Taraweeh Top 🔟

Juz 18 (Surah Al Anbiyaa and Surah Al Hajj)

Here are some beneficial fruits 🍐 from the Quran

1.) The root (م - و - ت) refers to the disappearance of power and strength 💪 from something. From this root, we obtain the word مَوتٌ (“death”) ⚰, which is called as such because death is the disappearance of strength from the body. Another derived word from this root is مَيِّتٌ, describing the deceased person, as it occurs in its plural form in the following verse: ثُمَّ إِنَّكُم بَعْدَ ذَٰلِكَ لَمَيِّتُونَ [“After that you will surely die” (23:15)].

2.) The root (ذ - ك - ر) means to mention something, and is the opposite of forgetfulness. From this root, we obtain the verb ذَكَرَ, which means “to mention.” We also obtain the Form V Verb تَذَكَّرَ, which means “to remember,” as occurs in the following verse: سُورَةٌ أَنزَلْنَـٰهَا وَفَرَضْنَـٰهَا وَأَنزَلْنَا فِيهَآ ءَايَـٰتٍۭ بَيِّنَـٰتٍۢ لَّعَلَّكُمْ تَذَكَّرُونَ [“A surah which We have revealed and made ˹its rulings˺ obligatory, and revealed in it clear commandments so that you may be mindful” (24:1)]. The Form II verb ذَكَّرَ, which means “to remind.”

3.) The root (ن - ك - ح) linguistically refers to a commodity. However, it now has come to give the meaning of marriage 💍, as the verb is نَكَحَ and the مصدر (gerund/infinitive) is نِكَاحٌ. This verb also gives the general idea of intimacy with a spouse. This word is seen in several places in the Quran, such as in this verse: وَٱبْتَلُوا۟ ٱلْيَتَـٰمَىٰ حَتَّىٰٓ إِذَا بَلَغُوا۟ ٱلنِّكَاحَ فَإِنْ ءَانَسْتُم مِّنْهُمْ رُشْدًۭا فَٱدْفَعُوٓا۟ إِلَيْهِمْ أَمْوَٰلَهُمْ ۖ وَلَا [“Test ˹the competence of˺ the orphans until they reach a marriageable age. Then if you feel they are capable of sound judgment, return their wealth to them” (4:6)].

4.) The root (ر - م - ي) means “to expel something,” and its derived verb is رَمَى, which means “to throw something.” However, this verb can also have a metaphorical meaning of throwing, such as in the following verse: وَٱلَّذِينَ يَرْمُونَ ٱلْمُحْصَنَـٰتِ ثُمَّ لَمْ يَأْتُوا۟ بِأَرْبَعَةِ شُهَدَآءَ فَٱجْلِدُوهُمْ ثَمَـٰنِينَ جَلْدَةًۭ وَلَا تَقْبَلُوا۟ لَهُمْ شَهَـٰدَةً أَبَدًۭا ۚ وَأُو۟لَـٰٓئِكَ هُمُ ٱلْفَـٰسِقُونَ [“Those who accuse chaste women ˹of adultery˺ and fail to produce four witnesses, give them eighty lashes ˹each˺. And do not ever accept any testimony from them, for they are indeed the rebellious” (24:4)]. Here, the verb يَرْمُونَ means “they accused” (literally “to throw an accusation at”). This verse talks about those who accuse chaste women of adultery.

5.) The root (ش - ه - د) indicates the meaning of presence, knowledge, and informing someone of something. From this root, we obtain the word شَهَادَة, which in Modern Standard Arabic, refers to a degree or certification, but in classical Arabic, refers to the testimony that all Muslims believe in, namely that there is no deity or god but God, and that the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ is His Final Messenger and Prophet. The derived verb شَهِدَ - يَشْهَدُ also means “to witness”. The active participle is “شَاهِدٌ” (“witness”), but which also means a martyr, or someone who dies in the Path of God. We see this word شهادة as well in the following verse: وَٱلَّذِينَ يَرْمُونَ ٱلْمُحْصَنَـٰتِ ثُمَّ لَمْ يَأْتُوا۟ بِأَرْبَعَةِ شُهَدَآءَ فَٱجْلِدُوهُمْ ثَمَـٰنِينَ جَلْدَةًۭ وَلَا تَقْبَلُوا۟ لَهُمْ شَهَـٰدَةً أَبَدًۭا ۚ وَأُو۟لَـٰٓئِكَ هُمُ ٱلْفَـٰسِقُونَ [“Those who accuse chaste women ˹of adultery˺ and fail to produce four witnesses, give them eighty lashes ˹each˺. And do not ever accept any testimony from them, for they are indeed the rebellious” (24:4)]. Here, this word comes in the form of bringing witnesses to an accusation of adultery.

