Recitation 111.1

أعوذ بالله من الشيطان الرجيم
بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم
ألسلام عليكم ورحمة الله وبركاته
Dear Quran Lovers,
Let us look into the meaning of verse 164 of surah 2 Al-Baqoroh that we have recited yesterday:
(Allah require us, Muslimin, to ponder about eight things so that we may see clearly the proof that the True God is Allah the One and Only as mentioned in verse 163:
(i) We are asked to ponder about the heavens and the earth. The earth is one, we know it because we are living in it, and Allah told us so. We know about our earth and its content. It is surrounded by the first heaven like in a balloon. In between the earth and the first heaven is their boundary, known in Islam as "Jabal Qof"/mount Qof, which we see the blue coloured sky. Under the boundary, are the sun and the planets, the stars and the other "heavenly" bodies. We are told by Allah that He had created seven layers of heavens, and we should believe Him.
(ii) About the changing of the day and of the night. The earth rotates from the East to the West, thus we have dawn in the beginning of a day, then the midday, the afternoon, the evening, the sunset, the night, then it dawns again and it takes 24 hours of a day and a night, which causes night and day, and it never stop. The earth also revolves in a curved round orbit around the sun which causes at times the days are long, the nights are short, and at times the days are short , the nights are long. Usually people work during the day time and rest during the night. From this changing of the day and of the night, the systems of the days, the weeks, the months and the years are made. One revolution of the earth round the sun takes a year. And the moon that revolves round the earth once in approximately 28 days and reflects the sun's light  so that it looks bright at night time. The moon, at certain period of time, as, new moon, seen as slender crescent, half moon, seen as half circle, old moon, waning. One revolution of the moon round the earth takes a month.
(iii) We are to ponder about the ships sail across the seas and the oceans. The ships are laden with contents and with cargo, and also passengers. They float on the sea or on the ocean and will not sink, but can sail from one port to another. During the sailing they always endure stormy weather. And there is no saviour then, except Allah.
(iv) We are asked to ponder about the merchants and the traders who sail with their mercandise and with their determined hearts and souls fixed by Allah in their hearts, if not, they would not have the courage to sail with their goods to their destinations. Their trade earn them good profit.
  Allah had purposely made each country has its own product which other countries do not have so that they will contact one another and do trade between them. And utilizing the ships as their means of transportation, their products are sent to their buyers. They not only make friends with one another but also earn handsome profit.
(v) (to be continued).
Until we meet again in the next session, see you all Quran Lovers later.
والسلام عليكم ورحمة الله وبركاته
Abdul Hamid Mohd Yusof.