Now that we’ve looked into what the infertility of Zakariyya and his wife was, and how they were healed, let’s take a look at that of Abraham and his first wife, Sarah. To do this, I have collected the ayah (verses) about the incident below. But, as we will see, they are not in a chronological order; that, I will remedy, and when that is done, we will be able to decipher, deeply, what the infertility was, and how it was healed.
For this exercise, the verses we will be looking into are; Q51 V24 to 32, Q11 V69 to 74, Q15 V51 to 59, and Q29 V31.
Q51 V24 to 32:
24. Has there reached you the story of the honored guests of Abraham? – 25. When they entered upon him and said, “[We greet you with peace.” He answered, “[And upon you] peace, [you are] a people unknown. 26. Then he went to his family and came with a fat [roasted] calf. 27. And placed it near them; he said, “Will you not eat?” 28. And he felt from them apprehension. They said, ‘Fear not’, and gave him good tidings of a learned boy. 29. And his wife approached with a cry [of alarm] and struck her face and said, “[I am] a barren old woman!” 30. They said, “Thus has said your Lord; indeed, He is the Wise, the Knowing.” 31. [Abraham] said, “Then what is your business [here], O messengers?” 32. They said, “Indeed, we have been sent to a people of criminals.
Q11 V69 to 74:
69. And certainly did Our messengers come to Abraham with good tidings; they said, “Peace.” He said, “Peace,” and did not delay in bringing [them] a roasted calf. 70. But when he saw their hands not reaching for it, he distrusted them and felt from them apprehension. They said, “Fear not. We have been sent to the people of Lot.” 71. And his wife was standing [nearby], and she smiled. Then we gave her good tidings of Isaac, and after Isaac, Jacob. 72. She said, “Woe to me! Shall I birth while I am an old woman and this, my husband, is an old man? Indeed, this is an amazing thing!” 73. They said, “Are you amazed at the decree of Allah? May the mercy of Allah and His blessings be upon you, people of the house. Indeed, He is Praiseworthy and Honorable.” 74. And when the fright had left Abraham and the good tidings had reached him, he began to argue with Us concerning the people of Lot.
Q15 V51 to 59:
51. And inform them about the guests of Abraham, 52. When they entered upon him and said, “Peace.” [Abraham] said, “Indeed, we are fearful of you.” 53. [The angels] said, “Fear not. Indeed, we give you good tidings of a learned boy.” 54. He said, “Have you given me good tidings although old age had come upon me? Then of what [wonder] do you inform?” 55. They said, “We have given you good tidings in truth, so do not be of the despairing.” 56. He said, “And who despairs of the mercy of his Lord except for those astray?” 57. [Abraham] said, “Then what is your business [here], O messengers?” 58. They said, “Indeed, we have been sent to a people of criminals, 59. Except the family of Lot; indeed, we will save them all.
Q29 V31:
31. And when Our messengers came to Abraham with the good tidings, they said, “Indeed, we will destroy the people of that Lot’s city. Indeed, its people have been wrongdoers.”
DIVE:
With the help of these verses, we are going to recreate the event of that day in a chronological order, from the first scene to the last scene. As an aside, before we go into that, one might ask why Allah doesn’t just put the story together in one piece, in one chronological order. In retelling a story of this kind, you can decide to follow the format it was told in, or you can sequence them in the order that they occurred in.
One idea is that; we see this style in movies today, how a movie literally starts from the end, and the entire movie then takes us through what led to that last scene. Or sometimes, it starts from the middle, and then we are made aware of what had happened, and when we are caught up, it continues. And sometimes, the movie keeps going back and forth, into the future, and back to the past, intimating us with different vantage points; all these done not because the writers intend to confuse us, but instead, because they want to give us the best experience possible, because they believe that the best way for us to fully grasp each scene in this story is if related in a particular context of circumstances and time.
Of course, other than the spiritual significance of doing that, one of the many reasons why Allah does that is to keep in line with the theme of each surah (chapter) of the Quran. If in mentioning the stories of the prophets in this chapter, God is talking about how the people disobeyed their prophets, that won’t be a good time to divert into something else they must have done that’s not related to disobedience, get it?
There’s also the argument of beauty; that Allah, doesn’t arrange things of the same kind in one place, without mixing them. For instance, when one looks at the horizon, one sees the skies, the clouds, the setting sun, the sea, and it’s just a mix of different things that makes for that beauty to become. Same is true of the mountain when one looks at it; perhaps there’s some snow here and there, some greens, some rocks, sands and the likes. It is also true of the human self; the blood travels through the veins and arteries, which courses by the bones, the flesh, and it’s just a bouquet, a balanced bouquet; every one placed at their right place, and yet able to work harmoniously, to work effectively and beautifully.
