To Continue Where we Left off...

I (Stranger) had to get a job and this interfered with my time with the Doctor as she is only free to tafsir with me early in the morning.

My job is going well, and as I am the boss, as soon as everything is running smoothly, I will give myself a morning each week to spend with the doctor so we can have one or two tafsir posts per week bi'ithnillah.

We are also awaiting the arrival of students from Malaysia to study Arabic. I take the girls with me to the tafsir sessions. I may not wait for them before restarting tafsir - sorry girls!

Looking forward to our tafsir conversations.

Love Stranger

Surat al-Furqan Ayah 72 - Stand for the Truth

"And those who do not testify to falsehood and if they pass by false/useless talk they pass by in a dignified way." Surat al-Furqan 72

//wallatheena la yash-hadoona az-zoora wa itha marroo billaghooi marroo kiraama//

Stranger: Some vocabulary - //zoor// here in this ayah means falsehood or lies. //Laghoo// we have covered before. //marroo// - they pass by

They, the Mu'mineed pass by laghoo - all actions and speech without benefit in a dignified manner (karaaman). Can we start by elaborating upon being a witness to falsehood?

Dr: Simple, witnessing or agreeing with, or being silently accepting of any falsehood whether it be plain out lie, or a lie against Allah. For example, it is becoming common in Sana'a for people - especially the righer ones who have experienced living in the West - to celebrate birthdays, mothers day, fathers day, Halloween, Christmas - Aoothubillah. These are all false hood, especially Halloween and Christmas. A Muslim should not celebrate these abominations.

Stranger: Ok, these are indeed common celebrations in the West. I know from personal experience trying to get out of end of year Christmas parties at work. Many Muslims go to the party so that they don't ruffle anyone's feathers at the workplace. These parties can be messy with people getting drunk and bad behaviour. Being a Christmas party is one falsehood and the attending an alcoholic event a second.

Dr: Yes, exactly, as well consider this. If you are celebrating birthdays, and mothers day and fathers day and valentine zina day and all the other eids, imagine how much money you waste in gifts and uselessness! Lost time and money that didn't get you any hasanat from Allah!!!

And what if you forget someone's birthday or your wedding anniversary?! The other party will be angry and fitnah will come up between the two. Islam is so simple - just two eids.

Stranger: What about other celebrations generally - like university graduations and the like?

Dr: These are good if there is no haram involved like mixing between men and women or music and so on. We should celebrate reaching an educational milestone and encourage our youth to grateness. They need encouragement and affirmation from us that they did good.

Allah the Most High says in His Book that we should not testify to falsehood even if it be agaisnt our own selves, family, kith and kin in many ayat, here is one of them:

"O you who believe! Stand out firmly for justice, as witnesses to Allah, even as against yourselves, or your parents, or your kin, and whether it be (against) rich or poor: for Allah can best protect both. Follow not the lusts (of your hearts), lest you swerve, and if you distort justice or decline to do justice, verily Allah is well-acquainted with all that you do."
 [Sûrah al-Nisâ’: 135] 

These are example that are in our personal lives. Sometimes things get a bit sticky when not testifying to falsehood when everyone else is doing it such as bribary and the corrupt actions of government. Fear can get a hold of someone in this case and it could lead to their or their family's execution. The case on whether to stand up against this type of falshood is debated upon in fiqh. The argument is based on the hadith of "if you see a haram change it with your hand or your tongue or hate it in your heart and that is the lowest form of iman". This extreme situation is up to the individual to assess and act. To cover this issue would need a huge article listing all the arguments and opinions so we will leave this issue for now. If one is experiencing oppression they could try make hijrah and if not to at least keep up their private ibadah and that of their family.

Surat al-Furqan Ayah 70-71 - Repentence to Allah

"But he who repents and believes and does good deeds, then Allah will change their evil  with virtues. And Allah is Forgiving, Merciful". (Surat al-Furqan 70)


Stranger: Back in Ayah 69 Allah mentions the punishment for those who commit shirt, murder and adultery. In Ayah 70 and 71 Allah the Most Merciful explains how, if we are doing these sins, we can reform ourselves and avoid the devastating punishment as well as please Allah with clean living. There are three things that need to be fulfilled, they are:

1. To repent to Allah the Forgiver and this repentance must be sincere, and to be sincere the next two must be followed.
2. Belief in Allah The Greatest. With Iman comes desire to please Allah and loss of desire for former sins.
3. Do good deeds - do not return to former sins and act piously and fear Allah.

