Will you give information about the meaning, chain of narrators, arrangement, order, content and virtue of Jawshan?

Dear Brother / Sister,

The word “Jawshan”, which is regarded to have passed from Persian to Arabic, lexically means “a kind of armor and war garment”. Terminologically, it is the name of a prayer (supplication) attributed to the Prophet (pbuh).

The arrangement of the text of Jawshan looks great. There are many subtleties regarding the issue. The virtue of Jawshan, which reached us through Ahl al-Bayt, is so great that some people thought that those narrations were exaggerated, and due to the political structure of that day, the Sunni section acted a little hesitantly related to those narrations.

Alongside this prayer, which is famous as Jawshan al-Kabir [Big Jawshan], there is another prayer with a similar name known as Jawshan as-Saghir [Little Jawshan], especially in Shiite sources; it has nothing to do with the Jawshan prayer. We compared those two texts ourselves. It seems that the name Jawshan was used for this second prayer by its owner as a blessing, with the addition of the word “small” to it. Therefore, when Jawshan is mentioned, only Jawshan al-Kabir comes to mind.

Chain of Narrators of Jawshan al-Kabir

The chain of narrators of Jawshan al-Kabir is attributed to the Prophet (pbuh) with the order of Musa al-Kazim, Jafar as-Sadiq, Muhammad al-Baqir, Zayn al-Abidin, Imam Husayn and Imam Ali.

Ahmed Ziyaeddin Gümüşhanevî, a respected sufi and hadith scholar, does not include the exact chain of narrators of Jawshan al-Kabir, which he includes in his book named “Majmuatul-Ahzab “. Starting from a person whose name he does not mention, he states the chain of narrators as follows:

My father, from Umama, from Jafar as-Sadiq, from Imam Husayn through his father (Muhammed Baqir) and grandfather (Zayn al-Abidin) narrated the following:

Imam Husayn: My father [Imam Ali (k.w.)] said to me:

“Shall I teach you some of the mystery of Almighty Allah that the Prophet (pbuh) taught me?” I said:

“Yes father.” He said:

While I was on my way to Uhud on a very hot day and in armor, I looked at the sky and prayed to Allah. Then I saw the gates of heaven open. Jibril came to me from above in a light and said:

Almighty Allah greets you and says, “Take off this armor and read this prayer; because this prayer is greater than that armor [it protects you more]”. I said,

“O my brother Jibril! Is this prayer something special only for me, or is it valid for my ummah too? Gibril said,

“This prayer is a gift from Allah Almighty to both you and your ummah.”

Gümüşhanevî also includes words implying that he knew the whole of the chain of narrators and underlines the following points when he mentions its chain of narrators:

“There are many other important documents about the source of this prayer and many long narrations about its virtue. However, we regard this short information enough for this prayer, which is famous with the name of Jawshan al-Kabir.”

Badiuzzaman Said Nursi writes the following about the chain of narrators of Jawshan in a short introductory article he wrote at the beginning of the Jawshan al-Kabir, which he published:

“It is a very high and very valuable prayer of the Prophet (pbuh) that Gabriel (Jibril) brought to the Prophet (pbuh) with revelation and said ‘Take off the armor, read this’, narrated from Imam Zayn al-Abidin (r.a.) through tawatur.”

The Text of Jawshan al-Kabir

Wide content

In Jawshan, the knowledge of Allah being explained in the widest way, its being free from contradictions, the existence of no thought that contradicts the religion, reason and scientific realities and the fact that it informs both a thousand and one names and attributes of Allah and many realities about the world and the hereafter prove the sacredness of its source.

Badiuzzaman Said Nursi expresses his opinion about Jawshan, which is a wird he reads all the time, as follows:

“Jawshan al-Kabir, which looks both explicitly and allusively to a thousand and one Divine Names; is a wondrous supplication that in one respect proceeds from the Quran; is superior to all the other invocations recited by those who advance in knowledge of God; which was brought as revelation by Gabriel during a military expedition, who said: “Cast away your armor and in its place read this Jawshan!” — the truths it contains and its perfectly accurate descriptions of the Sustainer testify to Muhammad’s (PBUH) messengership and veracity.

