(9:118) Accepted Repentance – Part 1 [EP 65]

How do you know if your repentance has been accepted? Ultimately, only Allah ﷻ knows, but the Quran hints at some of the signs on how the process work.

One example is that of the three companions of the Prophet ﷺ mentioned is surah Tawbah who absconded from the battle of Tabuk; Hilal ibn Umayyah, Murarah ibn Rabi’ah and Ka’b ibn Malik. For context; the Roman empire had assembled an army of 200,000 men to march on Madinah to eliminate the Muslims whom they viewed as a threat. In response, the Prophet ﷺ gathered an army greater than ever before, reported to be up to 30,000 men, yet their numbers, weaponry and experience still paled in comparison to their enemy.

(20:78) NPCs [EP 64]

When telling the story of Ashura, our attention is often drawn to the main characters within the narrative, be it Prophet Musa (as) and Pharaoh, or Imam Hussein (ra) and Yazid. But little is ever said about what the NPCs in the story – the Non-Playable Characters. Across various mediums, whether it’s a film, a story, or a game, NPCs serve as the underlying foundation upon which the narrative unfolds. Think of the enemies encountered on the way to confronting the ultimate boss in a game, or the soldiers in the background of a great battle in a movie; they play an essential role in crafting the narrative landscape, but individually fade into obscurity within the overarching plot of the story.

(30:2-6) A Promised Victory

Surah Al-Rum (The Romans) was revealed in 615 CE, a time of great power imbalance in the Middle East. Sassanid emperor Khosrow II had launched an invasion into the Eastern Roman Empire to avenge the ousting of his ally Maurice. By this time, Damascus and Antioch had already fallen and Roman emperor Heraclius failed to defend Jerusalem.

(97:1-5) The 27th Night [E48]

No one knows for certain when Laylat Al-Qadr (the night of glory) falls. The Prophet ﷺ had once come to inform us about its precise timing. Obadah bin As-Samit narrates:

The Prophet (ﷺ) came out to inform us about the Night of Qadr but two Muslims were quarrelling with each other [about it]. So, the Prophet (ﷺ) said, “I came out to inform you about the Night of Qadr but such-and-such persons were quarrelling, so the news about it had been taken away; yet that might be for your own good, so search for it on the 29th, 27th and 25th (of Ramadan).
[Bukhari]

(3:139) Relentless Optimism

When news arrived of an unprecedented Confederate army had gathered to destroy the Muslims, larger than any ever seen before in Arabia, the companions immediately began digging a trench to protect the exposed front of Madinah. With little time on their side, the smallest setback could prove fatal for the believers as the marching army would arrive in a matter of days. In that moment, as unfortunate as it was symbolic, they were blocked by a boulder so large even the strongest of them could not break it. These great companions, full of faith and understanding, knew immediately who to turn to; the Prophet ﷺ.

(22:11) A Single Letter

Some people worship Allah ﷻ on a (حرف) – commonly translated to mean “on the edge”, making sense in the broader context of the verse and the general usage of the Arabic language. But a deeper linguistic analysis reveals some interesting observations behind this choice of word.

(27:24) Tweets

Have you ever heard the tweets of a bird? In the story of Prophet Sulaiman (as), we are given a glimpse into the way these creatures think and speak, translated to us by Allah ﷻ. Its chirping would not have been dissimilar to the tweets at the start of this podcast, yet they are completely inaccessible to us. How strange it is to think these tweets carry sophisticated language and meaning within them, yet to us sound nothing more than a few simple sounds.

(99:7-8) A Subtle Stretch

There is a subtle difference between these two verses which doesn’t translate in the English. When describing an atoms weight of good, the words (ذَرَّةٍ خَيْرًۭا) have no ghunnah (i.e. stretch) between them, requiring the reader to continue without elongating the word. In the following verse, Allah ﷻ repeats a similar phrase but this time describing an atoms weight of sin: (ذَرَّةٍۢ شَرًّۭا). This time, a ghunnah is found between the two words, requiring a reciter to stretch the end of the first word for 2 moments before continuing with the rest of the verse.

(56:8-10) Divine Luck

When describing people on the day of judgement, Allah ﷻ divides them into 3 camps: the people of the right, the people of the left, and the foremost – or at least that’s how they are commonly translated! Delve deeper, and you find a much richer meaning to them