Anthropologie seems to have misread consumer culture.
Anthro has been a drag on owner Urban Outfitters ' results for some time now, but things don't appear to be getting better there, wrote MKM Partners analyst Roxanne Meyer in a research note Monday. She downgraded Urban's stock to "Sell," setting a $20 price target on shares. That's 25% below a current $26.86.
Urban shares were basically flat in Monday trading.
The retailer "appears too youthful and edgy" and "is over-exposed to bare and cold-shoulder looks," according to Meyer. And while Anthropologie has tried to get away with charging premium prices for its clothing, consumers appear less willing to shell out $200 to $400 for a dress.
Going forward, Anthro's margins could head even lower. Margins represent how much revenue a company is able to retain as profit, and the brand appears to be struggling with both sides of the equation: weak demand and consumers trying to spend less for the clothes they do buy.
Big Picture: An analyst downgraded Urban Outfitters shares based on troubling signs for the company's Anthropologie brand.


text:
U.S Voters In 2020 Have A Serious Decision To Make For America And The World
in World — by Irwin Jerome — June 22, 2020
White Supremacist's Burning of Tulsa's Greenwood District in 1921 Tulsa Race Riot Massacre.
As the world watched with President Donald Trump the spontaneous reactions of so much racism, police brutality, social protests, burning and looting spread throughout the streets of America and the world over the murder of George Floyd, the world overheard Trump declare, "These Aren't My Voters!" (http://msn.com/en-us/news/politics/trump-has-privately-dismissed-protestors-saying-those-arent-my-voters-report/ar-BB15pGLa)
Who Trump's voter base consists of, and what their philosophy and ideology make up is all about, became abundantly clear once Trump announced the date and place chosen to hold his first 2020 Presidential re-election rally, following the lifting of the pandemic lockdown. It originally was scheduled to be held on June 19th in Tulsa, Oklahoma but a protest by Black Lives Matter forced him to move it to June 20th.
This writer's first reaction was, "Why in the hell has Trump, a man who has declared "These Aren't My Voters" chosen June 19th, of all dates, that Black America proudly refers to as Juneteenth, an emancipatory moment in history for Black America when enslaved Africans were told in Galveston, Texas, on June 19th, 1865, that, "Hallelujah & Mercy to God", they finally were free American citizens of the United States of America.
WHAT DOES TULSA SYMBOLIZE TO TRUMP
Furthermore, why had Trump chosen, of all places, Tulsa, Oklahoma to hold his rally? Tulsa's Greenwood District the place that became, on May 31st/June 1st 1921, the ignominious location of America's most hideous White Supremacist/Ku Klux Klan Race Riot & Massacre of Black Americans.
Given that Trump already has a well-known and well-deserved reputation of being a White Supremacist, Law & Order, Anti-Black, Anti-Minorities, Anti-Civil Rights, Anti Climate Change, Irreligious, Authoritarian President, it seemed blatantly obvious, by the date and place he chose for his re-opening firebrand rally to hold on to the Presidency, and move America and the World that much further to a place of alt-right fascism, that he was sending a clear and unambiguous message to his voter base, in the Deep South especially, as well as in the Northern states where a mere 77,000 total votes swung the 2016 election for him in the Electoral College, even though millions more had voted for Hillary Clinton. Trump's obvious implied message was that if the majority of voters want America to stay the course and direction of where it continues to be headed "To Make America Great Again" they will have to rally around him and the flag at this critical moment in history.
Trump's voter base are the same Americans that, during the Corona Pandemic, continue to demonstrate a complete disinterest if not actual contempt for the health and well-being of their fellow American citizens, even the welfare of their own family members – grandparents, mothers, fathers, wives, husbands, children – by refusing to maintain safe preventative health measures, like social distancing, wearing PPE gear, and repeatedly washing their hands. Trump's supporters are the same Americans who one will often hear express, as well, such ideological excuses as, "wearing a mask and gloves is just a political trick by Biden and the Democrats to encourage voters not to take all these measures because it's meant to denigrate Trump and his administration who refuse to demonstrate to the American public the importance of practicing these pandemic health measures.
Trump's voter base are the same Americans who one will hear variously comment about the pandemic lockdown: "I don't care if I die or kill others, but I'm not going to wear a damn mask!" "If that causes more old people to die from the virus that's okay! It just gives young people more of a chance and right to live and prosper!" or; "I don't have to wear a mask! This is a free country! No one call tell me what to do that's why we have the 1st Amendment"; "This lockdown is commie talk that's depriving me of the right to make as much money as I want!" Or the even more ridiculous religious belief of some who even naively declare, "I deeply believe that my God and my own immune system will protect me from catching the virus." Such ignoramus comments are what underlie the basis of American Exceptionalism and what defines Trump's election motto and desire to "Make America Great Again!"
What is most troubling and unconscionable about this widely-held attitude among American supporters of Trump is that perhaps a million more of them, when the pandemic infections and death rate still is dangerously rising in America, will willingly pack themselves into Tulsa's BOK Centre for a political election rally, and follow his lead by not practicing social distancing or wearing protective PPE gear, just to assuage Trump's monumental vain ego. It's sheer madness!
TULSA'S HISTORY IS A SAD TALE TOLD ALL ACROSS THE LAND
The choice of Tulsa for Trump's triumphant resurgent political rally to continue to "Make America Great Again" would seem not to be an accident given Tulsa's ugly past racial history serving as fuel on the fire for what is now happening on the streets of America. For starts, in the early 20th century Tulsa, due to its racial violence and tensions, already had earned the ignominious title of the Tulsa Race War Massacre in 1921 which, aside from the many massacres committed by the American military and settlers against Native Americans, was one of the worst in modern historical times.
By 1921, Native Americans from the East and South already had been militarily marched from their ancient homelands to the barren prairie and desert wastelands of Oklahoma Territory on what became known as the Trail of Tears because so many agonizingly died along the way. An experience not unlike the Bataan Death March on which the Japanese forced marched Allied prisoners during WWII. By the 1920's, Freed black slaves also had ventured into these barren Oklahoma territories that the white settlers didn't want themselves. But surprise, surprise. These lands contained vast underground reserves of pure rich oil. Poor, oppressed minorities had virtually won the lottery.
Soon Black Americans and Native Americans alike were realizing wealth beyond their wildest dreams. As a result, Black Americans were able to create their own business enterprises that included hundreds of homes, grocery stores, two newspapers and numerous churches, habadasheries, men's luxury barber parlours and ladies salon's, and every other store or services prosperous peoples need and want to live a good life. Black professionals in their Greenwood District (doctors, dentists, lawyers, clergy) were able to independently raise their own capital to support and bring further economic and financial growth and prosperity to their District.
But this didn't sit well with those White-American settlers who had emigrated into the area after the Civil War, many of whom were dispossessed former slave owners, who began to found towns and cities in Oklahoma once it had become a state in 1907. True to their ideological background, they immediately began to pass racial segregation laws, commonly known as Jim Crow Laws, that essentially disenfranchised most Black and Native Indian Americans who were barred from voting, serving on juries or holding local government office. These Jim Crow laws continued to be enforced until the U.S. Voting Rights Act of 1965, and ever since local white racists have still managed to subtly create virtual Jim Crow-type laws that, to this day, continue to prevent Black and Brown voters from casting their vote.
So, by 1921, Oklahoma had a racially, socially and politically tense atmosphere. Four years previously, in 1916, Tulsa had passed an ordinance that mandated residential segregation that forbade Blacks or Whites from residing on any block where three-fourths or more of the residents were of the other race. Such ordinances were declared unconstitutional by the U.S. Supreme Court by the time WWI had ended in 1918, but many Black American ex-servicemen returning from the war, who had fought and died for America and wanted to enjoy the benefits of its constitutional Civil Rights laws, found that Tulsa, like many border towns and cities in the South, continued to enforce such segregation ordinances for the next 30 years. The fallout from the days of slavery and American Civil War were still very much within the living memory of all the people.
Civil Rights was still only a dream for Black America as the Ku Klux Klan continued to resurge throughout the South, in part due to the then widely-popular White racist movie Birth of a Nation that had been released in 1916. By 1921, the Ku Klux Klan had grown in urban chapters all across America.
In Tulsa there were at least 3,200 Klan members and as many white racists in the Northern state of Minnesota where George Floyd was murdered. Minnesota the place where the roots of racial disparity in the North became the origin of still more housing segregation ordinances through the use of racial covenants (Watch: www.youtube.com/watch?vXWQfDbbQv9E) . This writer's own home state of Colorado had the 2nd largest per capita concentration of white supremacist KKK members in the Nation, and early on spread racist politics throughout the State. (Watch: Colorado Experience KKK at www.youtube.com/watch?v=POSPMbtF!+8) Even California, where this writer was raised, had discrimination policies in housing until the Rumford Act of 1963 became one of America's most sweeping acts that protected the rights of Blacks and other peoples of color to purchase their homes in whatever community of their choosing without discrimination.
Prosperous, affluent Black population in Tulsa's Greenwood District did not sit well with Tulsans and such a huge presence of Klan members like W. Tate Brady. Four years earlier, Brady had tarred and feathered a group of men that the local police had placed in the custody of his Black-robed Knights of Liberty. Brady claimed at the time he had tarred and feathered them as suspected German spies he referred to as members of the "I.W.W," who were punished "in the name of the women and children of Belgium".
TULSA'S MAYHEM BEGINS WITH AN OFT-TOLD STORY
So this was the volatile climate of Tulsa when, in 1921, a 19-year old Black youth was charged with the assault and rape of a 16 year-old white girl. Though nothing was ever proven and only ever alleged, and the 16 year=old white girl refused to press charges, the racists and haters in those times were not concerned about such legal technicalities. The lynching of the 19 year-old Black youth became the spark that lite the fuse that set off one of America's most bloody race riot massacres; not unlike what happened a century later in Minneapolis when George Floyd's murder by police spontaneously created a world-wide "Enough Is Enough!" backlash against police brutality and demands for systemic changes across the board to the entire structure and substance of the United States jurisprudence-legal and criminal justice system, and the ideology and philosophy of law enforcement procedures, entire social welfare,-health and financial-corporate systems, world-wide.
The upshot of what happened in Tulsa in 1921, was that: widespread corruption in its police department; the questionable actions by racist Tulsa policemen; a white-owned newspaper, The Tribune, that printed an inflammatory, incendiary editorial titled, "To Lynch A Negro Tonight", that incited the public, of which literally all copies of the editorial, even the missing master copy on microfilm, all mysteriously disappeared after the massacre and no trace has ever been found to this day. Each played an integral part that led to the blood bath that ensued.
While rampaging armed White mobs attacked the Black District of Greenwood from the ground; an air attack of some 12 private aircraft of all description soared over Greenwood that, as observers noted, "hummed and darted with the agility of natural birds in the air, circling, dipping low and hurling down on all its businesses and homes flaming turpentine balls." The mass murder and destruction utterly destroyed 35 square blocks of Greenwood's Black Wall Street at a loss, by today's standards, of over 35 million dollars. 191 businesses, a junior high school, 1256 homes were totally destroyed, while, unofficially, 75-100 to 150-300 Blacks, depending upon who is doing the counting, were murdered, with 1,000 more wounded admitted to hospital, with over 6,000 Black Americans interned by the military authorities for several days. Martial law was declared, the Oklahoma National Guard was called out, and, in the aftermath, 10,000 Black Americans were left homeless, with thousands forced to live and die or bring new babies into this world in tents, through the blistering hot summers and frigid winters of 1921 and 1922. Yet for all the atrocities committed by White racist Tulsans not one was ever charged or convicted.
In 1996, Oklahoma finally formed a commission to study exactly what happened. The final report, released in 2001, said the city of Tulsa conspired with the White mob against the Black Tulsans. Reparations of monies and scholarships were recommended to the survivors and their descendants, a memorial was dedicated to them and the story of the massacre was introduced into the Oklahoma school curriculum.
The question still remains as puzzling as it is obvious. Why has Trump now selected Tulsa as the place where he intends to launch his big push for re-election? Here is a President who already has openly declared "These aren't My Voters!" He has long since proven by his actions, words and deeds that he mainly represents various groups of extremists, and is out of touch and isolated from the real America and real Americans who live on Main Street USA. He already is as if a cultural relic from another fascist, authoritarian time as he has shown by his reactions to the tragic murder of George Floyd and its aftermath. Especially when he demonstrated delusionary thoughts that he could invoke the Insurrection Act of 1807 and declare war on America while trampling all over American's Constitutional 1st Amendment Rights.
Trump simply is on the wrong side of history and the democratic and generational divide. He apparently misleadingly hopes that some kind of informed consent will emerge from his campaign rally in Tulsa that will reset the tone for the rest of his election campaign leading up to November and the next four years of his fantasized regal reign.
As one homespun Australian pundit recently put it, "He's gotta be dreamin', Mate!". But stranger thing can happen! If one were simply to go by what happened in the 1948 Dewey-Truman Presidential election, where, as it turned out, many believed, including the newspapers, whose banner headlines already had declared Dewey the winner, until they woke up the next morning and discovered egg on their faces.
Anything can happen when viewed from even the perspective of America's youth and people of colour, where the only real democracy they have ever experienced or expect to receive through America's skewed voting system and archaic Electoral College, that should have been banished a century ago, where, in one form or another, Voter Suppression of the True Will of the People has been the rule rather than the exception.
Footnote: As one last absurd heart-breaking example of so much senseless, needless racial murder and political violence in America the reader's attention is directed to YouTube.com to watch the full-length lead up and ultimate murder of Rashard Brooks by the Atlanta police, captured in its ugly entirety by an Atlanta policeman's own body cam.
Words (2540)
Jerome Irwin is a freelance writer and author of "The Wild Gentle Ones; A Turtle Island Odyssey" (www.turtle-island-odyssey.com), a three volume account of his travels as a spiritual sojourner, during the 1960's, 70's & 80's, among Native American & First Nation peoples in North America. It encompasses the Indigenous Spiritual Renaissance & Liberation Movements that emerged throughout North America during the civil rights era. In addition to being a long-time political activist and organizer, Irwin has authored over the years a number of environmental, political, cultural, spiritual articles with special emphasis on Native Americans, First Nations, Australian aboriginals, native peoples of Israel, Gaza, Palestine and Syria and especially Black Americans where Irwin retired as a special education teacher at Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Secondary where he worked with Black & Brown students from San Francisco's Bayview and Hunter's Point/Candlestick Park Districts. Irwin also is the publisher of The Wild Gentle Press. Email: jerome_irwin@yahoo.com
President Trump's Potential Re-Election: Corporate Press, Wall Street And Shadowy Fascist Collusions
Trump, Tulsa, and the Rise of Military Dissent
Race still matters in the land of Lincoln
Tags: Tulsa Race Massacre, US Presidential Election 2020
Author: Irwin Jerome

