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How the Quran Captures Hours of Speech in Five Ayahs | Surah Al-Jinn | Nouman Ali Khan — Transcript

by Nouman Ali Khan - Official - Bayyinah · 2,789 words · 489 segments · language en · Watch on YouTube

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0:00Maybe these jinn were not having one
0:01monologue and there was literally a
0:02transcript of what they said. Maybe they
0:04had this conversation over 10 hours. And
0:06Allah took all 10 hours of their
0:08conversation
0:09and put it in these five ayats
0:11and missed nothing of their conclusions.
0:14Because of the way that Allah translated
0:16and transmitted what they said. You
0:18understand?
0:19So, there's something more than
0:22linear one-to-one translation that's
0:24happening in the Quran. That's part of
0:25its miraculous effect.
0:27Right? And so, words that are chosen by
0:30Allah to communicate may not be oh, this
0:32is the word the jinn used. It may
0:34actually be that the jinn said much
0:36more, but they would there was a way to
0:38gather so much of what they said and so
0:41much of what they meant in much lesser
0:42words.
0:44So, I would argue this is not quite
0:46translation. This is divine
0:48paraphrasing.
0:50>> This video features just a short snippet
0:52from our new deeper look of Surat
0:54al-Jinn, which is now being released
0:56exclusively on Bayyinah TV.
0:59Watch the full-length episode along with
1:02thousands of more hours of Ustad Nouman
1:04Ali Khan's explanations of the Quran at
1:06bayyinah.tv.
1:21>> Um wonderful questions again in this uh
1:23brief uh break.
1:25And one of them I think uh that I'll
1:27start with I've spoken about this in a
1:29course I did a long time ago, Divine
1:31Speech, but I think part of it should be
1:33reiterated here.
1:34And that is that I'm telling you oh,
1:36look at the use of this past tense or
1:38look at this word here and look at this
1:39word here, but this is actually the jinn
1:41speaking.
1:42Right? But then there's another problem.
1:44Sometimes you have you find in the Quran
1:46somebody speaking like Maryam is
1:48speaking
1:49or Zakaria is speaking or the angels are
1:51speaking and they say you don't speak to
1:53people for 3 days.
1:55Right? Allah to kalima nassa falasata
1:57ayamin illa ramza.
1:59And I did
2:01And then the same angels are speaking to
2:02Zakaria, same story, and then they're
2:04going and saying, "I let to go and ask
2:06for 3 nights. So we are don't speak to
2:08angel to people for 3 nights."
2:11So one place says 3 days and the other
2:13says 3 nights.
2:16The generals of the Pharaoh came to him
2:18and said, "Why don't you bring all the
2:20magicians equally Saharan Ali?"
2:23Sahara expert magicians
2:26Another place to see equally Saharan
2:27Ali.
2:29So it's the same story, but one time
2:30Sahara, one time Sahir.
2:33Which seems like how is there a
2:34contradiction in quotes when
2:36the Quran it seems is not literally
2:38quoting them? Why why are the words so
2:40important if it's loose in its
2:43quotations, right? And I like it to
2:46offer you a way to understand that.
2:49The I think the the most important
2:51observation on the subject is that the
2:54Quran most of the time most of the time
2:56is translating.
2:58Pharaoh did not speak Arabic.
3:00Um Ibrahim Ali Salam was not speaking in
3:02Arabic. Musa Ali Salam was not speaking
3:05in Arabic.
3:06Right? There's the ancient Babylonian
3:08language. There is the Aramaic language.
3:10There is the Hebrew language. There are,
3:12you know, the ancient Egyptian language.
3:15And you know, God knows what other
3:17languages that different nations spoke.
3:21Or you know, the language that in which
3:23the you know, Suleiman Ali Salam spoke
3:24or clearly the ants that were talking in
3:27the story of Suleiman were not speaking
3:29in Arabic to each other.
3:31Right?
3:32But here we are quoting them in
3:35in Arabic, right? And if some people
3:39say, "Oh, the original language was
3:42Arabic."
3:43I say, "Why why do you say that?"
3:44Because it sounds more Islamic to say
3:45that. There's no other reason
3:47to say that.
3:49Right? So
3:51then what's really going on in the
3:52Quran?
3:53Number one, Allah is translating.
3:56Allah himself is the translator.