Now, back to the verses, when arranged chronologically, we see that the scene starts from their entry, where Abraham accosted them upon their entry. And then it switches to the kitchen, where he went to get the barbecue, and then to the dining table, and the dialogue that ensued, after which his wife approached them, and the dialogue she also had, and then the last dialogue we were made to know that happened between them was that of them being sent to destroy the people of Lot.
THE ENTRY:
Q51 V24 to 25
24. Has there reached you the story of the honored guests of Abraham? – 25. When they dakhalu a’layHi (entered upon him) and said, “[We greet you with peace.” He answered, “[And upon you] peace, [you are] a people unknown.
Q11 V69
69. And certainly did Our messengers come to
Abraham with good tidings; they said, “Peace.”
He said, ‘Peace,’
Q15 V51 to 53
51. And inform them about the guests of Abraham, 52. When they dakhalu a’layHi (entered upon him) and said, “Peace.” [Abraham] said, “Indeed, we are fearful of you.” 53. [The angels] said, “Fear not…
The first phase we notice in this first encounter is ‘dakhalu a’layhi’. The root alphabets of dakhal are dal, kha and lam, and 8 forms of the word were used a total of 126 times in the Quran. Classically, a handful of expressions are derived from it, which ranges from entrance, door, doorway, to enter, to penetrate; to obscurity, secret, confidant; ill feeling, cheating; defects, loneliness: emaciation; to infiltrate, to come in between; guest, outsider, and the likes; but for the sake of this piece, we’ll look at that of ‘entering’.
We see in the prayer revealed to the prophet pbuh in Q17 V80 the use of dakhala, where it was used to mean ‘entry’, which says, ‘My Lord, cause me to enter a sound entrance and to exit a sound exit and grant me from Yourself a supporting authority.’, shows that IbraHeem just happened to meet up with them in his house, they had already entered. It wasn’t a knock on the door-answering the door affair.
The second part of this encounter is the exchange of ‘peace’ greetings. They greeted him with peace, and he replied with peace. And in V25 of Q51, he added, ‘[you are] a people unknown’, and the word translated to ‘unknown’ is ‘munkar’. Munkar’s root word is nakara, nun, kef, ra; the mim before it is a conjunctive pronoun. Munkar here, is reminiscent of Q27 V41 where Sulaimon pbuh told the Jinns to ‘disguise (nakir) for her her throne…’, and the verse continues by saying, ‘we will see whether she will be guided [to truth] or will be of those who is not guided.’. So if she was someone of guidance, no matter how ‘disguised’ her throne was disguised, her guidance should lead her to recognize her throne.
Another verse that readily comes to mind is Q12 V58, wherein, when Prophet Yusuf’s pbuh, siblings showed up to get supplies for the impending famine, unbeknownst to them that he is Yusuf, the one they threw down a well years ago; Allah said, ‘and the brothers of Joseph came [seeking food], and they entered upon him; and he recognized (a’rafa) them, but he was to them unknown (nkir)’. Again, we see nakara being translated to ‘unknown’, used as an opposite of ‘recognizing’, and ‘knowing’ something.
Now, back to IbraHeem, here he is, in his own house, and he just happened to encounter some ‘unknown’ faces in his own house – okay, I am definitely screaming, and running out of that house right away – but no, they exchange greetings, and states the obvious, that their faces aren’t familiar faces. And understanding it this way, makes us contextualize what he said next, ‘Indeed, we are fearful of you.’, in Q15 V52. And in V53, the angels calmed him down by saying, ‘fear not’.
Another thing that he did that showed his apprehension of them was him going to get them barbecue, and that’s the next phase of this encounter, where we will see how that came to be.
KITCHEN/DINING:
Q51 V26 – 28
26. Then he faraga (went) to his family and came with a fat [roasted] calf. 27. And placed it near them; he said, “Will you not eat?” 28. And he felt from them apprehension. They said, ‘Fear not’…
Q11 V69 – 70
69. …and did not delay in bringing [them] a roasted calf. 70. But when he saw their hands not reaching for it, he distrusted them and felt from them apprehension. They said, “Fear not.
The bit about going to his family to get the barbecue is important, because now we know that the other folks in the house, including his wife, were aware that some strange folks are in the house. It is also important because it tells us that they weren’t in the presence of IbraHeem and the angels. They were away, in the yard, kitchen, or from wherever else such ready to eat barbecue came from.
We will get into why he went to offer them food in a bit, but before we do, I thought to make concrete the idea that his wife wasn’t present at this time, and so he had to leave the angels to get them food.
Allah said in Q51 V26 that ‘he went’, and the word translated to mean that is ‘faraga’. Faf, ra and gain are its root alphabets, and 3 forms of the word appeared 6 times in the Quran. And it means wasteland, space, emptiness; width; to be empty, to be unoccupied, to be free; to finish, to be devoted.