“And, for example, the repetition of the phrase, “Subhanaka ya la ilaha illa anta al-Aman al-Aman khallisna wa ajirna wa najjina minan-nar (Glory be unto You! There is no god but You: Mercy! Mercy! Save us, deliver us, preserve us, from Hell-fire)” in the supplication of the Prophet (PBUH) called Jawshan al-Kabir, which is a true and authentic supplication of the Qur’an and a sort of summary proceeding from it. It contains the greatest truth and the most important of the three supreme duties of creatures in the face of lordship, the glorification and praise of God and declaring Him to be All-Holy, and the most awesome question facing man, his being saved from eternal misery, and worship, the most necessary result of human impotence. So, if it is repeated thousands of times, it is still few.”

Let’s give an example for a better understanding of Nursi’s expression “in one respect proceeds from the Quran”.

O He who alternates the day and the night [yuqallibu]
O Creator of darkness and light [khalaqa]
O Granter of shade and heat [ja’ala]
O Subjugator of the sun and moon [sakhkhara]
O Creator of death and life [khalaqa]
O to whom creation and command belong [lahul khalqu wal amr]
O He who has no consort or child [lam yattakhiz]
O He who has no partner in his dominion [lam yakun lahu sharikun]
O He who needs none to protect Him from humiliation [lam yakun lahu waliyyun]
O to whom power and might belong [lahul hawl wal quwwah]

Glory be unto Thee, Thou art without partner or fault! There is no god but Thee! Mercy, mercy, rescue us from Hell-fire! [najjina] (from section 61 of Jawshan...)

When we look carefully at the following verses for the above sentences in this prayer of our Prophet (pbuh), and compare them with the Jawshan text, the trueness of Nursi’s expression “in one respect proceeds from the Quran” is clearly understood.

“Allah alternates the night and the day.” (an-Nur, 24/44).
“... to Allah, Who made the darkness and the light.” (al-An’am, 6/1).
“…Nor are the (chilly) shade and the (genial) heat of the sun alike.” (Fatir, 35/21).
“Allah is the One who subjected the sun and the moon (to his Law)…” (Ra’d, 13/2).
“He who created death and life…” (al-Mulk, 67/2).
“Is it not His to create and to govern?” (al-A’raf, 7/54).
“…He has taken neither a wife nor a son.” (al-Jinn, 72/3).
“Who begets no son, and has no partner in (His) dominion: Nor (needs) He any to protect Him from humiliation...” (al-Isra, 17/111).
“...Nor (needs) He any to protect Him from humiliation...” (al-Isra, 17/111).
“... that to Allah belongs all power...” (al-Baqara, 2/165).
“..... Why didst thou not, as thou wentest into thy garden, say: '(Allah)'s will (be done)! There is no power but with Allah” (al-Kahf, 18/39; see also adh-Dhariyat, 51/58).

Great Arrangement

The arrangement of the Jawshan text also looks great. There are many subtleties regarding the issue. However, it is possible to summarize them under a few headings without going into details:

a) Jawshan prayer consists of (100) parts (sections). Munajaat consists of a thousand and one names and attributes and, as a rule, each part includes ten names. However, there are eleven [11] names in section 24, and nine [9] names in section 73 and section 86.  Accordingly, the number of the names is 999. However, this number reaches one thousand and one [1001], as a name is also mentioned at the beginning and end of the munajaat.

In addition, the last sentence of the first section (repeated as a cliché) includes the exclamation ‘ya’ [subhanaka ya...], and then continues up to section 17 (16 times) clauses without ‘ya’. Beginning from the next section (section 18), it includes ‘ya’ again and continues like that until the end [in 84 sections in total]. It seems that the change of numbers in those sections is for an important purposeful reason.

b) 25 of those sections begin with the phrase [As’aluka bi asmaika…] translated as “O Allah! I beseech Thee through Thy Names.”

