Deconstructing surat al-ikhlas and multiple readings for the same word kufuwa or is it kufw'a

Submitted by dhimmi no more (United States), Mar 30, 2012 at 10:05

What is most tragic about islam is that most Muslims are not Arabs inspite of the fact that the Qur'an says in Q14:4 that islam is really the religion of the Hijazi Arabs only and to really understand islam one must know his Arabic. This means that most Muslims recite verses from a book that they cannot read in Arabic without understanding what they are reciting and case in point as I have proven so far is surat al-ikhlas which every pious Muslim recites every day

Now this time we have the last sentence in surat al-ikhlas or ولم يكن له كفوا احد

This sentence can be read as: and not being kfuwa one of!

Yes I realize that the syntax is confusing but you get the idea that the author is saying that He Allah has no ahad or one of that is kufuwa to him what ever kfuwa is

Now this sentence was read by al-Tabari as اِخْتَلَفَ أَهْل التَّأْوِيل فِي مَعْنَى ذَلِكَ , فَقَالَ بَعْضهمْ : مَعْنَى ذَلِكَ : وَلَمْ يَكُنْ لَهُ شَبِيه وَلَا مِثْل

So he is saying that the masorites had no clue about the meaning or the grammar of this sentence! and to al-Tabari it means that Allah wanted to say: and there is no one that resembles him or his likes and then he tells us that as per Mujahid (which is a very early exegesis) it means عَنْ مُجَاهِد { وَلَمْ يَكُنْ لَهُ كُفُوًا أَحَد } قَالَ : صَاحِبَة so we know that he is guessing as the word كفوا or kfuwa is really a strange word and indeed in the last paragraph of his exegesis he tells us وَالْكُفُؤ وَالْكَفِيء وَالْكِفَاء فِي كَلَام الْعَرَب وَاحِد , وَهُوَ الْمِثْل وَالشِّبْه ; وَمِنْهُ قَوْل نَابِغَة بَنِي ذُبْيَان : لَا تَقْذِفَنِّي بِرُكْن لَا كِفَاء لَهُ . وَلَوْ تَأَثَّفَكَ الْأَعْدَاء بِالرِّفَدِ يَعْنِي : لَا كِفَاء لَهُ : لَا مِثْل لَهُ.

So he is providing here another reading for the word kfuwa and it means la kafa' lahu la mathal lahu or no one is like him so he is really saying that the meaning and the reading of this word in the 3rd century of islam was still in flux and why is that our dear Amin?

وَاخْتَلَفَ الْقُرَّاء فِي قِرَاءَة قَوْله : { كُفُوًا } . فَقَرَأَ ذَلِكَ عَامَّة قُرَّاء الْبَصْرَة : { كُفُوًا } بِضَمِّ الْكَاف وَالْفَاء . وَقَرَأَهُ بَعْض قُرَّاء الْكُوفَة بِتَسْكِينِ الْفَاء وَهَمْزهَا " كُفْئًا " . وَالصَّوَاب مِنْ الْقَوْل فِي ذَلِكَ : أَنْ يُقَال : إِنَّهُمَا قِرَاءَتَانِ مَعْرُوفَتَانِ , وَلُغَتَانِ مَشْهُورَتَانِ , فَبِأَيَّتِهِمَا قَرَأَ الْقَارِئ فَمُصِيب . آخِر تَفْسِير سُورَة الْإِخْلَاص

Or the masorites disagreed on the reading of the word Kfuwa and it was read in al-Basra as Kufuwa(n) by adding a damma (the short vowel u) to the letters kaf (K) and feh or fa' (F) and others read it in al-Kufa as Kufu'a(n) by adding no vowel (sukun) to the letter Feh (F) and added the consonant hamza

Then al-Tabari tells us that both readings are correct!

What a disaster do you know what this means our dear Amin?

1. It means that the Qur'an is an edited book

2. So which word was revealed to Muhammad by Gabriel Kufuwa(n) or was it kufu'a(n) and it cannot be both

3. Which word would we find in Allah's al-lawh al-mahfuz as it cannot be both

4. It really means that we do not know what the Qur'an really says right our dear Amin?

What a disaster

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