Firaagh is said of the opening of the well’s bucket out of which water is poured, so that afrag then means to pour, to spill, and we find it being used in this way in Q7 V126, wherein Allah said of the Magicians that accepted Islam after they were impressed by Musa’ miracles to which the pharaoh promised to cut their hands and legs on opposite sides and crucify them, they prayed to Allah that, ‘rabbanaa afrig a’laina sabran’ which is translated to mean ‘Our Lord, pour upon us patience’. And in Q18 V96, it was used to express Dhul Qarnain’s act of pouring molten copper over Gog and Magog.
And that’s where the idea of ‘leaving’ came from; thus, when something is being poured, it is leaving the place that it was. So, he went to his family, and came with a fat roasted calf for them to eat, but he did it in a jiffy, as though he was water pouring out of a cup, quickly. Q11 V69 stressed that point when it said “…and did not delay in bringing [them] a roasted calf”.
V27 of Q51 says that IbraHeem then placed the – what I like to call ‘barbecue’ before them; V70 of Q11 then says that he saw that their hands weren’t reaching for it; and that takes us back to V27 of Q51 where it is recorded that he then said ‘will you not eat?’ And then both V28 of Q51 and V70 of Q11 expressed that he felt apprehension, fear and distrust from them.
And why is that? You might be asking:
You see, back in the time of IbraHeem, even assassins had a code; they do not eat in the house of someone they wanted to kill. So, the easy way to know if some strangers that showed up in your house unannounced do not have nefarious intent is to offer them food. If they ate from it, you knew they weren’t there to kill you, if they didn’t; then, that would be a call for concern. And that’s what IbraHeem tried to find out with this whole escapade, and these guys so far are doing a good job at not abating his fears. By the way, you find the remains of this idea in a lot of oriental cultures, where they take offense in one not eating or finishing food served to them. In fact, a clean plate plus a burp is a sign of utmost respect in some of such cultures.
Anyway, at this stage, perhaps, IbraHeem had told them that if he doesn’t return to get the cups of water for them to drink in the next 5 minutes, the strong ones should show up, and those unable to fight should take cover. Who knows, right?
V28 of Q51 then says that he ‘felt’ or ‘apprehended’ (awjasa) from them ‘fear’ (khifat), and they said ‘fear not’ (la takhafa). V70 of Q11 added to the list of his reactions of feelings by saying that he ‘distrusted’ (nakira) them; hitherto, we’ve had ‘apprehension’ awjasa; and ‘fear’ khifat. To which they allayed his fears by saying ‘fear not’. Since khifat and takhafa are from the same root, we’ll say that’s one feeling, the second is nakira, which we briefly discussed above when he first encountered them upon their entry; and the third feeling he felt was awjasa.
It’s sufficient that we know that those three feelings must have made him really uneasy, so I won’t be delving into their classical meanings. Now to the next bit in this story.
MESSAGE AND AFTERMATH:
Q51 V28:
…They said, ‘Fear not’, and gave him bashar (good tidings) of a learned boy.
Q15 V53 to 56:
53. [The angels] said, “Fear not. Indeed, we give you bashir (good tidings) of a learned boy.” 54. He said, “Have you given me bashar (good tidings) although old age had come upon me? Then of what [wonder] do you inform?” 55. They said, “We have given you bashar (good tidings) in truth, so do not be of the despairing.!” 56. He said, “And who despairs of the mercy of his Lord except for those astray?”
Q29 V31:
31. And when Our messengers came to Abraham with the bushra (good tidings)…
So, we see that in Q51 V28, Q15 V53, and Q29 V31 that IbraHeem was given ‘bashar’, ‘bashir’, ‘bushra’ respectively. So, what does bashir mean? The root alphabets are ba, shin and ra, and 13 variations of the word were used 122 times in the Quran. Bashir is classically said of when blood is visible from one’s skin, so that one complexion changes, and overtime, any news that causes blood to be visible on one’s skin, be it the skin on the face or anywhere else, came to be called bashir.
The idea that bashir is exclusively ‘glad tidings’ is not always so, as we see in Q9 V34 wherein Allah said ‘…And those who hoard gold and silver and spend it not in the way of Allah – give them bashir [bad tidings] of a painful punishment.’ But ‘bashir’ still, because, it’s a complexion changing information, one that being aware of will change one’s bodily state.
Why is all of these introspections important? You might be wondering. It is, because I believe that ‘bashir’ was used in these verses for multiple reasons, especially if one takes into consideration events that happened afterwards. The first reason I believe bashir was used here was in the form of news, glad tidings, if you will. And from its use here, we see that it was a piece of news that would have made IbraHeem red in the face. In contrast with Zakariyya’s situation who was ‘given’ (waHab) John as in Q21 V90, whereas IbraHeem was given the ‘good news’ (bashir) of a learned boy as in Q51 V28 and Q15 V53.
