Arabic Grammar – 6 – Material Mistakes

Arabic Grammar 6

Material Mistakes

The Holy Qor-aan provides for all aspects of human life a spiritual enlightenment in one or more of the following.

1. Attributes of Allah showing what He likes or dislikes so that humans do the right thing.
2. Commandments that the Creator deemed were in the best interest of man to do.
3. Prohibitions which the Creator knew will harm man even if He forgave some errors.
4. Prayers to beseech the Almighty God to grant His blessings and thwart the evil.
5. Rules of Universal Application that God has kept in His Hands to always enforce.
6. Accurate account of some prophets and events in human history to illustrate all above.

The Holy Qor-aan has been translated by a large number of scholastically recognized authorities.  An extremely large percentage of all translation material is done as a great service to mankind.  Our Commentary titled Acknowledgements – 4th – To Scholars respectfully pays them tribute.  But to err is human and the translations by man are no exception to making of material mistakes.  That is why our Mission Statement at TrueTeachingsOfIslam.com site has requests for prayers.  No human being can surmount such an uphill task all by himself and like all we too have needs.  Visitors to our site are urged to pray for us while we do our utmost to avoid any material mistake.

Some of the material mistakes in various translations have been covered in Note 003:113.

One example is the Theory of Abrogation whereby Mullah has labeled from 5 verses to the hundred of the verses of the Holy Qor-aan as obsolete, non-practicable and so abrogated. See the part of the judgment reproduced in the Jihad defined by Pakistan’s High Court.

Another example is clergy’s misrepresentation about the Holy War. It is consolidated with other relevant issues in one Commentary titled as Mullah’s Jihad is no road to Peace.

Another example is the series of mistakes enumerated in one Commentary titled as the MULLAH’S Modifications are NOT the True Teachings of Islam.

Another example is a product of sheer ignorance about the Arabic Grammar described in the Commentary titled as Preciseness – Hallmark of the Arabic because:-

• The Holy Qor-aan states rules of universal application in the present tense or in the form Modzaaray to show what’s happening at the present or will happen in the future.
• This methodology reflects that the stated results of the rules will keep on materializing — again and again, continually, as long as Man lives on earth.
• Some verses state in the present tense God’s eternal rules, and then in the past tense an accurate account of a past event to illustrate what had happened when it was violated.
• Anyone not familiar with Arabic grammar may not see the line of demarcation between what God has kept to Himself to always enforce, and its example by an event in history.
• So, Mullah initiated the practice of eliminating any rule of universal application he did not like and limiting it to only the example cited as an illustration or call it abrogated.
• Many foreign translators who knew little Arabic grammar found it easy to follow an established practice. They blindly duplicated the Mullah-orchestrated ignorance.

Arabic literature contains a story. A caliph (king) imprisoned a crook whose comrades maneuvered a message to the warden to “Stop not let go” the crook from the prison. Intended direction was “Stop, not let go.” The comrades convinced everyone that they had to “Stop not, let go” or else face king’s wrath for disobedience. So implemented was the exact opposite of the real intent. See the Commentary titled as Arabic Grammar 5 – Punctuations and Vowels.

Anyone can see the substantial difference between saying “God has stated His dictates, and violators in a given episode suffered evil consequences” and “God has stated His dictates that violators in a given episode suffered evil consequences.” Such and numerous other errors show themselves in the following Note 003:153.

“Note 003:153. This verse is among those that are interpreted to relate to the Battle of Ohd (mostly stated as Uhud) although that battlefield has not been named like the Badar in the verse 003:124. Historically these verses could have been revealed after the Ohd skirmish.

Rules of universal application both implied or specified are set in the Holy Qor-aan as assurances to the believers. Rules materialized in the events of the battles of Badr and Ohd are:

• The divine help comes to believers [003:123 to 127] against disbelievers [003:128/129].
• The definition of the believers and what they should expect [003:130 to 137].
• The description of things that happen to the combatants in wars [003:138 to144].
• The distinction between supporters of the prophets and their opponents [003:145 to 150].

