Part2: The Ayah of Ramadan - Nouman Ali Khan

Al-Baqarah, 2:185

شَهْرُ رَمَضَانَ ٱلَّذِىٓ أُنزِلَ فِيهِ ٱلْقُرْءَانُ هُدًى لِّلنَّاسِ وَبَيِّنَٰتٍ مِّنَ ٱلْهُدَىٰ وَلْفُرْقَانِ فَمَن شَهِدَ مِنكُمُ ٱلشَّهْرَ فَلْيَصُمْهُ وَمَن كَانَ مَرِيضًا أَوْ عَلَىٰ سَفَرٍ فَعِدَّةٌ مِّنْ أَيَّامٍ أُخَرَ يُرِيدُ ٱللَّهُ بِكُمُ ٱلْيُسْرَ وَلَا يُرِيدُ بِكُمُ ٱلْعُسْرَ وَلِتُكْمِلُوا ٱلْعِدَّةَ وَلِتُكَبِّرُوا ٱللَّهَ عَلَىٰ مَا هَدَىٰكُمْ وَلَعَلَّكُمْ تَشْكُرُونَ

( “The month of Ramadan [is that] in which Qur'an was sent down, a guidance for the people and clear proofs of guidance and criterion. So whoever sights [the new moon of] the month, let him fast it; and whoever is ill or on a journey - then an equal number of other days. Allah intends for you ease and does not intend for you hardship and [wants] for you to complete the period and to glorify Allah for that [to] which He has guided you; and perhaps you will be grateful.” )

This blog article will cover something about second phrase of this ayah which is,

 هُدًى لِّلنَّاسِ وَبَيِّنَٰتٍ مِّنَ ٱلْهُدَىٰ وَلْفُرْقَانِ

You can read part1 here : Part1-The Ayah of Ramadan - Nouman Ali Khan

In this phrase Allah is saying 3 things about the Quran. Allah SWT here is describing the role of Quran which is called 'haal’. So first let see what 'haal’ means.

When we describe something like that car is green or that man is tall, it is called adjective. So tall man whether sits or sleeps he is still tall. So that's the quality that does not get affected. Whereas 'haal’ is not something like permanent quality. A 'haal’ is something living. For e.g if I say 'man is walking’ then it is not some permanent quality. It's something you can see. When something is described in grammar as a ‘haal’ isn't just a quality of something. It's a living experienced thing. These 3 descriptions of the Quran here is 'haal' so they don't just mean qualities that quran has but these are also the experiences that comes from the Quran. They can be experienced and can be seen in an action.

So let's understand first quality which is 'Hudan linnas'. 
It is simply translated as “Guidance for People”. So since it is 'haal’, it means guidance of the quran is not just some quality that it has but it is something experienced. It's like a living book. Someone who shows you direction is called guide. In Arabic guide is called 'Haadi'. But that person is not your guidance. There is a difference between guide and guidance. Allah here used word 'Huda’(Guidance) which is infinitive and did not use 'Haadi’(Guide). First thing to note here is using infinitive form says that you cannot possibly get guidance anywhere else. This is the only guidance available. This is it.

Second thing to note here is Quran makes distinction between knowledge and guidance. Somebody knowing lots of information does not necessarily means he has lots of guidance. Lots of time we confused increase in knowledge with the increase in guidance. Increase is only helpful if we use it for guidance. Sometimes you have people who have very little knowledge but they always use it. It reminds the story of 'Ashabul kahf’(People of cave) in the Quran. These people were neither the scholar nor the the prophet. They even didn't knew about any prophets or revelations or book. Only knowledge they had was there is only one god that should worshiped. They were committed to that one thing and that was enough for their guidance against the most impossible opposition.

So when Allah says Quran is guidance, lot of time we emphasize the learning of the knowledge of Quran, grammar and tafseer of quran. But in the month of Ramadan, Allah says I sent this book as something that you will use at every turn in your life like counsel. There is someone in our life that we go to at every important turn to get suggestion, counsel and for taking decision. That's the kind of role Quran wants to play in our life. There is a choice that when comes, I will look in Allah's book to know what does Allah wants me to do and that guidance from Quran will come to life.

Allah sent this book to guide the hearts and minds of anyone who wants to seek its guidance. And it will come to life for them. Whatever guidance Quran gives us, the guarantee is that it is the better road for us. Then no matter how painful it looks. Quran is for benefit for all the people. It's alive and open for all of us as long as we are breathing.