Dr: Yes how merciful is Allah and how great is His ability to forgive, and He spells it out for us in His book of true guidance.

"Indeed Allah does not forgive association (of other gods, deities) with him but he forgives other than that as He pleases and whoever associates other with Allah indeed has committed a grave sin." An-Nisa:4

Allah accepts repentance and can even change those evils into virtue as is mentioned in the ayah, so what does this look like? The former mushrik (polythiest) will be changed into a mu'min in Allah's Oneness - upon true tawheed, the murderer will no longer kill and if he does kill it would be for Allah's cause in jihad to establish Islam or other legislated killing. And if the repenter was a zani (adulterer) that would be changed to chastity or faithfulness to ones spouse. Allahu Akbar He is able to do all things.

Stranger: Ayah 71 further confirms Akkah's capacity to forgive those who repent to Him and continue on His straight path not returning to former crimes.

"And who repents and does righteous work indeed has repented to Allah in an accepted way." (Surat al-Furqan:71)

Dr: Allah loves those who repent and He loves those who are "mutatahhareen" clean - that is clean of physical filth as well as the inner cleanliness of repenting and asking forgiveness from Allah, with constant remembrance and supplication.

" Say, O servants of mine who have committed excess against their own selves, don't despair the mercy of Allah as indeed Allah forgives all sins and He is The Forgiving and The Merciful." (Surat az-Zumar:53)

Surat al-Furqan Ayah 69 - Punishment

"The punishment will be doubled for him on the Day of Resurrection and he will live in it humiliated." (Al-Furqan 69)

//yudhaa3af lahu al3athabu yawmal-qiyaamati wa yakhlud fihi muhaana//

Stranger: This ayah directly links with the previous ayah regarding which actions earn this punishment - ayah 68

The three crimes listed in ayah 68 - committing shirk, killing unjustly, committing zina attract the double or in some translations multiplied punishment that is referred to in this ayah. Dr can you tell me is the punishment doubled or multiplied. I ask because of the differences in English translations.

Dr: I prefer it means doubled. Either way doubled or multiplied it is still an awful punishment. It is doubled because the criminal is punished for his crimes and for shirk. Let me explain that. If one starts committing shirk and praying to or worshipping something or someone other than Allah The One then it is natural that they will start to incline to other criminal behaviour. When someone kills without due cause, his iman leaves him at that point of the crime as well as for zina a persons iman leaves them at the time of the crime, so having your iman leave you means that you have worshipped other than Allah be it the whispers of Satan to satisfy your immediate desires or a corrupt leader or what ever else one might worship and follow. It was and still is well established that if someone has no iman then killing and zina are easy for them so they get the double penalty in Hellfire. They are living in Hell - that is one punishment and they are there with huge humiliation and that is the doubling of their punishment. The ones who associate others in Lordship with Allah and kill and do zina are very arrogant in duniya (this world) and so that arrogance needs to be punished by humiliation in akhirah (Hereafter).

In the ayah the verb "to double" is in the passive construction so that the punishment is "marfoo3" that is a raised importance in grammar - thus emphasising the punishment in the sentence.

Surat al-Furqan Ayah 68 (Tawheed, killing and zina)

"And those who do not invoke besides Allah any other and do not kill the soul that Allah has made illegal except with just right and do not partake in illegal fornication and whoever does that will meet the penalty" (al-Furqan 68)

//wal atheena la yada3oona ma3a Allahi ilaaha akhara wa la yaqtuloona an-nafsa alati harrama Allahu ila bilhaqi wa la azinoona wa man yaf3al thalika yalqa athama//

Stranger: This week's ayah is not long but very heavy in content. It opens the basis of Tawheed (oneness of Allah) , illegal killing and zina.

Dr: First we will look at the condition in which this ayah was sent. Rasool Allah (peace upon him) was asked what is the gravest sin in Allah's view. Rasool Allah answered, "That you set up partners in worship with Him when He created you."

Then Rasool Allah was asked, "Then what?" and he replied, "That you kill your child in fear that he will eat with you." (Meaning killing a child in fear of poverty).

Then Rasool Allah was asked, "Then what?" and he replied. "That you commit adultery with your neighbours wife." (Hadith recorded in Bukhari, Muslim and an-Nisa'i)

This exchange occurred and then the ayah was revealed to Rasool Allah that we see now as ayah 68 of surah al-Furqan. The hadith is rather specific where the ayah of from Allah is more general and wide reaching.

