Month: January 2017

Music Monday: The Lion and the Lamb

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We’re kicking off the year with one of my favourite bands and one who has a fantastic name, “Big Daddy Weave”. This is “The Lion and the Lamb”:

He’s coming on the clouds, kings and kingdoms will bow down
And every chain will break, as broken hearts declare His praise
Who can stop the Lord Almighty?

Our God is the Lion, the Lion of Judah
He’s roaring with power and fighting our battles
And every knee will bow before You
Our God is the Lamb, the Lamb that was slain
For the sin of the world, His blood breaks the chains
And every knee will bow before the Lion and the Lamb
Oh every knee will bow before the Lion and the Lamb

So open up the gates, make way before the King of kings
Our God who calls the saved is here to set the captives free
Who can stop the Lord Almighty?

Qur’an Cover-to-Cover: Day 25 (“Luqman” and “Sheba”)

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wise

It’s another long one today, one hundred and eighty-two verses.

Surah 31 – “Luqman” (Luqman)
The opening is fairly standard stuff…

  • Muhammad is told to warn those who lead other away from the Qur’an and Allah
  • “…those who believe and do righteous deeds  – for them are the Gardens of Pleasure”
  • Allah’s work of creation is extolled.

The title of this chapter refers to a person, “Luqman, the Wise”, an Abyssinian or Nubian slave who lived around Madyan, who was known to pre-Islamic Arabs. Muhammad is told to remind the people of when Luqman told his son “do not associate [anything] with Allah”. There then follow two ayat which comment on the two subjects raised here: care of parents and shirk. We then return to Luqman. He tells his son that Allah reveals all wrongdoings. He exhorts him to prayer, right action, patience and humility.

We turn to the subject of unbelievers, who chose to reject prophets who come with revelation and instead to follow the religious practices of their ancestors.

Muhammad is told to “not let…disbelief [of others] grieve you” since they will ultimately return to Allah: “We grant them enjoyment for a little; then We will force them to a massive punishment”. This seems rather vindictive.

The chapter ends by emphasizing that man doesn’t know the future, but Allah is all-knowing (“[Allah] knows what is in the wombs”).

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