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


To aid with the current times tables requirements, namely that every primary student will be expected to know their times tables up to 12x12, Harrison O'Neill from Rushy Meadow Primary School has created sites for each number.
Each site introduces the topic, encourages discussion about times tables, then has pages for reading and speaking.
Harrison has taken the time to search YouTube for a song for each as well and has built a quiz for consolidation.
The FrogStore is built into your Frog platform.
To install the site, simply click the blue Install button. The site will download and install itself on your Frog.


text:
#include "common.h"
#include "parser.h"
#include "quadric.h"
#include "improved_quadric.h"
#include "preview.h"
#include <iostream>
#include <fstream>
#include <iterator>
#include <thread>
#include <chrono>

int main(int argc, char** argv) {
    using namespace std;
    using namespace Preview;
    using namespace MeshSimplification;

    // argc == 2, GUI mode
    // argc == 4, CLI mode
    assert(argc == 2 || argc == 4);

    // input obj file
    string file;
    ifstream fin(argv[1]);
    file.clear();
    char buff;
    while (fin.get(buff)) file += buff;
    fin.close();

    if (argc == 2) {

        QuadricMethod quadric;
        ImprovedQuadricMethod improvedQuadric;

        auto vertexCallback = [&quadric, &improvedQuadric](const REALTYPE x, const REALTYPE y, const REALTYPE z) {
            quadric.insertVertex(x, y, z);
            improvedQuadric.insertVertex(x, y, z);
        };
        auto faceCallback = [&quadric, &improvedQuadric](const int v0, const int v1, const int v2) {
            quadric.insertFace(v0, v1, v2);
            improvedQuadric.insertFace(v0, v1, v2);
            ++totalNumFaces;
        };

        // parse obj file
        ObjParser objParser(file, lowerBound, upperBound, vertexCallback, faceCallback);

        // calculate view point position
        objCenter = (lowerBound + upperBound) * 0.5;
        REALTYPE viewPointDistance = std::max(std::max(upperBound[0] - lowerBound[0],
                                                       upperBound[1] - lowerBound[1]),
                                              upperBound[2] - lowerBound[2]) * 2.3;
        viewPoint = objCenter + Vector(viewPointDistance, 0, 0);

        // cannot insert any vertex or face after this
        quadric.switchOff();
        improvedQuadric.switchOff();

        // sampling points
        // must be in sorted from largest to smallest
        // linear
        //for (INTTYPE i = numSamples; i > 0; --i) samplingThresholds.push_back(REALTYPE(1) / numSamples * i);
        // exponential
        for (INTTYPE i = 0; i < numSamples; ++i) samplingThresholds.push_back(exp(-0.06 * i));

        // simplify the mesh with multithreads
        auto simplifyFunc0 = [&] { quadric.simplify(samplingThresholds, results[0]); };
        auto simplifyFunc1 = [&] { improvedQuadric.simplify(samplingThresholds, results[1]); };
        thread simplifyThread0(simplifyFunc0);
        thread simplifyThread1(simplifyFunc1);

        // show result
        thread previewThread(initGL, argc, argv);
        previewThread.join();
        // if the display thread exits, ignore the computing threads
        // This may lead to crash when exiting.
        simplifyThread0.detach();
        simplifyThread1.detach();
        //simplifyThread0.join();
        //simplifyThread1.join();
    }
    else if (argc == 4) {

        ImprovedQuadricMethod improvedQuadric;

        auto vertexCallback = [&improvedQuadric](const REALTYPE x, const REALTYPE y, const REALTYPE z) {
            improvedQuadric.insertVertex(x, y, z);
        };
        auto faceCallback = [&improvedQuadric](const int v0, const int v1, const int v2) {
            improvedQuadric.insertFace(v0, v1, v2);
            ++totalNumFaces;
        };

        // parse obj file
        ObjParser objParser(file, lowerBound, upperBound, vertexCallback, faceCallback);

        // calculate view point position
        objCenter = (lowerBound + upperBound) * 0.5;
        REALTYPE viewPointDistance = std::max(std::max(upperBound[0] - lowerBound[0],
                                                       upperBound[1] - lowerBound[1]),
                                              upperBound[2] - lowerBound[2]) * 2.3;
        viewPoint = objCenter + Vector(viewPointDistance, 0, 0);

        // cannot insert any vertex or face after this
        improvedQuadric.switchOff();

        samplingThresholds.push_back(stold(argv[3]));

        std::chrono::high_resolution_clock clock;
        auto t1 = clock.now();
        // simplify the mesh
        improvedQuadric.simplify(samplingThresholds, results[1]);
        auto t2 = clock.now();
        cout << "Simplified in " << (t2 - t1).count() / 1e6 << " ms." << endl;

        // output results
        ofstream fout(argv[2]);
        objParser.output(results[1][0].first, fout);
        fout.close();