Since [10] nouns/attributes are in question in each section in general, we can say by looking at these expressions that clearly mention the names of Allah that there are 250-251 names and 750 attributes in Jawshan. As a matter of fact, it is possible to understand it from the phrase in the prayer at the end of Jawshan: “Oh Allah! I beseech Thee through the Beautiful Names Thou recountest about Thyself, and Thy elevated attributes…” However, in the art of taghlib (mentioning the attributes with the same names by keeping the names in the foreground), it is permissible to call all of them ‘a thousand and one names of Allah’ and it is said so.

The point we want to emphasize here is again the greatness of the arrangement because 20 out of the 25 parts starting with the phrase [As’aluka bi asmaika] are in the fourth part of the general parts in a complete standard order.

Accordingly, after every thirty (30) attributes that are mentioned, 10 nouns are included. This cipher (30) supports the cipher (30) specified in item (c) below. According to the following order, two of the remaining 5 are in section 3 part; two in section 5; one of them is in section 7.

Along with such a wonderful content, the arrangement based on such a meticulous order is an indication of a superhuman consciousness.

c) The sentence, which is repeated as a cliché and includes the wish to get rid of the fire, is sometimes expressed as “khallisna”, sometimes as “ajirna” and sometimes as “najjina”.

The variation of those expressions is not random, but shows a meticulous attention because this change is made in every thirty sections. For example, the expression “khallisna” is used from the beginning to section 30, “ajirna” from section 31 to 60 and “najjina” from section 61 to section 90. In the remaining ten sections, “khallisna” starts to be used again. In the concluding prayer following the last section, those three words are mentioned together and the expression [Allahumma rabbana khallisna wa ajirna wa najjina minan-nar] is included.

d) The verse that determines the number of 19 angels of Hell is verse 30 of the chapter of al-Muddaththir in the Quran.  Again, the verse that contains bismillah… consisting of 19 letters, which is the key to get rid of those 19 angels of Hell, is also verse 30 of the chapter of an-Naml.

It is definitely not a meaningless coincidence that this supplication, which is based on a kind of bismillah… by mentioning the names of Allah, and indirectly points to the 19 angels of Hell by wanting to get rid of the fire, includes a remarkable change in every 30 sections in accordance with the numbers of the verses in question; it is tawafuq. It shows the light of prophethood.

The abjad value of the last word of section 19 of Jawshan, the verb ‘ahata’ in the phrase ‘O whose knowledge encompasses everything’ [ya man ahata bi kulli shay‘in ilmuhu] is 19, and the abjad value of the word ‘kulli shay’ meaning ‘everything’ is 361, that is 19x19.

In addition, the expression [ya la ilaha illa anta al-Aman al-Aman khallisna minan-nar], which means [Thou art without partner or fault! There is no god but Thee! Mercy, mercy, deliver us from Hell-fire], and which is repeated 100 times has 38(2x19) letters. Its abjad value is 1919.

This tawafuq can also be considered as a sign of the times when the Islamic world was besieged by hell from all sides with the death of the Ottoman State, which was defeated in World War I. Who knows, maybe the blessing of this prayer, which was constantly read in those days, played an important role in the Islamic world’s keeping away from World War II and getting rid of the hell-like conditions that day.

All those tawafuqs show that the 19 letter bismillah…, which is the symbol of tawhid (oneness), and the 19 angels of Hell are taken into consideration in Jawshan prayer.

As a matter of fact, as it has just been mentioned, Badiuzzaman Said Nursi attracts attention to the wisdom behind the repetition of the sentence [Subhanaka ya la ilaha illa anta al-Aman al-Aman khallisna wa ajirna wa najjina minan-nar], which is repeated, 100 times in this prayer of the Prophet (pbuh) named Jawshan al-Kabir, which he considers as a true and complete form of munajaat (supplication) and a kind of extract from the Quran.

