
Quran 17/82 And we descend from the Quran, what is a shifa? What is a cure for the believer? So it's a medication. Okay, we know people who memorize the whole Quran and it did not help them. They have the grudges, they have hased, they have envy, they have hatred. They have even... Some of them even supported, you know, treason, supported inqilabat and so on. Okay. Why did this happen? Because they were using it like this guy, the wrong way. Allah said, كِتَـٰبٌ أَنزَلْنَـٰهُ إِلَيْكَ مُبَـٰرَكٌۭ لِّيَدَّبَّرُوٓا۟ ءَايَـٰتِهِۦ A Scripture that We sent down to you , blessed, that they may ponder its signs and that those endowed with understanding may remind themselves.
Quran 38/29 "A blessed book that I have sent down to you, O Muhammad, so that they may ponder its signs." If you don't ponder the Quran, it's not going to help you. Go memorise it all, it's not going to help you. I actually do counselling for atheists. Nearly half of the cases I have are memorizers of the whole Quran. Yeah, it didn't help them. Why? Because just memorizing, not understanding. Which Ayah of the Quran has impressed you the most in terms of eloquence? Well, the whole of the Quran is eloquent and is amazing. But again, it comes back to the Qira'at.
When I find that the difference of the Qira'at can give you four different meanings in one Ayah, and you put them as layers of the meaning, and it gives you a big meaning, that could have not been expressed, except if you add a whole page to the Quran. Listen to this. This Ayah has four different ways.
It's when Firaun was speaking to the Al-Maleh, to his assistants, and he's telling them, ذَرُونِىٓ أَقْتُلْ مُوسَىٰ وَلْيَدْعُ رَبَّهُ إِنِّىٓ أَخَافُ أَن يُبَدِّلَ دِينَكُمْ أَوْ أَن يُظْهِرَ فِى ٱلْأَرْضِ ٱلْفَسَادَ And Pharaoh said, “Let me kill Moses, and let him call upon his Lord; indeed, I am afraid that he may exchange your religion or that he may cause corruption to appear in the land.” Quran 40/26 "Allow me to kill Moses." "I'm afraid that he may change your religion, or he may make corruption appear on Earth." Or in the land. Not Earth. Land. Because here "Al-Ard" is the country, okay? It has four different ways. It can be, 1.
way إِنّي أَخافُ أَن يُبَدِّلَ دينَكُم أَو أَن يَظهَرَ فِي الأَرضِ الفَسادَ "I'm afraid that he may change your religion, or corruption would appear." But this one doesn't say that Moses will make it appear, okay? There is, 2. way إِنّي أَخافُ أَن يُبَدِّلَ دينَكُم و أَن يَظهَرَ فِي الأَرضِ الفَسادَ "...and corruption will appear." And there is, 3. way إِنّي أَخافُ أَن يُبَدِّلَ دينَكُم و أَن يُظهِرَ فِي الأَرضِ الفَسادَ "I'm afraid that he will do this and do this." Not "or", okay? What does that mean? And why didn't he kill him? Nothing tells you in the Quran except the Qira'at. If you understand those four meanings and you put them as layers over each other, they mean what?
They mean that the meeting started by, "Allow me to kill this guy." And then they said, "Okay, let's see, let's brainstorm together." And in a long meeting, they have put every single possibility that can happen. And they came up with that, "No, he should not be killed." "He should be challenged and embarrassed." "Send and bring whatever, sorcerers, magicians." You see here, you can never understand this, except if the Quran added one whole page telling you they found this option, and this option, this possibility, and this... Four possibilities could have happened. And then they found that... This is omitted. The Quran is concise because of the Qira'at.
And you will not understand it, except if you understand the Qira'at. I'm telling you, the day I went to understand the Qira'at, I had good understanding of the Quran. So my sheikh told me, "Listen, forget all." "What you have is only one face, one dimension. Now you came to read the..." But of course here some people say, "Doesn't this make the Quran difficult?" Yeah. Why don't you... Why do you want the Word of Allah to be very simple? Every book was written in this world for the world to read it. But this book descended upon the world from outside the world, for the world to read it. It's not simple. It's not a normal book.
Can you name one Ayah from the Quran that, you know, made you 100% convinced that this cannot be a word of a human being? The one that mesmerized you the most? I'll tell you something that affected me a lot, and an incident that happened to me that proved to me that the Quran is not, is not ink on paper, is a living being. So which one you want to start with? Okay, I'll start with this incident, a strange one. Before coming to this house, I lived in the 36th floor in a building in East London, that oversees the Olympic Village, and it sees all of London. It's very panoramic. There isn't one brick in this building. It's all glass from everywhere.