What I want us to take from this is that there was a sudden flow of blood in IbraHeem, one that must have been visible on his skin, and changed his complexion. I think ‘bashir’ here signifies a ‘cure’, or a ‘recharge’ if you will. Considering his old age, which as we know, and will be discussed later; a renewed, reignited, rejuvenated, and recharged ‘bust of blood flow’ in him would have been a good thing, and a ‘good thing’, if you know what I mean.
We know today that one of the reasons old men are unable to have or keep an erection is because age induced conditions restrict the flow of blood to the penis, atherosclerosis is one of such conditions. I don’t know which one IbraHeem may have had, or if he had any at all, but with the use of bashir, we know that he got his proper blood flow back, and now, they are coursing through his arteries and veins with youthful velocity and vigor.
The accidental discovery that viagra, a medication which was invented to help with blood flow strains in old people also helped make blood flow to the penis and stay there for a while is telling of just how much blood activity is needed when it comes to old age induced erectile dysfunction of many kinds. We will be seeing more of these talks of wetness, hormones and enzymes induced, as we read along in this book, so, feel free to insert them when and where needed, even when I don’t mention them.
Talking of viagra, and its use to ameliorate or eradicate erectile dysfunction, it is important to note that one is expected to stay away from fatty meals on days when one plans to use viagra because it may slow the efficacy of the medication. One is expected to stay away from heavy meals with red meat, fried food and other high fat foods the day before one plans to use viagra; why am I going into all these details? Because the choice meal IbraHeem offered the angels was what? Barbecue! Meat, in all its glory.
Was one of the reasons that Allah mentioned that bit in the Quran is so as to tell us that despite their diet, Gẹ still made sure they were able to make a baby? Or is it that now that they got the double whammy news about the baby that they are going to have, and also that the angels are headed to destroy the people of Lut, they’d be too flustered to feast on barbecues for a day or two? And thus enable the newly gotten blood flow that can even be visible on their skin (bashir), enhance their chances of making a baby; which, of course, they will now be trying for, now that they’ve gotten the news.
This talk of ‘blood flow’ takes us to the next phase of what happened:
Q11 V71 says that ‘and his wife was standing, and she fadohikat’, and fadohikat here was translated to ‘smiled’, but is that all that it means? The root alphabets of fadohikat are dod, ha and kef. 4 variations of the word were used 10 times in the Quran. We find that in Q43 V47, Q53 V43, and the likes, it was translated to mean ‘laugh’. And some translators have translated the word to mean ‘menstruate’, to ‘menstruate’. So, smile, laugh, menstruate; which is it? All of it? One of them? And what do they have in common?
To get to the bottom of dohik, we will have to refer to Classical Arabic, to see how the word came to mean these things.
Dohik is said of the palm tree, when its spathe bursts open, and reveals its spadix. So that if you look at the palm tree now, you’d see that its trunk is bare, and the branches with the leaves are at its topmost area, and when one zooms out to look at it, it is like the ‘bunch of greens’ emerged from within the trunk. Same is said of the flowers that its spathe opens up, from wrapping up the spadix. Dohik is generally said of when the earth or land put forth its plants, herbage, flowers et al.
Thus, when one shows their teeth; thereby parting their lips, dohik is said to have happened. Flowing from that is when a woman’s private part splits open during her monthly period of blood flow; and that’s how both expressions of smiling, laughing and menstruating come to flow from dohik.
Perhaps, the image that makes sure one doesn’t forget is this; dohik is also said of the hyena when she ‘laughs’ on seeing ‘blood’. We tend to refer to the sound hyenas make as ‘laugh’, and that’s true in Classical Arabic too. They make the sounds to communicate, especially when they see a predator devouring a prey, and they’d rather be the ones devouring the prey. They try to scare off the predator, by making the ‘laughing’ sounds which happens to work most times especially when a lot of them converge over a single predator.
Now that we’ve seen dohik in this light, we can conclude that she may have smiled, laughed, basically shown her teeth out of surprise at the sight of blood flowing from her; which started based on the ‘bashir’ that was being given to IbraHeem. And that is because to birth a child, the woman is needed, and in this case, that’s Sarah.
And from what we know about periods, that it contains blood, endometrial tissue, cervical mucus, vagina secretion; flushing those out cleanses the uterus thereby the womb, and readies it for a new egg that will be released.
And in this case, that new egg would be Ishaq.