Stranger: The tawheed part is obvious, and is the foundation of our creed and the first pillar of Islam - la ilaha ila Allah. All worship is to him, all dua and supplication to Him and not to is Messenger or pious predecessors or things. No lucky charms, lucky rituals and so on.

Dr: yes basically that is it, but to explore the layers of tawheed with justice we would need a second blog just dedicated to the subject.

Stranger: The second point refers to illegal killing - murder in other words. So what is legal killing?

Dr: Legal killing is that which is done within the boundaries and regulations set by Allah. For example if someone committed a crime which invokes a death sentence and the judge finds the individual guilty and sentences him to death, then that is legal - must be sure however that the court is fully adherent to shariah and the judge has properly examined all evidence and legalities and if any doubt remains then the death sentence cannot be passed.

Another legal killing is for example is someone invades your house to do harm to you and your family or steal from your wealth, and you kill that person, in shariah law you are not at fault as this comes under self defence against an aggressor.

The other killing is of animals - we must give animals their rights too in how we slaughter them for meat. There are regulations to ensure the animal does not suffer and that Allah's name is mentioned over the animal at the time of slaughter.

Killing out of anger and passion crimes, or corrupt rulings, fighting for other than the cause of Allah and so on, all of this is illegal killing and we need to stay away from it.

Accidental killing like in a car accident is a different matter and their is legislation for this.

Stranger: The sin of zina - illegal fornication of any type is mentioned here again, we won't repeat it but you can find our previous notes on zina at surat al-Mumineen ayah 5 and surahs 6-7

Surat al-Furqan ayah 67 - Don't waste or be Miserly

"And those who if they spend, they are not wasteful nor miserly, they are between the two balanced." Ayah 67

//wa alatheena ithaa anfaqoo lam yusrifoo wa lam yaqturoo wa kana baina thalika qawman//



Dr: Today we will start by looking at the meaning of waste and being wasteful.

A little grammar first - in the ayah, the verb is in the third person plural (يسرفوا)but you will notice that the ending is with the letters 'waw' and 'alif' rather than 'nun'. This is because of the negative particle before the verb - 'lam' (لم). This particle is of the "haroof al-jazm" so the verbs that come afterwards are in the present form with a sukoon ending. For verbs in 3rd person plural, the rule is the delete the nun - 'hathf an-nun". So just in case you were wondering why the verb is taking this shape, that is the reason.

Stranger: In English this is referred to as jussive mood. Those who studied European languages or Latin will be familiar with this term.

Dr: That is a bit confusing - jussive - just remember if there is a lam negative particle before a verb, the verb afterwards is in the present form with a sukoon - no sound on the end, and for the 3rd person plural (they) the nun is deleted and an alif added.

Being wasteful is buying, or using more than we need, of money, electricity, petrol, paper -  anything that we use or consume.

Allah commands us not to waste and He hates those who waste extravagantly. Here is an ayah where Allah the Most Merciful mentions his hate for waste.

"O Children of Adam, take your adornment whenever you go into a masjid and eat and drink but do not waste as verily Allah does not like the wasteful." 7:31

Stranger: One of the things I see as being a severe source of waste is the constantly changing fashions and trends. Those who follow these are constantly buying new clothes, or updating their phone when the previous phone was still fine or in richer people, buying a new car every year in order to have the latest model. Of course we don't see this too much in Yemen because most people are poor, but I do see the phone trend.

Dr: The phone trend - not like you with your $20 phone with the screen in dot matrix.

Stranger: It calls people and even receives calls! and no one ever wants to steal it!

Dr: Ahsan but I want to clarify that buying an expensive item when there are cheaper ones is not waste - I personally have Samsung 3. It is not waste as I use it, and you know the 4 is out. It would be waste if I bought it when my 3 is still in perfect order. Also buying a quality item that is more expensive is not waste. Just buying what you don't need is, as well as buying things that are haram - like the obvious things - pig meat would be waste, or alcohol, as well as buying music, yes, music is haram and spending money on it is haram and waste.

la khair fi israf wa la israf fi khair - there is no good in waste and no waste in good.

On the other end of the scale is being miserly by not spending or consuming even when that thing is necessary of beneficial. Allah commands us to take the middle path - even in spending.

"And do not tie your hand to your neck, not outstretch it completely lest you become blameworthy (in severe poverty.) " Surat al-Isra:29

Having your hand tied to your neck implies stinginess and having in completely extending implies wastefulness so we must be in between and keep our commitments to our family and sadaqa and so on.

