SURAH 106 QURAISH

Surah 106 - Surah Quraish - سورة قريش

بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم

With the identification of the System of Consciousness, The Rehmaan, The Raheem


INTERPRETATION:

لِإِيلَافِ قُرَيْشٍ

1) For the habit of attraction towards money / wealth  / attachments in a wrong way   - Liilafi Quraishin

إِيلَافِهِمْ رِحْلَةَ الشِّتَاءِ وَالصَّيْفِ

2) Such habit of theirs hibernate as a burden, (limitation, saddled upon, heavy load which they carry on their back) till the advanced age - illafihim rihalthashitaee wasaif,

فَلْيَعْبُدُوا رَبَّ هَـٰذَا الْبَيْتِ

3) So let them charge (service) the Rabb of this house of thoughts [Al-Bayat] -faliyaabudu Rabba Hazalbayat 

الَّذِي أَطْعَمَهُم مِّن جُوعٍ وَآمَنَهُم مِّنْ خَوْفٍ

4) The one who (Rabb) has nourished them from compelling needs (proper education is the need of the hour) and made them safe from fear - Lazi ataamanhum min joeen wa aamanum min khauf.


BRIEF SUMMARY:

This surah has nothing to do with the prominent Arabian tribe called Quraish, same way as surah Al-Phil has nothing to do with elephants. Meaning of "Quraish" signifies a complex behavior of money minded people who feel insecure all the time - قُرَيْشٍ (Quraishin) is genitive masculine singular indefinite adjective. The root word is ق ر ش. Quraishin cannot be termed as a proper noun according to Arabic grammar rules as it has tanween at the end of the word and it describes the noun (habit), hence it is an adjective. Traditionalist termed "Quraishin" as a proper noun because their interpretation is more influenced by Hadith based stories rather than the Arabic linguistic rules. All my interpretations are based on the subject's theme and deduction of the words is based on the context of the surah or the verses. Care is taken that the meaning does not deviate from the root word. The message of the book Quran is timeless and to confine it to particular tribe and its language is an injustice to the endeavor of the great author.

The surah describes the behavior / habit / inclination / addiction of the people by using the word لِإِيلَافِ - This word is a form IV verb which means he made himself to do the action or the action is done on self. The word لِإِيلَافِ signifies something which becomes a habit and you are accustomed to it - The word Quraishin signifies a habit of holding every penny / miser / money grabber / loan shark, belong to the tribe of blood sucker money lenders / hoarders / money / material minded.

This behavior of theirs is inculcates into a habit and finally becomes a psychological disorder. Too much attachment to materialism is a burden to self. One need to educate in order to come out this greedy situation. Lack of knowledge is the main cause of building layers of attachments, false information, ritual around the self. This becomes a burden unless we service the house in which we live. The house of thoughts is the house of Rabb which our inherent imam Ibrahim built for us. Too much materialism is bad for our house. Cleaning our house is servicing the house.

The people are being instructed to think, reformat and recharge their mind (Rabb). Thinking is the only medium which serves / persuades the mind / consciousness to work. We can only change our situation by using our mind or consciousness to the utmost horizon. The fact is whatever we do it is for our mind / consciousness and we seek the right path from it. The mind / Consciousness is our Rabb. Our happiness depends on how we serve our mind / Rabb. If our mind / consciousness is happy and elated, we are successful. If our mind is miserable, insecure our state of life is wretched. So in short correct service to the mind / consciousness is very vital because we are tenant of our own consciousness [Rabb] and He is our Owner [Malik] of our house [the thoughts we build becomes the house we live in]. If our mind is balanced, our life, our house is stable.

By using / servicing / maintaining our mind / consciousness in a correct way, we can fulfill our extreme needs and can overcome all our fears and insecurities. Worshiping the Rabb will not solve our problems but thinking in right manner is service to the Rabb, this is what verse 3 of this surah explains.

IMPORTANT POINT: 

هَـٰذَا الْبَيْتِ - Hazal Bayat - If bayat means house it should be visible, because the word Haza is a demonstrative pronoun emphasizing on drawing attention or indicates closeness, within the sight or reach. But those who are not near or in front of the "House of Allah", this instruction does not make sense to them. And if this instruction of worshiping the house includes them then they have to travel all along and shell out their hard earned money, to be close to the "Lord of this House" (Kaaba) to fulfill the commandment of this verse. Again if this interpretation is correct then, those close to the "House" enjoy the privilege to worship the "House of the Lord" effortlessly. Then again the question arises is "CAN ALLAH BE UNJUST" ?

