25 - Qur'an al-karim is nazm-i ilahi (the divine verse). The lexical meaning of nazm is to string pearls. It has been called nazm also because words are arranged side by side like pearls. Each poem is a nazm. The Qur'an's words are in Arabic. However, Allahu ta'ala arranged these words side by side. These words were not arranged by any human being. When the words inspired into his blessed heart by Allahu ta'ala were spoken by him in Arabic, they were not included in the Qur'an al-karim. These words are called hadith al- qudsi. Words in Qur'an al-karim, having been arranged by Allahu ta'ala, descended in ayats. An angel named Jabrail (Gabriel) recited the ayats with these words and letters, and Hadrat Muhammad, hearing them through his blessed ears, memorizing them and immediately recited them to his companions. Allahu ta'ala sent the Qur'an in the language of the Quraish tribe. The book Radd-ul-Mukhtar says on the subject of 'oath' in its third volume, "As it is said in the book Fath-ul-Qadir, Allahu ta'ala sent the Qur'an in words and letters. These letters are creatures. The meaning of these words and letters carries the divine word. These words and letters are called the Qur'an. Also, the meanings indicating the divine word are the Qur'an. The Qur'an, which is the divine word, is not a creature. It is eternal in the beginning and eternal in the end, as the other attributes of Allahu ta'ala are." The Qur'an began to descend on the Qadr Night, and it continued to descend for twenty- three years. As for the Tawrat (the book that descended to Hadrat Musa [Moses]), the Injil (the Bible), and all other books and holy pages, each of them had descended as a whole, all at once. All of them resembled human words, and they were not miracles. For that reason, they were defiled, and soon changed. But the Qur'an is one of the greatest miracles of Hadrat Muhammad, and it is unlike human words. These details are written in detail in the hundredth letter of the third volume of Maktubat by Imam-i Rabbani and in the books Hujjatullahi 'alal 'alamin and Sharh-i Mawahib, Vol. V, by Zarqani.)

Hadrat Jabrail used to come once every year to recite the Qur'an that had descended up to that moment according to its order in the Lawh al-Mahfuz [see Preface]. And our master, the Prophet, used to listen to it and repeat it. In the year when he (the Prophet) would honor the Hereafter, Jabrail came twice, reciting the whole of it. Hadrat Muhammad and the majority of his Ashab memorized the whole Qur'an. Some of the Ashab memorized some sections of it and wrote down most of its other sections. In the year when Hadrat Muhammad 'alaihis-salam' honored the next world with his presence, Abu Bakr, the caliph, gathering those who knew it by heart and, uniting the written parts together, formed a committee to write down the whole of the Qur'an on paper. Thus, a book (a manuscript) called a Mushaf was formed. Thirty-three thousand Ashab of the Prophet decided unanimously that each letter of the mushaf was precisely in its correct place. The suras (chapters) were not separated. Hadrat Uthman, the third caliph, separated the suras from one another in 25 A.H. He put them in their order. After having six more mushafs written, he sent them to Bahrain, Damascus, Egypt, Baghdad [Kufa], Yaman, Mecca and Medina. The mushafs all over the world today have been multiplied by copying these seven. There is not even a point's difference amongst them.

There are one hundred and fourteen suras and six thousand two hundred and thirty-six ayats in Qur'an-al karim. It is also reported that the number of ayats were sometimes more or less than 6236, but these differences originate from the fact that one long ayat was considered several short ayats, or that a couple of short ayats were considered one long ayat, or that the Basmalas before the suras were considered to be within the suras (by some scholars) and to be independent ayats (by others). Detailed information exists in the book Bostan-ul-'arifin.

