Historic Launched of the Tafsir of Noble Qur’an

ON Saturday May24th, 2008, a new tafsir on Noble Qur’an was launched at the Islamic Society of York Region, Toronto, Canada. This new commentary on Qur’an is titled “The Ascendant Qur’an –Realigning Man to the Divine Power Culture”. It is written by Mohammad al-Asi.

The immediate question that arises in our mind is, do we really need another tafsir on Qur’an? Don’t we already have so many tafsir’s written in so many thick volumes that are collecting dust on the book shelves? True, there are many tafsir’s, interpretation and commentary on Noble Qur’an that is in circulation and this tafsir was written during different timelines, in different environment and in response to different challenges faced by the Muslim Ummah.

Muslim scholars in the past have sought inspiration from the Qur’an to guide them in their struggles. The early mufassir focused on the spiritual aspects because that was the greatest challenges facing the Muslim Ummah. Later generation adopted a philosophical approach to the study of the Quran while others highlighted the historical background and the context in which certain verse were revealed. All of this intellectual tafsir’s served to solve the evolving needs and requirements of the Muslim Ummah.

In this century Muslim Ummah is struggling against occupation and injustice under the guise of freedom and democracy. Many of the Muslims are still unable to make a connection to the oft-repeated descriptions of the Pharaohs and Nimrods of the Qur’an with the present day oppressors. Many are still fumbling to recognize the present day hypocrites among Muslims that are offering their mudslinging services against Islam and Muslims in order to make quick bucks and to get into the lime light, despite the fact that the noble Qur’an contains one complete chapter with the title “The Hypocrite” (al-Munafiqoon). There are many tafsir’s written by many intellectual mufassir’s in the past but very few that could help us in our current struggle and challenges.   

In this current era Muslim Ummah is struggling to deconstruct the language hitherto at the core of the so-called international political debate. For example, “Collateral damage” is a term used for wholesale destruction of life, property and civilian infrastructure of an unfortunate Muslim country; “Bringing democracy” is a code for occupation and pillage; “Bringing freedom” is a code for unleashing unregulated “market” in the colonies of the Empire which would, among other things, inevitably lead to the muzzling of all expression as the ownership of the media is increasingly synchronized; “Capital investment from abroad” is wholesale privatization and fire-sale of the national assets; “Targeted killing” is unmitigated assassination of political opponents;

“Security wall” is an apartheid wall designed to unilaterally occupy Muslim’s land, divide and truncate communities and families; “National unity government” is the government that is installed as an arm of the Empire; “Clash of civilizations” is a tool to dehumanize Muslims and create ideological grounds for occupation and pillage of their lands and economies; “Islamo-fascism” is a neo-fascist label that is affixed to any political party, individual, or society which could be dehumanized, brutalized, pauperized, jailed, killed, executed, tortured, conquered, occupied, pillaged with impunity;

“Fair elections” everybody says these maybe rigged but the results favourable to the Empire and certified as such by among other of its arms, the IMF (International Monetary Fund) is a method to reproduce imperial linkages by minting a new set of political elites; “Rigged elections” everybody may say these were fair including the likes of Jimmy Carter but results not desired by the Empire (Hamas, Chavez, Ahmedinejad, etc.); “Security contractors” heavily armed, well-trained mercenaries receiving princely sums as salary with license to kill and destroy with impunity and an implied immunity from any prosecution; “United Nations” is an extension of the imperial foreign policy of the US, a clean-up crew that would inevitably show up after the terror unleashed by the regular forces and the Security Contractors of the Empire, a kind of postmortem engagement that may lead to dismembering the victim. The list goes on and on…

One of the primary duties of an intellectual mufassir in this challenging time is to state the obvious. A contrary persuasion would likely be acquiescent of the actions that ought to be condemned. Recently launched tafsir titled “The Ascending Quran – Realigning Man to the Divine Power Culture” by Mohammad al-Asi is serving this lofty purpose. It is written without any fear and without any favour, the only fear and favor anticipated is from Almighty. This great commentary is published by the Crescent International Newspapers Inc. for The Institute of Contemporary Islamic Thought (ICIT). ICIT has always stood up against injustice and oppression and is one among the few shining light standing on its own against US / Zionist aggression.

This great work by Mohammad al-Asi should serve our Ummah to understand the current problems and to address them in earnest. It should help us to make a connection to the present day Pharaohs and Nimrods. It should help us to identify those Muslim scholars with their blinkers of dollars that does not allow them to see anything other than the Empire way. It should serve to identify those “Muslims of convenience” busy advancing Neocon / Zionist agenda. It should help our Ummah to revolutionize the way our creator wants us to think, it should help us to change our society, changing society will change government who in turn will genuinely begin seeking resolutions through dialogue as opposed to thuggery and work for the greater good as opposed to working for morally bankrupt multinational Neocon / Zionist corporations.