Commonsense About Ahmadiyyat — Page 2
Prophet who first recited these scriptures'. This is encouraging. If we wait a little longer, the English will accept the Quran for what it is: 'as a final expression of God's will and purpose for man,' says Arberry on behalf of the believers. (Quoted from the Quran. Interpreted, Oxford U. P. World's Classics 596. ). Although I have gone through six Qurans by six different translators, I have now settled down with only two of them. One is by A. J. Arberry and the other is by Muhammad Zafrulla. Khan. The former's prose-poetic style and language are beautiful, though many allegoric passages are obscure. The latter's, short of commentary, is the most meaningful of any throughout, though, I think, the literary etiquette has prevented him from using more familiar and fitting words in some places because his predecessors have already used them. . Like most Muslims in our age, I lived an irreligious life until I read the Quran for the first time at the age of 60. Then intellectually I felt that I should live a religious life, but physically I felt it was burdensome; I was encumbered with what the Quran calls 'shackles up to the neck'. Fortunately I like to read the Quran every day. A certain point or meaning gripped my mind, and I forced myself to pray, but only the 'farz' and not the 'sunnat', and not always at prescribed times; the dawn prayers I performed when I got up at 8 or 9 in the morning. When another point in the. Quran had hit my mind, I began to pray 'sunnat' as well; yet another point struck at my mind, and I began to pray at the right time, including dawn prayers, though it was very hard to get up so early. In the course of years the shackles of prayers have been taken down completely, so that I can get up at any time to pray in the night. The same happened with regard to ‘zakat' and other commands and prohibitions. I remember how I hung on to my money and hated to part with it. Then the Quran unshackled me, and I began to pay zakat mainly through Oxfam and other British charitable organisations operating abroad. In the course of years the shackles about almsgiving have been taken down, so that for some time now I could not care less about money. I have reduced my desire for the things of this world to a minimum, which 2