Each poet has a different method for developing nazm. For example, if we take a poem which Mehmed Akif wrote towards the end of his life to an expert literary man who knows Mehmed Akif's and Nabi's poems well, and tell him that this is a poem of Nabi's, though he has never heard about this poem, won't he say upon reading it, "You are wrong! I know Mehmed Akif's poetic style and that of Nabi well. This poem is not Nabi's; it is Mehmed Akif's"? Of course, he will. As the nazm, the arrangements of the words of the two Turkish poets are quite different from each other, so is the Qur'an unlike any human word. It has been proved through experiments that the Qur'an is not human words, and it can be proved any time. Let's take an example from the past. An Arabic poet wrote something displaying the delicacies of his literary art on a sheet of paper, among which he put a few lines of hadith and at some other place an ayat dealing with the same things. Someone who knew nothing of Islam or the Qur'an but who had a strong knowledge of Arabic was told that the writings belonged to a certain person and was asked to read them all. While reading, he stopped upon the hadith, and said, "This part is unlike those above. There is a higher art here." When the turn came for the ayat, he said in a bewildered fashion, "This is unlike any word. There are meanings within meanings. It is impossible to understand them all."

The Qur'an al-karim cannot be translated into any language, even into Arabic. It is impossible to translate any poem into its own language precisely. It can only be explained, interpreted. We should not read the Qur'an's translation in order to understand it. To understand the meaning of an ayat means to understand what Allahu ta'ala means through this ayat. A person who reads a translation of this ayat cannot learn murad-i ilahi (the divine purpose). He learns what the translator has understood according to his level of knowledge. And he who reads the translation written by someone ignorant or by an irreligious translator, learns not what Allahu ta'ala says, but what the translator, who assumes that he understands it, is expressing from his own thoughts.

The government does not send a law concerning villagers directly to villagers because villagers cannot understand this law even if they can read it. This law is sent to governors of cities first. These governors, understanding it well and adding their explanations, send it to the mayors of towns, who, explaining it more clearly, send it to directors of districts. Directors of districts can understand the law with the help of these explanations and can explain them to headmen of villages. Headman of a village cannot understand it by reading it. The headman explains it to the villagers in village dialect. By the same token, the Qur'an al-karim is divine rules. It is divine law. Allahu ta'ala has shown the way of happiness to His born servants through the Qur'an al-karim and has sent His own word to the highest of mankind. Only Hadrat Muhammad can understand the meaning of the Qur'an al-karim. No other person can understand it completely. Though the Ashab-i kiram 'alaihim-ur-ridwan' [A person who saw Hadrat Muhammad at least once when he was alive, is called a 'Sahabi'. Of course, it goes without saying that a Sahabi is a Muslim. Ashab is the plural form of Sahabi. All the Sahabis are called 'Ashab-i Kiram'.] knew Arabic as their native language and were literary and eloquent, they couldn't understand some ayats and asked Rasulullah to explain them.

One day, 'Umar 'radi-Allahu anh' saw Rasulullah (sall-Allahu ta'ala 'alaihi wa sallam) saying something to Hadrat Abu Bakr as he passed by them. He went near them and listened. Others also saw them, yet they hesitated to go and listen. The next day, when they saw Hadrat 'Umar they said to him, "O 'Umar, Rasulullah (sall-Allahu ta'ala 'alaihi wa sallam) was telling you something yesterday. Tell us, so that we can know." He (the Prophet) always used to say, "Tell your brothers-in-Islam what you hear from me! Let one another know!" Hadrat 'Umar said, "Yesterday Abu Bakr (radi Allahu 'anh) had asked him about the meaning of an ayat which he couldn't understand, and Rasulullah was explaining it to him. I listened for an hour, but I couldn't understand anything." He was explaining everything according to the high grade of Abu Bakr. Hadrat 'Umar was so great that Rasulullah said, "I am the Last Prophet. No Prophet will succeed me. If there were a prophet to succeed me, 'Umar would be that prophet." Though he was so great and knew Arabic very well, he was not able to understand even the explanation of the Qur'an. Rasulullah used to explain it according to the degree of the person. The degree of Abu Bakr was much higher than Hadrat 'Umar's. But he, too, and even Hadrat Jabrail used to ask Rasulullah about the meaning, about the mysteries in the Qur'an. [The book al-Hadiqa, while explaining the disasters incurred by the tongue, communicates that Imam-i Suyuti wrote that Rasulullah explained the interpretation of the whole Qur'an to the Ashab-i kiram.]