3:58Translation is an attempt to capture
4:01what somebody said in a different
4:03language, which means it involves you
4:06first understanding what they said
4:08and then you converting it to
4:11a new language. But, the problem with
4:12language is it's not just made up of
4:14words like mathematics
4:16that the value of X is five,
4:19right? So, you can just do a one-to-one
4:21correspondence.
4:22L- words have baggage. They got used a
4:26certain way by the people of this
4:28language and they have a certain culture
4:29and they they carry a certain kind of
4:31weight,
4:32right? And as a result of that, um
4:36when you guys say uh tomato sauce,
4:40tomato sauce in America has nothing to
4:42do with ketchup.
4:44Okay? If you you buy tomato sauce, it's
4:46like, you know, like this pasty like
4:50you know,
4:51what do you call that thing?
4:52Um
4:55tomato paste. Yes, tomato paste.
4:57Tomato paste.
5:01See, it's the same word, but culturally
5:03it's very different, right? It's they're
5:05they're not the same thing. Um
5:07we call in in the Midwest in America we
5:09call um can of soda, we call it pop.
5:13But, in Texas we call it a soda,
5:16right? So, you want a pop? You want a
5:18soda?
5:19Right? And then when I went to England
5:20for the first time and said somebody
5:21said, "Oh stud,
5:22you fancy a fizzy?"
5:24And I was like,
5:26I thought it was an inap- inappropriate
5:28comment. I thought,
5:30the guy says, "Oh stud, you must be
5:31tired. You fancy a fizzy?" And I was
5:32like, "I will do no such thing, sir."
5:34>> [laughter]
5:40>> Because languages are inherently
5:43connected to culture.
5:45And cultures have their own history,
5:47their own, you know, uh genetics almost.
5:50Right? So, language is a living thing.
5:52So, when Allah is translating
5:54and forget before we get to Allah is
5:56translating, when human beings translate
5:58from one language to another, something
5:59is necessarily lost because you can
6:01translate a word, but you can't
6:02necessarily translate a culture.
6:05Right?
6:06Like hatta yalija jamalufi sumbil khiyat
6:09until the camel passes the eye of the
6:11needle
6:12is something the Arabs used to say
6:14for that's impossible. That's never
6:16going to happen.
6:18That's when the camel is going to pass
6:19through the eye of the needle. But,
6:21you know,
6:22be- before the Afghans got here, you
6:23guys had no concept of camels passing
6:25through nothing.
6:26Right? So,
6:28the you know, culturally it doesn't tra-
6:30even though the words are translated, it
6:32doesn't really communicate the same
6:33effect because language is also not
6:35about just being understood, language
6:37carries impact.
6:39Right? You go when you're speaking,
6:41you can say the same thing, the same
6:43exact words, but your tone matters,
6:46where you pause matters.
6:48Right? You have people in America like
6:50preachers and things like that, they
6:51pause on purpose.
6:53They'll come on stage and they'll just
6:55smile and look at people.
7:02And people like, "Woo!
7:03Woo! Woo!"
7:05Because they want to create a certain
7:07kind of
7:08Today
7:12is a good day.
7:14Yes, it is. Yes, it is.
7:18You could have just said today is a good
7:19day, but your annotations, your pauses,
7:21your facial expressions, all of that
7:22became part of the communication because
7:24all of those things are also part of
7:26what creates impact on the listener.
7:29So, it's not just what you're reading,
7:31it's how you're reading it, how you're
7:32listening to it, right?
7:34All of that is language.
7:35What the Quran does
7:37is that it translates not just the
7:39words, it translates the environment,
7:42the atmosphere, it translates the
7:44implications. Maybe somebody said five
7:47things, but Allah translated it into a
7:49single sentence that captures all five
7:51of those things.
7:54Maybe these jinns were not having one
7:55monologue and it was literally a
7:56transcript of what they said. Maybe they
7:58had this conversation over 10 hours.
8:00And Allah took all 10 hours of their
8:01conversation
8:03and put it in these five ayats
8:05and missed nothing of their conclusions.
8:08Because of the way that Allah translated
8:10and transmitted what they said. You
8:12understand?
8:13So, there's something more than
8:16linear one-to-one translation that's
8:18happening in the Quran. That's part of
8:19its miraculous effect.
