Quran Blogger

I do not, with this blog, intend to go through the Quran commenting on each word in every line of every ayah.  However, because The Opening is so ingrained in the daily lives of Muslims and is such a fundamental part of so many rituals in the Islamic faith, I feel that it warrants some extra blogging attention, even if that means parsing some of the ayahs so closely that this blog begins to teeter toward the over-technical and risks making readers yawn uncontrollably (assuming, perhaps presumptuously, that the prior blog posts were not in their own rights boring to you readers).  May God guide us to a proper understanding of His message. 

4.                  Master of the Day of Judgment.

Two basic principles of the Quranic message are: (i) God exists and is real and has sent guidance to mankind; and (ii) mankind will be called one day to account for its actions (this day is commonly known as the "Last Day," as in the last day of this mortal life in which humans and other creatures dwell, and of Earth as we know it (see picture of exploding sun, below right (yes, this is the best I could come up with)-- it is actually not the final of all days since existence will continue after that day in the next stage of existence, the so-called Afterlife or Hereafter).  Here in three short but potent words, we are reminded that that there will be a day when we are called to account for our deeds, devotions and beliefs, to stand and be counted among those who submitted their mortal free will either to God, Truth, righteousness and virtue, or to one of the myriad things to which humans submit in ignorance or arrogance, and that God is the master and controller of that day.

Belief in the Last Day is a core belief.  It provides the context in which a follower of the Quran lives—or is supposed to live—his or her life.  Without it, life is reduced from a noble pursuit of ethereal dignity to a series of random (and, when compared to the limitless expanse of time, wholly insignificant) occurrences bumping against each other without rhythm or reason.  There is a tangent here to be explored about why belief in a final judgment is critical to the deen of the Quran and, God willing, I intend to explore that concept in detail at some point during the course of this blog.  But that is another story, and shall be told at another time (extra brownie points to anyone who can identify that reference in the comments; hint: it's from a popular story many students read in elementary school...now back to the point of this post).  Instead, and at the risk of getting too technical, I want to write a little about the way in which the Last Day, the Day of Judgment, is referenced in this ayah. 

There actually is an Arabic phrase that translates perfectly to the English phrase “The Last Day,” but that phrase is not used in this ayah.  The phrase that is used is a two-word phrase ("Day of Deen") that A.Y. Ali has translated to “Day of Judgment.”  While “judgment” is a perfectly appropriate translation of the word deen (although, to be clear, if you were translating “judgment” from English to Arabic, deen is probably not the word you would select), something definitely gets lost in the translation. 

The word deen is used in several different ways in different parts of the Quran.  In some instances, it is translated to mean “duty” or “obligation” (see, e.g., 16:52).  In other instances it is translated to mean “way” or “religion” (see, e.g., 3:19 and 85, and 40:26), and in still others it is translated as “law” or “prescription.”  Sometimes A.Y. Ali does not provide any translation or reference to the word at all, and it is likely that his English translation of some ayahs in which the word appears would not differ at all from their current translation even if the word was altogether absent from the ayah (see, e.g., 39: 2 and 14; I would posit that the appearance of the word in the context of those ayahs suggests that it means “the Authority” as in “to Him is the Authority”; notably, A.Y. Ali does not insert that phrase at the end of either of those ayahs).  In 51:6, A.Y. Ali again translates the word deen as “judgment” but also includes a footnote to elaborate that deen in that context means “the giving to each person his precise and just due,” an elaboration he clearly did not feel was necessary in other instances where deen was translated as “judgment.” 

As we can see, the word deen owns a meaning that is both dynamic and difficult to translate.  There does not, in fact, seem to be any single English word that can capture the depth of meaning and versatility of the word in Arabic.  Maududi (see picture at left, included here for no other reason than to honor this blog with the image of a revered Pakistani scholar) elaborates on the meaning of the word in the following manner:

“It was in the Quran in which, obviously because the word was particularly suited to its purpose, [the word ‘deen’] was given very clear-cut and definite connotations, and it was this aspect which made the word one of the most important in the Quranic terminology. In that terminology, it stands for the entire way of life, of which the composite factors are:

1. Sovereignty and supreme authority;
2. Obedience and submission to such authority;
3. The system of thought and action established through the exercise of that authority; and
4. Retribution meted out by the authority, in consideration of loyalty and obedience to it, or rebellion and transgression against it.”