The sentence meaning ‘there is no god but You’ in this statement indicates tawhid [which is the summary of the bismillah… consisting of 19 letters]; the sentence meaning ‘Glory be unto Thee’ means tasbih, which is the greatest reality in the universe and the most important of the three great duties of existence towards the Lordship of Almighty Allah; the sentence meaning ‘save us from the fire’, on the other hand, shows the most terrifying problem of people, which ‘getting rid of Hell’, where there are 19 angels. Therefore, even if this expression is repeated thousands of times, it is still few.

It is known that when it was necessary to have a break at any place before completing Jawshan prayer, Badiuzzaman preferred to stop at section 19 and multiples of 19. It should not be forgotten that 19th and 20th centuries turned the life of this world into hell for humanity and especially for the Islamic world. World Wars I and II, other wars and the events of anarchy that have continued throughout the world since then are clear indications of this fact.

Therefore, it was very meaningful that this prayer was constantly recited by Badiuzzaman, who was a mujaddid, and that it was regarded as a very important prayer by those who follow him.

e) The use of a thousand and one names of Allah (1001 = 13x77) in Jawshan to get rid of Hell, which is known to have seven/7 parts, is in accordance with the number seven indicated by Hell with seven doors and seven parts.

f) As it is known, the most beneficial place is Paradise, and the most harmful place is Hell. While trying to get rid of the harms of Hell in Jawshan, it is a point that should not be overlooked that 1001 names of Allah, are fully compatible with 1001, which is the abjad value of the name ‘Darr’, which means the one that causes harm.

g) The last word of section 63 of Jawshan is “ya sharif al-jaza” which means “O the one who repays good deeds and whose reward is honorable”.

This sentence is a proof of the holiness of Jawshan prayer and its source, as it includes news about ghayb in several ways:

1. The name of Allah, “sharif al-jaza”, which means “the one whose reward is honorable”, refers to the life of the hereafter in terms of meaning because the return and reward for the deeds in the world will be given there. The fact that it is in section 63 indicates the reward of the Prophet (pbuh), who died at the age of 63, and he is once again consoled in return for all the troubles he suffered in the way of Allah.  

2. In addition to indicating the life of the Prophet (pbuh) by being in section 63, it also shows the death date of the Prophet (pbuh) as it is in the 632nd place in terms of names in Jawshan.

Interestingly, in section 24, following part 23, 11 names are included [instead of 10 names by exceeding the normal number that should be in a section] as if pointing to the 23-year prophethood period. The name “ashfa’ash-shafi’in”, which is used as an extra name there and which means ‘the best intercessor’, is related to the hereafter.

When this extra name is considered together with the name Allah used at the beginning, the name “sharif al-jaza” used in section 63 in question is in the 632nd place, corresponding to the death date of the Prophet (pbuh), which is 632.

3. The abjad value of the phrase “sharif al-jaza” is 632 [except for the unpronounced hamza al wasl].

There are dozens of other wise tawafuqs in this regard but we regard the ones mentioned above as sufficient.

Those tawafuqs, which appear and amaze man, are of course not a product of the normal human mind, but a reflection of prophethood. Moreover, there is no doubt that Jawshan is also a source of holy prayer, as a supplication containing one thousand and one names of Allah.

Jawshan: A prayer (Dua)

The virtue of Jawshan, which reached us through Ahl al-Bayt, is so great that some people thought that those narrations were exaggerated, and due to the political structure of that day, the Sunni section acted a little hesitantly related to those narrations.

It is possible to summarize the virtue of Jawshan, which is mentioned in narrations, as follows:

Whoever reads or carries it on him, Allah will protect him and make him successful in good deeds. When it is read with a genuine intention, it heals many problems. Those who sincerely adopt it as a wird and act in accordance with its content can achieve great happiness both in this world and in the hereafter.