8:21Right? And so, words that are chosen by
8:24Allah to communicate may not be oh, this
8:26is the word the jinns used. It may
8:28actually be that the jinns said much
8:29more, but they would there was a way to
8:32gather so much of what they said and so
8:34much of what they meant in much lesser
8:36words.
8:38So, I would argue this is not quite
8:40translation. This is divine
8:41paraphrasing.
8:44That's what's happening in the Quran,
8:45divine paraphrasing.
8:47And it's one of the great features of
8:48the Quran. As for contradictory
8:51language, for example, don't speak to
8:52people for 3 days. Don't speak to people
8:54for three
8:55nights. That sounds clearly a
8:57contradiction.
8:59But it doesn't have to be. It could be
9:01the angels came to him. They had a
9:03conversation for a few minutes.
9:04Part of that conversation was
9:063 days.
9:08And as they're leaving, remember 3
9:10nights.
9:12Could be that they reiterated the
9:14instruction.
9:15Right? And it's common for someone to
9:17reiterate
9:18the instruction in multiple ways. And
9:21one of those iterations is mentioned in
9:22Ali Imran and the other is mentioned in
9:24Maryam.
9:26But then, what's even more interesting
9:28is Maryam, the language of Surat Maryam
9:30is dark.
9:31The middle of the night, old age,
9:33closeness to death.
9:34Allah know, you know, so so
9:37there's this
9:38there's a dark tone to Surat Maryam and
9:41the vocabulary in it. So, it's pretty
9:43cool that when the story comes up, Allah
9:45mentions three nights.
9:47And in Surat Al Imran, there's a theme
9:49of things that were buried coming to
9:51light. Evidence that was being hidden by
9:53the church clergy coming to light.
9:55The burhan coming out.
9:57The light of Allah coming through.
9:59And there, the same story and remember
10:01three days. It's like the language is
10:04even
10:05more synchronized with the larger
10:07imagery of the passage or the surah at
10:09hand. Right? And that's part of the
10:11beautiful tapestry of the Quran.
10:13Somebody also also asked me a very
10:15important question about this, which was
10:17I remember in the beginning of the
10:18series I told you about how there's
10:20correlations and correspondences between
10:22Surat Al Mulk and Surat Al Jinn and
10:24right? And one of those correspondences
10:25was Allah mentioned that he will test
10:27people by removing water. And he will
10:29here he will test people test the jinn
10:31and others by giving them water.
10:34By giving them water. Li naftinahum
10:35fihi. So, somebody said, "What What do
10:37you get What are you trying to get at?
10:39Like what do you get from that?" So,
10:40okay, so you made this observation,
10:41what's the purpose of it?
10:44I can tell you one purpose I can
10:45immediately see, for example, in that
10:47case, is that Allah is telling us that
10:49the
10:50the that people are tested with good and
10:52with bad.
10:54And it there was a place where Allah
10:55highlighted that you can be tested with
10:56bad and another Allah highlighted that
10:58you can also be tested with
11:00good. And he broke that subject up and
11:03gave it its own space. That's one. But
11:05additionally, just seeing comparison and
11:07contrast is actually part of the way
11:10Allah created our brain and our heart,
11:12the way Allah made us. Comparison and
11:14contrast is how we find beauty.
11:17Is one of the formula that Allah has put
11:21in the human psyche to discover beauty.
11:23Colors that contrast with each other,
11:25sounds that go together,
11:27shapes that work together.
11:29In clothing, in architecture,
11:32you know, in in literature.
11:35When it Whenever there's beauty in
11:36something,
11:37then there's always comparison and
11:39contrast, parallel and contrast.
11:42Something goes together and something
11:44pushes against something else, right?
11:46And these are you you can see this show
11:48up in, for example, uh cooking.
11:52Right? There are some tastes that go
11:53well together, and then somebody throws
11:54in something completely opposite in the
11:56mix, and you're like, "Wow, that was
11:57amazing."
11:58You put pineapple on a pizza. Terrible
12:00idea, but still
12:02it's been known to
12:04to be appreciated in certain circles,
12:06right?
12:07So, the
12:08And beauty is also one of the consistent
12:12agendas of the Quran.
12:15Purpose is its agenda along with beauty.
12:18And in my other lectures, I've talked
12:20quite quite extensively about that, that
12:23you cannot separate purpose and beauty
12:26in Allah's works. They go hand in hand.
12:30Allah made the human being purposeful.
12:31He also made the human being beautiful.