So I want you to imagine the midnight on the 31st of December, with all the fireworks of the New Year. It looks amazing from everywhere. It's amazing. I attended that like three times. I lived there for four years, and the fourth year I had an idea that, okay, well, you have seen that before three times. Yeah, it's beautiful, but you have seen it. You took even videos. Why don't you do something different this year? Well, the number of people who are worshiping God at this moment is very few. Most people are watching the fireworks and some people are dancing and clubbing and drunk. Why don't you become one of the few people who will be worshiping at this moment?
So I said, okay, that's a good idea. I put down all the shades, I darkened, I turned off all the lights, and I turned on the Quran app on iPad and I put it in front of me and I started doing Qiyamulayl Beautiful, at 11:30. 10 minutes before 12, I was in the second Rak'ah, after the Fatiha, reciting the Quran. And then the explosions of the fireworks were so loud and still there are some colors coming from between the shades. Yellow, blue. It became very tempting for me that I'm losing a lot. I'm missing a lot. So I said to myself, okay listen, it's not haram. At the end of this Ayah, just say, Allahu Akbar, make Ruku, two Sujuds, and go watch. And then come back and pray until Fajr.
You do both. I said, okay. Let me finish this Ayah and say Allahu Akbar. You know how the Ayah finished? The Ayah ended like that. قُلِ ٱللَّهُ ثُمَّ ذَرْهُمْ فِى خَوْضِهِمْ يَلْعَبُونَ Say, “Allah (revealed it).” Then leave them in their indulgence in vain talk, playing. Quran 6/91 Say Allah and leave them in whatever they are busy playing. I'm sorry. This is not a coincidence. Out of 6234 Ayahs. This is not a coincidence. This is a living being that talks to you. And it's just, you need to establish a relationship with it. It's going to talk to you. It's about the Quran dealing with your feelings. I'll tell you another Ayah that affected me a lot, and it's an Ayah that I love so much.
And I recite nearly in every prayer. It is, It is an Ayah in Surah Al' Imran. قُلِ ٱللَّهُمَّ مَـٰلِكَ ٱلْمُلْكِ تُؤْتِى ٱلْمُلْكَ مَن تَشَآءُ وَتَنزِعُ ٱلْمُلْكَ مِمَّن تَشَآءُ وَتُعِزُّ مَن تَشَآءُ وَتُذِلُّ مَن تَشَآءُ ۖ بِيَدِكَ ٱلْخَيْرُ ۖ إِنَّكَ عَلَىٰ كُلِّ شَىْءٍۢ قَدِيرٌۭ Say , “O Allah, Master of the dominion, You grant dominion to whomever You will and You strip dominion from whomever you will, and You honor whomever you will and You humiliate whomever you will; in Your hand is all goodness. You are indeed All-Powerful over everything. Quran 3/26 At a certain night... It was the night when actually someone that I don't like became a ruler in a country.
And I think that he took the rule there unjustly, after an inqilab and stuff like that. I wasn't feeling good that night, and I went to pray in the mosque, Fajr. And the imam didn't come, so they pushed me to lead the prayer. So reciting this Ayah, I felt like I'm reciting it or the first time in my life. I never noticed this. Listen. "Say, O Allah, the owner of the..." Authority or the dominion. The owner of authority. "You give authority to whoever you will, and you take authority from whoever you will, and you honor whoever you will, and you humiliate whoever you will." Excuse me? Why four times, "whoever you will"? The Quran should be more concise, hm? The Quran is concise.
Why didn't Allah say it like that? "Say, O Allah, owner of authority, you give authority and honor, whoever you will. And you take authority and humiliate whoever you will." We could have saved two "whoever you will"s. But He didn't say so. Why? He didn't link authority with honor or humiliation. So Allah can give authority to someone and humiliate him when he is in authority. And Allah can take authority from someone and then honor him after authority was taken from him. You see the beauty here? It's mind blowing. And you know what? I read it like 10,000 times before and I never understood it like that, except when I was in a certain psychological status, and I understood it.
