Jum'ah Journal - Late entry/Sura Najm Introduction

Bad weather (probably, though just raining is not bad ) interfered in my access to internet for several hours yesterday.

I am going to start with introduction of my thoughts on Sura Najm and will write more every Friday insha-Allah.
Najm, in Arabic means several things other than Star. Quote from the dictionary:
najama--to appear, come in sight, rise (star), begin, commence, set in;
to result, follow , arise, ensue, proceed, derive originate spring ('an or min--from)
Najama Qarnuhu---to begin to show, to observe the stars; to predict the future from the
stars, to practice astrology, TO PAY IN INSTALLMENTS.
Nujum (plural of Najm) which may mean stars (Like Nujum-as-cinema--film stars), installments, partial payments
Anjum, a celestial body, a star or lucky star, constellation, asterism
Also 'herbs', herbage, grass

As you read further you will appreciate why I wrote 'Installments' in capital letters

The background of the sura gives many interesting aspects but I wish to highlight the following
1. Time of revelation: Actually two parts, most of it was revealed in the 5th year of Nubuwwah around the year 614 and some verses were added in the year 1620 after the extraordinary experience of "m'iraaj" of the prophet PBUH.
2. This is the first Sura in which ayah of Sajdah appears and the last verse is associated with sajdah of the prophet PBUH and all the followers who were there, including the mushrikin (a most interesting thing and a story of "Satanic verses" followed, will relate it later).
3.It was revealed while he started speaking one day to all the people Muslims and non-Muslims gathered around the Ka'bah. His speech was this sura itself..

The above points will be expanded more in description of events as I proceed now.
Let me begin with translation of the first ayah of this sura mubarakah
" Wan-najm-e-izda hawa"
"By the star when it goes down" (Yusufali's translation)
"By the star when it sets" (M. Faruq-e-'Azam Malik)
"By the star, when it descends" (Marmaduke Pickthal)
All Urdu translations are pretty much the same
Qasam hay sitaray ki jab woh ghuroob hua (Maudoodi)
Qasam hay sitaray ki jab giray (M.M.Junagadhi, M. Shabbir Usmani)
But here is one different:
"Consider this unfolding (of God's message), as it comes down from on high" (Muhammad Asad's
Message of Qur'an)
Now this one requires further explanation as he gives it himself, so I quote:
Or: "Consider the star when it sets"--an interpretation which for some reason has the preference of the majority of the commentators. However, almost all of them admit that the term najm derived from the verb, najama, 'it appeared, began, ensued, proceeded--denotes also the unfolding of something that comes or appears gradually, as if by installments. Hance this term has from the very beginning been applied to each of the gradually revealed parts (Nujum) of the Qur'an, and thus to the process of its gradual revelation or its 'unfolding' as such. This was, in fact, the interpretation of the above verse given by Abdullah Bin Abbas (as quoted by Tabari); in view of the sequence, this interpretation is regarded as fully justified by Raghib, Zamakhshari Baydawi, Ibn-e-Kathir and other authorities. Raghib and Ibn Kathir, point to the phrase "Mawaqi-an-nujum" in S. 56 v. 75, which undoubtedly refers to the step by step revelation of the Qur'an.
As regards his rendering the adjurative particle 'wa' (as Consider), he has the following explanation; Rendering "Kalla wal-Qamar" as "Nay, consider the moon", he says:
"This is the earliest Qur'anic in stance of the adjurative particle "wa" used in the sense of a solemn oath-like assertion- a calling to witness, as it were-meant (as in the expression "By God) to give weight to a subsequently stated truth or evidence of the truth: hence I am rendering it here and elsewhere as "consider"."

Asad , a scholar of Christian and Jewish Scriptures in addition to that of Islam, I pay attention to him.