12:33Allah made his book purposeful. He also
12:35made it
12:36beautiful. We love its beautiful
12:38recitation. We love its the beauty of
12:40its words, its harmony, its
12:41organization. There's beauty in it, and
12:44there's purpose in it. And they're
12:45inseparable from each other. And because
12:47some people are more inclined towards
12:49purpose, they say, "Don't talk to me
12:50about beauty. Just talk to me about
12:52purpose."
12:53Right?
12:54But actually, the the the Quranic
12:56message and the the Islamic ethos is
12:59that these two things are inseparable
13:01from each other.
13:02They go hand in hand.
13:04This is why Allah could have made food
13:06ugly.
13:07The only thing we could have had to eat
13:08on this planet was cockroaches.
13:11Could have been.
13:14You can get carbs, fats, and proteins
13:16from insects, too.
13:18You can.
13:20There are people who eat that stuff.
13:22Okay?
13:23But you can get them from animals, and
13:25then you can make the taste food taste
13:26good, look good,
13:28have presentation.
13:31Fruits.
13:33Look at fruit. Fruits are they they
13:35provide a certain kinds of nutrients,
13:37but we could have been licking them off
13:39the ground.
13:41He put them inside these beautiful
13:42shells and then put them on gorgeous
13:44trees.
13:45Why did he make things so beautiful?
13:48There's there's a reason he created
13:50beauty in the world and we know that
13:51these things serve a purpose and you can
13:53it's undeniable that they also
13:56enhance your appreciation and beauty. So
13:58you have when you say alhamdulillah
14:00rabbil alamin, when you praise Allah and
14:02you thank Allah, you thank Allah for
14:04something that fulfills your purpose.
14:07You praise Allah for something you found
14:09beautiful.
14:10They go hand in hand.
14:12Right? So um that that is part of the I
14:16went on this tangent for a reason. The
14:18the the style of the Quran, the beauty
14:20of the Quran
14:22is actually something that deserves
14:23constant attention also.
14:25The problem is when we try to divorce
14:27these two things. So now there's a
14:29chunk of our ummah obsessed with the
14:31beauty of the Quran, the beautiful
14:32calligraphy of it, the art
14:35the artistry of it, maybe even the
14:37balagha of it or the recitation of it or
14:39the qira'at of it, etc. etc. etc. And
14:42lost touch with the purpose of it.
14:45And then there are people who talk about
14:46the purpose of it that are almost
14:47allergic to the idea of the
14:50beauty of it.
14:51Like we we just want to we want to
14:53dissect these two things from each
14:54other. But you can't. You can't. They go
14:57hand in hand. And Allah put that in He
14:59programmed human beings in such an
15:02amazing way. We want that in everything.
15:05You want a car that runs well and looks
15:08good.
15:10You want a phone that functions well
15:12and is sleek.
15:15You want clothes that will keep you warm
15:17or keep you cold or whatever, but they
15:18also you have to like them, too.
15:21You You food that will feed you and
15:23taste good.
15:24Purpose, beauty. Purpose, beauty.
15:26Purpose, constantly.
15:28Constantly. You The home you choose,
15:30it'll serve a purpose, it's near your
15:32job, it's near the school, it's in a
15:33safe neighborhood. Purpose, purpose,
15:34purpose. It's got to look nice though.
15:37The kitchen was ugly. I don't know if I
15:38want to buy this place. Kitchen's too
15:39ugly.
15:41There's no view from the window.
15:43Right?
15:44I mean, look at In everything Allah
15:47made, he made the human beings think
15:49about both of these things together.
15:51Marriage has a purpose, but
15:52alhamdulillah for you it has nothing to
15:54do with beauty.
15:55>> [laughter]
15:57>> I had to do something.
16:00Makes uh
16:02makes the doors beautiful.
16:04>> [laughter]
16:08>> Hey guys, you just watched a small clip
16:09of me explaining the Quran in depth as
16:11part of the deeper look series. Studying
16:14the Quran in depth can seem like a
16:15really intimidating thing that's only
16:17meant for scholars. Our job at Bayyinah
16:19is to make deeper study of the Quran
16:21accessible and easy for all of you. So,
16:23take us up on that challenge. Join us
16:25for this study, the deeper look of the
16:27Quran for this surah and many other
16:29surahs on bayyinahtv.com under the
16:31deeper look section.

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