And that's amazing. This is mind blowing. 01:22 (Sheikh Fadel Soliman, Qur’an Translator, Author Game Developer) 125 Screen Notes 05:25 (Prose. It is a normal text. An article or Passage.) 05:35 (poetry It is a form of artistic expression using language)
But it's like a different language they don't know. So it's a different formula, different construction of the language. Allah said, كِتَـٰبٌ أَنزَلْنَـٰهُ إِلَيْكَ مُبَـٰرَكٌۭ لِّيَدَّبَّرُوٓا۟ ءَايَـٰتِهِۦ (38:29) "A blessed book that I have sent down to you, O Muhammad, so that they may ponder its signs." Assalamualaikum Sheikh Fadel Soliman. Thank you for accepting us and inviting to your house even, in London. And we are very honored to be interviewing with you. I want to start with who is Fadel Soliman, and can you tell us briefly about yourself? Wa alaikum assalam rahmatullahi barakatuh. Thank you very much. Fadel Soliman is a Muslim from Egypt. I live in London, in the UK.
I'm a game developer. I have four games. I am a Quran translator. I'm the director of Bridges Foundation, of course. This is not a gas station I work for. This is an organization that introduces Islam to non-Muslims and to Muslims as well, and also train Muslim public speakers and presenters. Mainly an electronics engineer. A survivor of 9/11. Many things. So why was the Quran revealed in Arabic? What is so special about it? Okay, well that's an amazing question that I did not find the answer for, except when I studied the Qira'at. Qira'at are the ten modes of recitation of the Quran and in my opinion, it is the main miracle of the Quran.
One of the miracles of the Quran is the different modes of recitation. And only the Arabic language, because of the diacritic marks, which is the fatha, damma and so on, only the Arabic language can accept the Qira'at. Recently I took a Hebrew course, and I found that in Hebrew there is also diacritic marks like dagesh and stuff like that. And then I said, okay then, the Quran could have been revealed in Hebrew. And then I found that diacritic marks were recently added to the Hebrew language by Maimonides, Moses ben Maimon, at the time of Salahuddin Ayyubi. So it's only the Arabic language that can embrace the main miracle of the Quran, which is the modes of recitation, the Qira'at.
There are two main types of variations between the modes of recitation. Like 70% of the variations, they are just performance. They do not affect the meaning. Like, for example, saying الارض or لارض or Okay, this is just performance. At the end, it just means "Al-Ard" At the end, just means "The Earth". But there is also some variations that affect the meaning. Like, for example... فَتَلَقَّىٰٓ ءَادَمُ مِن رَّبِّهِ كَلِمَـٰتٍ فَتَابَ عَلَيْهِ Thereupon Adam received words from his Lord. Thus, He granted him repentance and accepted it from him. Quran 2/37 فَتَلَقَّىٰٓ ءَادَمُ Subject "Adam" here is the subject.
But there is another Qira'ah, Qira’at Ibn Kathir al-Makki Imam ibn Kathir Al-Makki, it says The first Qira'ah, which we usually read means "Then Adam received words from his Lord and repented." The second Qira'ah makes Adam the object, and the words of the Lord, the subject. It means "Adam was received by the words of his Lord and repented." What does that mean? How can words receive a human being? It's very artistic. And at the same time it affects your tarbiyah, how you upbring yourself and your heart, how you purify your heart and mind. The first one, you know, Adam is our representative in the Quran, tells you that it is the duty of the human being to use the words of God and repent.
It is your duty to repent. But even if you repent the second Qira'ah tells you, even if you repent, it's not you who did it. It's the words of God that received you to repent. You see, mind blowing. So different meanings, but they do not contradict. And the the whole meaning is the combination of the layers of the meanings. This is mind blowing. And that's what we did when we pondered the Quran live during the pandemic. Actually we pondered the differences of the Qira'at. So couldn't this be done before the Quran in the Arabic language? This many layers of meanings in poetry, for example? Well, it was never done. But if you want to speak about what happened before the Quran...
Before the Quran, there was no Quran. There was only poetry and prose. And this is the main miracle of the Quran. Before the Quran, there were two types of Arabic language, poetry and prose. Prose, it's normal text. Yeah. When you write an article, this is prose. You can write... Some people write... Like Shakespeare, he wrote very eloquently, yeah? Yeah, but this is not poetry, it's prose. So either poetry or prose in any language. The Quran was added as a different type. It is neither poetry or prose. That's why in our translation of the Quran, you will find that the unit of text is not called verse. Ayah is sign. Verse is the unit of text in poetry. Sentence is the unit of text in prose.
