Correspondence with Maulana Jalil Ahsan Nadwi

something else? Please refer to the appropriate lexicons, as I do not have them available here. 5. In connection to Chapter Al-Baqarah, verse 129, you mentioned the four tasks per Alusi’s commentary. Now that you are in Azamgarh, and Alusi’s commentary of the Quran is only available at Shibli Manzil, could you please identify these four tasks in the context of the Quran rather than simply Allusi’s interpretation? 6. Regarding shahid, I didn’t understand the Lisan al-Arab reference, shahida fulan ‘ala fulan bihaqq. Is there a contextual explanation in that entry? Please explain what this means. 7. In Chapter Al-Baqarah (2:143), what does the waw in wa kadhalik relate to, and what is the referent for dhalik? 8. The term wasat generally means middle, and wasatun signifies the central part of something. How does this term come to mean “best”? Is the central part of your table, for instance, better than the rest? Secondly, if it means “best,” why use wasat instead of simply using the term khayr (goodness)? 9. Is the plural shuhada derived from shaahid or shaheed? How many meanings exist for shaheed and shaahid in classical Arabic?