I hope you all are having a great Memorial Day weekend and enjoying the holiday especially if you have today off from work and/or school.
A big thank you to all who have commented on my Quran notes posts. (They start here.) I have enjoyed the feedback and found much of it helpful in getting a better understanding of quranic teachings. I've read over half of my translation of the Quran now. Not half as far as sura numbers go since they number past 100, however, having read 25 suras, the book is half finished simply because the latter suras are much shorter. I have posts ready to share, but I'll try to be a bit less hasty so you can keep up with more ease. I apologize for going too fast, but I just have these spurts of talkativeness sometimes...especially when I'm reading something that inspires me to share, share, share. And that's my "problem" with reading the Quran. So let's blame that person *ahem* who encouraged me to just read it already! Oh, Person, you know who you are so consider yourself BLAMED, Darling. With a capital B, L, A, M, E, D!
Also for those reading and commenting on the Christian Q&A Session post, I have a draft about Paul that I will publish within the next day or so. You -- along with things I've read and heard about Paul mostly from Muslims - have inspired me to rethink Paul and justify to myself why I am OK with his teachings. Oh, and thanks for the great comments there so far. I hope to reply to you soon. Just wanted to acknowledge them and let you know I wasn't ignoring you.
I think you all will enjoy the upcoming post concerning Father Jerzy Popieluszko as I have an inspiring story of the Poles' Christlike response related to his death by the Communist regime in late 1984 that is flat-out awesome, in my opinion!
So, yeah, I've been reading some pretty good stuff lately although looking at my May Books post you'd not think so.
And of course I enjoy reading your blogs and seeing what is inspiring you, taking your attention or simply what you've been doing in life.
For those who wanted more sura notes to read ...
Sura 21 -- al-Anbiya
This chapter - The Prophets - had a number of interesting verses. For starters it began with many verses concerning people who often turned away from the revelations of the Lord, how they didn't take seriously the Message of the prophets because they questioned the messengers as being mere men who invented these things or who were speaking poetry. Namely prophets were rarely accepted among their own people. Can we blame them? Who wants to hear a doom-and-gloom sermon and warnings of judgments to come if you don't turn from your wicked ways. Wicked ways are fun, right?
So the Quran speaks of the men God sent - mere mortals not immune to hunger. It also reminds us of the numerous habitations destroyed for continuing in their sinfulness. I wondered about these verses.
16. We have not created the heavens and the earth, and all that lies between them, out of fun.
17. If We had pleased to make a plaything We could have made it Ourself, if We had cared to do so.
Were people perhaps having too much fun so they didn't take eternal life and spiritual things seriously? Was life all fun and games and entertainment? I live in a culture that tends towards this. Americans are more likely to know the top songs and best movies than the fact that Obama is our current President. OK, slight exaggeration, but not much! :)
In verses 25-29 there is a statement about God not sending an apostle without teaching him "that there is no god but I, so worship me" (vs. 25). Of course there are those who insist in saying God has begotten a son whereas the Quran makes the case of those merely being God's "honoured votaries" (vs. 26).
29. If any one of them said: "I am God besides Him," We should award him Hell; for this is how We requite the evil-doers.
And although I may speak of Jesus as the Son of God, I in no way mean that Jesus is God besides God. Jesus himself said he does the will of his Father and that "I and my Father are one." Notice the unity there.
35. Every soul will know the taste of death. We tempt you with evil and with good as a trial; and to Us you will return.
It's interesting to see that God tempts people as part of a test.
47. We shall fix the scales of justice on the Day of Resurrection, so that none will be wronged in the least; and even if it were equal to a mustard seed in weight We shall take it (into account). We are sufficient for computation.
I admit that the scales of Islam intrigue me. I read things about doing this deed means you get so many good deed points. And how doing something special on a holy day means even more good deed points. I wonder if there is a list somewhere that someone has compiled so a Muslim can judge each day how many good deed points s/he has accumulated in a particular day. Is there something in the Quran or hadith about this topic?
Verse 51 begins a dialogue between Abraham and some idolaters. Basically Abraham destroys all their idols except one and when they ask who dared to destroy them, Abraham lies and tells the people to ask their idol for answers. They admit their idol cannot speak (vs. 66). Abraham challenges them on why they then worship these mute idols and not serve God! Then apparently something bad would have happened to Abraham so God rescued Abraham and Lot and put them in a land blessed by God. Additionally, Abraham was gifted with Isaac and Jacob (vs. 71-72).
