Taraweeh Top 🔟 :

Juz 5 (Surah An-Nisa’ continued).

Here are 10 beneficial fruits 🍐 from the language of Quran:

1.) The word عَلِيمٌ is a commonly-used word in the Quran, and is one of the Attributes of God. It is a word that morphologically gives the meaning of all-encompassing knowledge, so it is more accurately translated as “The All-Knowing,” as God’s Knowledge is All-Encompassing. This differs from the word عَالِمٌ, which refers to a knowledgeable scholar 🧑‍🏫 , in that a scholar is someone who is knowledgeable, but his/her knowledge is not all-encompassing. There are lots of scholars, but only God is عَلِيمٌ

2.) The word شَهَوَاتٌ (“desires”) is another common word in the Quran, and its root (ش - ه - و) means “to desire or crave.” Another common derivative is شَهِيٌّ, which means “delicious,” and is used to describe food 🥘, and the word شَهِيَّةٌ refers to the appetite. This word is commonly used in higher-level tasawwuf books to refer to either man’s bodily appetite or his/her spiritual appetite.

3.) The word ضَعِيف (“weak”) is used to refer to humankind, as mankind is referred to as a weak creature that easily succumbs to base desires. The word ضَعْف refers to “weakness,” ❤️‍🩹, but if you change the fathah to a kasrah, it becomes ضِعْف, which means “doubled.” Hence, changing one harakah can vastly change the meaning.

4.) The word تِجَارَة means “trade/commerce 💵.” It refers to monetary exchange of goods and services, but the Quran uses this word in a spiritual manner, in which Islam and Iman is seen as a “trade” that has spiritual profit. The Quran also warns the believers to not be deceived by the glitz and glamor ✨of this world, as the “trade” of this world is nothing compared to the “trade” of the next world. In fact, in a later ayah (4:44), the Quran asks that “have you not seen those were given a portion of scripture yet traded it for misguidance?,” which gives the idea of people losing out on spiritual commerce and not taking advantage of spiritually wholesome trade.

5.) The word كَبَائِرُ refers to major sins. This word is also used in a famous line of the Burdah Nasheed (قَصِيَدَةٌ البُرْدَة), in which it states: يَا نَفْسُ لا تَقْنَطِي مِنْ زَلَّةٍ عَظُمَتْ، إِنَّ الكَبَائِرَ فِي الغُفْرَانِ كَاللَّمَمِ (“Oh soul! Do not despair from amassing great sins. Even grave sins in the [sea of] forgiveness are like trivial matters”). Its root is (ك - ب - ر), which means to grow up. This word has other derived meanings as well. For example, كِبْرٌ (with a sukun on the ب) means “arrogance ,” while كِبَرٌ (with a fathah on the ب) means “old age.”

6.) The verb كَسَبَ is common in the Quran, and means “to earn”, such as earning a salary 💰, or earning good deeds. This verb is slightly different from its derived Form VIII verb (اِكْتَسَبَ). The former base verb (كَسَبَ) simply means “to earn,” but the derived Form VIII verb (اِكْتَسَبَ) means “to earn with great effort and diligence.” In a well-known ayah, God says, لَهَا مَا كَسَبَتْ وَعَلَيْهَا مَا ٱكْتَسَبَتْ (“For it [the soul] is what it earns, and against it is what it worked hard for”). One of the morphological secrets of this verse is that كَسَبَ (earning without much effort) is used for good deeds, whereas اِكْتَسَبَ (earning with much effort) is used for bad deeds. The extra (ت) in the derived Form VIII verb often gives the meaning of extra effort. The implication is that God made it easy for believers to earn good deeds, as doing good deeds aligns with our fitrah whereas earning bad deeds actually takes time and effort, so we are really doing ourselves a disservice by committing bad deeds, as they are contrary to our natural predisposition.

7.) The word مَولَى has dually antagonistic meanings. Some words in Arabic are like this, wherein they can be used in two antagonistic contexts. The word مَولَى can mean “master”, such that we can refer to God as المَولَى, and we can also refer to the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ as our “master and leader.” However, interestingly, this word also has the opposite meaning of “servant/slave.” For example, Bilal رَضِي اللهُ عَنه was referred as to مَولَى because he was a slave. However, interestingly, one can use this play on words and refer to Bilal both as a slave and as a leader of his people, as he is one of the most honored of the companions.

8.) The verb قَنَتَ means “to obey, be humbled.” The Quran uses the word قَانِتَاتٌ to refer to obedient women. However, if the last letter is switched to a ط, such that it becomes قَنِطَ, then it means “to give up hope, despair 😩. God warns us strongly never to give up hope in His Mercy, stating in the Quran: قُلْ يَـٰعِبَادِىَ ٱلَّذِينَ أَسْرَفُوا۟ عَلَىٰٓ أَنفُسِهِمْ لَا تَقْنَطُوا۟ مِن رَّحْمَةِ ٱللَّهِ ۚ إِنَّ ٱللَّهَ يَغْفِرُ ٱلذُّنُوبَ جَمِيعًا ۚ إِنَّهُۥ هُوَ ٱلْغَفُورُ ٱلرَّحِيمُ (“Say, ˹O Prophet ﷺ , that God says,˺ “O My servants who have exceeded the limits against their souls! Do not lose hope in God’s Mercy, for God certainly forgives all sins.1 He is indeed the All-Forgiving, Most Merciful”).

9.) The word الوَالِدَينِ refers to “two parents,” as it is the dual of وَالِدٌ, which means “parent in general.” 👨‍👩‍👧‍👦When specifically applied to either parent, وَالِدٌ means “father,” while وَالِدَةٌ means “mother.” The root (و - ل - د) means “to beget, give birth,” so the word وَالِدٌ literally means “the one who gave birth”. The Quran gives the well-known injunction of بِرُّ الوَالِدَينِ, meaning “obedience to parents.”

10.) The word مُبِينٌ (“clear”) is frequently used to refer to the Quran as a Clear Book of Guidance. The root is (ب - ي - ن), which revolves around the idea of clarifying something and making it apparent. The Quran is thus aptly described as a Book that makes truth clear from falsehood. A related word that is also used in the Quran is البَيِّنَاتُ, which generally refers to clear verses for believers to follow.