Articles by Dr. Parvez

If Khuda, then why not Ishwar and God? In my last post, while translating the words of the Azan, I had used the word Ishwar for Allah. Some friends pointed out that Ishwar should not be used instead of Allah because ‘Ishwar’ is not one among the 99 names of Allah.  In the Indian subcontinent, salat is known as namaz, and saum is known as roza, despite the fact that these are Persian words which cannot be found anywhere in the Qur'an or Hadith. Can you tell me one more Persian word which is widely used by Muslims in the subcontinent? That word is ‘Khuda’. It is used instead of Allah, despite the fact that Khuda is not one among the 99 names of Allah that we find in the Qur'an and Hadith. When Persia was taken by Muslim forces in the 7th Century CE, some people approached Caliph Umar Farooqؓ and submitted that the Persians use the word Khuda instead of Allah. Caliph Umar, after weighing that word on the scales of the ayaat quoted below, approved the use of the word Khuda for All

We often read this dua after almost every namaz and especially during tawaf:  رَبَّنَا آتِنَا فِي الدُّنْيَا حَسَنَةً وَفِي الْآخِرَةِ حَسَنَةً وَقِنَا عَذَابَ النَّارِ “O our Rabb, grant us good in this duniya and good in the akhirah, and save us from the punishment of the fire.” [Surah alBaqarah] But what do the phrases ‘hasanah in this duniya’ and ‘hasanah in akhirah’ imply? Some people feel that good life in duniya means a luxurious life replete with all comforts and amenities. They even cite this ayat to contend that it is Allah who asks us to pray for a luxurious life, and hence it is justified to seek the comforts of duniya (i.e. fulfil their monetary aspirations and material pursuits).  Since the Qur'an is its best tafseer, let us ask the Qur’an what it means by فِي الدُّنْيَا حَسَنَةً In Surah anNahl, Allah uses the exact same phrase for Ibraheemؑ, saying that he gave Ibraheemؑ فِي الدُّنْيَا حَسَنَةً Ok, now let us run the life of Ibraheemؑ before our eyes.

People like me, who have recently started ‘practicing’ deen since a few years, often tend to look down upon other Muslims who appear to be not as devout Muslims as we assume ourselves to be. For instance, when we come across Muslims who are not regular with their namaz or fasts, we tend to view them as some lower life forms, with pity or outright disgust! But Allah says: کَذٰلِکَ کُنۡتُمۡ مِّنۡ قَبۡلُ فَمَنَّ اللّٰہُ عَلَیۡکُمۡ “You yourselves were like that before; before Allah conferred His favor upon you.” [Surah anNisa, ayat 94] This ayat serves to uproot that superority complex. It reminds us that we were also no better than those guys until a few years back. I, for one, began offering namaz only when I was in my late teens, and had never read the Qur'an in Arabic before my 22nd birthday. I should, therefore, be expected to stand in awe of boys and girls who are way ahead of me in deen than what I was when I was their age, right? We need to remind ourselves that ha