The most valuable prayer is the prayer made with the names of Allah. [The most beautiful names (al-Asmaul-Husna) belong to Allah. So, call on Him by them]; [Say: either say Allah or say Rahman. Whichever you use is all right because the most beautiful names are unique to Him.] The verses above emphasize this fact.

The hadith “Mention the name ‘Ya dhal-jalali wal-ikram’ a lot in your prayers” narrated from the Prophet (pbuh) indicates the importance of the prayers to be said with the names of Allah.

“Allah has ninety-nine - one hundred minus one - names. Whoever counts them (remembers them and acts in accordance with their meanings) will enter Paradise.” In the hadith above, it is clearly stated that mentioning Allah with 99 names will bring great benefits.

We should state that the ‘99 names’ expressed in this hadith does not aim to limit the beautiful names of Allah, but to point to the comprehensive names that form the basis of other names and attributes.

As some scholars state, there are a thousand names of Allah along with his 99 famous names. This number is in accordance with the number of names in Jawshan. According to Abu Bakr Ibn al-Arabi and Alusi, even this number is few. As a matter of fact, there are some who say that this number is four thousand.

Apart from them, Allah has many other names, the number of which is not known. The prayer of the Prophet (pbuh) that sheds light on the issue regarding the number of Allah’s names gives an important clue in this regard:

According to a narration, the Prophet (pbuh) recommended that a person who has suffered a misfortune or distress recite the following prayer:

O Allah, I am Your servant, the son of Your servant, the son of Your maidservant. My forelock is in Your hand, Your command concerning me prevails, and Your decision concerning me is fair. I call upon You by every one of the beautiful names with which You have described Yourself, or which You have revealed in Your Book, or You have taught to any of Your creatures, or which You have chosen to keep in the knowledge of the Unseen with You, to make the Quran the delight of my soul, the light of my heart, and to remove my sadness and dispel my anxiety.

The view of Badiuzzaman Said Nursi, who assumed Jawshan and some other prayers as wird, regarding the issue is as follows:

Jawshan is a Unique Munajaat

For example, in the supplication Jawshan al-Kabir, taking as intercessor a thousand and one Divine Names, the Prophet (pbuh) so describes and acquaints his Creator that it has no like. Thus, no one has attained to his knowledge of God.

It is Without Peer in terms of Describing Allah

With the Jawshan al-Kabir, from among his thousands of supplicatory prayers and invocations, he describes his Sustainer with such a degree of gnosis that all the gnostics and saints who have come after him have been unable, with their joint efforts, to attain a similar degree of gnosis and accurate description. This shows that in prayer too he is without peer.

An Example of Its Uniqueness

“Whoever looks at the section at the beginning of the Treatise on Supplicatory Prayer which sets forth some part of the meaning of one of the ninety-nine sections of the Jawshan al-Kabir (section 57) will say that the Jawshan too has no peer.”

The explanation of Badiuzzaman regarding that section is as follows:

The great interpreter (Mufassir al-Azam), that is, the Prophet (pbuh) interpreted an aspect of that verse [verse 164 of the chapter of al-Baqara, which is at the beginning of the Munajaat booklet] with this supplication. Here is a short translation of it:

1. O Majestical being, whose grandeur is visible in the heavens and in the celestial bodies!

2. O Perfect being, whose signs and proofs of oneness are observed on the earth and in every being on the earth!

3. O the Necessary being who has signs in everything and creature that indicate his necessary existence.

4. O Majestic and Perfect being who created the wonders in the vast seas [Note the expression uttered fourteen centuries ago, in the middle of the desert, at a time when the oceans and underwater life and living beings were unknown.]

5. [We could not see the translation of the fifth phrase...]

6. O Generous Creator, who brings together the treasures of the mountains for the needs of living beings

7. O Beautiful and Generous being who makes the creation of everything beautiful, manages them well and gives them their supplies in a nice way

8. O Almighty Being and Lord of everything, to whom everything applies in every need, in every command, and on whom everything relies in every aspect and to whom every right, truth, decree and dominion return.