    }

}

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


text:
Home Wrestling News
Cover Art For Big Show DVD, Steel Cage Match Pops Large Rating
Raw rating
— WWEDVDNews.com has released the cover art for World Wrestling Entertainment's upcoming DVD set on Big Show, Big Show: A Giant's World. The cover features the WWE Superstar grasping a miniature wrestling ring.
To view the cover art, click here. The three-disc set is scheduled for release on Feb. 22.
— In the segment-by-segment numbers for Monday's Raw, the WWE Title Match between The Miz and John Morrison drew a 3.1 for the first quarter and a 3.2 for the second quarter; Maryse, Melina and Alicia Fox vs. Brie Bella, Eve Torres and Natalya tumbled to 2.9; the in-ring segment with CM Punk, Wade Barrett and The Nexus setting up main event stipulations grew the rating to a 3.2; Alberto Del Rio vs. R-Truth fell to 3.0; backstage interviews with Randy Orton and The Nexus fell to 2.7; beginning of the Steel Cage Match between Orton, Barrett and Sheamus grew to 3.2 and then increased to 3.8 for the overrun. From start to finish, the Steel Cage Match gained 1,611,000 viewers.
Overall, the show drew a 3.08 cable rating, with 4.51 million viewers.
source: Wrestling Observer Newsletter


April 20, 2019 .Reading time 9 minutes.
Welcome to Reading Around the Globe, a series here on Reader Voracious Blog geared at fostering a culture of understanding in the bookish community about access to books in various countries around the world. Each post in the series highlights a full interview with one international reader. You can read more about this series here on the series master post.
Blog URL? Julie has a Booktube channel!
March 30, 2019 .Reading time 9 minutes.
What is your name? You can call me Para. Hi!
Where do you live? I'm from Slovenia.
What is your name? Shania (IPA: ʃæniə) but I go by Sha.
March 16, 2019 .Reading time 13 minutes.


400 E Bay St 1210 is a $1,995, 1,100 square foot, 1 bedroom, 1.0 bath home located in Jacksonville, FL.
FULLY FURNISHED. Spacious floor plan; open kitchen with upgraded cabinetry, pantry & granite counters; tons of closet space; laundry room w/ full-sized W/D; large bdrm with WIC; den w/ French doors; 12th floor balcony with spanning River views;; New wood floors; Ceiling fans; Elec & internet covered by renter. All other fees, util, parking and DirecTV incl.The Plaza Condos are on the River Walk in downtown Jax, walking distance from the office core, TIAA Field & the Jaguars/Armada, the Baseball Grounds, and 5 concert & entertainment venues. Building has gated entry and garage, 24 hour Concierge, tennis and squash crts, fitness ctr, spectacular pool with full sun all day, marina, Swedish sauna, steam room, Jacuzzi, business center and 21st flr Riverview Lounge.
I am interested in 400 E Bay St 1210, Jacksonville, FL 32202.


left a lot of coffee.
Pelevin's story about Vera Pavlovna.
Twin museums are on Maria-Theresa Place. Much more popular is for art, and not for science.
Breugel room is excellent. We also visited Figaro house, where the opera was written, interesting and warm.
Inside Art museum And nearby: palaces, Ring. People are helpful.
Cathedral of Stephan and nearby central places.
The roof is very special.


text:
'use strict';

var _ = require('mano').i18n.bind('documents')
	, baseUrl = url, renderFile, renderFormApplicationFile;

renderFile = function (options) {
	var submission = options.observable.object;

	return section(h2(submission.label),
		div(this.valueDOM = ul({ class: 'documents' })),
		div({ class: 'btn-upload' }, label("+ Choose file", this.control = input({ type: 'file' }))),
		a({ class: 'label pull-right', onclick: 'window.scroll(0, 0)' }, _('Top', 'Tops', 2))
	);
};

renderFormApplicationFile = function (options) {
	var title = options.observable.descriptor.label;

	return section(h2(title),
		div(this.valueDOM = ul({ class: 'documents' })),
		div({ class: 'btn-upload' }, label("+ Choose file", this.control = input({ type: 'file' }))),
		a({ class: 'label pull-right', onclick: 'window.scroll(0, 0)' }, _('Top')));
};

exports.main = function () {
	var user = this.user, url = baseUrl.bind(this.root);

	div(_if(not(eq(user._guideStatus, 1)), section({ class: 'prev-empty-alert' },
		p(a({ href: url() }, _("Please fill the Guide first"))))));

	section({ class: 'subheader' }, h1(span({ class: 'step' }, "3"),
			_("UPLOAD YOUR DOCUMENTS")),
		p({ class: 'bigfont' },
			_("All the mandatory documents must be uploaded."),
			br(),
			small("The following formats are accepted: PDF, JPEG, JPG and PNG, Documents may not" +
				" exceed 30MB each.")));

	div({ class: _if(not(eq(user._guideStatus, 1)), 'disabled') },
		ul({ class: 'submissions' },
			user.requiredSubmissions.toArray(), function (submission) {
				return li(form({ action: url('documents'), method: 'post',
						enctype: 'multipart/form-data', autoSubmit: true },
					div(input({ dbjs: submission._files, render: renderFile }))));
			}),
		div(section({ class: 'prev-print-alert' }, p('The filled single form is automatically' +
				' generated by the system. Click button to' +
				' generate and print. The form must be signed by all Directors, the Company Secretary' +
				' and all Subscribers of the company or their authorised representatives. Once signed,' +
				' please upload it onto the system using the button below.'),
			a({ class: 'btn btn-white',
					target: "_blank", href: url('print-registration-form') },
				i({ class: 'icon-download' }), ' ',
				"View and print form"))),
		div(_if(and(user.signedFormFiles._size, eq(user._isSignedFormFilesUpToDate, false)),
			div(form({ action: url('signed-application-form-uptodate'),
					method: 'post' },
				label(user.getDescriptor('isSignedFormFilesUpToDate').label,
					input({ dbjs: user._isSignedFormFilesUpToDate })),
				input({ class: "btn btn-danger", type: 'submit', value: _("Save") }))))),
		ul({ class: 'submissions' },
			li(form({ action: url('signed-application-form'), method: 'post',
					enctype: 'multipart/form-data', autoSubmit: true },
				div(input({ dbjs: user._signedFormFiles, render: renderFormApplicationFile }))))),
		div({ class: 'disabler' }));

	div({ class: 'row' }, _if(eq(user._documentsStatus, 1), section({ class: 'nextSection' },
		a({ href: url('pay'), class: 'btn btn-large btn-danger' }, _("Continue to next step")))));
};


Like Cold Water to a Thirsty Soul is Good News from a Far Country There are many ways of doing outreach in the world. One method that has been on the increase among Christians is by a congregation initiating work. In the CLC this has been happening also. Here is a report on such from Pastor Hein. His new member Alvin wrote, "Just two years after becoming a full fledged member of Grace Lutheran/CLC USA, thoughts are now directed at my Natal, Liberia where by God's Grace, Grace would be expanded." Read the report and let the joy well up. You can also see a You Tube presentation.
Herman Horne, who was an educator, wrote a book "Teaching Techniques of Jesus" in which he points to essential qualifications for a great teacher and how Jesus is it.
Knowledge of the heart of man.
As we look at these there is no doubt about it, this is our Lord.
Jesus had a vision of what He was about on earth and He stuck to it. His vision was of more than just Israel. "I have other sheep; them also I must bring." He knew His end and its fulfillment as the beginning of the worldwide kingdom outreach. "And I, if I be lifted up, will draw all men to Me." In His parables as well as in other teaching instruments He taught what the kingdom of God is. He not only commanded that His Gospel should go into all the world, but prophesied that it would. Before He ascended He prophesied "You shall be My witness in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria and to the end of the earth." Quite a vision and it is still in effect and being fulfilled today.
Jesus knew what was in man's heart since He was God. We cannot look into man's heart but we know what Scripture says."The imagination of man's heart is evil from his youth." While Jesus personally "needed not that any should tell Him, for He Himself knew what was in man," we know from what our Lord and His Word says. A diligent study of Scripture will enable us to "test the spirits" to see if what we behold is truth or error, sincerity or hypocrisy.
Jesus was the Master at what He taught. He learned in humiliation, learning by even what He suffered. "Never did a man speak as this man." There were times when "no one was able to answer Him a word, nor did any man from that day forth ask Him any more questions." He so ably answered. We do not have the nature of God that we may draw upon the infinite wisdom and knowledge that God alone possesses. But we can walk with Jesus and learn. Ordinary men became apostles who people could tell had walked with Jesus. There was a marked change in them and will be in us as He walks with us and talks with us through His Word.
Another proof of Jesus being the apt teacher is in those "unlearned and ignorant men" who became the Rabbi's students and then went forth. Or consider the lengthy accounts in John 3 and 4 of Jesus teaching Nicodemus and the woman at Jacob's well. 'Apt' is an understatement of how our Lord taught as He moved them from ignorance to understanding, and from sin to grace.
As our Lord lived what He taught what a contrast that was to the scribes and Pharisees and the whole Jewish religious structure. Of Jesus it was said, "This man has done nothing wrong." "I find no fault in Him." Jesus taught that "He who loses his life will find it." He died and rose again. If our life is blatantly different from what we teach people will go by what they see and not by what they hear. The problem for us is the sinful flesh's continuous inclination that we have to fight against. For us as different from the Master when we sin we must repent and say we are sorry. This goes a long way to correct things. This corrects the life picture that might contradict what we teach. With Jesus we have the life to ponder on as our example.
Another educator had the following on how Jesus preached and taught. "The form of preaching of Jesus was essentially Jewish. The Oriental mind does not work the same way as the mind of the West. Our thinking and speaking, when at their best, are fluent, expansive, closely reasoned. The kind of discourse which we admire is one which takes up an important subject, divides it out into different branches, treats it fully under each of the heads, closely articulates part to part, and closes with a moving appeal to the feelings, so as to sway the will to some practical result. The Oriental mind, on the contrary, loves to brood long on a single point, to turn it round and round, to gather up all the truth about it in a focus, and pour it forth in a few pointed and memorable words…The Western speaker's discourse is like a chain in which link is firmly knit to link; an Oriental's is like the sky at night, full of innumerable burning points shining forth from a dark background.
1. Authority – "The people were astonished at His doctrine, for He taught them as one having authority, and not as the scribes." Mt. 7:29 He dwelt on the great themes of justice and mercy, God and love.
2. Boldness – "Lo, He speaks boldly." Jn. 7:26 Think of His withering assault on the scribes and Pharisees (Mt.23), priests and Levites (Lk. 10:25-37).
3. Power – "And they were all amazed and said to one another, 'What is this word? For with authority and power He commands the unclean spirits, and they come out." Lk. 4:36 True enough that His miracles underlined his teaching. Yet He was filled with the Holy Spirit without measure so that the truth possessed Him and as He spoke it was hearts and minds being captured.
4. Graciousness – "They wondered at the gracious words which proceeded out of His mouth." Lk. 4:22 The glow and warmth of the Savior was in stark contrast to the hard, proud, loveless words of His adversaries. Think of their objections to Him healing on the sabbath, condemning it as work that should be done on another day.
5. And He addressed men as men, not as of one class or rank. Think of Him in the house of a tax collector and dealing with the lowly just the same as with the mighty. Mt. 9:10, 11:19, 21:31-32 What He taught, He lived.
Think how He rightly handled the Scriptures and directed people into the Word. He spoke in the language of life, from everyday life relating it to the future life. This fixes in the earthly mind that knows the earthly a picture of the heavenly. The gorgeous beauty of lilies waving in the fields; sheep following a shepherd; broad and narrow gates; virgins with the lamps awaiting in the darkness the bridal procession; the Pharisee with his broad phylacteries and the publican with the bent head at prayer together in the temple; the rich seated in his palace at feast, while the beggar at his gate has dogs licking his sores and hundreds more pictures He gave to convey the spiritual that people might understand.
Though no man ever taught like this man did, we follow after to learn from Him in content and style as much as we can.