In fact, in the biblical version of events, verse 19 of Genesis 17 says that God named the child ‘Isaac’ based on the surprised ‘laughter’ that Abraham engaged in in verse 17 of the same Genesis on being informed that he would be having a child. Verse 17 thus says “Abraham fell facedown; he laughed and said to himself, ‘Will a son be born to a man a hundred years old? Will Sarah bear a child at the age of ninety?’” Despite the fact that the Bible says it was Abraham that ‘laughed’, one thing is uniform, that Isaac/Ishaq means ‘to laugh’. And that’s what the name means in Hebrew today, to laugh, rejoice and the likes. The name is even written as Itzhaq which sounds very similar to dohik if one adds the letter I before D, and have the dod change to sod based on Hebrew alphabet structure, and add a sukun instead of a fatiha that will be on the sod, and also add a fatiha on the ha instead of the kesrah.
So that in a way, dohik is not only pointing to surprised laughter, menstruation, it also points to why the menstruation was happening; Ishaq, the bashir of the learned boy being given.
Before we go into what actions Sarah took after seeing the blood drip down her legs, as she stood where she stood. Let’s first see how IbraHeem reacted to the news.
Q15 V54 to 56 says:
54. He said, “Have you given me good tidings although ‘kibar’ (old age) has come upon me? Then of what [wonder] do you inform?” 55. They said, “We have given you good tidings in truth, so do not be of the despairing.!” 56. He said, “And who despairs of the mercy of his Lord except for those astray?”
And this is where V29 of Q51 cuts in:
And his wife ‘faaqbalati’ (approached) with ‘sorratin’ (a cry [of alarm]) and struck her face and said, “[I am] a ‘a’qeemun’ (barren) ‘a’juzun’ (old woman)!”.
Now, now is when the wife then approaches them. She’s been away until now, half-worrying perhaps, at what’s going on with these strangers that they plan to see if they will eat their food. Her surprised laugh, stand, menstruation had happened away from them. As the Quran says, faaqbalat, she goes before them whilst doing sorratin, and would eventually say what she said.
Though ‘sorrat’ has been translated here to mean ‘a cry [of alarm]’, some other translators have it as wail, moan, shout, clamor, lament, scream, vociferate, loud voice, cry, cry [with joy], exclaim, grief and one even said ‘laugh aloud’. But what does it really mean? How did it come to communicate these expressions?
The root alphabets of sorrat are sod, ra and ra, and 3 variations of the word occurred a total of 6 times in the Quran. Asora 4 times, sirr 1 time, and sorratin 1 time.
So, we find that in 4 out of the 6 verses that mentions sorrat, translated it to mean ‘persist’ – Q56 V46, Q45 V8, Q71 V7, Q3 V135. Whether to “‘persist’ in extreme sinfulness”, “‘persists’ in his disbelief”, “‘persisted’ in their iniquity”, and “do not ‘persist’ knowingly in what they have done”.
And what this conjures up is the fact that the members of the household that were with her – as we’ve seen in Q51 V26 with the use of aHliH, that she wasn’t alone at the grill making the barbecue – were probably trying to hold her back from crashing the meeting IbraHeem was having with the Angels, especially with the whole blood situation that’s dripping down her legs. But, she ‘sorratin’ (persisted).
In Q3 V117 however, it is also said to mean ‘cold’; Allah says, “The example of what they spend in this worldly life is like that of a wind containing ‘sirrun’ (frost) which strikes the harvest of a people who have wronged themselves and destroys it. And Allah has not wronged them, but they wrong themselves.” Some translators have it as biting iciness, cold, hot or cold, freezing, freezing cold, freezing blast, intense cold, extreme cold, biting frosty blast, and nipping frost.
This also makes sense in light of the fact that of the many symptoms of one being on one’s period – cold, feeling cold, or a fluctuation between warm and chilly is one of them. You see, during one’s period, prostaglandins triggers the uterus to contract so that it can shed the blood, endometrial tissue, cervical mucus and vagina secretion, to make way for the new egg that needs to come. The more it releases, the more cramp one gets. And it releases more sometimes if there are more byproducts to get out; as perhaps, in the case of Sarah, who as we know has been Post Menopausal for a while due to her age, which we will get to in a bit.
Anyway, since the chemicals it releases also impact body temperature; cold, a feeling of cold or warmth is reported in some women when they are on their period.
Sirr evolved to mean ‘cold’ because just as in when it is used to mean ‘persist’, cold doesn’t let go of water until it contracts it into solid. It ‘persists’ at this endeavor, this endeavor of binding, contracting, making things whole. Which, if seen in light of the contraction induced cramps that she may have been having due to her blood flow, gives the use of this word in this ayah another layer of depth.
Sorr came to be used for sounds one makes that won’t stop, as we see in the case of Sarah in Q51 V29. So much so that she started striking her face. You know, wailing, as people still do when bereaved. There’s an even intense version of sor; sorsor. Sor is reduplicated because of the continuous reiteration of the said sound, as we see in Q54 V19 where Allah used it to describe the wind that was used to destroy the people of A’d. A continuously screaming wind.
