Tag: Islam

Qur’an Cover-to-Cover: Day 22 (“Cattle”)

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cattle

Today’s chapter is a long one…one hundred and sixty-five verses…here we go…

Surah 6 – “Cattle” (Al-Anaam)
We begin with statements about Allah: how he created mankind, the heavens and the earth and how he knows all things.

Next we hear from Muhammad’s critics:

  • Some appear to have asked for Allah to send down a written scripture that they can touch (rather than simply a recitation from the mouth of a prophet). However, we are told that the critics would just dismiss it as magic.
  • Some demand an angel alongside Muhammad. We are told that, if this happened, the disbelievers would just be destroyed immediately, allowing them no chance for repentance.
  • Some questioned why the messenger of the Qur’an couldn’t have been an angel. In reply, we are told that if this had happened, Allah would have made the angel appear as a man, and this would have confused them and filled them with doubt.

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Islamic Prophets

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In my post on Surah “Hud”, I asked a question. If there have been thousands of prophets sent by Allah, why is it that we are repeatedly told about the same ones? I mean, we hear the stories of Noah, Hud, Salih, Abraham, Lot and Moses again and again…

This piqued my curiosity, so I searched for a list on the Internet of all the prophets mentioned in the Qur’an. It turns out that, in total, twenty-five are mentioned. Here they are, together with the names used for them in the Arabic text:

prophets-in-islam

Qur’an Cover-to-Cover: Day 20 (“Joseph”)

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joseph

Thus far in the Qur’an we have encountered the stories of the prophets Adam, Noah, Hud, Salih, Abraham, Jacob, Shu’ayb, Moses and of Isa’s mother, Mary. Today we hear about the story of Joseph the patriarch, the one whom the Bible describes as having a “coat of many colours”:

Surah 12 – “Joseph” (Yusuf)
We open with the affirmation that the Qur’an is a “clear Book”. There is also the assertion by Allah that He is revealing “the best of stories” to Muhammad, about which he was previously unfamiliar. This seems to me to me an unlikely claim, given that Muhammad would have certainly had contact with Jews while he was a merchant trader.

We are then treated to the Islamic version of the story of the Patriach Joseph. Joseph tells his father about his dream where the sun, moon and stars bowed down to him. Jacob tells Joseph not to share this dream with his brothers, for fear they will plot against him.

(Although I’ve questioned previously whether the author of the Qur’an knew Isaac was the father of Jacob, this chapter does appear to recognize that correct relationship when Jacob is quoted as saying “[Allah will] complete His favour upon you and upon the family of Jacob, as He completed it upon your fathers before, Abraham and Isaac”)

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Qur’an Cover-to-Cover: Day 19 (“Hud”)

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hud

As you may have noticed, as the chapters of the Qur’an have got longer, I’ve pretty much resorted to only doing only one a day. Yesterday, I went back and recaculated when I’m going to finish the Qur’an. I’ve concluded that, if I stay at a rate of about one hundred verses a day, I should be finishing the Qur’an at the end of January.

Here are today’s verses:

Surah 11 – “Hud” (Hud)
The first few pages of this chapter are filled with very standard stuff:

  • Worship Allah alone
  • Seek forgiveness, there will be punishment for the disbeliever on the Day of Judgement
  • Allah is all-knowing
  • Allah created the heavens and the earth
  • Those who disbelieve in the Messengers claim magic is at work
  • Mankind is ungrateful for the mercies of Allah
  • The disbelievers ask why Muhammad doesn’t come with some heavenly treasure or an angel
  • Muhammad is told to challenge those who say he invented the Qur’an, by demanding that they “bring ten surahs like it”
  • Those who believed in the former revelations (e.g. the Torah) believe in the Qur’an.

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Qur’an Cover-to-Cover: Day 11 (“Mary”)

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mary

Today is a particularly special chapter of the Qur’an, the one dedicated to Mary (“Miriam”), the Mother of Jesus (“Isa”):

Surah 19 – “Mary” (Maryam)
We begin this chapter with the story of Zechariah. As in the Bible, we are told that he and his wife had failed to have children. He is told through an angel that he will have a son named John. However, we soon start seeing a departure from the Biblical narrative…. Zechariah asks Allah to “make for me a sign”. He is then told that the sign will be that he will not be able to speak for “three nights”. However, in the Bible Zechariah cannotspeak until John’s circumcision. An interesting side note is that Allah tells John to “take the Scripture [i.e. adhere to it] with determination”, which shows that, at least in this chapter, the Old Testament is assumed to be preserved without corruption (contrary to the claim of most Muslims with whom I’ve spoken).

We now come to the story of Mary. We’re told that she withdraws from her family, heads eastwards and takes seclusion behind a screen – it’s not clear to me why. At this point, Gabriel visits her to give her “[news of] a pure boy [i.e. son]”. As in Luke’s Gospel, she does not understand how this will happen. There is a conspicuous absence of St. Joseph in this story – he is not mentioned once.

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Qur’an Cover-to-Cover: Day 10 (“The Angels”)

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angel

Today in Atlanta, my friend’s son was baptized and entered into the Body of Christ! However, there’s no rest for the wicked, so here I am writing up today’s text from Qur’an, Surah 35:

Surah 35 – “The Angels” (Fatir)
The chapter begins with a typical set of assertions relating to Allah’s soveignty and the denial of the existence of any other God. 

Some interesting things are said about Satan and evil doers. One phrase I really liked was “[Satan] only invites his party to be among the companions of the Blaze”. This is why Satan’s parties are the worst! Ayah 8 affirms that “Allah sends astray whom He wills”, once again suggesting that Muslims believe in double-predestination.

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Prophet or Messiah?

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john

As you will have no doubt noticed, I have been recently working my way through reading the Qur’an. As a result, over the last few days my inbox has begun filling up with messages related to Islam…

I received one such email from a Muslim who asked me about the time when the Jewish leaders questioned John the Baptist about his identity:

And this is the testimony of John [the Baptist], when the Jews sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, “Who are you?” He confessed, he did not deny, but confessed, “I am not the Christ.” And they asked him, “What then? Are you Eli′jah?” He said, “I am not.” “Are you the prophet?” And he answered, “No.”

– John 1:19-21

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