In short, only Hadrat Muhammad understood the meaning of the Qur'an and explained it through his hadiths. It is he who interpreted the Qur'an. The correct book of interpretation is his hadiths. By not sleeping or resting, by sacrificing their repose, our religious scholars gathered these hadiths and wrote books of interpretation. The book of interpretation entitled Baidawi is one of the strongest among them. To understand even these books of interpretation, it is necessary to learn the twenty main branches of knowledge well by working ceaselessly for thirty years. There are eighty subdivisions that are the branches of these twenty main branches of knowledge. One of the main branches is the knowledge of tafsir (interpretation). These branches of knowledge had different savants and many books. Various Arabic words that are used today have different meanings in the knowledge of fiqh than from the meanings which they have in the knowledge of interpretation. Even the same word conveys different meanings according to its place in the Qur'an and the particles it takes. The Qur'an's translations by those who do not know these vast branches of knowledge or made according to today's Arabic convey meanings far from the meanings in the Qur'an-al karim. Everybody understands the hints, the meanings from the symbols in the Qur'an in proportion to the strength of his iman. Tafsir is not something done simply by writing or by expressing in words. Tafsir is a halo (nur) that occurs to the heart of great religious men. The books of Tafsir (interpretation) are the keys to this halo. As the jewels are revealed when you unlock the drawer with the key, in similar way does a halo occurs to the heart by reading those interpretations. Those who knew the eighty branches of knowledge well understood the Tafsirs and, in order to explain them to religiously ignorant people as we are, they wrote thousands of books suitable for people of various categories. Valuable Turkish Tafsirs such as Mawakib, Tibyan, Abul-Lays are among them. Tibyan is an interpretation that was prepared in 1110 A.H. The interpretation by Vahbi Effendi of Konya is a book of preaching. Since there are parts containing personal views in all those newly written books, which are considered to be the most valuable, their harm is greater than their good to those who read them. Especially those tafsirs and translations by enemies of Islam and by holders of bidat, which have been written to defile meaning of Qur'an-al karim, are fully harmful. These are all poisonous.

A number of doubts and objections arise within the young people who read them. Besides, it is unsuitable for those who, like us, have little religious knowledge, to read tafsirs and hadiths to learn Islam. It causes one to lose one's iman if an ayat or hadith is misunderstood or doubted. A tafsir or hadith cannot be understood only by knowing Arabic. He who considers those who know Arabic as savants is wrong. In Beirut and in other places there are many priests whose native language is Arabic and who know Arabic literature well. Yet none of them understands Islam. In a dictionary they published in 1956 and entitled Al- Munjid, they wrote Islamic names incorrectly, even the name of the Baqi cemetery in Medina, and even the death-date of our Sayyid Rasulullah.

A person who wants to understand, to learn the real meaning of the Qur'an must read religious savants' books on kalam [Its lexical meaning is word, speech.], fiqh and morals. All these books have been derived and written from the Qur'an and hadiths. Books written as translations of the Qur'an do not convey a correct understanding. They enslave the readers to the ideas and purposes of their authors and cause them to dissent from the religion.

It is impossible to write the Qur'an in the Latin alphabet. For this reason, the meaning becomes defiled. The transliterations thus read, become a meaningless crowd of noises rather than the Qur'an. This fact is written in the magazine al-Muallim, printed in 1986. For example, salat will be fasid (unacceptable), if one reads the word 'ehat' instead of 'ehad.'

Today, it is seen that many people offer such defiled translations and books under the name of The Turkish Qur'an. These books of dubious origin are given to youngsters and distributed in villages. They say, "The Arabic Qur'an is in a foreign language. Don't read it! Read this one, which is in our native language." When observed carefully, it is understood that many of those who say do not perform namaz or fast, that they have dived into the harams and even into irreligiousness, and that they are bonded to Islam only in words. Why do these people sing and listen to Beethoven's 9 th Symphonies, Mozart's Figaro and Moliere's poems in German, Italian and French on radios and in bars? Why don't they say, "They are in foreign languages. We should sing them in pure Turkish?" They do Turkish versions by not translating these symphonies and comedies into Turkish. They won't enjoy them in Turkish. Their Turkish version cannot be said to be Beethoven's or Chopin's work. By the same token, Muslims cannot enjoy these books as they enjoy the Qur'an; they cannot nourish their souls.

