Quick Recap * Meaning of the surah: “The Female Cow.” * Number of ayat: 286. * Nickname: The peak (summit) of the Quran. * Virtue: On the Day of Judgement, Al-Baqarah and Ali Imran will come and shade their companions. On dividing the surah: We are studying Al-Baqarah in nine parts. This division is a teaching aid created by scholars to help us navigate the surah — it is not divine. The order of the surahs themselves (Al-Baqarah, then Ali Imran) comes from Allah, but splitting a single surah into portions is a human tool. Others divide it into five, twenty, or a different number; none of them are “wrong.” Part 1 covers the groups of people. We are almost finished with the first group: the people of taqwa. Ayah 1 — Alif Lam Mim Three lessons drawn from the opening letters: * 1. To attract attention. * 2. A challenge to the Arabs. If you don’t believe the Quran is from Allah, here are the very letters it is built from — produce something like it. After 1400 years the challenge stands unmet. This is not accepted on faith alone; it is historically established, because the height of Arabic eloquence was during the Prophet’s ﷺ time, and no one then could match it. * 3. A lesson in humility. Humans do not know everything; our intellect has a limit. Ayah 2 — Guidance for the People of Taqwa The Quran is guidance for the people of taqwa. This links back to our central dua in Al-Fatihah — Ihdina as-sirat al-mustaqim (”Guide us to the straight path”). Working definition of taqwa: mindfulness of Allah Where this definition comes from: the well-known image of walking a path lined with thorns and lifting your garment to avoid being caught. That image was given by the companion Ubay ibn Ka’b, in answer to Umar ibn al-Khattab. Taqwa is internal — you cannot see it directly — but it shows through certain characteristics, listed in the ayat that follow. Ayah 3 — Three Characteristics of the People of Taqwa * 3.1 — Belief in the unseen (al-ghayb). * 3.2 — Establishing prayer (yuqimuna as-salah). * 3.3 — Charity: “and from what We have given them, they spend.” Why “from what We have given them” matters: everything we own comes from Allah. Allah is Al-Ghani, the Most Rich, who owns everything. If you spend the way He asks, He can give you more — His wealth is unlimited and does not run out. The Prophet ﷺ said the one who gives charity will never become poor. ⚠ Arabic to verify before publishing: the Arabic for ayah 3 (belief in the unseen, establishing prayer, and spending) arrived with encoding errors in the transcript and has been rendered in English only. Paste in clean Arabic if you want it displayed. Ayah 4 — Belief in Revelation Two further characteristics: * Belief in what was sent down to you — the Quran. * Belief in what was sent down before you — the previous scriptures. The previous scriptures Four scriptures total, including the Quran — so three before the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ, in order: * Tawrah — revealed to Prophet Musa. * Zabur — revealed to Prophet Dawud. * Injil — revealed to Prophet Isa. Understanding the Bible Living in a globalised world, it helps to understand the landscape of the largest religion, Christianity — close to Islam in numbers. So: which of the three scriptures is the Bible? None of them, exactly. The Bible is not a single book — it is a collection of books. (The word itself relates to biblio, “book,” as in bibliophile and bibliography.) It contains a changed and combined version of these earlier revelations. The Bible has two major parts: * The Old Testament — also known as the Jewish Bible. A Jewish person referring to “the Bible” means only this. Its three major sections are abbreviated Tanakh: * T — Torah (believed to be what was revealed to Musa). * N — Nevi’im (the Prophets). * K — Ketuvim (the Writings). Zabur = Psalms sits here, as a book within this section. * The New Testament — mainly the Gospels plus letters. * Four Gospels: Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. These are gospels according to each name. * Letters: written by Paul to the early Christian communities (e.g. the Corinthians) — his written guidance in reply to their questions. Injil = “good news.” “Gospel” also means good news. The Injil we believe in is the Gospel of Isa — which we do not have today. What exists are gospels according to Mark, Matthew, Luke, and John. The first three are called the Synoptic Gospels and broadly agree; John often tells a different story. Historically these were written well after the named figures, in Greek, while Prophet Isa spoke Aramaic — and several authors never met him. Contrast: the preservation