Also Read : Part 2-Ayat 17 of Surah Al-A'raf : How Shaitan(Devil) attacks from Behind

Now let's understand second quality which is 'Bayyinatim-minal-huda'. 
It is translated as "Clear proofs from within the guidance". So when Allah already said Guidance for the humanity then what's the point of saying proofs from within the guidance as it looks the same. But it has its own purpose. The thing is if somebody says to you that you are telling me to take this road but what's your proof that this is the right road which will lead me to my destiny. I need evidence. Is your guidance is reliable source ? In other words it's one thing to give somebody guidance and it's another thing to convince them that this is the right guidance. So Allah says I just didn't give you guidance, I also gave you self evident clear proof from within the guidance.

With the other prophets(peace be upon them) miracles(proofs) and guidance were given separately. For e.g Moosa a.s was given miracles like sea parting, stick becoming snakes and so on and 'Taurat' was given to him as a guidance. So proof was one thing and guidance was something else. With Quran Allah combine both of them i e message and proofs are one. Quran itself becomes its evidence and quran is the thing to follow also. Allah says in Quran that if they pondered into the Quran they would know that if this was something from other than Allah they would have found contradiction. They would find it consistent with it only being from a divine source.

One of its first meaning is that for anyone who seeks proofs that Quran is the word of God and they come to quran genuinely asking that question. Then Quran will prove itself to them not in one way but in multiple ways (as "bayyinat" is used which is plural). The other thing about the word "bayyin" and "bayyinah" is it is an inherent quality. It means Quran does not need some outside thing to prove itself. It itself carry the proofs. Now we are living in scientific age so some people come and say that we can proof that Quran is the word of God using science. And therefore Quran is from Allah. It becomes a way of using outside sources of knowledge to validate the Quran. 

Then these outside sources becomes the "Mubayyinah" i.e clarifiers for the Quran. The thing is Quran is calling itself "Bayyinaat". It means whether there was no discoveries of science then also quran would be "bayyinatim minal huda" i.e clear proofs from within the guidance. As a matter of fact science is constantly changing. What used to be scientific fact 100 years ago is now a joke. Whereas Quran is what it was 1400 years ago when there was no scientific discoveries at all. This is why Quran is evidence in itself.

Also Read: Part 6-Deep explanation of Ayat 7 of Surah Al Fatiha

Let's understand another thing. There is difference between 'clear' and 'simple'. These 2 words are confused with each other many times. If I say 2 plus 2 is 4 then it is simple as well as clear. Now let's take an example of professor who teaches Quantum physics. He writes calculations that takes entire board. For him that entire calculation is 'clear'. But it is definitely not 'simple'. Because if you have complicated problem then you may have complicated solution. Solution is valid when it is clear. But it doesn't necessarily mean that it has to be simple. The Quran is answering some of  humanity most complicated question. The Quran never claims that it is 'baseet'(simple). The quran constantly claims that it is clear.

Allah even said he made it easy. But he didn't say that he made the quran easy for understanding. He said, he made Quran easy for the purpose of zikr i.e for remembrance of Allah. Because reminders like fear Allah, have hope in Allah, ask forgiveness, praise Allah and so on are very easy in Quran. It means spiritual reminder is easy but when you wanna get depth and clarity of Quran then there are going to be scholar who dives into the ocean of Quran their entire life and when they come out of it they only come out with few drops. And the ocean still remains. Alhamdulillah.

Another thing is languages keep on changing. For e.g English that we had 50 years ago is not same as what we have today. Statement like "I found you in my facebook" or "You are really cool" would sound like psycho 200 years ago. In the same way Arabic that is spoken today is not same as what Quresh used to speak 1400 years ago. So the same word that has meaning before now has the different meaning. Now there can be words in the Quran which might have another meaning 1500 years ago. But Allah preserved the Quran like one standard. For e.g 1 meter will be 1 meter be in America or be in Australia.

Translation of the Quran in some language 100 years from now may become invalid. Because words that are used to translate the Arabic of Quran may take some other meaning as languages undergoes change. Therefore translation will change. So when people assume that translation of Quran is Quran then there is big problem. Or even when people assume that knowing modern Arabic they understand the meaning of Quran then there is a big problem. 

The word "bayyinaat" shares the same root as the word "Mubeen" and Allah put that with the Arabic of original revelation. "belisanan arabiyan mubeen". There is very important thing to understand. Translation are helpful but If we start thinking by reading the translation we got this then you are letting go the original standard that gives the Quran clarity. Because of the original Arabic Quran gets its clarity. Majority of Muslims don't speak Arabic but they read Quran in Arabic. This is how Allah preserves his book. And this is why old Arabic language is preserved and anybody has access to it. Allah made sure of that because that was part of preserving the original clarity of Quran. And that's within the "wa bayyinatim min alhuda". So unlike previous revelations the original text of Quran will not be lost.