Tafseer bites [Intro and a gem]

Assalaamu Alaykum Warahmatullahi Wabarakatuhu,

Ok, so I just had this sudden thought after going over my Tafseer notes today. I tought to myself, SubhanAllah, so many of the things I have learnt by listening to tafseer of certain Surahs and ayahs, have been extremely imaan-boosting and mindblowing, that I wanted you to benefit from it too. Sometimes it can be hard fitting in time everyday to go over a Tafseer book, or listen to an audio, and it's good to make a it constant thing that you do, so I thought since I like writing, and Tafseer, I thought it would be useful to share some Tafseer 'bites' with you. Just some gems  - short and sweet inshaAllah :) That way you will be gradually building on you knowledge of the Qur'an and these small gems derived from the Qur'an will allow you to build a stronger relationship with it bi'ithnillah.

So today, I wanted to share with you a gem and linguistic miracle in the Qur'an which is found in the second ayah of Surah Baqarah. Allah says:

This is the Book about which there is no doubt, a guidance for those conscious of Allah

Now, the gem I want to highlight is in the word "Dhaalika". In the Arabic language "Dhaalika" translates to mean "that" in the English language (althought the translation in most copies reads "THIS is the Book" ) I used to read this ayah all the time and never once did I think that there was actually a reason why Allah chose the word "Dhaalika" which means "that" and not "Haadha" which means "this". And the reason is that when you say for example,  "THAT star is up in the sky" you are actually pointing to the fact that the stat is far away right? Even in the English language you would use "that" to point to something that is high, and far away. Converesely, the word "this" would be used to point to something near. So for example, I would say "THIS laptop is not working" - when I say that, I am actually referring to the laptop being present with me and close to me.

Now, for the amazing wisdom behind this :)

Allah, Al-Hakeem, uses the word "Dhaalika" (that) because He, just by using this one word instead of another, is telling us that the Book, the Qur'an, the divine speech of Allah, is something that not only is far away from us - in Al-Lawhil-Mahfudh (the preserved tablet), but it is also far away, as in it is high, in the sense that it is, higher and far greater than any other book in authority. SubhanAllah! Two points we learn about the Qur'an from just word with in Surah Baqarah...already!

Doesn't this give you a sudden Imaan rush? The fact that Allah has structured His book so carefully. Every letter, every word has been placed in it's order, out of deep wisdom and understanding by the Creator alone? If this was a made up book then how possibly could it be so perfectly structured, so eloquent, so fluent and filled with so much detail? How could every word have a deeper reason?

The Qur'an is the true book of guidance and only by deeply looking into it and studying it will or hearts will with love of it and will our hearts desire to read it and memorise it.

I ask Allah to grant us understanding of the deen and allow us to understand the Qur'an and its deeper meanings. Ameen!