An incomparable charm – relaxing, cool, green (luxuriant!) and comfortable, Villa Paradiso has everything on its side! Located in the heart of Baracoa, a unique and extraordinary place that offers many things to discover! There, people say that when you bathe in the River Miel, you will return to Baracoa. I bathed 4 times in it over a few days and the saying may be confirmed!
Relaxed atmosphere, a wonderful view over the Miel Bay, the smooth sea breeze cools the evenings... The bedroom is clean and ample, the food is excellent. The house is just a few minutes from downtown, on a calm street, and you wake up to the roosters' call. The hosts know the region and can point you to the spots not to be missed.
Wonderful place to stay, the hosting is amazing. Delicious food, beautiful location, a view that cannot be beat, clean... There is nothing they won't do to make your experience a positive one. Picked up at the bus terminal, help with buying return tickets, trip to the beach, orientation of the town and surrounding community. Amazing conversation. They love what they do and it is reflected in the service. An open and inclusive environment where you can be yourself.
From Villa Paradiso: Thank You 2017, Welcome 2018!


The Alamo Roadshow will make a stop at 6 p.m. Monday, April 30, at the McAllen Convention Center as part of a 10-city tour, which will give the public the opportunity to learn about the ongoing preservation work of the Alamo, one of Texas' most well-known historical sites.
The event will also allow people to share their own family stories, documents and artifacts related to the Texas revolution, according to an emailed news release. The show's organizers will also as for feedback from attendees on suggestions for the future of the Alamo.
The event will include artifacts from the Alamo that will someday appear in exhibits in the forthcoming Alamo Museum and Visitor's Center, the release states.
Additional details can be found at www.TheAlamo.org.


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Dr. Byron Thomashow Awarded 2013 ATS Public Advisory Roundtable Excellence Award
Byron Thomashow, MD, was recently awarded the 2013 ATS Public Advisory Roundtable (PAR) Excellence Award.
This award is an honor given to a person who embodies many criteria including passion for patients, innovative spirit and outstanding leadership skills, to name just a few.
"It's a tremendous honor, and I'm grateful to have been considered and to be awarded," he says. "While the award is a fantastic individual honor, I believe it is as much a recognition of the COPD Foundation, what we have accomplished, what we hope to accomplish, and is a recognition of the fantastic dedicated staff of the Foundation."
Dr. Thomashow is one of the founders of the COPD Foundation, and serves as Chairman of its Board of Directors. He has been an attending physician at New York-Presbyterian Hospital/ Columbia University Medical Center since 1979 and continues to have an active medical practice. He helped to establish the COPD and Lung Volume Reduction programs at the institution. He is the Medical Director of the Jo-Ann LeBuhn Center for Chest Disease and is Chair of the Respiratory Council for the New York Presbyterian Healthcare System, and is co-chair of the New York COPD Coalition. He has been and remains an active investigator in numerous clinical research trials.
Corinne Costa Davis says Dr. Thomashow truly deserves this award. Her husband, Roy Davis, was a patient of Dr. Thomashow's for 25 years, before passing away from COPD in 2011.
"There were a couple times when we'd be in the emergency room, and without a doubt, two hours later Byron would be there. He was just phenomenal-he was always there. He was so aware of the disease, and Roy was able to manage it so well because Byron helped us understand it," Davis says. "He was a source of support both emotionally, as well as medically, and it was the most magnificent thing…he gave Roy the gift of life."
Norma Revman, a patient of Dr. Thomashow's for about 12 years, agrees.
"He takes care of the whole person—he doesn't just take care of your lungs. He really cares about the patient, and wants you to get better," she says. "I've never met a person like him—either in my personal life or medical life—in all aspects of life. He doesn't do things for recognition—he does them because he wants to, and he wants people to get better."
About a decade ago, Dr. Thomashow helped create the National Emphysema COPD Association (NECA)—a patient organization—and during that time, had the opportunity to meet John W. Walsh, president and co-founder of the COPD Foundation.
"John Walsh is unique—he's really an unbelievable individual. I got to know him, and better understand the tremendous need in the COPD world for a patient-centered organization—and that's where the COPD Foundation came from," he says. "Our initial goal was to build funding for research to ultimately lead to better treatments and a cure. While research remains central to our mission we have recognized that patient and caregiver support, patient and healthcare provider education, and advocacy are also critical elements."
Dr. Thomashow says tremendous work has been done for the COPD community, but stresses that "we need to keep pushing for more research and better care with the goal that one day there will be a cure for this disease."
Until then, Dr. Thomashow will continue to do the great work that he's been doing for the COPD community since he was a pulmonary lab technician in the 1960s.
"I started my practice in 1979, so I've been doing this for a very long time. And I've never regretted becoming a physician—I like taking care of patients. I'm thrilled to be recognized, but there is so much more that needs to be done."
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Understand how to involve customers to reduce service costs and keep them informed about asset performance.
This session will provide you with a step-by-step guide on how to quickly connect your Asset Advisor app to the Azure IoT Hub and other Azure components for a swift data flow from your IoT Edge devices to the app. It will walk you through different Azure configurations you may have and discuss how Asset Advisor can support them.


Joe Agbo (14 points) and Derek Inman (11) joined James in double figures for the Tigers.
Matt O'Connell led Atascadero with 11 points, but the Greyhounds (11-5, 1-2 PAC 7) were unable to overcome Nick Sauer's 22 points for Righetti.
Hunter Walker (14 points) and Quentin Sims had 11 for the Warriors (12-3, 2-0).
Luke Holzschuh led the Pirates with 14 points and seven rebounds in the loss to the Conquistadores (11-5, 2-0 Los Padres League). Freshman Case Bruton was the next-leading scorer for Morro Bay (5-10, 0-2 LPL) with 10 points.
David Terrones led Cabrillo with 23 points, and Curt Rosson followed with 21.
Eddie Salazar led Coast Union (8-7) with 20 points. Shandon's leading scorers were Tommy Harris and Cody Van Boxtel with six points each.
Raven Taylor had a team-high 16 points for the Greyhounds (9-3, 2-1 PAC 7).
"We played really good team defense and had few turnovers, and it was a good game for us," Atascadero coach Jim Stecher said.
Righetti (8-2, 1-1 PAC 7) was held to only nine points in the fourth quarter.
Jenna Sverchek scored a team-high 12 points for Arroyo Grande (11-5, 3-0 PAC 7), which remained unbeaten in league play. Madi Ventura and Rachel Ventura each added nine points for the Eagles. Hannah Kenny led the Tigers (7-9, 2-1) with a game-high 21 points.
Tessa Underwood led the Titans (5-11, 0-3 PAC 7) with 23 points. Hannah Miller led Pioneer Valley with 25.
Nipomo was just 2 of 7 at the free-throw line while the Panthers were 20 of 28.
"Free throws were the difference in the game for us," said Nipomo coach P.J. Deichler.
Ciara Ramos had a team-high 16 points to go with seven rebounds and three assists as the Pirates overcame 26 points from Cabrillo's Tati Dunlap. Hannah Gilbert added 14 points for Morro Bay (8-5, 1-1 LPL), while Megan Hansen scored 10.
Sarah Neal and Katie Koehler were Templeton's leading scorers, each with six points. Koehler had 17 rebounds for Templeton (5-8, 1-1 LPL).
"We played good defense but we put them on the line way too much and our shooting was off," Templeton coach Shawn Koehler said.
The Greyhounds won one of three games at the Arroyo Grande Tournament.
Atascadero's Erin Hasenkamp and Allie Reed each scored one goal in the loss to Rio Mesa.
Katie Patterson was the leading scorer for the Greyhounds with two goals in their second game, and Lauren Kasenberg had nine saves for Atascadero (7-6). Hasenkamp scored three goals in the win against Santa Ynez.