9. O Subtle being who is aware of everything, the works of whose grace, the signs of whose assistance, the fine embroideries of whose fine art, and the graceful gifts of whose mercy are observed in everything.

10. O Almighty wise being who made the universe a manifestation of wonder in order to show His might to His conscious creatures, and made all the beings a testament and a declaration to display His perfections like power, wisdom and mercy! You are holy and free from weakness, partners and faults. There is no god but You who can help us. Mercy, mercy! Save us from Hell-fire!

A Sincere Opinion About Jawshan

If I have been at fault in offering to the Court of my Compassionate Sustainer this instructive piece [3. Şua, Münacat Risalesi] which I have taken from the Qur’an and the Jawshan al-Kabir, a supplication of the Prophet (PBUH), as worship in the form of reflective thought, making the Quran and the Jawshan my intercessors, I beseech forgiveness for my fault.

Experience Speaks

A blessed wird recited just to attain Allah’s consent can also have worldly benefits. If the hereafter is kept in the foreground, sometimes worldly benefits will also be given. In other words, as an indication of the reward for the services done for His consent in the hereafter, Allah sometimes gives “exemplary” bounties in this world as well.

Badiuzzaman Said Nursi is a witness regarding the issue. He says, “Perhaps twenty times, ‘Jawshan’ and ‘Awradu Qudsiyya Shah Naqshband’ have saved me from losing my life due to the physical and spiritual poison of my dissembler enemies.”

Etiquette of Reading the Prayer of Jawshan

“Call on Me; I will answer your (Prayer).” It is pointed out in this verse that the dialogue between the Creator and His servants is based on prayer (dua); and the following verse shows that the strongest bond between Allah and His servant is prayer and worship and that what makes a servant valuable in the eye of Allah is also prayer and worship: “Say My Lord would not care for you were it not for your prayer.”

“O ye who believe! Celebrate the praises of Allah, and do this often. And glorify Him morning and evening.” In the verse above, it is indicated that remembering (dhikr) Allah is a requirement of belief.

In the entire Quran, the page where the word “Allah” is mentioned the most is the place where the verse “Celebrate the praises of Allah, and do this often” is located. It is really significant that Almighty Allah actually practices something that He recommends to people in His own book.

This tawafuq is an indication of how important the point that Allah emphasizes is in His eye, and how profitable a trade it is to remember Allah in the heart and tongue, and throughout one’s life. The following is stated in hadiths: “Prayer (dua) is a deed of worship”; “Prayer is the essence of worship”.  Thus, dua is considered as an important deed of worship and is shown as a symbol of servitude.

Since dhikr, munajaat (supplication) and dua (prayer) are deeds of of worship, it is necessary not to include worldly purposes in them. They should aim the consent of Allah.

The most beautiful aspect of dua is this: A person who prays knows that there is an infinitely merciful creator who listens to his voice, cures his illnesses, shows mercy to him, and whose power is enough to reach everything. If He wishes, He will fulfill all his wishes at once and no one can prevent Him because He is the only sultan of the whole universe. All the keys that will open the doors of happiness in the world and the hereafter are in His hands.

The prayer of Jawshan is the greatest supplication to Allah. A person who makes such a supplication must first of all get rid of heedlessness and think that he is in the presence of the Most Sublime Being. Therefore, he should realize that his prayer should not be in the form of repeating like a parrot, presenting his own need to Allah. The mind and the heart should take an active part in prayer.

While reading Jawshan - as in other deeds of worship - one should not pursue any worldly purpose other than attaining Allah’s consent and the happiness of the Hereafter. Worship is performed because it is the order of Allah. Its result is to gain the consent of Allah. Its benefit to man is happiness in the hereafter. Worldly benefits should not be considered as a purpose of worship itself. Those benefits should be seen as incentives, especially to the weak. Otherwise, it will eliminate sincerity and one will be deprived of the important reward of worship.