(See here for more on the word deen from Maududi)

The use of the word deen is not exclusive to Islamic discourse or to descriptions of God’s religion as described in the Quran.  People who follow schools of thought other than the religion of the God of the Quran, or who allow themselves to be ruled by another person or group of people to whose authority they submit in deference, are in Arabic said to be “on the deen” of such other school of thought or of such person or group of people.  A person who submits and subjugates his or her mortal will to the pursuit of material wealth, intellectual distinction or fame, or to the approval of another person or group of people, and lives his or her life in subconscious (as we discussed in a prior post) or express devotion to such wealth, distinction, fame or approval, can be said to be following the deen of such things.  When the implicit dictates of the pursuit of such things are treated with deference and hold authority over the lives of such people; when other, fundamental aspects of such people’s lives (like God, spirituality, family and others to whom duties are owed) are sacrificed or subjugated in furtherance of that pursuit; when those people choose to submit in obedience to such authority, spending their time, money and effort in the pursuit of such matters at the expense of other, crucial matters they should not ignore; then the pursuit of such things becomes their way of life, their raison d’être, their deen.

Understanding now the richness of meaning evoked by the word deen, we can see that all of the various meanings of "Day of Deen" fit the seeming intent of the phrase: 

• "The Day of Deen" as "The Day of Religion":  The day on which God’s religion reigns supreme, and the day on which all of mankind will represent and have to answer for whatever deen they followed in life (“One Day He will say, ‘Call on those whom ye Thought to be My partners,’ and they will call on them, but they will not listen to them; and We shall make for them a place of common perdition.” [18:52]).

• "The Day of Deen" as "The Day of Duty" or "The Day of Obligation":  In the Quranic tradition, all of God’s creation will be present and have an obligation to account for their actions on that day.  They are all duty-bound (and in fact will be forced) to attend the proceedings on that day and to submit to the will of God.  Each member of mankind will also have to account for whether and to what extent he or she fulfilled his or her duties and obligations to God and to other members of the human race during his or her lifetime. (“Do they not think that they will be called to account?/ On a Mighty Day/ A Day when (all) mankind will stand before the Lord of the Worlds?/ Nay! Surely the Record of the Wicked is (preserved) in Sijjeen/ And what will explain to thee what is Sijjeen?/ (There is) a Register (Fully) inscribed./ Woe that Day, to those who deny—/ Those who deny The Day of Judgement.” [83:4-11]). 

• "The Day of Deen" as "The Day of Authority":  On that Day God imposes and makes evident his authority over all things (“To whom will belong the Dominion on that Day?  To Allah, the One, the Irresistible!” [40:16] (slightly revised from A.Y. Ali’s translation)).

• "The Day of Deen" as "The Day of Law or Prescription":  On that Day God’s law will be upheld and justice will be meted out.  We will all have to account for all of our transgressions against God's law, which law is known to us both in the standards of living and human interaction naturally ingrained in each of us and in the express prescriptions of God's religion.

• "The Day of Deen" as "The Day of Judgment":  On that Day there will be the reckoning, where matters are sorted out and people are judged according to their actions.

Sometimes, there are no short or easy ways to translate Arabic words to English.  A.Y. Ali’s translation of “Day of Deen” to “Day of Judgment” is not incorrect, and is quite possibly the best way in which it could have been translated for A.Y. Ali’s purposes.  We must be aware, however, that the word deen in Arabic means significantly more than “judgment.”

Given the richness of meaning evoked by the word deen, it becomes clear, then, that the word maalik (or malak, in an alternate recitation), meaning “master,” “controller” or “king” of, absolutely is the most appropriate word that could have been used at the beginning of the ayah.  God is the master, controller and king of the Authority, Judgment, Religion, Obligation, Duty and Law of that final day.  I really can’t think of any other word that would fit appropriately in that spot (e.g., "Judge," "Arbiter," "Organizer" etc. may only relate to one aspect of the several shades of meaning evoked by the phrase "Day of Deen," while maalik could apply to all of them).   

5.                  Thee do we worship, and Thine aid we seek.

This ayah marks the shift in the surah where the reader begins to refer to God directly in the second person (this is pointed out by Ibn Kathir here).  I think it interesting to note here that the second person was used in one way (“Thee do we worship and Thine aid we seek”) rather than another (e.g., “we worship You, and we seek Your aid”).  My thoughts on why the second person was used in this way are that, in addition to being more poetic, placing the object at the beginning of the sentence (i) places greater emphasis on the object rather than the subject, and this emphasis is consistent with the theme of the preceding verses that identify and introduce God to the reader and (ii) (perhaps more significantly) leaves no doubt that the worship and the seeking of aid is exclusive to that object.  It is almost as if the ayah is saying “It is You alone, God, to the exclusion of all others, whom we worship, and It is in You alone, God, to the exclusion of all others, whose aid we seek.”

This ayah is a declaration that we exclusively worship and put our faith and trust in, and seek protection and refuge only from, the One to whom we are praying.  

So, at this point in the recitation of The Opening, we have invoked God’s name and called out to Him using the names He prefers, we have praised Him and glorified Him, and we have declared the exclusive nature of our reliance on Him and our devotion to Him.  Now, we are taught to ask for what we really want and need.  What we actually ask for is quite surprising.  More on that, God willing, in the next (and, God willing, final) post on The Opening.