This sura also mentioned Noah, David and Solomon (in some extrabiblical dispute), Job, Zachariah and Jonah.
Mary and Jesus were mentioned. Jesus as a "token for mankind" (vs. 91) though I'm not sure what that means quranically.
The rest of the verses were about future events, heaven for the good and hell for the bad. It is also a call for accepting and bowing down to God (vs. 108).
13 comments:
I'm so looking forward to all your posts.
BTW, do you see a similarity between the God or OT and the God of Quran?
Suroor,hope you didn't mind being "blamed" in this post. ;)
I see some similarity of the OT and Quranic God. However, I see the OT as more of a story of God's relationship with a group of people and how He cared for them by providing land, food, deliverance, ways to be redeemed for their sins and so forth. The Quran is more of a oft-repeated summary of if you are good ***and believe in the Prophet Muhammad***, you will be blessed. If you refuse Muhammad, you will be cursed. The OT is more about God whereas the Quran is more about Muhammad. Yes, "God" is in it, but I can very well see why Muslims come away with unquestioning allegiance to Muhammad since the Quran - to me - should be subtitled "Our Defense of the Prophet Muhammad's Message" as it's rehashed so much, the suras have at times become boring with few if any new lessons/details to learn. ("The Light" is an exception since I finally read the part about lowering the gaze and modesty standards.)
The Old Testament, on the other hand, is a special relationship between God and humans where God is their God and there is no continual restatement that you must obey a certain prophet simply God is God so do what He says.
I saw your question yesterday and had to consider it awhile before answering. Plus I was away last evening for a few hours.
Thanks for your comment.
Happy June! :)
Happy June to you too!
Thanks for answering the question. I read the OT a couple of years ago and I'm not a fan of the book. I prefer the Gospel over it now :) But when I read it I could see similarities between the God of the OT and the God of the Quran.
From whatever I can remember of the OT, you are right there are differences between the Books.
Suroor,I read this post recently and thought of you since you love Jesus.
It's "Should Christians Care about the OT." If you have time, give it a read.
http://johnshore.com/2010/05/24/should-christians-care-about-the-old-testament/
'16. We have not created the heavens and the earth, and all that lies between them, out of fun.'
I'm sorry, this just gave me the visual of God, banging on a table or a desk or something, shouting, 'Look, people, I didn't create all of this just for the hell of it!'
But yeah, I suspect that it's a long running problem that people would much rather learn the latest game, song, beauty technique, than focus on God.
By the way, Susanne, who's this 'Obama' person you mention? Our President is George Washington. *eyes Susanne suspiciously*
'Basically Abraham destroys all their idols except one and when they ask who dared to destroy them, Abraham lies and tells the people to ask their idol for answers. They admit their idol cannot speak (vs. 66).'
I'm curious as to how it is reconciled that prophets don't sin, and yet Abraham lies in this verse. Without the lie, I kind of like this story. The attitude of, 'well, ask your gods. let them tell you who broke the idols.' appeals to me. :)
Amber, Did Abraham lie only once? ;)
Susanne, Thanks a lot for the link! I see why OT would be important to some Jesus-Lovers. I feel I can love him without the OT even. Certainly it makes me understand what he must have cherished - it is because of the OT that is vowed never to taste camel meat because I thought Jesus, as a Rabbi, must not have eaten it. Someone tricked me into eating it once and I felt like my inner being was violated :-[
Yes, so definitely it helps me to understand Jesus. And also the Quran!
I forgot to add that this idol breaking episode exists almost in exact detail in another apocryphal text - The Book of Jubilees; the only difference is Abraham burns the idols in Jubilees and breaks them in the Quran, something Muhammad repeats when he conquers Mecca and enters the Kaaba for the first time in 10 years. It is a spectacular episode in Islamic history.
Suroor,
'Amber, Did Abraham lie only once? ;)'
No, indeed. He does seem to have this issue with stretching the truth to get himself out of sticky spots. One might call it a character flaw. ;)
Amber, I love your comments!
LOL @ "I'm sorry, this just gave me the visual of God, banging on a table or a desk or something, shouting, 'Look, people, I didn't create all of this just for the hell of it!'"
Ahhhh, a great visual for me just now! :-D :-D :-D
Yeah, oops, President Washington. Uh huh. :)
"The attitude of, 'well, ask your gods. let them tell you who broke the idols.' appeals to me. :)
Yeah, me too. It reminds me of Elijah on Mt. Carmel and I love that story! This reminds me when he mocks the prophets of Baal asking if maybe their god is sleeping. Hehehe.
