Tuesday, November 9, 2010

Mizan

Slightly less than a year ago, after performing my Haj in Makkah, in the hotel room in Madinah, I resumed my home habit of turning on the TV.  And on it was the recitation of the Qur'an and I heard the surah where the word "mizan" "mizan" being recited again and again.


Malaysia's current king was King Mizan.  And I wondered what was the meaning of the word "mizan".  I asked my mother who was with me, and she said "timbang", as in the weighing balance.  And I thought what a good name his parents had bestowed on him.  A just king.


I had not wrote for a while and decided to find out and share the meaning of the verses I listened to and enjoyed so on TV in Madinah.  I asked my officemate, Razid.  "Razid, which surah has the word "mizan" "mizan" in it?"  And without hesitation he said "Surah Ar-Rahman".  Ar-Rahman, The Most Gracious.  And here was the meaning of the first nine verses of the 55th Surah of the Al-Quran.


1) The Most Gracious
2) Has imparted this Qur'an
3) He has created man; 4) He has imparted unto him articulate thought and speech
5) (At His behest) the sun and the moon run their appointed courses; 6) (before Him) the stars and the trees prostrate
7) And the skies has He raised high, and has devised (for all things) a balance, 8) so that you (too, O men) might never transgress the measure; 9) weigh, therefore (your deeds) with equity, and cut not the measure short.