The Quran is neither poetry or prose. It's a different type. So what happened is, when God challenged the Arabs to bring a Quran like it, they couldn't. So He gave them a discount. Okay, bring ten Surahs. They couldn't. He said, more discount. One Surah. One of the Surahs of the Quran is only ten words. Surah Al-Kawthar They still couldn't. Actually, it's not they couldn't. They did not try. So they did not even try. They did not dare to do it. Though, many of them were great poets. Why didn't they dare to do that? Because they saw that the Quran is different. It's like a different language, using the same letter set and same words of that language. But it's like a different language.
They don't know how to do that. So it's a different formula, different construction of the language. So you said that Allah challenged the Kuffar. And also of course it's in the Quran. And even with these new technologies, artificial intelligence, no one can meet this challenge. So how can this happen really? AI, artificial intelligence, does what? It uses the existing information to come up with the best solution. Let's assume that, okay, which is true to an extent. So if AI existed at the time of the revelation of the Quran, it would challenge with the existing types of Arabic language, which is poetry and prose.
It would have never also met the challenge, by challenging the Quran, because the Quran didn't exist before, you understand? So that's actually the poets of the Arabs. They are like artificial intelligence, or even more intelligent, when it comes to Arabic language. And they did not even try to challenge. It's a different language, but with the same words and the same letter set. So artificial intelligence cannot even meet that. Okay, it's not about rhyming, it's about the new... Renewing formula in the language. Renewing constructions. Show me, how can you renew something? But don't quote me, and tell me that you're challenging me. Let someone do that. No one did that.
Even those who tried to do something, they just used the formula of the Quran. No, use.... The Quran renewed formulas, made new construction formulas. Show me. How can you do that? You have the language. Show me. That's it. Why does Allah use sounds like Alif, Laam, Meem, like ABC in the English language, or Taha, Hurufu Muqattaʿat in the beginnings of some Surahs. What do they mean? Well, these separate letters that come in the beginning of 29 Surahs in the Quran. There are many opinions about it. And because the Prophet (saw) did not tell us what it means, no one can say for sure what it means. But there are nice opinions that I'm going to tell you.
It is that it has to do with the challenge about the Quran. Allah challenged the Arab poets and masters of the Arabic language to come up with a Quran like this, or ten Surahs or even one Surah, and they couldn't. So Allah is challenging them in those Surahs by starting with the same letters that they are using in their poetry. And then what actually strengthens this opinion is that nearly in many of these Surahs, actually, exactly 26 out of 29, Allah speaks about the book, about His Ayat, after He mentions these letters. Alif, Laam, Meem, Zaalikal Kitaabu laa raiba feeh, and so on. But there are three Surahs that Allah does not mention the book.
Like Surah Ar-Rum, Surah Al-Ankabut, Surah Maryam. But if you look, Allah speaks about miracles directly after the letters. So the letters not necessarily about the miracle of the Quran, but they are about the miracles. So for example, in Surah Ar-Rum الٓمٓ - غُلِبَتِ ٱلرُّومُ فِىٓ أَدْنَى ٱلْأَرْضِ وَهُم مِّنۢ بَعْدِ غَلَبِهِمْ سَيَغْلِبُونَ فِى بِضْعِ سِنِينَ Alif-Lãm-Mĩm. The Romans have been overcome in the nearest land. But after having been overcome, they will overcome (their enemy) within three to nine years. Quran 30/1-4 It means, "The Romans were defeated. But after their defeat, they will be victorious..." "Within [--]" means that less than ten years. - 3 to 9 years. - Exactly.
Yeah, about nine years. Let's say nine years. Why are you putting this restriction on yourself? If the Prophet is authoring the Quran? Don't put that limit. It's a miracle that Allah, number one, foretold a future event at a time that no one could have said that. And the Prophet was just making this Quran Himself or authoring the Quran, He should have avoided saying this. And if He says it, He should not say within a few years, because like that, what if it didn't happen? Actually, the Quran says within less than ten years. The Romans were collapsing everywhere and the Persians were taking over. They took over Egypt itself. They took over everything from the Roman Byzantines.
So it's like saying, at the time when the USSR is vanishing, that the USSR is going to be back within less than ten years. Oh, that's a big responsibility. And you are risking your actually credibility like that. Aleph, Laam, Meem here had to with this miracle. Kaf, Ha Ya, Ain, Sad. What comes after it? كٓهيعٓصٓ ذِكْرُ رَحْمَتِ رَبِّكَ عَبْدَهُ زَكَرِيَّا Kāf, Hā Yā, ‘Ain, Sād. A reminder of your Lord’s mercy towards His servant Zechariah, Quran 19/1-2 It speaks about the miracle of Prophet Zechariah having a baby while his wife was barren, and he was, like, 100 years old or something. Oh, come on, that's a miracle, too. And the last one is Surah Al-Ankabut.