The facts which we have reported above are written in a splendid style in the preface of "The Turkish Ma'al of Qur'an-al-karim," prepared and published in 1381 [A.D. 1961] by the Directory of Religious Affairs in Turkey. The Director of Religious Affairs, H.Husni Erdem, the author of this preface says, "A book such as the Qur'an-al-karim, which has he balaghat-i ilahi (Divine Eloquence) and Ijazi ilahi (Divine Conciseness), cannot be translated, either into Turkish or any other language properly. The explanations made under the light of former tafsirs may be more suitably called ma'al. It is not permissible to consider the words used to contain the meaning of the Qur'an-al-karim as equal to the Qur'an itself or to recite these words in namaz (salat) or to use them to deduce hukm (Judgements) without having first grasped the original properly. No translation of the Qur'an is possible. There are expressions (words) in the Qur'an-al karim which have various meanings. In the process of translation all the various meanings are reduced to one meaning and it cannot be known if this meaning is the meaning Allahu ta'ala is expressing (Murad-i Ilahi). Therefore, one should not dare to call 'the translation of the Qur'an.' There are two different thoughts here: to translate the Qur'an into the form of a ma'al, and to attempt to replace the Qur'an-al-karim with its translation." It is written in the explanation after the preface (of the book we have named in the previous paragraph) that it is not possible to translate this divine book (Qur'an), which is above mankind and a mujiz, into Turkish (or any other language) properly. Therefore, the most correct way is perhaps to express in Turkish the meanings and ma'al, which is understood from the Arabic originals, instead of translating ayats word by word. In fact, it is not possible to translate the Nazm-i Jalil of the Qur'an while preserving its original Ijaz and Balaghat, but to translate it in the form of a ma'al is possible. It is not possible to indicate the features of both languages in a translation from one language into another. The first translation of the Qur'an in Europe was rendered into Latin in 537 (1141 A.D.). It was translated into Italian in 919 (1513 A.D.), into German in 1025 (1616 A.D.), into French in 1056 (1647 A.D.), and into English in 1057 (1648 A.D.). Today there are about thirty translations in all these languages, but in these translations made by individuals with certain tendencies, there are many wrong interpretations and even purposeful errors. It is permissible to translate the Qur'an into other languages, Yet one cannot learn all the rules of the din of Islam from a translation. There are also some other rules which are in Hadith ash-Sharifs, Ijma and Qiyas. These are learned in detail from books of fiqh.

Allahu ta'ala declares in the Qur'an al-karim, "My book is in Arabic." He declares, "I sent the Qur'an down to Hadrat Muhammad in the Arabic language." Then, the total of the words, letters and meanings which Allahu ta'ala sent down through an angel is the Qur'an. The books that are not so cannot be called "the Qur'an." He who calls these books "the Qur'an" will lose his iman. He will become a disbeliever. If it is translated into another language or even into Arabic it is called an explanation of the Qur'an. Also, if one of its letters is changed even without the meaning being defiled, it is not the Qur'an anymore. Moreover, if any change is made in reading it without any letter being changed, it is not called the Qur'an.

This is written in Riyad-un-nasihin. The Qur'an which follows the rules of Arabic grammar and which doesn't change the meaning, but which is unlike the one which was collected together by Hadrat 'Uthman, is called "Qiraat-i Shazza." It is not permissible to read it during namaz or at any other place; it is a sin. A few of the Ashab-i kiram (radi Allahu ta'ala 'anhum ajmain) have recited the Qiraat-i Shazza, but there was no unanimity. It is not called "Qiraat-i Shazza" to recite in a fashion in which none of the Ashab-i kiram is said to have recited. It is necessary to imprison or to thrash a person who recites so. It is an act of disbelief to recite in a fashion in which none of the religious savants have recited, even if it does not defile the meaning or the words."

Translations of the Qur'an in other languages are not called the Qur'an. They are called ma'al or explanations of the Qur'an. If they have been prepared by devout Muslims who are experts and who have good intentions towards the subject, they can be read in order to understand the meaning of the Qur'an. There is nothing wrong in this. They cannot be read as the Qur'an itself. It is not reward-deserving to read them as the Qur'an. It is a sin, instead. Muslims should read the Qur'an as Allahu ta'ala revealed it. It is reward-deserving also to read it without understanding the meaning. Certainly it is all the more reward- deserving and better to read it and to understand the meaning.

