This Poetic version of the Qur'an

Welcome and peace be with you. This site contains a poetic version of an English rendition of the Qur'an along with hadeeth inclusions to explain the verses. You can click on the following highlighted sections to find out the intention behind this project and the colour code to the layout of the chapters as well as a guide to the reasonsing behind the layout of the videos.

Below you will find the most recent poetic version I have completed and on the right-hand side-bar you will find the previous chapters. I hope you find some of this work to be of use in your endeavours, please share the link if it is and with Allah is every success.

Friday 23 December 2011

50 - Qaf



By the Qur’an I swear what you, Muhammad, warn the disbelievers of what will come
Yet they say ‘what a far-fetched idea, such a thing cannot be done -
How will we be raised after death, and reformed when we are dust?’
But We know well what occurs to bodies after death, the Earth is in Our trust.
We keep a detailed record, thorough and comprehensive,
Yet the disbelievers abhor the truth you bring, turning fearful and apprehensive.

Do they not note the sky, from its tiniest clouds and grandest constellations?
Do they not see that their perfection is a more complex element of creation?
What then in comparison is the reforming of dust, back to bone and flesh?
Consider too the extent of the earth and mountains - will the disbelievers not reflect?

Have they not seen a plant wither, rot, go underground and soon re-grow.
Is this process familiar to them or is something yet unknown?
Do they not see the water fall from the sky, making dead land fertile once again?
Providing date palms, green gardens, and row upon row of harvestable grain?
And as it is with the re-emergence of plants from a single pollen dot
So will be the resurrection of man, who was made from a tiny clot.

The disbelieving words of the Quraysh and others like them are not new.
So it was with people of Noah, Ad, Rass, Thamud and many others too
For them - punishment was due
And these disbelievers head for the same fate for ignoring the warnings brought by you.

To make it clearer still – Did We not give the disbelievers life in this first creation?
Is it not then just as easy for Us to create them again and flesh their bones into reanimation?
We created man and know the desires and warnings his soul whispers to him,
And We are closer to him than the main vein which his life's blood flows in.

We have assigned man watchers on his shoulders, recording every deed.
Noting all he’s said and done, for him on Judgement day to see.
And a devil of the jinn is assigned him too
Who will incite him to evil or be mastered to encourage him to truth
And those of the disbelievers will learn this, and other truths at death -
Will know My warnings and Messengers were true, and see the life they left was just a test.

And that is just the start of the endless regret
that is sure to beset them
For when they are raised again, they‘ll be informed ‘THIS IS THE DAY,
The Day of Judgement, the day of which’s warnings you arrogantly cast away.’
Man’s recording angels will spur him and his devil on to the meeting place and say:
‘See you now the truth of that which you called a lie and deemed frivolous poetic word play?’

And his devil will tell of all the evil he enticed him to do
And his hands and feet will speak and bear witness too
And Hell will be his home where he will be accompanied by
Malicious, aggressive, rumour spreaders and those who would lie
Along with idol worshippers and those who mocked the warnings sent
They will taste the endless, fiery, bitterness of God’s punishment.

And even then his scheming jinn will try to absolve himself of sin
Saying ‘I did not force his hand once, all those transgressions were done by him’
And God will ensure their silence and remind them of the chance that passed
And that His words will never change
And that He is just to all His creatures, cared for them all the same. 

On that day Hell will be asked if whether it’ll be full soon
And it will respond in loyal tones ‘my Lord ensures, I will always have room’
And Paradise will be brought to the righteous, an abode truly one of a kind
They’ll be told ‘this is the reward for those who were aware of God, and kept Him firmly in mind,
Who believed in God even though He was unseen,
Who presents his heart in the best of states, utterly pure, thoroughly clean.
They will have ever lasting joy and all of what they wish
And God will then, also bestow on them, so much more than this.

So remind the disbelievers, We destroyed more powerful previous generations
Search their remnants I have left as signs, did they escape the annihilation?
Those whose hearts are wise will heed the lessons learnt of those from the previous age
Knowing We created the heavens and the earth and all between, with ease, in six days.
Those who claim I rested on the 7th day, tell a terrible lie
They will come to know the severity of such a claim when death comes to them and they die

So Prophet, bear what they say and be of the patient ones,
Praise your Lord before the rising and the setting of the sun
And proclaim his Glory all during the night, supplicate, perform extra prayers
And await the call from Israfeel in Jerusalem, commanding the earth to peel back its layers

The graves will burst forth and all creatures will be brought back to life
And for the disbelievers this will be the only evidence of the hereafter that will suffice
Only then they will realise that We were in control of life, death and the resurrection
On that Day some taste My wrath and some will be adorned with My protection
All that We mention will indeed, surely unfold as such
And the disbelievers will plainly see it was all so easy for Us

So caution them again with this Quran, but never force a soul to do anything
For the believers this sacred text is enough, for them to heed My warnings.







2 comments:

  1. As Salāmu Alaykum, Brother,

    I love what you are doing here, and really think that it is informative. I especially like the colour coded phrases - at first I thought it would be hard to understand, but once I got reading I actually understood it and did not have to refer back to the key. This is a very beautiful way of not only translating but portraying the true meaning to Muslims and others who do not speak the language of the Holy Qur'an.
    However, as much as I like the rhyming aspect to the poetry, I think that in the process of you and/or your partner(s)rhyming the translation it meant you had to change the order of things and add extra words and phrases, don't you think this is just feeding unnecessary information to readers and ultimately making the whole thing a little more longer than it needs to be - some may find it a little dreary. I think you need to prioritize your objectives - rhyming is not really fundamental in this case (there are plenty of other ways to write poems which do not include rhyming!) I know that my feedback means you will have to change the whole site and start over from scratch, but I just thought it was my duty to let you know - I do not expect you to act upon it.

    Thank You for taking the time to read this.

    I wish you all the best with this project and may Peace be with You.

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  2. Salam Alaykum wa rahmut Allah

    Thank you for taking the time to comment, it is very much appreciated. I am glad you found it informative and that is understandable. I agree with the poetry being superfluous, it's not easy and you're right sometimes I have to labour a point.

    I have included the rhyme simply because rhymes stick in people's heads and because without it this rendition wouldn't offer that much that was different from many others that include tafsir. I would personally always read Abdel Haleem's translation before anything else, but I just wanted to offer something different for a younger audience and in tests I did with classes they said it was more interesting to them.

    I like the idea of a prosaic, colored version and if there is a call for it in time, I'd be happy to do that too IA, but I feel the rhyme does speak to some where other renditions lose them. Even if it means just one person understands something more of the Qur'an from it being this way, I think it's worth it.

    It's worth mentioning too it is aimed at a young audience. The whole idea came about because I asked a group of 23 Muslim boys 11-16: 'who knows Al-Fateha?' All put their hands up, then I asked 'who can read it in Arabic?' 17 kept their hands up. Then I asked 'who knows what it means?' Every single hand came down - So I showed my colour-coded, rhyming version of surat Al-Khaf and they really got into it and said it was accessible and they would listen to it, so for that reason I'm trying to give them something easy to follow and hear. I guess different people prefer different versions, and this one will probably be one of the most simplistic and easy to follow. At least that's the intention.

    Thanks again for the feedback, may Allah reward you, I may well change the title to 'rendition in rhyming English' or something, but we'll see.

    Jazak Allah Kheyr and with Allah is every success.

    ReplyDelete