الٓمٓ-أأَحَسِبَ ٱلنَّاسُ أَن يُتْرَكُوٓا۟أَن يَقُولُوٓا۟ ءَامَنَّا وَهُمْ لَا يُفْتَنُونَ Alif-Lãm-Mĩm. Do people think that they will be left to say, “We believe” without being tested? Quran 29/1-2 وَلَقَدْ فَتَنَّا ٱلَّذِينَ مِن قَبْلِهِمْ ۖ فَلَيَعْلَمَنَّ ٱللَّهُ ٱلَّذِينَ صَدَقُوا۟ وَلَيَعْلَمَنَّ ٱلْكَـٰذِبِينَ Yet certainly We have tested those before them; thus Allah will surely know the truthful and He will surely know the liars. Quran 29/3 Allah speaks about the resurrection of all human beings to be tested. Actually, that's a miracle. This shows the might of Allah.
How can billions of people after death be resurrected all together at the same moment, to be tested at the same moment? This speaks about the might of Allah. So again, the 29 Surahs spoke about miracles and about the might of Allah. 26 of them about the Quranic miracle, three of them just about miracles. For 1400 years, thousands of tafsirs have been written. Some of them are 80 volumes. What gives this depth to the Quran? Couldn't Allah have sent us His tafsir by wahy? So, for example, Surah Al-Baqarah could have been like that. 286 Ayah descended with Jibril. And then the meaning of the difficult words by Wahy, also from Jibril. And then, we could also have, like, lessons from the Surah.
By Wahy, from Allah, through Jibril. And we can also have some exercises, fill in the blanks, also by Wahy, with Jibril. Don't you think the Quran could have been much more clear? Definitely. It could have been 1 million times clearer than that. But that's only one problem. We will read it once, and read the explanation by Allah once, and fill in the blank. Finish the exercises. Give me something else to read. But this style of the Quran is sent by Allah to people who are different in the way they think. Because our minds differ, and every one of us can jump and dive, and come up with some pearls. And you jump and you come up with something else. And it keeps talking to our hearts.
I'll tell you something. Any book in the world is suitable for a certain level of education, for a certain age. The Quran is the only book that is suitable for all ages and for all level of education. A very uneducated person, or we can say, even an illiterate person who just hears it, benefits from it and likes it. And someone who holds five PhDs also read it and benefit from it. Any other book? No. So we know that the Quran was revealed through the tongue of Prophet Muhammad (saw). So He was speaking the Quran. So how can we distinguish the difference between His own speech and the Quran? What are the differences between them?
Actually, one of the ways of proving that the Quran is not the word of Prophet Muhammad (saw) is that... You know what? If I find a book that doesn't have a cover and the cover is lost? If I know the author of this book by reading the style of how the book is written, I can tell you "Listen, this is the style of Shakespeare." This is probably written by Shakespeare, or Charles Dickens, or whatever. But Prophet Muhammad (saw), His style is known. It is the Sunnah. It is the thousands of Hadith that are narrated. This is his style, okay? He learned things, Al-Hikmah, wisdom, and He gave it to us verbally. This is His style. But the Quran is a completely different style.
Any child, any Arab child can tell you the difference between. Or any child who knows Arabic, actually, to be accurate, can tell you the difference between the Quran and the Sunnah because they are completely different styles. No one can talk in a completely different style like that. So the style of Prophet Muhammad (saw) is expressed in the Sunnah. And the Quran is only by Allah.
And the Prophet (saw) was so truthful, to the extent that when Allah told Him to tell us something, He said, "Tell them." ققُلْ هُوَ ٱللَّهُ أَحَدٌ (112:1) "Say, He is Allah, the uniquely one." He didn't say, "He is Allah, the uniquely one." No, He said, "Say." So even the imperative verb, the command of Allah was given to us by Him, because He was so truthful. He doesn't have the right to omit one word. And there are things in the Quran that could have been actually omitted if it is His own handiwork. I am right now, by the way, preparing a reply to an Australian bishop that attacked Prophet Muhammad (saw) recently.