In the famous story of Abu Bakr as-Siddiq (raa) when he gave away his entire wealth to sadaqa in the way of Allah, He said that he has left his family with Allah and His Messenger. Abu Bakr's giving away of all his wealth was not waste as it was in good - khair. However for most people it is not recommended to give away your entire wealth, but to leave some for taking care of family and commitments. Abu Bakr (raa) was on a much higher level of iman and so too were his family.

The final word in the ayah (qawman) means to take a middle way between two extremes. So in this case the two extremes are wasteful spending and miserliness. A scholar said, "the hasan (good) is between two evils"

Surat al-Furqan Ayah 65 - 66 - Fear Hellfire

وَالَّذِينَ يَقُولُونَ رَبَّنَا اصْرِفْ عَنَّا عَذَابَ جَهَنَّمَ ۖ إِنَّ عَذَابَهَا كَانَ غَرَامًا

 "And those who say "Our Lord divert from us the punishment of Hell, indeed it is a grievous punishment" (Al-Furqan 65)

//walatheena yaqooloona rabbanaa asrif 3naa 3thaaba jahannama inna 3thaabahaa kaana gharaama//

 

 

"Indeed worst is it as an abode and place of rest" 66

  (note that the number on this hadith is up one because the people at the website list bismillahi ar-Rahman ar-Rahim as ayah 1)

Stranger: Assalamu alaikum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuhu.

Dr: Wa alaikum assalam wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuhu. Are you ready? You were absent last week.

Stranger: I'm ready, lets dig up some tafsir.

Dr:  Vocabulary first. Yaqooloona - they say (referring to what the mu'mineen say) it is in the present continuous because the believers say it constantly, daily. There is a dua to say immediately after the salams of fajr and maghrib prayer. It goes like this:

"Allahumma ajrnee min an-nar"

It is nice and short, memorise it and make this dua after fajr and maghrib prayer before you make any other dua.

asrif - this is in command form as a request - a dua to Allah to do what is in that verb - to divert or change direction.

3thaaba jahannama - the punishment (3thab) of Jahannam - Hell. This is what the believers as Allah the All Powerful to divert from them. And anyone who knows anything about hellfire will want it diverted from them! They go on to describe in a few words the horror of the punishment of Hellfire by describing the punishment as (gharaaman)

Gharam is a term we will focus most upon today.

Stranger: Good because I find none of the English translations of the meanings of Quran really give justice to the significance of this word.

Dr: In Duniya, think of the most absolutely worst place to exist - in the sewers, in a Iraqi prison, where ever, it is bad but absolutely not even a scratch on the horrors of Hellfire.

Gharaman in this ayah is referring to the Hellfire. Hell fire wants to grab the disbelievers, the fire is angry. Imagine someone killed your child for example, you would be angry and outraged beyond words, and if you came face to face with the killer you would want to strike out, you would not be able to keep yourself back. Hellfire is like this, it is angry at the disbelievers denial of the truth, of their disbelief in Allah the Creator of the worlds.

On the Day of Reckoning, we will be able to see Hellfire, and millions of angels (70,000 chains or leashes being pulled by 70000 angels each(hadith recorded in Muslim) all these angels if you calculate = 49 million angels) and  the size of these angels the distance between their ear and their shoulder is 500 years riding on a fast horse (recorded in abu Dawood), hold back the hellfire from jumping out angrily at the disbelievers. It is like the Hellfire is a living creature, not just a fire. In a hadith recorded by al-Bukhari, Rasool  Allah peace upon him said that the fire of this world is one part of seventy of Hellfire.

There are some Ayat that describe how Hellfire will roar and boil. they are:

إِذَا رَأَتْهُمْ مِنْ مَكَانٍ بَعِيدٍ سَمِعُوا لَهَا تَغَيُّظًا وَزَفِير

“When the Hellfire sees them from a distant place, they will hear its fury and roaring,” (Qur’an 25:12).

and;

إِذَآ أُلْقُواْ فِيهَا سَمِعُواْ لَهَا شَهِيقًا وَهِىَ تَفُورُ تَكَادُ تَمَيَّزُ مِنَ الغَيْظِ

“When they are thrown into it, they hear from it a (dreadful) inhaling while it boils up. It almost bursts with rage […]” (Qur’an 67:7-8).

 Many people disbelieve and Hellfire is amazed and enraged and it will be asked of the disbelievers, "didn't messengers come to you?" and the disbelievers will no longer deny they will reply, "Indeed and we denied them."

