Satan, the rebellious desires, and satanic people lead people into transgressing. Mubeen = Open = Obvious = Known = Sure 7:22

Fahasha = Lewdness = Stinginess to the point of shame = Indecent acts. The satans in the society set up rules contrary to the Divine revelation. They make their own lists of permissible and forbidden and teach people that accumulation of wealth is perfectly alright. Nay, spend on God's servants all that is beyond your needs. 2:21-22, 2:219, 41:10

5:104, 10:78, 11:62, 11:87, 21:53, 34:43, 38:7, 43:23. Hudan and derivatives = Prominent = Bright = Lighted = Clearly visible = Leading = Guidance = Lighthouse = A well-lit road = A landmark of identification in the desert or sea

This is subhuman level of existence 7:179. 'Unq = Shepherd's call. Shepherd here pertains to religious leaders who have learned some meaningless words or tenets, and a herd of sheep is the masses that blindly follow them. Kufr embraces blind following in addition to denying, opposing, or concealing the truth. Perceptual senses alone cannot distinguish human beings from the rest of the Animal Kingdom. It is the data processing or intellectual analysis that makes them distinct

2:168

6:121, 6:145. Ithm = A violation that drags down the 'self' = An act that hurts the human 'self' = Anything that makes it difficult to rise up = An impediment to activity = Any action that depletes individual or communal energy. Ghafarah = Helmet and armor. Forgiveness involves protection from the detrimental effects of faults

Those who conceal the Book = The ones who start making their own lists of the lawful and unlawful, and thus, usurp the Divine Right of lawmaking. Also note that this verse clearly mentions the ongoing growth and evolution of the 'self' in the Hereafter. Tazkiah from Zaku = Growth = Purity from vice = Development of the 'self' = Self-actualization

4:82, 25:30. Shaqq and derivatives = To split = Fall apart = Schism = Fall into disputes = Opposition = Oppose one another = Splitting of personality = Break apart the unity = Enmity

2:4, 3:91-92 Yateem, Miskeen, Ibn-is-Sabeel, Fir-Riqaab, carry all the meanings rendered above. Please also note that the Qur'an has named above the well-known five "Articles of faith." But belief in Taqdeer = Predetermined destiny, has been interjected in the fabricated Ajami accounts as the sixth article of faith by 'Imams', making Muslims fatalistic in their thought and behavior. The Qur'an nowhere mentions Taqdeer or the predestined fates of individuals. Qadar or Taqdeer always denote the law, the due measure of all things appointed by God. And man determines his own destiny by following or defying those laws

This refers to an arbitrary attribution to God of commandments or prohibitions in excess of what has been clearly ordained by Him (Zamakhshari). Some of the commentators (e.g., Muhammad `Abduh in Manar 11, 89 f.) include within this expression the innumerable supposedly "legal" injunctions which, without being clearly warranted by the wording of the Qur'an or an authentic Tradition, have been obtained by individual Muslim scholars through subjective methods of deduction and then put forward as "God's ordinances". The connection between this passage and the preceding ones is obvious. In verses 165-167 the Qur'an speaks of those "who choose to believe in beings that supposedly rival God": and this implies also a false attribution, to those beings, of a right to issue quasi-religious ordinances of their own, as well as an attribution of religious validity to customs sanctioned by nothing but ancient usage (see next verse).

This is a very free rendering of the elliptic sentence which, literally, reads thus: "The parable of those who are bent on denying the truth is as that of him who cries unto what hears nothing but a cry and a call." The verb na'qa is mostly used to describe the inarticulate cry with which the shepherd drives his flock.

I.e., all that has been dedicated or offered in sacrifice to an idol or a saint or a person considered to be "divine". For a more comprehensive enumeration of the forbidden kinds of flesh, see 5:3.

This term is used here in its generic sense,. comprising both the Qur'an and the earlier revelations.

Lit., "has been bestowing". Since the form nazzala implies gradualness and continuity in the process of revelation, it can best be rendered by the use of the present tense.

Lit., "who hold discordant views about the divine writ"- i.e., either suppressing or rejecting parts of it, or denying its divine origin altogether (Razi).

Thus, the Qur'an stresses the principle that mere compliance with outward forms does not fulfil the requirements of piety. The reference to the turning of one's face in prayer in this or that direction flows from the passages which dealt, a short while ago, with the question of the qiblah.

In this context, the term "revelation" (al-kitab) carries, according to most of the commentators, a generic significance: it refers to the fact of divine revelation as such. As regards belief in angels, it is postulated here because it is through these spiritual beings or force's (belonging to the realm of al-ghayb, i.e., the reality which is beyond the reach of human perception) that God reveals His will to the prophets and, thus, to mankind at large.

The expression ibn as-sabil (lit., "son of the road") denotes any person who is far from his home, and especially one who, because of this circumstance, does not have sufficient means of livelihood at his disposal (cf. Lane IV, 1302). In its wider sense it describes a person who, for any reason whatsoever, is unable to return home either temporarily or permanently: for instance, a political exile or refugee.

Ar-raqabah (of which ar-riqab is the plural) denotes, literally, "the neck", and signifies also the whole of a human person. Metonymically, the expression fi 'r-riqab denotes "in the cause of freeing human beings from bondage", and applies to both the ransoming of captives and the freeing of slaves. By including this kind of expenditure within the essential acts of piety, the Qur'an implies that the freeing of people from bondage - and, thus, the abolition of slavery - is one of the social objectives of Islam. At the time of the revelation of the Qur'an, slavery was an established institution throughout the world, and its sudden abolition would have been economically impossible. In order to obviate this difficulty, and at the same time to bring about an eventual abolition of all slavery, the Qur'an ordains in 8:67 that henceforth only captives taken in a just war (jihad) may be kept as slaves. But even with regard to persons enslaved in this or-before the revelation of 8 : 67-in any other way, the Qur'an stresses the great merit inherent in the freeing of slaves, and stipulates it as a means of atonement for various transgressions (see, e.g., 4:92, 5:89, 58:3). In addition, the Prophet emphatically stated on many occasions that, in the sight of God, the unconditional freeing of a human being from bondage is among the most praiseworthy acts which a Muslim could perform. (For a critical discussion and analysis of all the authentic Traditions bearing on this problem, see Nayl al-Awtar VI, 199 ff.)

Throughout the Quran, only four dietary articles are prohibited (6:145; 16:115). Other dietary prohibitions are the products of those who have divided themselves into sects and factions by following hadith and sunna. Prohibiting something that God has not prohibited in the name of God is another way of associating partners with God (6:121,147).

The religious scholars who are trying to hide the miraculous mathematical structure of the Quran and its message demonstrate the attitude criticized by these verses.

Throughout the Quran, only four meats are prohibited (6:145, 16:115, Appendix 16). Dietary prohibitions beyond these four are tantamountto idol worship (6:121,148,150; 7:32).

Despite their recognition of God's mathematical miracle in the Quran, the corrupted religious leaders tried for many years to conceal thisawesome miracle. Many of them admitted that they resented the fact that RashadKhalifa, not them, was blessed with the miracle.