Thus, those who do not understand this mystery, recite for example the Awrad Qudsiyya Shah Naqshband, which yields a hundred benefits and merits, or Jawshan al-Kabir, which yields a thousand, making some of those benefits their prime intention. Then they do not receive the benefits, and shall not receive them, and do not deserve to receive them because those who benefitted from them benefitted after they read those supplication to attain Allah’s consent; then, they told others to encourage them. What those who aim such worldly benefits at the very beginning of read has no value; therefore, they cannot have the benefits that the righteous people in the past had.

Before reading Jawshan, one should be spiritually cleansed by repenting and asking for forgiveness. He should say salawat for the Prophet (pbuh) at the beginning and end of the prayer because salawat is an acceptable prayer. Acceptance of the prayer between the two prayers that are accepted befits the glory of Allah, whose mercy is endless. If possible, Jawshan should be read after prayers, especially after the morning prayer. All of the prayer, or at least a determined part of it, should be read every day. The following is stated in a hadith: “The best of the deeds is the one that is done regularly, even if a little.”

Arabic Texts and Translations

It would be appropriate to point out a few salient points regarding the Arabic text and translation:

1) First of all, we will start by reporting a determination of Badiuzzaman Said Nursi, who knew the Arabic Jawshan text, translation science and Arabic language / grammar very well, who practiced it and who made the prayer of Jawshan popular in the Sunni part of the Islamic world. We listened to the following reminiscence from the retired Colonel İbrahim Hulusi Yahyagil, one of Badiuzzaman’s first students:

“When my master, Badiuzzaman, said the phrase “ajirna minan-nar” in his prayers, he lengthened the word ‘nar (fire)’ four vowel counts and said that each lengthening indicated a different fire. He considered those four fires as the fire in the world, the fire in barzakh (grave), the fire of the Day of Judgment and the fire of Hell.”

2) The first word of the eleventh (11) phrase is generally in the form of ‘ya iddati’ in the books of Jawshan. This word is usually translated as ‘preparation’. However, this meaning is valid for the word ‘uddat’, not ‘iddat’.

The first form is used as “iddatush-shuhur” in verse 36 of the chapter of at-Tawba and means the “number of months”.

The second form is used as “wa law aradul-khuruja la aaddu lahu uddatan” in the phrase in verse 46 of the same chapter and is used in the sense of preparation. The full meaning of the Quranic phrase is as follows: “If they had intended to come out (for war), they would certainly have made some preparation.” However, the word ‘preparation’ is not fully understood in the place in question. In our opinion, it would be more appropriate to translate it as ‘support/source of trust’.

In the text of the Jawshan translation I made, we had that word written as ‘uddat’ and to make it clear, we translated the aforementioned phrase as: ‘O my source of confidence in times of distress!’ [see Cevşen metni& tercümesi, Niyazi BEKİ]

3) It is grammatically more appropriate to write the first words of the thirty-fourth (34) and forty-fourth (44) sections as “ya a’zama”, “ya aqraba” instead of “ya a’zamu”, ya aqrabu” in the phrases ya a’zama min kulli azim; ya aqraba min kulli qarib. The exclamation word “ya” makes it necessary for the words to end with the vowel a (a’zama, aqraba), not u (a’zamu, aqrabu) in accordance with the rules of Arabic grammar.  

As for the translations, no translation can replace the original. It is almost impossible to translate the expressions of a language such as Arabic, which has a very wide and rich structure.

It is completely impossible to fully translate the divine and prophetic expressions, which have very different purposes and meanings, especially in the way of expression.

However, in accordance with the principle “It is not appropriate to abandon the whole of something because it cannot be obtained completely.” Our duty is to follow the path of valuable people before us, to leave a good work to those who will come after us - as much we can - and to rely on Allah, the owner of endless bounties in all issues.

All beauties are a reflection of divine grace; all deficiencies are a sign of being humans.

We ask Allah, for the sake of Jawshan, to grant us the intercession of the owner of Jawshan; we beg Him to grant us His grace in good service.

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