Stranger: SubhanAllah this is scary stuff.

Dr: You know when I give lectures about the characteristics of the Mu'mineen here in Sana'a, the women ask me exasperatedly, "Why are you talking about all this horror of Hellfire, we came to hear about being Mu'mineen".

Stranger: Yeah, and what do you tell them?

Dr: I tell them this ayah that we are studying today - fearing hellfire is a characteristic of a mu'min and how better to fear hellfire than to know about its horror? sah am la?

Stranger: Yes the more you know the more you fear, or love, or hate. Like when we study sirat an-nabi (life of Rasool Allah) one cannot help but love him more and more. The more we know about Hellfire indeed the more we will do as Allah wants for his servants in worshiping Him, the One.

Thank you Dr for today's lesson, sorry about my absence for the past two weeks, really I feel I have been fed well today.

Dr: Allahumma barik fiki


See more about hellfire here

Surat al-Furqan Ayah 64

"Those who in their houses at night pray to their Lord" (al-Furqan 64)

//wa allatheena yabeetuna lirabihim sujjadan wa qayiaaman//

Dr:
(يبيتون) //Yabeetuna// means to be housed but particularly refering to night time.
(سجّدا) //Sujjindan// prostrate - in sujjood
(قياما) //qiyiaaman// standing (in this case standing in prayer)

The Mu'min prostrates and stands (sujjadan wa qayiman) in prayer to their Lord Allah the Most High.

There is one opinion that the absolute minimum of night praying to be considered like those refered to in the ayah is 2 raka' after maghrib and 2 raka'a after Isha. I prefer the opinions that the absolute minumum of night prayer is 2 raka'a after maghrib and 2 raka'a after Isha and the witr prayer.

The best of night praying is all of the above plus praying in the last half of the night. That is getting up out of bed after some sleep early before fajr adhan and praying the Qiyam al-Lail prayer.

Allah the Most High says in Surah adh-Dhariyaat 17-18:

They used to sleep but little of the night

 

  

And in the hours before dawn they would ask forgiveness,

,

 

Also there is a Hadith narrated by Ibn Abbass May ALlah be pleased with him, saying: Whoever prays two raka'at after Isha will be considere like those mentioned in this verse (from al-Furqan ayah 64) and another similar hadith narrated by al-Kindi says: two rakaa't after maghrib and four after Isha will be like those mentioned in the ayah.

 

Allah ordered the night prayers on His Messenger (Peace be upon him) and Rasool Allah never left the night prayer. This order from Allah to His Messenger is found in Surah al-Muzzamil ayaat 2-3

 

 

 

Arise [to pray] the night, except for a little -

Half of it - or subtract from it a little

 

If we do like what these ayat ordered Rasool Allah , and even if we only pray a little at the end of the night, before the adhan of fajr prayer, we can gain so much benefit and reward. And to be considered amongst Allah's preferred slaves we must pray the qiyam al-ALail, even if it is just a few raka'a.

 

 

Surat al-Furqan Ayah 63

"And the Servants of The Rahman, those who walk on the earth tranquilly and if addressed by an ill-educated one replies in kind." (al-Furqan 63)

Stranger: In this ayah Allah the Most High refers to the believers as (عباد الرحمان)
3ibad ar-Rahman. 3ibad is plural for 3bd - servant or slave.

Dr: These servants are Allah's worshipers, His slaves and He considers them as especially preferred over others of His slaves - like VIPs in His A-List. Allah regards these of His worshipers as (تفضيلا و تخصيصا) preferred ans special. Allah loves them so much because of the characteristics of these worshipers - their sifaat which He lists in these ayat.

They are servants to ar-Rahman and to Him only - they are not slaves of any other, they do not worship any other than Allah the One. Allah refers to His beautiful name of ar-Rahman - the Most Merciful. Allah has 99 names and of all those only 2 can be used for Him only and they are Allah and Ar-Rahman. All the others we can use also, for example I can say that you are latif or kareem, which are names of ALlah, I can call someone Rahim - merciful but I cannot call anyone Allah or Ar-Rahman.

The use of Ar-Rahman here is important. Allah refers to Himself with one of His soft names - Merciful - the Most Merciful, and He bestows His Mercy on Who he wants and He is Merciful to His slaves. Also the characteristics mentioned in the next ayaat are of the merciful attributes of the mu'mineen.

