We believe that the Qur'an is the word of Allah which was...

We believe that the Qur'an is the word of Allah which was revealed to His last Prophet, Muhammad (s.a.w.a.) as a miracle and guidance for the mankind. It is truth, around which falsehood cannot reach. It is the foundation of Islamic shari'ah. It is the Complete Book of God - nothing has been added to it, nothing has been removed from it, nothing has been changed in it.

Even non-Muslim scholars admit that the Qur'an is free from all types of interpolation, change and defect-since the days of the Prophet to this day. In this respect, it differs from previous revealed books which have been extensively changed and altered. Q. 26: SIGNIFICANCE OF THE SURAH AL-KAUTHAR I wish to enquire from you about the translation of the Qur'anic verse, Surah 108, verse 3. In the Holy Qur'an, by M.H.

Shakir, the translation is: "Surely your enemy is the one who shall be without posterity." And in the Holy Qur'an, by Yusuf Ali, the translation is: "For he who hateth thee-he will be cut off (From future Hope).Of the two translations which is more correct. Because the word, "posterity", means descendant. In the New Webster's Dictionary this word means all future or succeeding generations A.

You have asked about the correct translation of the last verse of the chapter 108 (al- Kauthar), which has been translated by M.H. Shakir as follows: "Surely your enemy Is the one who shall be without posterity." And which Abdullah Yusuf Ali translates in the following way: "For he who hateth thee - He will be cut off (From future hope)." In fact Shakir's translation is correct. It is not possible to write the details in a letter.

Still, it is necessary to explain that the word al-abtar is used in Arabic for one whose progeny is cut off, is discontinued. When Qasim and 'Abdullah, the sons of the Prophet (s.a.w.a.) died in their infancy, 'Asi ibn Wa'il taunted him that now he (the Prophet s.a.w.a.) had become al-abtar, i.e. he had lost his sons and now he was without a progeny. The Arabs did not give women-daughters, mothers, wives etc. - any importance.

In their eyes, only the sons could perpetuate the name of the progenitor. The polytheists of Mecca (and especially 'Asi ibn Wa'il, who boasted that he hated the Prophet s.a.w.a, and was his bitter enemy) thought that because the Prophet had lost his sons, his mission would be finished after him. In reply to this taunt, this shortest chapter was revealed.