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50. Surah Qaf
The Surah derives its name from the initial letter Qaf, thereby implying that it is the Surah which opens with the alphabetic letter Qaf.
Period of Revelation
There is no authentic tradition to show as to when exactly this Surah was sent down. A study of the subject matter, however, reveals that its period of revelation is the second stage of the Holy Prophet's life at Makkah, which lasted from the third year of the Prophethood till the fifth year. We have given the characteristics of this period in the Introduction to the Sarah Al-An'am. In view of those characteristics it can be said that this Surah might have been sent down in about the 5th year, when the antagonism of the disbelievers had become quite intense but had not yet assumed tyrannical proportions.
Theme and Topics
Authentic traditions show that the Holy Prophet used to recite this Surah generally in the Prayer on the Eid days. A woman named Umm Hisham bin Harithah, who was a neighbor of the Holy Prophet, says that she was able to commit Surah Qaf to memory only because she often heard it from the Holy Prophet in the Friday sermons. According to some other traditions he often recited it in the Fajr Prayer. This makes it abundantly clear that this was an important Surah in the sight of the Holy Prophet. That is why he made sure that its contents reached as many people as possible over and over again.
This reason for this importance can be easily understood by a careful study of the Surah. The theme of the entire Surah is the Hereafter. When the Holy Prophet started preaching his message in Makkah what surprised the people most was the news that people would be resurrected after death, and they would have to render an account of their deeds. They said that that was impossible; human mind could not believe that that would happen. After all, how could it be possible that when the body had disintegrated into dust the scattered particles would be reassembled after hundreds of thousands of years to make up the same body once again and raised up as a living body, Allah in response sent down this discourse. In it, on the one hand, arguments have been given for the possibility and occurrence of the Hereafter in a brief way, in short sentences, and, on the other, the people have been warned, as if to say: "Whether you express wonder and surprise, or you regard it as something remote from reason, or deny it altogether, in any case it cannot change the truth. The absolute, un-alterable truth is that Allah knows the whereabouts of each and every particle of your body that has scattered away in the earth, and knows where and in what state it is. Allah's one signal is enough to make all the scattered particles gather together again and to make you rise up once again as you had been made in the first instance. Likewise, your this idea that you have been created and left free to yourselves in the world and that you have not been made answerable to anyone, is no more than a misunderstanding. The fact is that not only is Allah Himself directly aware of each act and word of yours, even of the ideas that pass in your mind, but His angels also are attached to each one of you, who are preserving the record of whatever you do and utter. When the time comes, you will come out of your graves at one call just as young shoots of vegetable sprout up from the earth on the first shower of the rain. Then this heedlessness which obstructs your vision will be removed and you will see with your own eyes all that you are denying today. At that time you will realize that you had not been created to be irresponsible in this world but accountable to all your deeds the meeting out of the rewards and punishments, the Hell and Heaven, which you regard as impossible and imaginary things, will at that time become visible realities for you in consequence of your enmity and opposition to the Truth you will be cast into the same Hell which you regard as remote from reason today and the ones who fear the Merciful God and return to the path of righteousness, will be admitted to the same Paradise at whose mention you now express wonder and surprise.
In the name of Allah, the Compassionate, the Merciful.
[1-4] Qaf. By the glorious Qur'an!1 -Nay, but they wondered that a Warner from among themselves had come to them.2 So the disbelievers said, "This is indeed a strange thing: when we are dead and have become dust, (shall we be raised up again)? Such a return is far removed from reason."3 (Whereas) We know very well whatever the earth consumes of their bodies, and We have a Book which preserves every thing.4
[5] Nay, but these people plainly denied the Truth when it came to them. That is why they are confused now.5
[6-8] What!6 Have they never looked up to the sky above them, (and observed) how we made it and adorned it,7 and how there is no flaw in it?8 And We spread out the earth and set mountains in it and caused to grow in it every kind of beautiful vegetable.9 All these things are eye-openers and object lessons for every servant who turns (to the Truth).
[9-11] And from the sky We sent down blessed water where-by We produced gardens and harvest grain and tall palm-trees laden with clusters of fruit, piled one over another. This is the arrangement to provide food for the servants. With this water We revive a dead land.10 Such also will be the resurrection (of the dead from the earth)."11
[12-14] Before them the people of Noah and the people of the Rass12 and Thamud also denied, and so did `Ad and Pharaoh13 and the brethren of Lot and the dwellers of Aiykah and the people of Tubba`.14 15 Every one denied the Messengers,16 and consequently My scourge proved true against them.17
[15] What! Were We powerless in case of the fast creation? Yet these people are in doubt concerning a new creation.18
[16-29] We19 have created man and know every evil suggestion that arises in his heart: We are even closer to him than his neck-vein.20 (And besides this direct knowledge of Ours) two scribes, sitting on his right and on his left, are recording everything. He utters not a word but there ' is an ever ready observer to note it down.21 Then behold, the agony of death has come with the truth.22 This is the same thing that you were trying to escape.23 And then the Trumpet was blown.24 threatened. Every person has come in a state that there is a driver with him and a witness.25 You were heedless of this. We have removed your curtain from you, so your sight is very sharp today.26 His companion submitted, "Here is the one who was given in my charge."27 It was commanded, "Cast into Hell28 every stubborn disbeliever,29 who was hostile to the Truth, who was a forbidden of the good,30 a transgressor,31 a doubter32 and who had set up another god with Allah. Cast him into severe torment."33 His companion submitted, "Our Lord, I did not cause him to rebel, but he himself had gone far astray."34 In reply it was said, "Do not dispute in My Presence: I had already warned you of the evil end.35 My sentence cannot be changed36 nor am I unjust to My servants."37
[30-35] The Day when We shall ask Hell, "Are you full?" it will say, "Is there any more?"38 And Paradise shall be brought close to the righteous, no longer distant.39 It will be said, "This is that which was promised to you, to every such person who turned (to God) again and again,40 who Was watchful,41 who feared the Merciful, unseen.42 Who has come with a devoted heart.43 Enter Paradise in peace."44 That Day will be the Day of eternal life. There they shall have all that they will desire, and We have with us yet more for them.45
[36-37] We have destroyed many nations before them, who were much stronger than they in power, and they ransacked all the lands.46 Then, could they find a place of refuge?47 Indeed, in this there is a lesson for every such person who has a heart, or who gives ear and listens with attention.48
[38-40] We created the heavens and the earth and all that lies between them in six days,49 and no fatigue overcame Us. Therefore, O Prophet, bear with patience whatever they say,50 and keep up glorifying your Lord with His praise, before sunrise and before sunset. And glorify Him again in the night and also when you are free from prostrations.51
[41-44] And listen! The Day when the caller shall call out froth near (every person),52 the Day when all the people shall be hearing the Cry rightly,53 shall be the Day of the coming out of the dead from the earth. It is We Who bestow life and give death and to Us shall all return on that Day, when the earth shall split asunder and the people shall be rushing out of it in all haste. This gathering together is very easy for Us.54
[45] O Prophet, We know very well what they say,55 and you are not there to compel them into believing. Therefore, admonish with this Qur'an every such person who fears My warning.56
1The word "majid" is used for expressing two meanings in Arabic: for expressing the high rank, status, honor and dignity of a person, and for saying that somebody is highly generous, charitable and beneficent. This word has been used for the Qur'an in both these meanings. The Qur'an is great and glorious in the sense that no book of the world can be brought up against it. It is a miracle both in its language and literary excellence and in its teaching and wisdom. Humans were helpless to produce the like of it at the time when it was sent down and are likewise helpless even today. Nothing of it could ever be proved wrong in any age, nor can anything of it be proved wrong in the present age. Falsehood can neither attack it from the front nor from the rear, and defeat it. And it is generous and beneficent in the sense that the more a man goes on trying to gain guidance from it, the more of guidance it goes on giving him, and the more he follows and obeys its commands and instructions the more he continues to be blessed with good, things of the world and the Hereafter. There is no limit to its benefits and advantages where a man may become independent of it, and where it may cease to be beneficial and useful for him.
2This sentence is a unique example of eloquence. In it a vast subject has been compressed into a few brief words. The object for which an oath has been sworn by the Qur'an has not been mentioned. In stood, a subtle gap has been left and the sentence is resumed with "nay". If one thinks a little and also keeps in view the background in which this has been said, one comes to know what-is the subject of the gap that has been left between the oath and "nay". In fact, what has been sworn of is this: "The people of Makkah have not refused to acknowledge the Prophet hood of Muhammad (upon whom be Allah's peace and blessings) for any sound reason but for the highly unsound reason that a member of their own kind and an individual of their own nation has conic to them as a Warner from God and this is something highly surprising for them; whereas what would actually be surprising was if God had remained unconcerned about the well-being and adversity of His servants and made no arrangement whatever to warn them; or had sent a non-human to warn the human beings; or a Chinese to warn the Arabs. Therefore, this basis of the denial is absolutely unsound, and a reasonable person cannot but admit that there must exist some arrangement from God to warn the servants, and in the form that the Warner himself should be a person from among the people to whom he is sent." As for the question whether Muhammad (upon whom be Allah's peace and blessings) is the person whom God has sent on this mission, no other evidence is needed to settle it but this glorious and beneficent Qur'an, which he is presenting; this is by itself enough to provide a proof of it. This explanation shows that in this verse an oath has been sworn by the Qur'an to impress the point that Muhammad (upon whom be Allah's peace and blessings) is really the Messenger of Allah and the disbelievers' surprise and wonder about his apostleship is misplaced, and the fact of the Qur'an's being "majid" is a proof of this claim.
3This was the second cause of their surprise, the first being that a member of their own kind and clan had arisen with the claim that he had come as a warner to them from God. They were further surprised that the person was warning them to the effect that all men will be raised back to life after death and they will be produced all together in the Court of Allah where their deeds will be subjected to accountability and they will be rewarded and punished accordingly.