And he said that the Ayah that speaks about Jesus, that says he is Ruhullah or Kalimatullah, you know, the Spirit of Allah and the Word of Allah, is actually copied from John, from the Gospel of John. And I'm telling him, thank you so much for giving me another proof. Because if it's Prophet Muhammad's (saw) decision what to put in the Quran, what not, why would he actually copy from the Gospel something that sounds exactly the opposite of His teachings? That Jesus is not God and is not the Son of God? He should have stayed away from something that may sound like that. And that's why we keep explaining what the "Word of God" means. And there are several "Words of God" and so on.
And what does, like, for example... "Word of God" means miracle. So Adam was considered a Word of God, and Jesus was considered the Word.... So it's not only one Word. Actually, there are Words of God that are infinite. God said that "Had the ocean been ink, it could have exhausted even seven oceans with it before the Words of God run out." See here. So there are Words of God. Not only Jesus, so... But Prophet Muhammad (saw) could have stayed away from this. That will create some issues. So this is the issue. Prophet Muhammad (saw) did not have any role in choosing what to say and what not, and many Ayahs were actually doing tarbiyah for Prophet Muhammad (saw), purification for Him.
Actually, this Ayah is a message to us. He is telling us, because Allah is telling Him, عَبَسَ وَتَوَلَّىٰٓ 1 أَن جَآءَهُ ٱلْأَعْمَىٰ وَمَا يُدْرِيكَ لَعَلَّهُۥ يَزَّكَّىٰٓ أَوْ يَذَّكَّرُ فَتَنفَعَهُ ٱلذِّكْرَىٰٓ 4 أَمَّا مَنِ ٱسْتَغْنَىٰ فَأَنتَ لَهُۥ تَصَدَّىٰ He frowned and turned away when the blind man approached him. But what could make you realize that perhaps he was seeking to purify himself, or to be reminded so that the reminder would benefit him? So Allah is actually here, like, blaming Prophet Muhammad for giving more attention to the leaders of the kuffar, okay? Over a blind believer. If you think about it, what the Prophet (saw) did is very logical.
Because it's a very important meeting. Had the Prophet (saw) succeed in convincing the leaders of the kuffar, there could have been no Badr or Uhud or no one dying. It's very logical what he did. But Allah is telling Him, "The weakest companion is dearer to Allah, and more important for Allah, than all those disbelievers." So, give more attention. It's like Allah is sending us a love message. "I love you and I'm telling your Prophet to take care of you more than He cares about convincing non-believers." Amazing. It's like messages of love. So why does Allah use "We" for Himself in the Quran? It's the royal "We." One of the names of Allah is "Al-Malik," The King.
When the King speaks, he says, "We, the King of England, are opening the museum." Allah is the King, the real King. So it's called the royal "We". In English, the royal "We". It exists in every language, by the way, so it doesn't mean that Allah is more than one. It's only one, definitely. But He is Al-Malik, and He can speak in this form also. Allah shifts to "Ana", to "I", when he speaks about Himself as Zat as... And He speaks about Tawhid, but he goes to "Nahnu". “Khalaqnaakum” Speaks with the royal "We" when He speaks about His might, His mightiness, His ability to do things.
“Inni ana rabbuka”, ”Inni anallah” When He speaks about Himself, about Tawhid mainly, that there is no Lord, no God except Him. Because there cannot be two gods. There cannot. Yeah, but the issue is why not? Because if there is more than one God, then this means that either both of them cannot do everything, and like that, none of them is God. Or one of them is not needed. And this makes him not God. How can a book that was revealed 1400 years ago in Arabia appeal to this day and age? Do you believe that the Quran is universal and timeless? Well, that's the miracle of the Quran. I told you that, you know, yeah... Every book has a certain level that it is suitable for.
So even, you know, children's books, it says this is three plus, this is seven plus, this is twelve plus. So a three year old will not benefit from a book for a 12 year old. Of course, a PhD holder will not benefit from a three year old book. The Quran is the only book that is suitable for all ages and for all levels of education. And that's the miracle of it. But the problem is when we don't use it properly. The Quran is a medication. Allah said, وَنُنَزِّلُ مِنَ ٱلْقُرْءَانِ مَا هُوَ شِفَآءٌ وَرَحْمَةٌۭ لِّلْمُؤْمِنِينَ ۙ And We bestow from on high of the Recital that which is a healing and a mercy for the believers, but it does not increase the unjust except in loss.