But with Sarah, because sorsor wasn’t used, we know that despite the persistent scream she let out, it’s not one that continued endlessly. As we saw that she’d then struck her face, made observations, and then started asking questions. By the way, noticed the similarity between Sorrat and Sarah?
After what seems to be a 3 in 1 aftermath experience of menstruation – persistence, cold and a loud cry – she exclaims, ‘a barren old woman’. Like, how is a barren old woman having her period again?
What differentiates her barrenness with that of the wife of Zakariyya is that the word she uses to refer to her barrenness is a’qeem, as opposed to a’qir that was used to qualify Zakariyya’s wife’s barrenness. And as we will see, the word a’qeema confirms what we’ve been building up to so far.
The root alphabets of A’qeem are ain, qaf and ra; and 1 form of the word occurred 4 times in the Quran. This one time when she uses it to describe her infertility in Q51 V29. Allah uses it to describe the wind used to destroy the people of A’d, as we see in Q51 V41. The same wind that if we recall above in Q54 V19 was said to be Sorsor also. Just as in the infertility of Zakariyya’s wife, the one that was referred to as a’qir; we find that the other time it was used was while describing what the people of Thamud did to the miraculous camel.
Back to a’qeem, thirdly, in Q22 V55, it was used to describe the day of judgment. And lastly, we find that in Q42 V50, Allah used it to describe general infertility when Gẹ said that Gẹ “renders whom Gẹ wills a’qeem ‘barren’”. (Gẹ is my gender neutral pronoun for God.) And in so doing, we come out with this understanding that either gender, infertility-wise, can be a’qeema.
So, what is a’qeema? A’qeem is classically said of something that is dry, or becomes dry. And that is true of a postmenopausal woman, since she doesn’t menstruate again, she is said to be dry (a’qeema), and hers is due to her old age, exactly as she asserts. If there’s anything we’ve learned so far, we know there’s layers to words in the Quran, right?
And because a piece of land that’s dry is unproductive, it is said to be a’qeema. You see, the reason why a woman’s Menstruation Pauses ie MenoPause, get it? is because she is not releasing eggs anymore; the ovaries have become dry, and as a result, the uterus becomes dry too. Since the uterus walls only thickens so as to create a strong castle for the precious incoming egg; if the egg stops coming, it stops thickening, and if it stops thickening, it has less and less things to shed, thereby triggering a Pause, irregularity, and eventually one reaches a post menopausal phase.
This dryness is also true in the case of a man that is infertile either due to Erectile Dysfunction, low sperm count, or in any other form it expresses itself. With erectile dysfunction, it’s the blood that’s being blocked from going to where it is supposed to be going, and so the male organ is deprived of being engorged, thereby becoming ‘dry’. And with the low sperm count, we know that it doesn’t mean one’s sperm is incapable of fertilizing an egg, it just means that the odds of one’s sperm fertilizing the egg are low. Lower that 15 million sperm per millimeter of semen is considered to be low. Despite the fact that a hundred million sperm is released per ejaculation, only one is needed to fertilize the egg, and so the lower the count, the dryer one gets, and so the lower the chances of the woman getting pregnant.
So, it is when she lets out this exclamation of surprise at a postmenopausal woman being on her period, bringing it to the notice of IbraHeem and the Angels, that the second part of V71 of Q11 comes into play where it says ‘…then we gave her bashar (good tidings) of Isaac, and after Isaac, Jacob’; now is the time she gets intimated with what the angels and IbraHeem have been talking about, because as we see, so far, she hasn’t said anything about pregnancy, it has been the changes in her body that she’s reacting to.
Having looked into the word Bashar above, we see here that she is flustered anew with this news, and perhaps, she experiences even more blood flow, not only out of her, but now, coursing through her; this is not just so as to ‘restart’ the body, but to also get it ready to hold a baby for months.
One might ask why she was being informed of not just Isaac, but Isaac’s child too; and there are various reasons why that can be: perhaps, due to her old age and that of her husband, it is to allay her fears of continuity, so she knows that she will also be having a grandchild, and we know that the grandchild will be the one that becomes the patriarch of the 12 tribes of Israel; perhaps, she won’t be alive when Isaac gives birth to Jacob. Or, it can be that they are informing her of the fact that he won’t just be your usual joe, but that from her will be a prophet, and from that prophet will be another prophet, and as we know, from that prophet came another prophet, even though he won’t be the only child.
So if she may have been thinking that infertility is in her genes, and it will affect her progeny, with the news of her own child birthing another child; she’s even more taken aback. Or, it may be that now, even now, Jacob has already been ‘installed’ into Isaac.
It is with this in mind that V72 of Q11 provides that “She said, “Woe to me! Shall I birth while I am an a’juz (old woman) and this, my husband, is an shaykh (old man)? Indeed, this is an a’jib (amazing) thing!”