Stranger: The first sifah listed is that they - the 3ibad ar-Raman - walk on the earth tranquilly.
The word used for tranquil in the ayah is (هوناً)  "hawnan" What is meant by that? How does one walk in such a way?

Dr: Walk peacefully, with tranquility, not making problems where you go, not leaving mess and rubbish, not stomping and being loud and obnoxious, not being arrogant. All this but still having dignity.

The way the phrase is structured is of interest. Hawnan is in the masdar form of "haina" which is a direct adverb if it was to come straight after the verb which is walk. In this phrase the masdar form is placed on the end of the phrase. This style of balagha brings emphasis and amplification to that word. So the way of walking in a peaceful way is very important, be very peaceful, sooooo peaceful and tranquil.

Straight after this in the same ayah we have the second sifah which is also a tranquil peaceful action and it is when the believer meets an ignoramus trouble maker they respond in a peaceful way. You know the situation when an idiot wants to get into an argument with you and really there is no benefit in it for you or for the idiot if you reply to their comment?

Stranger: Yes I know this situation. It happens a lot here in Yemen and even in the West when I lived there you always got rude comments from passers-by about your Islamic dress. On a bad day I may have responded on a good day I could just ignore and walk on.

Dr:It is best for us all if we follow the way of advice here from Allah and not let our patience slip.

Stranger: the ayah names the ignorant one as "jahiloon" that is the plural of jahil, it means more than just ignorant of knowledge, can you expand this for us?

Dr: Yes, Ignorant, or dumb or foul in language, or "kalil adab" that is poor upbringing no manners, rabble, riff raff, scum, hooligans. Any of these.

When a mu'min encounters such people and they use foul language the mu'min doesn't  lower him or herself to this low manner. A mu'min will just excuse him or herself from the situation with good words and not be drawn into useless argumentation, backbiting, slander, or other thing, this is from al-Laghoo which we covered in surat almu'minoon. It isi useless activity.

Stranger: You would not even reply in order to make dawa?

Dr: You assess the situation when you come to it but the type of jahil referred to here does not listen or understand and just wants to be crass and mad mannered. Your excusing yourself in a good way is dawa in itself.  Make dua for them for Allah to guide them or something of this nature.

Surat al-Furqan 63-76 Overview

Stranger: Assalamu alaikum wa rahmatullahi wa barokatuhu, Welcome back to Yemen and may Allah the Most High accept your Umrah.

Dr: Wa alaikum assalam Stranger. Amin. It is always a pleasure to make a trip to the House of Allah.

Stranger: So where will we go next on our Tafsir journey?

Dr: Surat al-Furqan ayah 63 to 76 and then ayah 77 because it is the last ayah of the Surah and we may as well look at it too.

The reason I want to go here next is that the information in the segment about the characteristics of the Mu'mineen are presented in the same layout as in Surat al-Muminoon that we covered already. Just the Characteristics (sifat) are slightly different or have a different slant on them.

First is the subject - what we call in Arabic the mubtada', then sifaat, then at the end you get the khabr - the part of the sentence that completes the thought - the clause.

Surat al-Mu'minoon starts with: Indeed successful are the Mu'mineen, then a list of sifaat, and then the prize of Jannah is mentioned at the end of all these clauses in the ayaat.

Surat al-Furqan 63 starts also with mentioning the subject but calls them "3ibad ar-Rahman" Slaves of the Merciful. Then you get sifaat in the ayaat up until ayah 75 and then you get the khabr which completes the clause and that is the prize of the highest place of Jannah for the Believers and congratulations and good words from Allah az wa Jall.

The grammatical structure and eloquence (balagha) is beautiful - as is in the entire Qur'an - and I will point out some of these features of balagha as it happens.

The first words starting the segment about the sifat al-Mu'mineen are, (و عباد الرحمان) which translates as "and slaves of the Rahman." They are Muda3af and muda3af ilahi - this is a possessive form in Arabic that the owner of the slaves (3ibad) belong to The Merciful (Ar-Rahman).

After the Subject come all of the sifat of the 3ibad ar-Rahman - what do they do and why does Allah refer to them specifically as His. These sifat continue up to surah 74 and then in Surah 75 the khabr (news/information) that completes the thought.

Stranger: Then all these ayaat run together like one long sentence?

Dr: Yes, one sentence broken up into sub-clauses in each ayah, usually one or two sifat in each to help with the list format and also helps us with memorising.

Stranger: Cool. Got it.

Dr: Alhamdulillah so now lets get onto the first ayah - ayah 63