*********************************************************************************

Traditional Interpretation:


1 For the protection of the Quraish,

2 The caravans to set forth safe in winter and in summer.

3 So let them worship the Lord of this House

4 Who (Lord) has fed them against hunger, and has made them safe from fear.


According to the above traditional translation these verses are specifically addressed - for the protection of "Quraish tribe", whereas "Quran" claims to be the all time guidance for mankind. The traditional translation is promoting "Quresh tribe" as a sacred tribe of Arabia and thus making other humans, inferior to them. This type of elevation of one group of people against rest of the mankind is against the pattern of the message of the honorable book Quran. If these type of interpretations are correct, Then "Allah" can be accused of being unjust ?

If just by worshiping the "House of Lord", protection is guaranteed from hunger and all types of struggling, then it will always be an easy and preferred way of life for the people living near the house ? Obviously the believers of such translations will be choosing the easy way which is against the essence of the message of honorable author.

Furthermore, what does it means to worship the House ? Does God live in that special house, without any windows ? And this traditional interpretation also confines the Lord within the four walls of the house. The traditional translators are encouraging us all to spend money and travel all the way to Mecca to worship the "House of Lord".

Such senseless / insane interpretations of the message create a dangerous ideology of supremacy of one race, which is the major cause of injustice and disparity among humans. The "Quraish tribes" or the "Arab tribes" becomes the chosen one of the God and thus enjoy the special privileged from God, making other human beings inferior to them. This type of mindless / thoughtless interpretation also portrays wrong picture of the "Muslim God". By giving special assurance of security to them and mentioning their name in the holy book the translators are creating differences in the society. Such types of beliefs breeds nepotism, favoritism, sycophancy, and takes us back to the era of ignorance, where idol worshiping, rituals, traditions and racism are given top most priority. 

In such type of societies there is no space for free thinkers, freedom of expression, inventions and new discoveries, more over such acts of thinking differently are considered as a taboo and offensive to the unity of the community.

Meanings from classical Arabic:

لِإِيلَافِ = He himself inclined, resorted to his habit, frequented, attracted, addicted, accustom, allured, belonging, familiar etc. genitive masculine (form IV) verbal noun


قُرَيْشٍ = Gnash, grind, nibble, crunch, gain, acquired, earned, collect for family, prosperous, wealthy, shark, penny/cent/currency in Egypt, Syria, Lebanon, Sudan and Jordan is called قرش [piaster] basically they are money minded people- genitive masculine singular indefinite adjective


إِيلَافِهِمْ = Their habit, addiction, inclination, took pleasure in, liked , approved - genitive masculine (form IV) verbal noun - 3rd person masculine plural possessive pronoun

رِحْلَةَ = Saddle, bound, burden, attachment, mounted upon the back, annoying journey... 

الشِّتَاءِ = Stay, dwell, reside, experience, hibernate, winter

وَ = And, means

الصَّيْفِ = The season summer, advanced age

فَلْيَعْبُدُوا = So let them serve

رَبَّ = Lord, Nourisher, Provider, Consciousness, Possessor, Sustainer, Owner, Having authority, Ruler, Govern, over them, having command, reared, brought up, brought to maturity, stayed, dwell, not quitting it, master, chief, reformer, king, (ribbath/rabbiun means group of learned/like-minded people with similar aim), (rabbani means knowledgeable man)- As no translator is clearly defining the invincible Lord, Nourisher, hence creating confusion and encouraging the philosophy of DUAS addressed to mysterious Rabb, I decided to study all this meanings for at least 4 years with the Quranic context then I came to the conclusion that if we have to define Rabb in simple and single word which encompasses the essence of the meaning of Rabb I decided a system of Conscious/Mind is the meaning which will represents the word Rabb in all the my future translations unless the context decides otherwise. Understanding the essence of the message is of utmost important rather than the other factors. My aim is that the translations should be reader friendly and simple.

هَـٰذَا = This (emphasizing nearness) - masculine singular demonstrative pronoun


 الْبَيْتِ = The Meditation, pondering, planning or dwelling on some thought, it is place where we regain our intellect (2:125) merging of thoughts, system of thoughts, pause - The thoughts in which we dwell 24x7 becomes our house in which we live, this is the essence of bayat in Quranic context.. In Quranic context it is the house of thoughts that is built by Ibrahim on the commandment of our own consciousness [Allah].

الَّذِي = those who

أَطْعَمَهُم = Ate, digestible, easily agreeable, inoculated, educate, possessing of intelligence, prudence, food for thought

مِّن = From

جُوعٍ = desired, hunger, compelling need, longed, necessity

آمَنَهُم = made them safe

خَوْفٍ = feared, insecurity, apprehensions, terrified

********************************************************************************