4That is, "If it cannot be comprehended by intellect, it is their own narrow mind to blame. It does not mean that Allah's knowledge and power also should be narrow. They think that it is in no way possible to collect the scattered particles of the bodies of the countless human beings who have died since the beginning of creation and will die till Resurrection. But the fact is that Allah directly knows each of those particles in whatever form and in whichever place they are. Furthermore, a full record of this is being maintained in the Register of Allah, which has not left out any particle un-recorded. Then, as soon as Allah commands, His angels will forthwith take out every particle from wherever it is with the help of this record, and will make up the same bodies once again in which human beings had lived and worked in the world."
This verse also is one of those verses which point out that the lift hereafter will not only be a physical lift as it is in this world, but the body of every person also will be the same which he had in this world. If it were not so, it would be meaningless to tell the disbelievers: "We know very well whatever the earth consumes of their bodies and We have a Book which preserves everything. " (For further explanation, sec E.N. 25 of Surah Ha Mim As-Sajdah) "
5In this brief sentence also a vast subject has been compressed. It means: These people did not rest content only with expressing wonder and declaring the thing to be far removed from reason, but when the Holy Prophet Muhammad (upon whom be Allah's peace and blessings) presented his message of the Truth they denied it as falsehood without any hesitation. Its inevitable result was, and the same only could follow from it, that they arc not agreed on any one position with regard to the invitation and the Messenger who has presented it. Sometimes they brand him a poet, sometimes g sorcerer, and sometimes a madman. Sometimes they say that he is a magician and sometimes that he is bewitched. Sometimes they say that he has fabricated this thing by himself in order to establish-. his superiority, and sometimes they bring the charge that there peace and blessings) himself was standing in Makkah and reciting the Qur'an to the people, who had known and seen him grow up from childhood to youth and mature manhood before their eyes, the full meaning of these allusions was by itself clear and evident to every person. Therefore, leaving it aside, detailed reasoning is now being presented about the authenticity of the second thing which those people regarded as strange and far removed from reason and intellect.
6_____
7Here, by the sky is implied the whole firmament that man finds spread over him, day and night, in which the sun shines in the day and the moon and countless stars glitter at night, which amazes him even when he sees it with the bare eye, but which appears as a vast, limitless Universe when he looks at it through the telescope. It seems to be starting from nowhere and ending nowhere. Millions of times larger planets than our earth are moving in it like tiny balls; thousands of times brighter stars than ow sun are shining in it our this entire solar system is located in a comer of its only one galaxy; only in this one galaxy there exist at (east three thousand million other stars like our own sun, and man's observation has so far discovered one million such galaxies. Out of the lacs of galaxies our nearest, neighboring galaxy is 'so distant from us that its light reaches the earth in ten lac years traveling at the speed of 186,000 miles per second. This shows the vastness of that part of the Universe which has so far been observed and explored by man. As to how vast is the entire Universe of God we have no means to estimate and judge. Maybe that the known Universe of man does not bear with the entire Universe even that ratio which a drop of water beats with the ocean. If about the God Who has brought this huge and wonderful Universe into being, this tiny talking animal, called man, who creeps the earth, asserts that He cannot recreate him once again after death, it would be due to narrowness of his own mind. The power of the Creator of the Universe would not at all be affected by it !
8That is, "In spite of its amazing vastness the wonderful order of the Universe is so coherent and firm and its composition so perfect that there is no crack or cleft in it, and its continuity breaks nowhere. This can be understood by an example. Radio astronomers of the present age have observed a galactic system which they have named Source 3c 295. They think that its rays which are now reaching us might have left it more than four thousand million years ago. The question is: How could it be possible for the rays to reach the earth from such a distant source had the continuity and coherence of the Universe between the earth and the galaxy been broken somewhere and its composition been split at some point. Allah, in fact, alludes to this reality and puts this question before man "When you cannot point out even a small breach in this system of My Universe, how did the concept of any weakness in My power enter your mind, that after the respite of your test is over, if I like to bring you back to life to subject you to accountability before Me, I would not be able to do so?"
This is not only a proof of the possibility of the Hereafter but also a proof .of Tauhid. These rays' reaching the earth from a distance of four thousand million light years and being detected by the man-made instruments expressly points to the fact that from the galaxy to the earth the entire world has been made up of one and the same substance continuously, one and the same kind of the forces are working in it, and they are functioning according to the same laws without any difference and disparity. Were it not so the rays could neither have reached here, nor detected by the instruments which Man had made after understanding the laws working on the earth and its surroundings. This proves that One God alone is the Creator of this whole Universe and its Master and Ruler and Controller .
9For explanation, sec E.N.'s 12, 13, 14 of An-Nahl, E.N.'s 73, 74 of An-Naml, and E.N. 7 of Az-Zukhruf.
10For explanation, set E.N.'s 73, 74, 81 of An-Naml, E.N.'s 25, 33, 35 of Ar-Rum and E. N . 29 of Ya Sin.
11The reasoning is this: `Your conjecture about God Who made this sphere of the earth a suitable home for living creatures and Who by combining the lifeless clay of the earth with the lifeless water from the sky produced such a fine vegetable life that you witness flourishing in the form of your gardens and crops, and W ho made the vegetation a means of sustenance for both man and beast, that He has no power to resurrect you after death, is a foolish and absurd conjecture. You witness almost daily the phenomenon that a land is lying barren and lifeless; then as soon as it receives a shower of rain, it gives birth to an endless train of life all of a sudden, the roots lying dead for ages sprout up and a variety of insects emerge playfully from the layers of the earth. This is a manifest proof that life after death is not impossible. When you cannot deny this express observation of yours, how can you deny that when Allah wills, you too will sprout up from the earth as the vegetation sprouts up. In this connection, one may note that in many parts of Arabia it does not sometimes rain for as long as five years at a stretch and sometimes even for longer periods the land does not receive even a drop of rain. For such long intervals in the burning deserts it is not conceivable that the roots of grass and the insects of the earth would survive. In spite of this when a little of the rain falls at some place, grass sprouts up and the insects of the earth return to life. Therefore, the inhabitants of Arabia can understand this reasoning much better than those people who do not have to experience such long periods of drought.
12Before this the people of Rass (Ashab ar-Rass) have been mentioned in Surah AI-Furqan: 38 above, and now here, but at both places they have been only referred to as of those nations who rejected the Prophets. No other detail about them has been given. In the traditions of Arabia two places are well known by the name of ar-Rass, one in the Najd and the other in northern Hejaz. Of these ar-Rass of the Najd is better known and has been referred to more often in the pre-Islamic poetry of Arabia. Now it is difficult to determine which of these was the home of the Ashab ar-Rass. No reliable detail of their story is found in any tradition either. The most that one can say with certainty is that it was a nation which had thrown its Prophet into a well. But from the mere allusion that has been made to them in the Qur'an one is led to think that in the time of the revelation of the Qur'an the Arabs were generally aware of this nation and its history, but the traditions about them could not be preserved in historic records.
13Only the Pharaoh has been mentioned instead of the people of Pharaoh, for he had so dominated his people that they had been left with no independent opinion and will of their own, apart from him. They followed him willy-nilly wherever he led them. That is why he alone was held responsible for the deviation and degeneration of his people. Wherever there exists the freedom of will and action for a nation, it by itself bears the burden of its deeds, and wherever one man's dictatorship may have rendered a nation powerless the one man alone takes on his head the burden of the sins of entire nation. This doesn't mean that the nation becomes absolved from its duty and responsibility when the one man alone has burdened himself with the responsibility. This is not so. The nation in such a case becomes responsible for the moral weakness shown by it in that why it allowed a man to overpower and dominate it so completely. The same thing has been alluded to in Az-Zukhruf: 54, thus: "Pharaoh took his people to be light, and they obeyed him, for they were indeed a sinful people. " (For explanation, see E.N. 50 of Surah Az-Zukhruf).
14For explanation, see E.N. 37 of Surah Saba; E.N, 32 of Surah Dukhan.
15That is, they all denied the apostleship of their Messengers as well as the news given by them that they will be raised back to life after death.
16Although every nation denied only the Messenger who was sent to it, as it denied the news which all the Messengers have been presenting unanimously, denying one Messenger, therefore, amounted to denying all of them. Moreover, these nations did not merely deny the apostleship of the Messenger who had come to them, but they were not at all inclined to believe that a mere human could be appointed by Allah for the guidance of other men. Therefore, they denied apostleship itself, and .the crime of no one was confined to belying and rejecting any one Messenger only.
17This is a reasoning from history for the Hereafter. In the preceding six verses, arguments were given for the possibility of the Hereafter; in these the historical end of the nations of Arabia and the adjoining lands has been presented as an argument to prove that the doctrine of the Hereafter which all the Prophets have been presenting, is the very truth, for whichever nation denied it became involved in the moral degeneration of the worst kind with the result that the torment of God descended on it and eliminated it from the world. This necessary result of the denial of the Hereafter and moral perversion which one can witness throughout history, is an express proof of the fact that man has not been created to be irresponsible in this world, but he has necessarily to render an account of his deeds as soon as the time limit for action at his disposal comes to an end. That is why whenever he works in the world irresponsibly, his whole lift pattern is set on the path of ruin. If evil and wrong results go on following a course of action successively, it is a clear proof that that course of action is in conflict with the truth.
18This is a rational argument for the Hereafter. The person who is not a denier of God and is also not so foolish as to regard this excellently ordered Universe and the creation of man in it as a mere accident, cannot help but admit that God alone has created man and this whole Universe. Now this actual fact that we exist alive in this world and this great work-house of the earth and heavens is functioning before us, by itself is an obvious proof that God was in no way powerless in creating us and this Universe. Yet if a man says that after bringing about Resurrection the same God will not be able to bring about a new world order and will not be able to create us once again, he says an irrational thing. Had God been powerless He would not have been able to create all this in the first instance. When He has created the Universe in the first instance and we ourselves came into existence by virtue of that act of creation, what can then be the rational ground for assuming that He will become powerless to re-make the dismantled thing originally made by Himself?