One Rule of universal application is stated in verse 003:153. Certainly, Allah has fulfilled His promise to you whenever you make them feel you as He has planned — by giving you mastery over your opponents — until you have slipped, disputed and disobeyed the Commands after He has shown you some of what you love. The distinct and obvious milestones are:-

• God has planned that you will gain strength, superiority and mastery on your opponents.
• One sign of your mastery is that the opponents will feel your practices produce results.
• Gaining the upper hand would lure some of you to greed, power and worldly goodies.
• You will fall to temptations after seeing God-given gifts and bounties within your reach.
• You will initially slip, then dispute what was commanded, and finally disobey out right.
• God does all this for the purpose of testing and trying you out.
• God will nevertheless forgive you even after you have committed all those follies.

Violating the Rule of universal application stated in verse 003:153 was illustrated in the past event of the Battle of Ohd in which believers suffered several painful experiences.

1. Initially they struck effective blows, and it looked like they were about to win the battle.
2. The prospect of winning made them greedy and the temptation caused them lot of grief.
3. They argued with each other and disregarded instructions to stay on a key position which was necessary to close the event with a total victory but which opportunity they lost.
4. At that time the enemy noticed how the lure of an almost-win distracted the believers. It took advantage of the flaw, successfully carried out a come-back, and hurt the believers.
5. Finally the Almighty God helped the believers as He always does. In this case also He forgave them and saved them from the humiliation of a total defeat as He always does.

Some inaccurate translations and additions inserted without any corresponding word in the original text of verse 003:153 are stated below. Some ill effects of such inaccuracies have been detailed in the Commentary titled Preciseness – Hallmark of the Arabic.

• Words “on the day of Uhud” were added by a translator though the Holy Qor-aan neither mentioned Ohd nor any words correspond to them in the original text.

• The word   تَحُسُّوۡنَ  (ta-hoos-soo-na) is a verb in the present tense that can mean you make them feel you or you kill and destroy. Its translation in the past tense as ‘you slew,’  ‘were killing’  or ‘were slaying’ is inaccurate.

• The word  تُحِبُّوۡنَ‌ (to-hib-boo-na) is a verb in the present tense and means you cherish, covet, desire, love, want or wish. Its translation in the past tense as ‘you loved’ is inaccurate.

• Some works reflect (a) a disregard of the present for the past and past for the present tenses like 005:058, (b) inconsistency in translations, and/or (c) additions engineered by the author. One work stated that “After He had shown you that which you loved, He withdrew His Help. Among you were those who desired the present world and among you were those who desired the next.”  Another copied the above word-by-word but changed the last word ‘next’ with ‘Hereafter.’ Another stated that “… He withdrew His support from you. Some of you desired the goods of this world and some of you desired the Hereafter.” Another stated “… He had shown you that for which ye long. Some of you desired the world, and some of you desired the Hereafter.” . Nevertheless, they all translated the verb in the present tense with that in the past tense.

• The word يُرِيۡدُ (yo-ree-do) is a verb in the present tense for the 3^rd person and can mean he aims at seeks. It is correctly translated as ‘that hanker.’  Inaccurate translations of the same in the past tense as ‘who desired’ and in the 2^nd person as ‘you desired’ are extremely unfortunate. Giving past tense to the operative word makes the entire clause wherein it is used a mere narration of a past event and so timed. Such poor translations are not just wrong but also strengthen the theorists of Abrogation who claim that portions of the Holy Qor-aan are now obsolete as they related to those who were involved in just that one event, i.e., the warriors of Ohd Battle. The fact is that the verb يُرِيۡدُ (yo-ree-do) is in present participle form which means that the reality mentioned in it is unendingly true — for all times including the periods yet to come, for all people including the people yet to be born, for all occasions covered by a rule of universal application. Every inaccurate translation of Holy Book is the greatest disservice that anyone can render.“