of the Quran The Quran reaches us in two independent ways that reinforce each other: * Unbroken chain of transmission. We recite exactly as the Prophet ﷺ recited — including points of articulation and the length of each sound (e.g. reading a madd at two, four, or six harakat). A reciter’s certificate can be traced back through an unbroken chain to the Prophet ﷺ. * Archaeological evidence. The oldest known Quran manuscript, the Birmingham Quran, held at the University of Birmingham, was carbon-dated (announced 2015) to around the time of the Prophet ﷺ. It reached Birmingham via Iraq during the British occupation and sat unidentified in the archives until a PhD student recognised it. Side note — early Arabic script. In the Prophet’s ﷺ time Arabic was written without dots or harakat, so words were distinguished by context. A famous (unverifiable) story tells of the governor Hajjaj ibn Yusuf receiving an undotted letter that could read either uqtul (”kill”) or aqbil (”receive”) — prompting the later introduction of dots. Even today dotting isn’t fully standardised: in the Moroccan script, for example, qaf takes a single dot and final noon is written without one. How we relate to the Bible We believe in the original Tawrah, Zabur, and Injil as revelation. Regarding the Bible in its modern form, we hold that it contains both truth and questionable material. The Prophet ﷺ guided us: you may narrate from the Israelite sources without sin — neither believing 100% nor rejecting 100%. Where it contradicts the Quran, the Quran is Muhaiminun alaih — it stands over and supersedes the rest, because its authenticity is guaranteed. This does not mean we disrespect the Bible; it still contains revelation from Allah. Ayah 5 — Certainty in the Akhirah & True Success The final characteristic: the people of taqwa are certain about the akhirah. Certainty is the operative word — not vague hope, but conviction. This certainty changes behaviour. If you are sure Allah sees you and that there are real consequences in the akhirah, you act well in public and private alike, whether or not anyone notices — because Allah knows and will compensate. The akhirah mindset = delayed gratification We already accept short-term discomfort for long-term reward: you study now (even though games are more fun) to earn good grades, a good job, and a good life later. That is a long-term view. Now scale it up — life on earth is roughly 80–100 years; the akhirah is forever. A smart person accepts a little discomfort now to secure eternal good. Just as someone serious about becoming a doctor takes biology and prepares deliberately, someone serious about Jannah does the actions that lead there. Saying you want Jannah while doing none of the work is only dreaming. The Marshmallow Test. In a well-known study, young children were left alone with one marshmallow and told that if they waited about 15 minutes without eating it, they’d get a second. Some ate immediately; some resisted and doubled their reward. Tracked into adulthood, many who couldn’t wait struggled in life, while many who waited did well. The lesson: delayed gratification is a strong predictor of success. A Muslim, trained through prayer and charity to work now for reward later, should find this second nature. The king in the masjid (an illustrative story, chain unverified). A hooded king prayed Fajr with only a handful of people, then rewarded every person present with a free Hajj. The next morning the masjid overflowed — but the king wasn’t there. The point: people chase instantreward. Prayer trains us for the opposite — to put in the work now and collect later. The word for “successful”: muflihun Allah calls these people al-muflihun, the successful — from the root falah. There are other words for success (fawz, fa’izin), but the same root also gives fallah, “farmer.” A farmer is the very picture of delayed gratification: plant, water, and protect the crop now; harvest much later. Placed right after prayer, charity, and belief in the akhirah, the choice of muflihun reminds us again: put in the work now, harvest it in the akhirah. Summary — Characteristics of the People of Taqwa * Belief in the unseen. * Establishing prayer. * Spending in charity from what Allah has given. * Belief in the Quran and in the previous scriptures. * Certainty in the akhirah. These are the people of guidance, and these are al-muflihun — the truly successful. Next week: a short continuation, then the second category of people. Come prepared to list the characteristics of the people of taqwa from memory. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.grounded.day/subscribe