19After presenting the arguments for the Hereafter, it is being stated: `Whether you believe in the Hereafter, or deny it, it has to come in any case, and it is such a factual reality, which will certainly come about in spite of your denial. If you heed the warning given by the Prophets in advance and prepare for it, you will be doing good to yourselves; if you do not believe in it, you will be inviting your own doom. Your denial will not prevent the Hereafter from taking place and God' s Law of justice will not became suspended."
20That is, "Our power and Our knowledge has so encompassed man from within and without that Our power and knowledge is closer to him than his own neck-vein. We do not have to travel from a distance to hear what he says, but We directly know every thought that arises in his heart. Likewise, when We shall want to seize him, We will not have to seize him after covering a distance, for wherever he is, he is in Our grasp; and whenever We will, We will seize him."
21That is, "On the one hand, We Our self directly know man's actions and movements, even his hidden thoughts; on the other, every man has two angels appointed over him, who are recording whatever he does and says; none of his actions or words is left unrecorded. " This means that when man is produced in the Court of Allah, Allah at that time Himself also will be knowing what each person has done in the world; besides, there will also be two witnesses who will produce documentary evidence of the person's actions and deeds. As to what will be the nature of this documentary evidence, it is difficult for us to have a precise conception of it. But from the facts that we are witnessing today, it seems certain that the voices and pictures and marks of man's actions and movements are being preserved and imprinted on every particle of the environment in which he lives and works, and each one of these can be reproduced in exactly the same form and voice so as to Leave no difference whatever between the original and its copy. Man is doing this on a very limited scale with the help of his inventions, but the angels of God neither stand in need of these machines nor are bound by any limitation. Man's own body and everything around it is their tape and their film upon which they can record every voice and every image along with its minutest and most delicate detail precisely and exactly, and can make man hear, on the Day of Resurrection, with his own ears, in his own voice, those very things which he talked in the world, and can make him see, with his own eyes, the pictures of all his misdeeds, whose genuineness he would not possibly be able to deny.
Here, one should also understand that in the Court of the Hereafter Allah will not punish anybody only on the basis of His own knowledge, but will punish him after fulfilling all the requirements of justice. That is why an exhaustive record is being got prepared of every person's words and deeds in the world so that a complete proof with undeniable evidence becomes available of everyone's life-work and activity.
22"To come with the truth" implies that the agony of death is the starting point when the reality which had remained concealed in the world, begins to be uncovered. At this point man starts seeing clearly the other world of which the Prophet had forewarned him. Here, man also comes to know that the Hereafter is the very truth, and also this whether he is entering this second stage of life as favored or damned.
23That is, "This is the same reality which you refused to believe. You desired that you should live and go about as an unbridled rogue in the world, and there should be no other life after death, in which you may have to suffer for the consequences of your deeds, That is why you shunned the concept of the Hereafter and were not at all inclined to believe that this next world would ever be established. Now, you may see that the same next world is unveiling itself before you.".
24This implies that blowing of the Trumpet at which all dead men will rise back to life in their own physical bodies. For explanation, see E.N. 47 of Al An'am, E.N. 57 of Ibrahim, E.N. 78 of Ta. Ha, E.N.1 of AI-Hajj, E.N.'s 46,47 of Ya Sin, and E.N. 79 of Az-Zumar.
25Most probably this implies the same two angels who had been appointed for compiling the record of the words and deeds of the person in the world. On the Day of Resurrection, when every man will rise from his grave on the sounding of the Trumpet, the two angels will come forth immediately and take him into their custody. One of them will drive him to the Divine Court and the other will be carrying his record.
26That is, "You can clearly see that everything of which the Prophets foretold is present here. "
27Some commentators say that "the companion" implies the angel who has been referred to as "a witness" in verse 21. He will say: "I have this person's record ready with me here" . Some other commentators say that "the companion" implies the satan who was attached to the person in the world. He will say: "This person whom I was controlling and preparing for Hell, is now presented before You. " But the commentary that is more relevant to the context is the one that has been reported from Qatadah and Ibn Zaid. They say that the companion implies the angel who drove and brought the person to Allah's Court He will say, ¦Here is the person who had been given in my charge"
28As the context shows this command will be given to the two angels who had taken the culprit into their custody as soon as he had risen from the grave, and then brought him before the Court. "
29The word kaffar" as used in the Text means an ungrateful person as well as a denier of the truth.
30"Khair" in Arabic is used both for wealth and for goodness. According to the first meaning, the sentence means that he paid no one his dues from his wealth, neither the dues of Allah nor of the people. According. to the second meaning, it would mean that he did not only withhold himself from the path of goodness but forbade others also to follow it. He had become a hindrance for the people in the way of goodness and exerted his utmost to sec that goodness did not spread.
31That is, "He transgressed the bounds of morality in every-thing he did. He was ever ready to do anything and everything for the sake of his interests, his desires and his lusts. He amassed wealth by unlawful means and spent it in unlawful ways. He usurped the people's rights, had neither control over his tongue nor over his hands, and committed every injustice and excess. He did not rest content with creating hindrances in the way of goodness but harassed those who adopted goodness and persecuted those who worked for it."
32The word murib" as used in the original has two meanings: a doubter and the one who puts others in doubt, and both arc implied here. It means that he was not only himself involved in doubt but also created doubts in the hearts of others. He held as doubtful the Being of Allah and the Hereafter and the angels and the Prophet hood and Revelation and every other truth of religion. Anything that was presented by the Prophets as a truth was held as unbelievable by him, and the same disease he spread to other people. Whomever he came in contact with, he would create one or the other doubt, one or the other evil thought in his mind.
33Allah, in these verses, has enumerated the qualities that make a man worthy of Hell:
(1) Denial of the Truth,
(2) ingratitude to Allah,
(3) enmity for the Truth and the followers of the Truth,
(4) to become a hindrance in the way of goodness,
(5) failure to fulfill the rights of Allah and the people from one's wealth,
(6) to transgress the bounds in one's affairs,
(7) to commit injustices and excesses against others,
(8) to doubt the truths of religion,
(9) to create doubts in the hearts of the people, and
(10) to hold another as an associate in the Godhead of Allah.
34Here by "companion" is meant the satan who was attached to the disobedient person in the world. And this also becomes evident from the style that both the person and his satan are disputing between themselves in the Court of Allah. He says: "My Lord, this wretched one pursued me in the world and did not leave me until he succeeded in misleading me; therefore he alone should be punished. And the satan replies "Lord, I had no power over him. Had he not himself willed to become rebellious, I could not have seduced him forcibly. This wretched person himself fled from goodness and was fascinated by evil. That is why he did not like anything that the Prophets presented and went on yielding to every temptation and inducement presented by me."
35That is, "I had warned both of you as to what punishment will be given to the one who beguiles and what punishment will be suffered by him who is beguiled. In spite of this warning when you did not desist from committing your
Respective crimes, there is no use quarreling now. Both the one who beguiled and the one who was beguiled have to be punished for the crimes committed by them. "
36That is, "It is not My way to change the decisions once taken. The decision that I have taken to east you into Hell cannot be withdrawn, nor can the law that I had announced in the world be changed that the punishment for misleading and for being misled will be awarded in the Hereafter."
37The word zallam as used in the original means the one who is highly unjust. It does not mean: "I am unjust to My servants but not highly unjust. " But it means: "If I were unjust to My own servants being their Creator and Sustainer, I would be highly unjust. Therefore, I am not at all unjust to My servants. This punishment that I am giving you is precisely the same punishment which you have made yourselves worthy of. You arc not being punished an iota more than what you actually deserve, for My Court is a Court of impartial justice. Here, no one can receive a punishment which he does not actually deserve, and for which his being worthy has not been proved by certain and undeniable evidence.
38This can have two meanings:
(1) "There is no room in me for more men; " and
(2) "bring all other culprits who may be there. "
According to the first meaning the scene depicted would be that Hell has been so stuffed up with culprits that it cannot hold any more; so much so that when it was asked: "Are you full ?" it cried out, alarmed: "Are there still more culprits to come ?" According to the second meaning, the scene depicted before the mind is that the wrath of Hell is so flared up against the culprits that it is constantly demanding more and more of them to be cast into it so that no culprit escapes un-punished.
"Here, the question arises: What is the nature of Allah Almighty's addressing Hell and its reply? Is it only something metaphoric, or is Hell actually a living and intelligent being which may be spoken to and it may respond and give replies? In this regard nothing can, in fact, be said with certainty. Maybe the meaning is metaphoric and only for the purpose of depicting the actual scene of the state of Hell it may have been described in the form of the question and answer, just as one may ask a motor-car: "Why don't you move forward?" and it may say: "There is no petrol in me." But this also is quite possible that this conversation is based on reality. Therefore, it is not correct to assume about the
40The word awwab is very extensive in meaning. It implies the person who might have adopted the way of obedience and Allah's goodwill instead of the way of disobedience and the flesh, who gives up everything that is disapproved by Allah and adopts everything that is approved by him, who gets alarmed as soon as he swerves a little from the path of worship and obedience and repents and returns to the path of worship and obedience, who remembers Allah much and turns to Him in all matters of life.
41The word hafiz means the "one who guards. " This implies the person who takes care of the bounds and duties enjoined by Allah, who guards the trusts imposed by Allah and avoids the things forbidden by him, who keeps watch over his time, energies and activities to see that none of these is being misemployed or misused, who offers repentance, remains steadfast and keeps it. strong and intact, who examines himself over and over again to see that he is not disobeying his Lord anywhere in word or deed.