Since we are on the issue of Age, we shouldn’t forget IbraHeem’s position on that too, where he said in Q15 V54 that, “Have you given me good tidings although kibar (old age) has come upon me?“
So, we see that Sarah referred to herself as a’juz (‘old woman’), but as for IbraHeem, she says shaykh (old man); whilst IbraHeem didn’t say anything about her age, or how that will affect her ability to get pregnant, but referred to his own age as kibar (old age).
Contrasting that with Zakariyya who also didn’t say anything about his wife’s age even though he mentions her infertility diagnoses, but he referred to his own age in Q19 V4, and in V8 says he is of kibari i’tiya (extreme old age).
The only other women that referred to age were the daughters of Musa’s father-in-law to be, at the time, where in Q28 V23 they referred to their father’s age as ‘shaykhun kabir’, I don’t think extreme old age comes close to describing how old that really is, because that’s a mix of shaykh and kabir.
The only other time shaykhun kabir was used in the Quran was when Yusuf’s siblings were trying see to it that he doesn’t detain their sibling, so they told him to take one of them instead because their father is a shaykhun kabir, as seen in Q12 V78.
So, we find that the old men, IbraHeem and Zakariyya in this case, used kabir to qualify their age, even though Zakariyya decided to qualify his with i’tiya; while one of them’s wife referred to one of them as shaykh; only for the kids to go even further by mixing both words together to give shaykhun kabir.
The only other time that shaykh was used in the Quran was when Allah used it to describe a stage in life, for those Gẹ allows to get to that age. Q40 V67 states that, “It is He who created you from dust, then from a sperm-drop, then from a clinging clot; then He brings you out as a child; then [He develops you] that you reach your [time of] maturity, then [further] that you become shuyukh (elders). And among you is he who is taken in death before [that], so that you reach a specified term; and perhaps you will use reason.”
But does a’juz really mean old woman? Is that all there is to a’juz? Is there more to a’juz? Especially as we’ve seen that the Bible in Genesis 17 verse 17 was specific about their age, and places Sarah at 90, and IbraHeem at 100.
You see, if she meant to communicate ‘old’, she could have just used ‘shaykha’, the female version of shaykh, but with a’juz, despite her age – taking into consideration how long she’s been with IbraHeem – she meant to communicate something else.
A’juz doesn’t necessarily mean old, but to be weak; so, one can be old and weak, but one need not be old to be weak, especially with pregnancy; being such a burden that it is for even younger females. Sarah saying a’juz may have been referring to both her age and the state of her strength for the task ahead, or may just have been referring to the state of her strength for the task of carrying pregnancy.
So that when she said ‘a’juzun a’qeema’ in Q51 V29 that we are looking into, she may have been saying ‘weak and postmenopausal woman!’. Weak there referring to her ability to carry pregnancy, not that she’s unable to carry out her daily tasks.
To make this distinction is important because as we see in Q37 V135; wherein Lut’s wife remained behind and was one of those that was destroyed. The V134 of Q37 starts by saying, “[So mention] when We saved him and his family, all,”, and V135 continues with ‘Except his a’juz (wife)’, she was ‘among those who remained [with the evildoers].’ Now that we know what a’juz means, we know that she wasn’t of those destroyed based on her old age, but if we take into consideration what Q66 V10 says about the state of her faith; “Allah presents an example of those who kafaru (disbelieved): the wife of Noah and the wife of Lot. They were under two of Our righteous servants but fakhanat (betrayed) them, so those prophets did not avail them from Allah at all, and it was said, ‘Enter the Fire with those who enter.’”
So, now, we can deduce from this that Lut’s wife wasn’t just destroyed because she may have been ‘old’, but because she was ‘weak’, weak in spirituality, faith and belief. So much so that Allah referred to her as a kafir, as we see in Q66 V10; and only Allah can refer to someone as Kafir, and the kafir too, for they know the state of their heart.
Another expression that was used to describe these wives of the prophets is fakhanat, and its root alphabets are kha, waw and nun. 6 variations occurred a total of 16 times in the Quran. And khanat is said of the rope that breaks, and so the bucket of water falls into the well. And so khanat is said to mean disloyalty, betrayal, treachery and the likes. I’m reminded of Q22 V38 wherein Allah says ‘Verily, Allah does not love the khawwanin kafur’; and so far we’ve seen those two words were used to describe Lut’s wife in Q66 V10; khanat and kafir.
Only a weak rope breaks, right? Comes back full circle; a’juz, to be weak.