Well, I've read 27 suras now and see no proof that even the Quran thinks all prophets are mostly sinless. They don't give the full stories of ANY prophets - the most so far I've read is Joseph and Moses. And the Quran even admitted Moses murdered a man. The rest of the stories thus far are mere book jackets in comparison to the full stories one can read in the Torah and Gospel. So I think that whole mostly-sinless prophets thing is Muslim innovation not from the Quran.
Suroor,
"I forgot to add that this idol breaking episode exists almost in exact detail in another apocryphal text - The Book of Jubilees; the only difference is Abraham burns the idols in Jubilees and breaks them in the Quran, something Muhammad repeats when he conquers Mecca and enters the Kaaba for the first time in 10 years. It is a spectacular episode in Islamic history."
Thanks for adding this. Very interesting!
21:16 -17 - I totally agree with your comment! It is amazing how much people are wrapped up around "fun" when it changes with us, and with the social norms. I find people's lives are circling around "just have fun" and think everything will just be okay, without a lot more thought on the matter of the purpose of our lives.
21:35 - I would venture to say that "good" is even more of a test for people than evil. It really depends on the person, but I think some get an attitude of "I deserve this" when they are blessed with things in this life. For instance, I heard of a Muslim who was doing very well in the stock market and left Islam when the stocks fell through the floor a few years ago because he felt that he should have been saved from that since he prayed and such. Or we hear of people being so humble and kind and then when they come across money, they lose their characteristics that people love and loose their religion.
21:47 - We don't "count" our deeds as God says, "The Lord doth know that thou standest forth (to prayer) nigh two-thirds of the night, or half the night, or a third of the night, and so doth a party of those with thee. But Allah doth appoint Night and Day in due measure. He knoweth that ye are unable to keep count thereof." [Qur'an 73:20] Now, we should be in such a close relationship with God that we know what things are most beneficial to us and what is most favored in the Eyes of God, but there's no "cheat sheet" on what to do and when. This is where knowledge of the religion is of great benefit as well. Also, when a Muslim is striving to get closer and closer to God, they will typically start with the things with the heaviest in "weight" per say, and then move forward with things that are recommended and so on. Not all of these are "acts" that people can see. I did, and still have to, make a conscious effort to ensure my intention in pure in all actions.
21:91 - Yusuf Ali translates what I think you are reading "token" as "sign." I read it as the birth of Jesus is a sign to mankind from God.
Oh, and from the comment: "So I think that whole mostly-sinless prophets thing is Muslim innovation not from the Quran." - There are different groups of people with varying beliefs on this. It isn't in the Qur'an that all prophets are completely sinless. I think the majority view is that prophets die without sin since they are such great examples overall, and the best -worshippers- of God. That doesn't make them infallible. :)
Durriyyah, thanks so much for sharing your thoughts on these verses. I always look forward to your comments.
" I heard of a Muslim who was doing very well in the stock market and left Islam when the stocks fell through the floor a few years ago because he felt that he should have been saved from that since he prayed and such."
This sounds like that prosperity gospel, doesn't it? If you live right and follow the rules, God should give you an easy life with lots of blessings. That's not always the case! :)
Thanks for explaining the deeds thing. So there are some deeds that have more "weight" more good points if you will than others? I imagine prayers are pretty strong in weight whereas maybe some of the hadith teachings are just things to strive for as you grow in the faith, right?
" It isn't in the Qur'an that all prophets are completely sinless. I think the majority view is that prophets die without sin since they are such great examples overall, and the best -worshippers- of God. That doesn't make them infallible. :) "
Interesting POV! You are the first I've read who has said this so I'm glad you shared. So they did so much good in life that they virtually were able to erase their few sins. So they weren't perfect, but they just did mostly good and that canceled out their few sins? I'm writing a post about prophets and this topic ... wrote much of it yesterday, but need to revise it a bit. Stay tuned. I'd like you to read and comment on it if you feel inclined.
Thanks much for your comments! I sincerely appreciate them! :)
I don't have full understanding of Prophets, sin, and all that, but at this point, that is how I understand it. Sins are more of mistakes (instead of making a decision to sin knowingly), but again, this is not an area of knowledge that I'm real strong in (yet). So, I just wanted to give that disclosure. :)
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