42That is, Although he could not see the Merciful God and could not perceive Him by his senses in any way, yet he feared His disobedience. His heart was more dominated by the fear of the unseen Merciful God than the fear of other perceptible powers and visible and mighty beings, and in spite of knowing that He is All-Merciful, he did not become a sinner, trusting His Mercy, but feared His displeasure in whatever he said and did. Thus, this verse points to two of the believer's important and basic characteristics: first, that he fears God although he cannot see and perceive Him; second, that he does not persist in sin in spite of his full awareness of God's quality of mercy. These very two characteristics make him worthy of honor in the sight of Allah. Besides, there is another subtle point also in it, which Imam Razi has pointed out. In Arabic, there are two words for fear, khauf and khashiyyat, which have a difference in their shade of meaning. The word khauf is generally used for the fear that a man feels in his heart on account of his sense of weakness as against someone's superior power and strength, and the word khashiyyat is used for the dread and awe with which a man is filled and inspired because of somebody's glory and grandeur and greatness. Here, the word khashiyyat has been used instead of khauf, which is meant to point out that a believer does not fear Allah only on account of the fear of His punishment, but it is the sense of Allah's glory and greatness that keeps him awe inspired at all times.
43The word munib in the original is derived from inabat, which means to turn to one direction and to turn to the same again and again, just like the needle of the compass that points to the magnetic north persistently, however one may try to turn it away from that direction. Therefore, qalb-i-munib would mean such a heart as has turned away from every other direction and turned towards One Allah alone and then kept on turning towards Him again and again throughout life. The. same sense has been conveyed by the "devoted heart." This shows that in the sight of Allah the man of real worth is he who remains attached and devoted to Allah alone not merely verbally but also truly and sincerely.
44If the word salam in udkhulu-ha bi-salam-in is taken in the meaning of peace and security, it would mean: "Enter this Paradise safe and secure from every kind of grief, sorrow, anxiety and affiliation"; and if it is taken in the meaning of salam itself, it would mean: "Enter this Paradise you are welcomed here with the greeting of peace by Allah and his angels."
In these verses Allah has mentioned the qualities because of which a person makes himself worthy of Paradise, and they are:
(1) Taqwa (piety),
(2) Turning towards Allah,
(3) watching over and guarding one's relationship with Allah,
(4) fearing Allah although one has not seen Him, and has full faith in His quality of mercy, and
(5) coming into His Presence with a devoted and captivated heart, i.e. remaining constant on the way of devotion and dedication till death.
45That is, "They will certainly get whatever they desire, but in addition We will also give them that which they have never conceived and, therefore, could not desire."
46That is, "They were not only powerful and strong in their own land but had also made incursions into other lands and brought under their sway far off lands as well. "
47That is, "Could their power and might save them when the time appointed by Allah came for their seizure? And could they find shelter and refuge anywhere? Now, on what trust do you hope that you will get refuge somewhere in the world when you have rebelled against Allah ?"
48In other words, either one should have so much of native intelligence that one may think right of one's own accord, or if not so, one should be so free from prejudice and neglect that one may listen with attention when another person tries to make one understand the truth.
49For explanation, see E.N.'s 11 to 15 of the commentary of Surah Ha Mim As-Sajdah.
50That is, "The fact of the matter is that We have made this entire Universe in six days and We did not become weary at the end so that We might be powerless to reconstruct it Now, if these ignorant people mock you when they hear the news of the life-after-death from you and call you a madman, have patience at it, listen to whatever nonsense they utter with a cool mind, and continue to preach the truth that you have been appointed to spread. "
In this verse, there is a subtle taunt on the Jews and the Christians as well, in whose Bible the story has been fabricated chat God made the earth and the heavens in six days and rested on the seventh day (Gen., 2: 2). Although the Christian priests are now feeling shy of it and have changed "rested" into "farigh hua" (ceased from working) in their Urdu translation of the Holy Bible, yet in King James Authorized Version of the Bible, the words"...and he rested on the seventh day" are still there, and the same words are also found in the translation that the Jews have published from Philadelphia in 1954. In the Arabic translation also the words are: fastraha ft! yaum as-sebi'.
51This is the means by which man gets the power and energy to continue his struggle to raise the Word of the Truth and to call the people towards righteousness throughout life with full determination even though he may have to pass through heart-breaking and soul-destroying conditions and his efforts may seem to be bearing no fruit. Praising and glorifying the Lord implies the Prayer here, and wherever in the Qur'an the praise and glorification has been associated with specific times, it implies the Prayer. The Prayer "before sunrise" is the Fajr Prayer, and the Prayers "before sunset" are the 'Asr and the Zuhr Prayers. The Prayers in the night are the Maghrib and the `Isha` Prayers, and the third, the Tahajjud Prayer, is also included in the glorification of the night. (For explanation, see E.N. 111 of Ta Ha; E.N.'s 23, 24 of Ar-Rum). As for the glorification that has been commanded after "being free from prostrations", it may imply the after-Prayer devotions as well as the offering of the voluntary prayers at the end of the prescribed obligatory Prayers. Hadrat Umar, Hadrat 'Ali, Hadrat Hasan bin 'Ali, hadrat Abu Hurairah, Ibn `Abbas, Sha`bi, Mujahid, 'Ikrimah, Hasan Basri, Qatadah, Ibrahim Nakha`i and Auza'i say that it implies the two rak ats after the Maghrib Prayer. Hadrat `Abdullah bin `Amr bin 'As, and according to a tradition, Hadrat `Abdullah bin 'Abbas also, held the opinion that it implies the after-Prayer devotions, and Ibn Zaid says -that the object of this Command is that voluntary Prayers also should be offered after the prescribed obligatory Prayers.
According to a tradition reported in Bukhari and Muslim, on the authority of Hadrat Abu Hurairah, once the poor emigrants from Makkah came before the Ho]y Prophet, and said "O Messenger of Allah, the rich people have attained high ranks for themselves The Holy Prophet asked: What has happened ? They said: They offer the Prayers as we offer, and they observe the Fasts as we observe; but they practice charity, which we cannot, and they set the slaves free which we cannot. The Holy Prophet said: Should I tell you a thing which if you practiced, you would surpass all others, except those who practiced the same that you practiced? It is this that you should pronounce Subhan-Allah, al-Hamdu-lillah and Allah-u-Akbar, 33 times each after every Prayer. " After some time, the same people came and said: `Our rich brothers also have heard this and they too have started practicing, it." Thereupon the Holy Prophet said: "This is Allah's bounty and He bestows it on whomever He wills." According to a tradition these devotional words have to be repeated ten times each instead of 33 times each.
Hadrat Zaid bin Thabit has reported that the Holy Prophet instructed his Companions that they should pronounce Subhan-Allah and al Hamdu-lillah 33 times each and Allah-u-Akbar 34 times after every Prayer. Afterwards an Ansar Companion submitted: "I have seen in a vision that somebody was telling me that it would be better if I pronounced these three devotional words 25 times each and then La ilaha ill-Allah 25 times. The Holy Prophet replied: Well, you may do likewise." (Ahmad, Nasa'i, Darimi).
Hadrat Abu Said Khudri says: ¦I have heard the Holy Prophet pronounce the following words when he would return after the Praye rs were over: Subhana Rabbika Rabbil- `izzat-i `anima yasifun ' wa salam-un 'alal-mursalin, wal-hamdu lillah-i Rabb-il alamin. " (Jassas Ahkam al-Qur 'an).
Besides these, several other forms of the after-Prayer devotional pronouncements also have been reported from the Holy Prophet. Those who wish to act on this instruction of the Qur'an may select the one they find suitable from Mishkat.' Bab adh-dhikr 6a `d as-Salat, commit it to memory and practice it. Nothing can be better than what the Holy Prophet himself has taught in this regard. But what one should bear in mind is that the real object of the devotional pronouncements is not to utter these words only as a matter of course but to refresh and fix their meaning in the mind. Therefore, the meaning of whatever devotions one pronounces should be understood well and then practiced with full consciousness of the meaning.
52That is, "Wherever a dead person would be lying, or wherever his death had occurred is the world, the cry of the caller shall reach him there, which will urge him to rise and go before his Lord to render his account. This cry will be such that everybody who rises from death anywhere on the surface of the earth, will feel as though the caller had called him from a nearby place. Simultaneously will this cry be heard everywhere on the globe equally clearly. From this also one can judge how different will be the concepts of space and time in the neat world from what they arc in this world, and what forces will be working there in accordance with the new laws. "
53The words yasm'aun-as-saihata bil haqq-i can have two meanings:
(1) That all the people will be hearing the cry of the right Command; and
(2) that they will be hearing the cry rightly.
In the first case the sentence will mean that the people will be hearing the same right Command with their cars, which they were not inclined to accept in the world, which they had persistently refused to believe, and mocked the Prophets who had brought it. In the second case it will mean that they will certainly hear this cry, and they will realize that it is no fancy but indeed the Cry of Resurrection; they will be left with no doubt that the Day of Resurrection of which they had been forewarned had arrived and the Cry that was being raised was of the same.
54This is the answer to the saying of the disbelievers that has been reproduced in verse 3 above. They said: "How can it be that when we arc dead and become dust, we shall be raised back to life once again 7 This resurrection is far removed from reason. " In reply it has been said: "This gathering together, i. e. , raising back to life and gathering all the people of the former and latter times together, is very easy for Us. It is not at all difficult for Us to know as to where the dust of one particular person lies and where of the other. We shall also face no difficulty in knowing as to which arc the particles of Harry and which of Dick among the scattered particles of the dust. Gathering together all these particles separately and re-making each and every man's body once again and then creating in that body, the same very personality which had lived in it before, is not a task that may require any hard labor from Us, but all this can be accomplished immediately at one signal from Us. All those human beings who have been born in the world since the time of Adam till Resurrection can be brought together by one Command of Ours. If your petty mind thinks it is far off, it may think so, but it is not beyond the power of the Creator of the Universe."
55In this sentence there is consolation for the Holy Prophet as well as a threat for the disbelievers. Addressing the Holy Prophet it has been said: "Do not care at all about what these foolish people utter about you: We are hearing everything and it is for Us to deal with it. " The disbelievers are being warned to the effect: "The taunting remarks that you are passing against Our Prophet, will cost you dearly. We Our self are hearing everything that you utter and you will have to suffer for its consequences."
56This does not mean that the Holy Prophet wanted to compel the people into believing and Allah stopped him from this, but, in fact, although the Holy Prophet has Been addressed the disbelievers are being warned, as if to say, 'Our Prophet has not been sent as a dictator over you. He is not there to compel you to become believers even if you did not wish to believe. His only responsibility is that he should recite the Qur'an and make the truth plain to the one who would take the warning. Now, if you do not accept his invitation, We Our self will deal with you, not he."


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