Quran 17/82 And we descend from the Quran, what is a shifa? What is a cure for the believer? So it's a medication. Okay, we know people who memorize the whole Quran and it did not help them. They have the grudges, they have hased, they have envy, they have hatred. They have even... Some of them even supported, you know, treason, supported inqilabat and so on. Okay. Why did this happen? Because they were using it like this guy, the wrong way. Allah said, كِتَـٰبٌ أَنزَلْنَـٰهُ إِلَيْكَ مُبَـٰرَكٌۭ لِّيَدَّبَّرُوٓا۟ ءَايَـٰتِهِۦ A Scripture that We sent down to you , blessed, that they may ponder its signs and that those endowed with understanding may remind themselves.
Quran 38/29 "A blessed book that I have sent down to you, O Muhammad, so that they may ponder its signs." If you don't ponder the Quran, it's not going to help you. Go memorise it all, it's not going to help you. I actually do counselling for atheists. Nearly half of the cases I have are memorizers of the whole Quran. Yeah, it didn't help them. Why? Because just memorizing, not understanding. Which Ayah of the Quran has impressed you the most in terms of eloquence? Well, the whole of the Quran is eloquent and is amazing. But again, it comes back to the Qira'at.
When I find that the difference of the Qira'at can give you four different meanings in one Ayah, and you put them as layers of the meaning, and it gives you a big meaning, that could have not been expressed, except if you add a whole page to the Quran. Listen to this. This Ayah has four different ways.
It's when Firaun was speaking to the Al-Maleh, to his assistants, and he's telling them, ذَرُونِىٓ أَقْتُلْ مُوسَىٰ وَلْيَدْعُ رَبَّهُ إِنِّىٓ أَخَافُ أَن يُبَدِّلَ دِينَكُمْ أَوْ أَن يُظْهِرَ فِى ٱلْأَرْضِ ٱلْفَسَادَ And Pharaoh said, “Let me kill Moses, and let him call upon his Lord; indeed, I am afraid that he may exchange your religion or that he may cause corruption to appear in the land.” Quran 40/26 "Allow me to kill Moses." "I'm afraid that he may change your religion, or he may make corruption appear on Earth." Or in the land. Not Earth. Land. Because here "Al-Ard" is the country, okay? It has four different ways. It can be, 1.
way إِنّي أَخافُ أَن يُبَدِّلَ دينَكُم أَو أَن يَظهَرَ فِي الأَرضِ الفَسادَ "I'm afraid that he may change your religion, or corruption would appear." But this one doesn't say that Moses will make it appear, okay? There is, 2. way إِنّي أَخافُ أَن يُبَدِّلَ دينَكُم و أَن يَظهَرَ فِي الأَرضِ الفَسادَ "...and corruption will appear." And there is, 3. way إِنّي أَخافُ أَن يُبَدِّلَ دينَكُم و أَن يُظهِرَ فِي الأَرضِ الفَسادَ "I'm afraid that he will do this and do this." Not "or", okay? What does that mean? And why didn't he kill him? Nothing tells you in the Quran except the Qira'at. If you understand those four meanings and you put them as layers over each other, they mean what?
They mean that the meeting started by, "Allow me to kill this guy." And then they said, "Okay, let's see, let's brainstorm together." And in a long meeting, they have put every single possibility that can happen. And they came up with that, "No, he should not be killed." "He should be challenged and embarrassed." "Send and bring whatever, sorcerers, magicians." You see here, you can never understand this, except if the Quran added one whole page telling you they found this option, and this option, this possibility, and this... Four possibilities could have happened. And then they found that... This is omitted. The Quran is concise because of the Qira'at.
And you will not understand it, except if you understand the Qira'at. I'm telling you, the day I went to understand the Qira'at, I had good understanding of the Quran. So my sheikh told me, "Listen, forget all." "What you have is only one face, one dimension. Now you came to read the..." But of course here some people say, "Doesn't this make the Quran difficult?" Yeah. Why don't you... Why do you want the Word of Allah to be very simple? Every book was written in this world for the world to read it. But this book descended upon the world from outside the world, for the world to read it. It's not simple. It's not a normal book.
Can you name one Ayah from the Quran that, you know, made you 100% convinced that this cannot be a word of a human being? The one that mesmerized you the most? I'll tell you something that affected me a lot, and an incident that happened to me that proved to me that the Quran is not, is not ink on paper, is a living being. So which one you want to start with? Okay, I'll start with this incident, a strange one. Before coming to this house, I lived in the 36th floor in a building in East London, that oversees the Olympic Village, and it sees all of London. It's very panoramic. There isn't one brick in this building. It's all glass from everywhere.
