The Koran (Al-Qur'An): Arabic-English Bilingual Edition with an Introduction by Mohamed a. 'Arafa محمد عرفه طبعة ثنائية اللغة )عربية-انجليزية ( مع مقدمة بقلم ...القرآن

Encyclopedia of the Comparative Religion Collection Time Books™ (imprint of TellerBooks™) (California, Spring 2018)

637 Pages Posted: 8 Oct 2018

See all articles by Mohamed A. Arafa

Mohamed A. Arafa

Universidade de Brasília (UnB); Cornell University - Law School; Alexandria University - Faculty of Law; Indiana University Robert H. McKinney School of Law

Date Written: September 6, 2018

Abstract

English Abstract: According to some recent statistical reports, around 900 million Muslims nowadays. Several live in the Middle Eastern and the Arab World, as Egypt, Tunisia, Morocco, Jordan, Algeria, among others (assessed at 130 million), but many more live in countries, as Pakistan, Bangladesh, India, Iran, Indonesia, Malaysia, China, the Philippines, the USSR, Cameroon, Chad, Nigeria, and Sudan – along with approximately 3 million Muslims – reside in the United States. The world’s three Abrahamic faiths – Judaism, Christianity, and Islam – were born and advanced in the Middle Eastern region, as Abraham was born in the city of Ur, Mesopotamia (Iraq), some 1900 years before Jesus was born in Bethlehem (Palestine). Mohammad was born in Mecca (Saudi Arabia) in 570 A.D., Moses lived in Egypt, as did Jesus for a brief period in his infancy; Mohammad traveled throughout the Arabian Peninsula.

The word “Islam” is derivative from the same root as the words salaam (peace) and silm (the condition of peace). Islam means to abandon oneself in peace and thus, a Muslim, is one who in peace gives or surrenders/submits himself or herself to God. Further, Islam means accepting the belief or the faith spontaneously (and freely) –heart, mind, and soul. Accordingly, surrendering to Islam, means giving oneself to belief without reservation, admitting the creeds of faith, and following both the letter and the spirit of the Qur’anic values. Prophet Mohammad was known to meditate and contemplate solely in the desert and during one of his contemplations, he received the first of his revelations from God. The Qur’an recognizes the bearer of the message as the Angel Gabriel, who instructed the Prophet Mohammad to read and when Mohammad replied that he didn’t know how, Gabriel replied, “Read in the name of your Lord Who created man from a clot of blood . . .” and in this way Mohammad became the conveyer of the divine message. In Islam there can be no misunderstanding or hesitation that Mohammad was a man, and only a man, selected by the Creator to accomplish a divine mission as a prophet. Muslims believe that the Qur’an is the Word of Allah (God) uttered through the revelations to the Prophet.

Regarding the spread of Islam as a religion, after debating his message secretly with his wife, Khadijah, his cousin ‘Ali, and his friend Abu Bakr, the Prophet decided to leave Mecca, where he had lived in some threat in the year 622. Afterwards, he migrated to Yathrib (later Madina), whose occupants had invited him to come and expand and spread his message. As a result, the history of the Islamic community is considered to have been officially born on the night of the hejira (migration’s night), when the Prophet left Mecca for Madina. Then, the Madina’s citizens embraced Islam, and progressively, via a sequence of both military actions and diplomacy acts, Mohammad was able to reenter Mecca and to spread the word of Islam in the Arabian Peninsula. It should be noted that, since Muslims were by the Qur’an’s command obliged to respect the ahl elzhemma(h)/ ahl elkitab (People of the Book) their ancestors in receiving divine revelation, they recognized a covenant with Christians and Jews. ‘Omar ibn al-Khattab was the second elected Caliph (successor) after the death of the Prophet. In this regard, ‘Omar required all Muslims continually to assure and guarantee Christians freedom of religion, practice and use of their houses of worship (churches), and the right of their followers and hajjis (pilgrims) to visit their holy places. In the same vein, he overturned the Roman decree expelling Jews from Jerusalem and pledged to protect their freedom of religious practice, thus, the ‘Omar’s Covenant was, in effect, the first international assurance of the protection of religious freedom.

Then, Islam spread to Egypt in 641 and to all of North Africa by 654 and this was due in part to the military proficiency of the Muslim powers. But the message the Muslims were spreading and the custom in which they controlled the conquered regions were their strongest asset, as they brought with them not only a fresh faith but a better system of governance which was honest, authentic, and well-organized with a high level of motivation, integrity, transparency, and service. By launching religious freedom and practice for Christians and Jews, they made the followers of these two beliefs their main allies in the countries they pursued to enter. The clearness, straightforwardness, and logic of the faith embodied in its creeds and religious performs are its principal attractions along with the emphasis on individual accountability and personal commitment as well as the absence of an organized clergy, makes it readily transmittable. In this respect, Islam is a complex historical, political, social, and economic phenomenon; it can be studied and interpreted from various philosophical, historical, and social perceptions. And as a belief, though, Islam endures to speak to the modern world regardless its other significances, as what institutes the ummah (community) is not the existence of a political structure but the cognizant approval of its Muslim participants of God’s will and their mission on the earth.

On the other hand, by the time as a biggest civilization, the culture and evolution of Islam in al-andalus (Spain) were in full bloom "Golden Caliphate Era." Science, philosophy, and the liberal arts flourished and the greatest thinkers and minds in every discipline and from all over Europe and the Levant voyaged to Cordoba to study and learn. It is a twist of history that, after periods of exceptional cultural brilliance, periods of deterioration and decay seem to come most rapidly.

Arabic Abstract:ومن ناحية أخرى، بلغت الحضارة الإسلامية أوجها فى عهد الخلافة الذهبى، وأصبحت ثقافة الإسلام وتطوره فى الأندلس جاذبة للأنظار، وإزدهرت العلوم والفنون والفلسفة مما دفع أبهى المفكرين من كافة أنحاء أوروبا والمشرق إلى الرحيل لقرطبة للتعلم والدراسة. إنه لعجيب كيف أن يعقب ذلك التألق الثقافى الإستثنائى تدهور وإضمحلال بتلك السرعة.

Note: Downloadable document is in English and Arabic.

Keywords: Islam, Qur'an, Mohammad, Human Rights, Criminal Law, Legal System, Courts

Suggested Citation

Arafa, Mohamed A. and Arafa, Mohamed A., The Koran (Al-Qur'An): Arabic-English Bilingual Edition with an Introduction by Mohamed a. 'Arafa محمد عرفه طبعة ثنائية اللغة )عربية-انجليزية ( مع مقدمة بقلم ...القرآن (September 6, 2018). Encyclopedia of the Comparative Religion Collection Time Books™ (imprint of TellerBooks™) (California, Spring 2018), Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3245563

Mohamed A. Arafa (Contact Author)

Universidade de Brasília (UnB) ( email )

Campus Universitário Darcy Ribeiro
Asa Norte
Brasília, Distrito Federal 70910-900
Brazil

Cornell University - Law School ( email )

Myron Taylor Hall
Cornell University
Ithaca, NY 14853-4901
United States

Alexandria University - Faculty of Law ( email )

Moustafa Mousharafa Street
Soter
Alexandria
Egypt

Indiana University Robert H. McKinney School of Law ( email )

530 West New York Street
Indianapolis, IN 46202
United States

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