What does “Islam” mean? The word الإسلام [Islam] is an infinitive word derived from س ل م [silm] root in if‘al pattern and used as noun and infinitive. The word silm means “release/keeping away; and to be distant from fear, doubt, trouble, lack of peace, unhappiness, fight, war, pain, suffering, material and spiritual inconveniences, weakness and decaying, and all the negativities.” This word is also the root of salim, selam, teslim, Islam etc. The word’s “Islam” form means “strengthening” [removal from problems, worries, fear, unhappiness, fights, wars, and similar negative things]. Hence, the religion Islam means the “the religion that strengthens humans [entire range of principles that protects and secures people by putting a distance between them and problems, worries, war, weakness, spiritual illness, unhappiness, and similar things].”

1. 1
SURAH AN-NAJM (A GROUP OF AYAT REVEALED DIVISION BY
DIVISION)
MECCAN PERIOD
Division: 37
1I hereby adduce each revelation of the Ayat that were revealed group by group
that 2your Companion has neither strayed nor transgressed. 3He does not speak of
His own desires. 4What He says to you; those groups of Ayat that were revealed, are
nothing but the revelations revealed to Him. 5Your Companion was taught by the
One who is Mighty in Strength, High in Intelligence, and the One who is
dominant.52
6,7And the One who is Mighty in Strength, Exalted in Intelligence, and the One
who dominates the Throne in the Heavens. 8,9He then approached and descended. He
was at a distance of two bows53 in one of the visions and in the other one He
became closer. 10He then revealed to His Servant what He revealed 14by the last lote
tree – next to it there is a Garden of Abode -.54 16Then the lote tree was shrouded.
11His mind did not falsify what He saw. 12Do you doubt what He saw?/Do you
dispute with Him about what He saw?
13Indeed, He saw Him for a second time. 17His sight never swerved nor
transgressed. 18Surely, He saw the greatest of the evidence/signs of His Rabb [the
Lord, the Cherisher, the Nurturer, the Sustainer]
(23/53, An-Najm/1-18)
Division: 38
19,20Have you thought Lat and Uzza, and the third one, Manat?55
21For you the male and for Him the female? 22That would be a deficient/unjust
sharing. 23These are nothing but names given by you and your ancestors for which
Allah sent no evidence. They follow what their desire pleases even though their
Rabb [the Lord, the Cherisher, the Nurturer, the Sustainer] guides them to the
righteous path.
24Or does man always get what he desires? 25Both Akhirat [Afterlife] and the
earth belong to Allah. 26How many angels56 there are in the Heavens whose
help/intercession57 will not avail at all except when permitted by Allah and He
pleases. 27Those who deny Akhirat [Afterlife] name the angels with female names.
28Yet they know nothing about this matter. They only act upon assumption.
Assumption avails nothing against the “Truth”.

2. 2
(23/53, An-Najm/19-28)
Division: 39
29So, shun whoever turns away from our Admonition/the Qur’an and desire
nothing but the life of this world. 30That is as far as their knowledge can reach.
Indeed, your Rabb [the Lord, the Cherisher, the Nurturer, the Sustainer] knows those
who strays off the path better than anyone else, He knows the path He guides better
than the others.
(23/53, An-Najm/29-30)
Division: 40
31,32Everything in Heavens and on the earth belongs to Allah for Him to punish
those who did evil, to reward those who did good; - except for some minor glitches –
reward those who avoided the great sins and abominations with the “most beautiful”.
Indeed your Rabb [the Lord, the Cherisher, the Nurturer, the Sustainer] is Vast in
Forgiveness. He knows you the best when He created you from soil and when you
were fetuses in the womb of your mothers. Then do not assume yourselves pure. He
knows the best who surrenders Him.
33Have you thought/seen the one who turned away? 34He gave a little and then
withheld stubbornly. 35Does he have the knowledge about the past and the future, so
he sees? 36Or has he not informed of what was in the scriptures of Moses? 37And of
the scriptures of Ibrahim, the Most Devoted; “38The truth is, no sinner bears the
burden of another sinner. 39The truth is, man can have nothing but what he strives
for. 40And he soon will achieve the fruits of his efforts. 41He will be rewarded in full.
42No doubt that his final destination is to his Rabb [the Lord, the Cherisher, the
Nurturer, the Sustainer]. 43No doubt that He is the one who makes you laugh or
weep… 44No doubt that He is the one who kills and resurrects… 45,46No doubt that
He is the one who creates the couple – male and female – from a drop of
semen/sperm. 47No doubt that He will fulfill the second creation. 48No doubt that He
is the one who grants prosperity and abundancy… 49No doubt that He is Rabb [the
Lord, the Cherisher, the Nurturer, the Sustainer] of Sirius/knowledge, conscience.”
(23/53, An-Najm/31-49)
Division: 41