So I want you to imagine the midnight on the 31st of December, with all the fireworks of the New Year. It looks amazing from everywhere. It's amazing. I attended that like three times. I lived there for four years, and the fourth year I had an idea that, okay, well, you have seen that before three times. Yeah, it's beautiful, but you have seen it. You took even videos. Why don't you do something different this year? Well, the number of people who are worshiping God at this moment is very few. Most people are watching the fireworks and some people are dancing and clubbing and drunk. Why don't you become one of the few people who will be worshiping at this moment?
So I said, okay, that's a good idea. I put down all the shades, I darkened, I turned off all the lights, and I turned on the Quran app on iPad and I put it in front of me and I started doing Qiyamulayl Beautiful, at 11:30. 10 minutes before 12, I was in the second Rak'ah, after the Fatiha, reciting the Quran. And then the explosions of the fireworks were so loud and still there are some colors coming from between the shades. Yellow, blue. It became very tempting for me that I'm losing a lot. I'm missing a lot. So I said to myself, okay listen, it's not haram. At the end of this Ayah, just say, Allahu Akbar, make Ruku, two Sujuds, and go watch. And then come back and pray until Fajr.
You do both. I said, okay. Let me finish this Ayah and say Allahu Akbar. You know how the Ayah finished? The Ayah ended like that. قُلِ ٱللَّهُ ثُمَّ ذَرْهُمْ فِى خَوْضِهِمْ يَلْعَبُونَ Say, “Allah (revealed it).” Then leave them in their indulgence in vain talk, playing. Quran 6/91 Say Allah and leave them in whatever they are busy playing. I'm sorry. This is not a coincidence. Out of 6234 Ayahs. This is not a coincidence. This is a living being that talks to you. And it's just, you need to establish a relationship with it. It's going to talk to you. It's about the Quran dealing with your feelings. I'll tell you another Ayah that affected me a lot, and it's an Ayah that I love so much.
And I recite nearly in every prayer. It is, It is an Ayah in Surah Al' Imran. قُلِ ٱللَّهُمَّ مَـٰلِكَ ٱلْمُلْكِ تُؤْتِى ٱلْمُلْكَ مَن تَشَآءُ وَتَنزِعُ ٱلْمُلْكَ مِمَّن تَشَآءُ وَتُعِزُّ مَن تَشَآءُ وَتُذِلُّ مَن تَشَآءُ ۖ بِيَدِكَ ٱلْخَيْرُ ۖ إِنَّكَ عَلَىٰ كُلِّ شَىْءٍۢ قَدِيرٌۭ Say , “O Allah, Master of the dominion, You grant dominion to whomever You will and You strip dominion from whomever you will, and You honor whomever you will and You humiliate whomever you will; in Your hand is all goodness. You are indeed All-Powerful over everything. Quran 3/26 At a certain night... It was the night when actually someone that I don't like became a ruler in a country.
And I think that he took the rule there unjustly, after an inqilab and stuff like that. I wasn't feeling good that night, and I went to pray in the mosque, Fajr. And the imam didn't come, so they pushed me to lead the prayer. So reciting this Ayah, I felt like I'm reciting it or the first time in my life. I never noticed this. Listen. "Say, O Allah, the owner of the..." Authority or the dominion. The owner of authority. "You give authority to whoever you will, and you take authority from whoever you will, and you honor whoever you will, and you humiliate whoever you will." Excuse me? Why four times, "whoever you will"? The Quran should be more concise, hm? The Quran is concise.
Why didn't Allah say it like that? "Say, O Allah, owner of authority, you give authority and honor, whoever you will. And you take authority and humiliate whoever you will." We could have saved two "whoever you will"s. But He didn't say so. Why? He didn't link authority with honor or humiliation. So Allah can give authority to someone and humiliate him when he is in authority. And Allah can take authority from someone and then honor him after authority was taken from him. You see the beauty here? It's mind blowing. And you know what? I read it like 10,000 times before and I never understood it like that, except when I was in a certain psychological status, and I understood it.
And that's amazing. This is mind blowing. 01:22 (Sheikh Fadel Soliman, Qur’an Translator, Author Game Developer) 125 Screen Notes 05:25 (Prose. It is a normal text. An article or Passage.) 05:35 (poetry It is a form of artistic expression using language)