6.) The root (د - ر - أ) means to incline towards something. It also means to push back or drive away something. From this, we obtain the verb دَرَأَ, which means to prevent or repel. The Quran uses this verb in the following verse: وَيَدْرَؤُا۟ عَنْهَا ٱلْعَذَابَ أَن تَشْهَدَ أَرْبَعَ شَهَـٰدَٰتٍۭ بِٱللَّهِ ۙ إِنَّهُۥ لَمِنَ ٱلْكَـٰذِبِينَ [“For her to be spared the punishment, she must swear four times by God that he is telling a lie” (24:8)], referring to how the punishment of an accused person can be prevented.

7.) The root (غ - ض - ب) indicates the meaning of intensity and strength. In fact, the derived word الغَضْبَةُ refers to a hard stone. From this root, we also obtain the verb غَضِبَ and its مَصدر of الغَضَب (“anger”), called as such because it is an intense form of anger. We see this word used frequently in the Quran, such as in this verse: وَمَن يُوَلِّهِمْ يَوْمَئِذٍۢ دُبُرَهُۥٓ إِلَّا مُتَحَرِّفًۭا لِّقِتَالٍ أَوْ مُتَحَيِّزًا إِلَىٰ فِئَةٍۢ فَقَدْ بَآءَ بِغَضَبٍۢ مِّنَ ٱللَّهِ وَمَأْوَىٰهُ جَهَنَّمُ ۖ وَبِئْسَ ٱلْمَصِيرُ [“And whoever does so on such an occasion—unless it is a manoeuvre or to join their own troops—will earn the displeasure of God, and their home will be Hell. What an evil destination!” (8:16)]. Interestingly, the word الغَضُوب refers to an enormous snake 🐍, again relating to its root meaning of strength.

8.) The root (ف - ي - ض) refers to the flow of something with ease and fluidity.  From this root, we obtain the verb فَاضَ - يَفِيضُ, which means “to overflow.” This verb can also be used for people, describing them as “overflowing” from a place to another place, such as in the following verse: وَلَوْلَا فَضْلُ ٱللَّهِ عَلَيْكُمْ وَرَحْمَتُهُۥ فِى ٱلدُّنْيَا وَٱلْـَٔاخِرَةِ لَمَسَّكُمْ فِى مَآ أَفَضْتُمْ فِيهِ عَذَابٌ عَظِيمٌ [“Had it not been for God’s grace and mercy upon you in this world and the Hereafter, you would have certainly been touched with a tremendous punishment for what you plunged into” (24:14). Here, people are described as “plunging in” to sin and disobedience, aptly using the verb أَفَاضَ in this way. Also from this root, we obtain the word فَيَضَان, which refers to a flood 🌊, so called because a flood is the over-pouring of water.

9) The word لِسَانٌ means “tongue,” and its plural is أَلْسِنَةٌ, as appears in the following verse: إِذْ تَلَقَّوْنَهُۥ بِأَلْسِنَتِكُمْ وَتَقُولُونَ بِأَفْوَاهِكُم مَّا لَيْسَ لَكُم بِهِۦ عِلْمٌۭ وَتَحْسَبُونَهُۥ هَيِّنًۭا وَهُوَ عِندَ ٱللَّهِ عَظِيمٌۭ [“when you passed it from one tongue to the other, and said with your mouths what you had no knowledge of, taking it lightly while it is serious in the sight of God” (24:15)].  This word is also often translate as “language,” as language stems from human tongues. Its root is (ل - س - ن), which according to classical sources, gives the meaning of something very long and drawn out without any clear stop. This aptly describes language, as humans have the ability to communicate about essentially any topic using languages, as languages are our medium of communication.

10.) The word يَدٌ means “hand 👋,” and its plural is الأَيْدِي (“hands”). This word refers to the common usage of human hands, such as in the following verse: يَوْمَ تَشْهَدُ عَلَيْهِمْ أَلْسِنَتُهُمْ وَأَيْدِيهِمْ وَأَرْجُلُهُم بِمَا كَانُوا۟ يَعْمَلُونَ [“on the Day their tongues, hands, and feet will testify against them for what they used to do” (24:24)], in which God states that on the Day of Judgment, tongues, hands, and feet will testify against the criminals for what they would do.  However, this word can also be used to refer to يَدُ اللهِ. Here, we would not translate يَدٌ as “hand,” as God does not have hands. Rather, يَد here would be translated as “Dominion.” Therefore, يَدُ اللهِ  would refer to the Dominion of God.