3. 3
50No doubt that your Rabb [the Lord, the Cherisher, the Nurturer, the
Sustainer] destroyed the ancient Ad. 51And Thamud, so He left nothing of them.
52And before that He destroyed the people of Noah. For they were transgressors
who assumed associates to Allah and did evil to others. 53And He brought down the
destroyed cities. 54So covered that which covered. 55Then which of the powers;
unparalleled strength, unique blessings of your Rabb [the Lord, the Cherisher, the
Nurturer, the Sustainer] you dispute about?
56There what mentioned in the Qur’an is a Warning like those before it.
57Here that which is to approach; the Qiyamat, the death has approached. 58No
one but Allah can remove/prevent this.
59Now, at this word do you marvel at? 60And you laugh, but do not weep.
61And you use your thinking ability in vain.
62Then prostrate and surrender to Allah and be His votaries!58
(23-53, An-Najm/50-62)
52 The phrase istiva, which is mentioned in the original Ayah metaphorically means “he
dominated, he ruled”. As can be seen in many Ayat, the expression “He dominated the Throne in the
Heavens” means “He ruled the highest, the most glorious post, He took control”. This ambiguous
concept is used in the Qur’an metaphorically. In the Official Mushaf, Istiva is also contained in the
Surat Yunus/3, Ar-Ra’d/2, Al-Furqan/59, As-Sajdah/4, Ta-Ha/5, Al-A’raf/54, Al-Baqara/29. What
meant with the expression the one who dominates as mentioned in the Ayah is “Allah”. Because,
“istiva” is one of the names of Allah but not of His angels or servants.
53 Arrow’s Length, as mentioned in the Ayah, was a measurement unit used by the
people at the time. As no international standard measurement units, such as “meter” was invented in
that era, regional units and method were used. Like rumh [spear], sevt [scepter], ell, fathom, body
height, isbi [finger], hatve [feet], shibr [handsbreadth], zirah [arm’s length] and arrow’s reach,
arrow’s length was a measurement unit used at that period. This approach to measurement was
adopted in the Western World as well. For instance, “feet” that is based on the length of the human’s
foot, “inch” that is based on the girth of the thumb at the root of the nail, etc. were the measurement
units used in the ancient and medieval West. Therefore, Allah, the Most Glorious, used the
measurement units that can be understood by the people He addressed.
54 The expression the one who is mighty in strength, exalted in intelligence and
dominates the Throne in the Heavens is addressed to “Allah”. However, when interpreting these
words only metaphorical meaning of them should be considered and it must be known that the
expression does not qualify Allah but merely the reflection of His manifestation and potency. Then, it
is in the Qur’an that Allah manifested Himself as “a smokeless fire at the mountain, on the tree”.
The original meaning of wahy, as mentioned in the Ayah, is “to inform secretly”. In time, this
meaning evolved to mean “to speak secretly, to indicate, to command, to inspire, to imply, to
whisper, to write a letter, to send a messenger”.

4. 4
The literary meaning of wahy is “Direct revelation of Allah’s instructions and judgments to His
prophets by Himself rapidly and secretly without a mediator or any instrument whatsoever”. Wahy is
synonymof ilqa.
We do not and will not know how revelations happen. Then, as with the creation out of
nothing, Allah qualifies this process as “one of His acts; a process that no one cannot and will not be
able to fulfill”.
55 While Al-Lat, Al-Uzza and Manat can be detailed structurally and semantically, we
opt to avoid detailing these three feminine names but provide only encyclopedic information. The
reason these words are feminine is that Arabs assumed that these were three angels and daughters of
Allah. Al-Lat was an ornamented and covered white rock that was located in a building in Taif,
protected by guards and serviced by caretakers. People of Taif [the Tribe of Thaqif] believed that Al-
Lat was the second most important temple after the Kaaba and prided themselves against all tribes
except Quraysh. Al-Uzza was a tree located in a building which itself is located in a place between
Mecca and Taif, called Nahle. According to certain accounts it was a rock. This object, having been
respected by the Quraysh Tribe, was covered. Today, covering of the Kaaba makes us to think that
this is a tradition survived the Jahiliyyah Era [Ignorance; the Pre-Islamic era]. Manat was located in a
place between Mecca and Medina, called Mushallal. This also was a rock [statue]. Khuza’a, Aus and
Khazraj tribes worshipped this rock-statue and started their pilgrimage from this location and asked
her for rain.
Those who associate others with Allah swear by these idols, which they considered divine,
named their children with such names as Abdullat [servant of Al-Lat], Abduluzza [servant of Al-
Uzza], Abdulmanat [servant of Manat], etc.
Other than these, each tribe used to have their own idols and temples, which all had their own
guards and caretakers. They sacrificed Korban [sacrificed animals or offerings] to these idols as they
did for the Kaaba. The main reason for the iteration of the names of these three idols especially is that
these were deities worshipped by many in the Hejaz region.
56 Malaika and its singular form malak are homonyms. Both of these words might be
derived from the root uluk which means “to send down a messenger” or malk which means “strength,
authority to rule”. Malak and malak which are derived from uluk which means “to send down a
messenger” represent “the prophets, the ayat of revelations”. Malak and malak which are derived
from the root malk represent “all material powers and energy in the nature”. According to our
findings, in the Qur’an both derivatives are used and represent the meaning in accordance with their
respective roots. That is, malaika is sometimes used in its primary meaning and other times in its
secondary meaning. The actual meaning used in the Qur’an is determined according to the context of
the passage it is used in.
Detailed explanation on the word malak can be found in Tabyeen-al-Qur’an [Manifestation of
the Qur’an].
57
Shafaat is defined as “to add something to a similar thing and support it, to make
something double and spare it”. The word evolved to mean “someone in a higher position to help,
protect a poor or someone in need, have her/him be protected, accompany and support her/him”.
The literal meaning of the word, on the other hand, is “to ask an authority to forgive another
individual, to ask somebody to help to another person,to ask somebody to stop acting against another
individual, to pray and ask for help on behalf of others, to pray and prostrate before an authority to
ask for help or favor”.

5. 5
Ultimately, Shafaat means “to mediate, to help and to pioneer”. Shafaat may be in the world
and in the Akhirat. On the earth, shafaat may be from Allah, from angels, from prophets or from
other people. In the Akhirat, on the other hand, shafaat only comes from Allah.
Shafaat is widely accepted to mean that “the Prop het would mediate between Allah and his
people to ask Allah to forgive their sins; that the Prophet would support and use his authority to save
his people”. i.e. “the Prophet would influence Allah’s will”, which severely contradicts with the
message of the Qur’an.
58 See Footnote No. 24