The Arabic spoken in Egypt, Iraq, Hijaz and Morocco is not the same in each of these countries. In which of these dialects of Arabic will the Qur'an be explained? For understanding the Qur'an, it is necessary to know Quraish Arabic, not today's Arabic. For understanding the Qur'an, it is necessary to wear out the elbows with studying for years. We should understand it by reading the interpretations, the explanations written by Islamic savants who have understood it by studying so.

Youngsters who read the jerry-made translations will consider the Qur'an as a book consisting of mythological stories, unnecessary and useless thoughts, or only ordinary words. Taking a dislike to the Qur'an, to Islam, they will become disbelievers. That seems to be a new tactic, a new trick of Islam's enemies who want Muslim children, martyrs' children, to be trained irreligiously by offering the Qur'an's translations to them by saying, "Read the Qur'an in pure Turkish. Do not read the Arabic Qur'an, which is in a foreign language."

Hadrat Ibn-i Hajar-i Makki writes on the thirty-seventh page of his book Fatawa-i Fiqhiyya: "It is haram according to the unanimity (of savants) to write the Qur'an in any letters other than Arabic or to translate in into any other language and then read it instead of Qur'an al-karim. Hadrat Salman-i Farisi (radi Allahu 'anh) did not write the Surat-ul-Fatiha in Persian for the Iranians. He did not write its translation, either. He wrote the Persian explanation of the Surat-ul-Fatiha. It is haram to write it in letters other than Arabic or to read the Qur'an which is written so. It is haram according to the unanimity even to change the Qur'an by writing it in Arabic letters as it is read. To write so would mean to dislike what the Salaf-i salihin, that is, the early Muslims did, and to regard them as ignorant. For example, in the Qur'an the word ribu is pronounced and read as riba, but it is not permissible to write it as it is pronounced. When the Qur'an is translated into other languages, the ijaz of Allah's word is defiled, and the divine poem changes. It is haram to change the places of the ayats in each sura, for the order of the ayats is certainly correct. But the correctness of the order of the suras is established through supposition. For this reason, it is makruh to read and write it by changing the order of the suras. It is incorrect to say that writing the Qur'an in other letters or writing or reading its translation will facilitate learning it. Even if it were correct, that would not cause it to be permissible."

It is written in Mawduat-ul-'Ulum: "Teachings in the Qur'an are of three categories. The first category comprises facts which He has not imparted to anybody. Nobody besides Allah Himself knows Him, His Names and Attributes. The second type of knowledge He has intimated only to Hadrat Muhammad. No one besides this exalted Prophet and the superior savants, who are his inheritors, can explain this type of knowledge. Examples of this are the ayats called 'mutashabih'." The third category embodies teachings which He has communicated to His Prophet and has commanded him to teach them to his Ummat (Muslims). This knowledge also is of two parts. The first part contains Qisas (histories), which describe the states of the past people, and the Akhbar (news), which explains the things that He has created and will create in this and the next worlds. These can be understood only after being explained by Rasulullah (sall Allahu 'alaihi wa sallam). They cannot be understood through the mind or experimentation. The second type can be understood through the mind, experimentation and by learning Arabic. Such is the case with deriving rules from the Qur'an and understanding scientific knowledge. Imam-i Nasafi 'rahmatullahi ta'ala alaih' writes in Aqaid, "Meanings are to be given according to the Arabic teachings. It will be ilhad [To go out of the religion by misunderstanding one or more parts of the Qur'an. He who does so is called a Mulhid.] and disbelief to give other meanings as the aberrant Ismailis (one of the groups of Shiites) did."

Those who make corrupt interpretations according to their own minds and opinions are of five types:

1 - The ignorant who do not know the prerequisites that are necessary for interpretation.

2 - Those who interpret ayats that are mutashabih [see above].

3 - Those in the aberrant groups and religion reformers who interpret according to their corrupt thoughts and wishes.

4 - Those who interpret without understanding well enough through proofs and documents.

5 - Those who interpret incorrectly by following their nafs and the devil.