Furthermore, to conclude on a’juz, Q6 V134, Q16 V46, Q34 V38, Q22 V51, Q8 V59 and plethora of other verses that has one form or the other of a’juz, it was used to mean ‘frustrate’. That no one can not ’frustrate’ the plans of Allah, make them weak, we won’t necessarily say make them ‘old’, or make them ‘spouse’, or make them ‘old spouse’ now, would we? My point being that the essence of a’juz is to be weak, and that Sarah may not have been communicating her age at all, but just her seeming physical weakness for the task at hand, pregnancy that is.
As for the ‘kabir’ that IbraHeem and Zakariyya used to describe themselves, it suffices to know that it’s ‘old’. In Q19 V4, Zakariyya said of himself that his head is filled with white hair, and his bones are feeble. So, as for Shaykh, yeah, right up there in the old spectrum.
AN AMAZING THING:
Sarah then ends her exclamatory rhetorical questioning by acknowledging what an amazing thing that is; as we see in Q11 V72 that says, “She said, ‘Woe to me! Shall I birth while I am an a’juz and this, my husband, is a shaykh? Indeed, this is an a’jib (amazing) thing!” And the angels acknowledged this chain of thought of hers by saying, “Are you ta’jabeen (amazed) at the decree of Allah? May the mercy of Allah and His blessings be upon you, people of the house. Indeed, He is Praiseworthy and Honorable.” And followed their acknowledgment of her joyous state by praying for her. Prayers of the angels. 🥰 🥰 🥰
Whereas in the case of IbraHeem, before Sarah showed up, Q15 Vs53 to 56 tells us about their dialogue on ‘despair’, and how only those who are ‘astray’ despair of the mercies of Allah. Verse 53 says “[The angels] said, “Fear not. Indeed, we give you good tidings of a learned boy.” 54. He said, “Have you given me good tidings although old age had come upon me? Then of what [wonder] do you inform?” 55. They said, “We have given you good tidings in truth, so do not be of the despairing.!” 56. He said, “And who despairs of the mercy of his Lord except for those astray?”
It is important to put their reactions side by side because of an article I read that somehow was able extract from the same V72 of Q11 that Sarah wasn’t thrilled about the news; that instead of the exclamatory rhetorical questioning that she expressed out of joy, the writer claimed they were plain questions. Which of course doesn’t flow since the angels acknowledged her joy, and even prayed for her and the people of her household as we’ve seen above.
And so as to drive home the point, let’s take a look at what a’jib really means. Ain, jim and ba are the root alphabets of the word, and 6 variations of the word were used a total of 27 times in the Quran. A’jib is said of the joy one feels when something totally new happens, something one wasn’t expecting to happen; the sense of wonderment one feels at that is what a’jib is made of.
We find that V25 of Q9 uses it in this way when it says, ‘Allah has already given you victory in many regions and [even] on the day of Hunan, when your great number a’jab (pleased) you…’. And Q72 V1 in telling the prophet pbuh about the encounter of some unseen spirits with the Quran said, “Say, [O Muhammad], ‘It has been revealed to me that a group of the jinn listened and said, ‘Indeed, we have heard an a’jaba (amazing) Qur’an’”
Q57 V20 went as far as saying that a’jib is the natural reaction when one births a child where it says ‘Know that the life of this world is but amusement and diversion and adornment and boasting to one another and competition in increase of wealth and children – like the example of a rain whose [resulting] plant
growth a’jaba (pleases) the tillers…’
Truly, what an amazing thing a child is. An awesome wholesome thing. The idea is this, that a muslim should always have absolute tawakul in Allah. And his or her intention for having kids or wealth should be one that is entrenched in serving Allah. So that if one isn’t given money, he doesn’t feel sad, for one wasn’t wanting it for one’s sake in the first place. It just means that one needs to use another of the rizq Allah has bestowed on one to serve Allah, today, it won’t be through one’s money. Same for children too, if Allah gives one, fine, and if Gẹ doesn’t, fine also; I feel like this is the vibe one gets from studying the two prophets so far.
We find that Zakariyya’s intention for requesting to have a child was so as to have a heir that will continue upholding the flag of the religion after he is gone as we see in Q19 Vs 5 and 6. And despite the fact that he must have been asking for a very long time, in Q19 V4, he asserts that none of his supplications to Allah has been rejected, because the way he sees it is that for the seemingly ‘unanswered’ prayer, it was actually answered prayer; because its unanswered-ness is an answer in itself. 💡
And as we see in the case of IbraHeem, despite not having kids, they were dedicated slaves of Allah nonetheless. The woman will be pleasingly amazed on being told, and the man would go ahead to prove his undying hopefulness by stating that only the one that’s astray despairs of Allah’s mercies whilst casually going ahead to change the topic as seen in V57 of Q15 to where else they were headed, and even started arguing with the angels on behalf of the people of Lut as we see in Q11 V74.
And this concludes this journey. May Allah ease all of our affairs. Amin.
themarhaminstitute 