An Atheist Explores the Qur'an Part Three: Everyone’s A Muslim! Plus: A Mixed Collection of Rules (The Cow (al-Baqarah) 101-200)

The Cow (al-Baqarah) 101-200
Everyone’s A Muslim! Plus: A Mixed Collection of Rules.

Welcome to the first instalment of An Atheist Explores Sacred Texts (Qur’an version).

In this series I work my way chapter-by-chapter through the Qur’an, commenting on it from the point of view of the text as literature and mythology.

For more detail, see the introductory post https://bit.ly/2ApLDy0

For the online Qur’an that I use, see here http://al-quran.info and http://quran.com

And now:

The Cow (al-Baqarah) 101-120

“O you who have faith! Do not say Raʿinā, but say Unzurnā, and listen! And there is a painful punishment for the faithless.”

According to the footnotes for this verse, “Ra’ina” (“have regard for us”) is the phrase used by the Jews but can be made into a term of reproach by changing emphasis whereas Muslims use “Unzuma”, (“give us a little respite”) which has only one meaning. When referring to God, one assumes.

Much of this section concerns the differences in worship between Jews, Christians, and Muslims, with the message that Allah doesn’t really care about the doctrinal differences between Jews and Christians and that they should instead follow this new message instead – “For any verse that We abrogate or remove from memories, We bring another which is better than it, or similar to it. Do you not know that Allah has power over all things?”

There are a few random bits about magicians in the time of Solomon, and two angels Harut and Marut sent to teach/test the people of Babylon about something and some words of encouragement directed to the Prophet concerning bearing the message.

I thought it was interesting that there was a verse concerning “Who is a greater wrongdoer than him who denies access to the mosques of Allah lest His Name be celebrated therein, and tries to ruin them?” which possibly implies that at this time the formal worship under Islam was a thing ongoing, because otherwise, if the message was fresh and new, there would not yet be any mosques of Allah. This could, of course, refer in general to any place of monotheist worship including synagogues and Christian churches, it isn’t clear.

The Cow 121-140

“Do you say that Abraham, Ishmael, Isaac, Jacob, and the Tribes were Jews or Christians? Say, ‘Is it you who know better, or Allah?’ And who is a greater wrongdoer than him who conceals a testimony that is with him from Allah? And Allah is not oblivious of what you do.”

The bulk of these verses seem to be making the argument that, whether they know it or not, Jews and Christians are already Muslims, since Abraham, Ishmael, Isaac, Jacob and Jesus all willingly submitted to God. And as the quoted verse makes plain, if Allah says so, who are you to argue? I’m going to anyway, because obviously none of Abraham, Jacob etc. can be Christians if they predate the existence of Jesus Christ by centuries. It’s debatable if any of them are “Jews” as we’d understand it as well, given that they also predate the covenants with Moses where the Jewish, or at least Hebrew, traditions start to become formalised.

I quite like that rather nonsensical line of argument. “No, you actually agree with me”, “I don’t”. “I think you’ll find that you do, and God agrees with me as well.”

There are a few other lines that mention a “House” and “Abraham’s Station” which are apparently locations at Mecca. I also liked the slim magnanimity that “‘As for him who is faithless, I will provide for him [too] for a short time, then I will shove him toward the punishment of the Fire, and it is an evil destination.’” That’s nice. Allah will make life comfortable for you before He burns you forever.

The Cow 141-160

“The foolish among the people will say, ‘What has turned them away from the qiblah they were following?’ Say, ‘To Allah belong the east and the west. He guides whomever He wishes to a straight path.’”

The bulk of this section concerns the qiblah, that is, the direction of prayer. I noted above mention about denying access to mosques implying that Islamic worship must have been well established by the time that this Surah was written, and this section makes it clear that it was, since the direction of the qiblah has changed from wherever it was previously, to the direction of the Holy Mosque (one assumes Mecca). Most of this section, then, is an apologetic trying to explain this change as being the will of Allah. It gets a bit confused, in that on the one hand it states, as in the quote above, that it is all the same to Allah which direction you pray, since Allah is in all directions anyway, and that “Allah would not let your prayers go to waste”, but then also says not to “follow the qiblah of another”, so evidently it doesn’t matter to Allah which direction you pray, as long as it is the Qu’ran-sanctioned one.

There are a few other random verses about the hajj, and anyone seeking to obscure the message (or the Qu’ran) is cursed but is forgiven if they repent and make reparation.

The Cow 161-180

“O mankind! Eat of what is lawful and pure in the earth, and do not follow in Satan’s steps. Indeed he is your manifest enemy.”

This section actually has some specific guidelines for what Allah wants us to do, interspersed with the by now almost regular exhortation that those who seek to conceal what is set down will be burned forever – it’s almost like a verbal tic.

So, for starters, what is lawful to eat? We don’t actually find out until five verses later – “He has forbidden you only carrion, blood, the flesh of the swine, and that which has been offered to other than Allah.” But if somebody forces you to do so, then there is no blame attached, which seems magnanimous.

The there is this lengthy verse that discusses what is true piety – your direction of prayer doesn’t matter, what matters is both your faith and your good works – “Piety is not to turn your faces to the east or the west; rather, piety is [personified by] those who have faith in Allah and the Last Day, the angels, the Book, and the prophets, and who give their wealth, for the love of Him to relatives, orphans, the needy, the traveller and the beggar, and for [the freeing of] the slaves, and maintain the prayer and give the zakāt, and those who fulfill their covenants, when they pledge themselves, and those who are patient in stress and distress, and in the heat of battle. They are the ones who are true [to their covenant], and it is they who are the Godwary.”

I note the “in the heat of battle” bit to appeal, one supposes, to the warrior culture of the Arabs at the time, but to be honest most of that seems fairly reasonable to me. Obviously I don’t have faith in a God or angels etc., but that seems a necessary prerequisite if you wish to say you ascribe to a particular religion. It’s kind of undone a bit by the next couple of verses which go on about retribution and blood money.

The Cow 181-200

“O you who have faith! Prescribed for you is fasting as it was prescribed for those who were before you, so that you may be Godwary.”

Four different topics are covered in these verses. It starts with a follow-on from the end of the last section (remember that these divisions are mine and arbitrary), concerning the rightful distribution of inheritance. It then goes on to discuss fasting during Ramadan, and some rules thereon. The way this is written it seems as if this has been discussed before, so perhaps these are clarifications or amendments. It’s permissible, for example, to offset the fast to another time if you are unwell or travelling, and you can even make amends by feeding the hungry instead. There’s a good deal of pragmatism coming out of the Qu’ran so far, whenever we get any specific doctrinal rules they tend to allow for some leeway. What’s quite funny, though, is that you’re allowed to eat as much as you like when its dark, and the text even implies you can continue eating right up until dawn – “eat and drink until the white streak becomes manifest to you from the dark streak at the crack of dawn”. That’s a bit like the Butterfield Diet Plan (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1NjTWvl8x-U)

There’s a brief interlude for death to infidels – “And kill them wherever you confront them, and expel them from where they expelled you, for faithlessness is graver than killing.”, however show them mercy if they surrender, apparently. And then we’re onto the last set of guidelines concerning the hajj and the umrah. Now, I’d heard of the hajj but I had to look up the umrah. They’re both pilgrimages to Mecca, but the umrah can take place at any time whereas the hajj can only occur at specific dates; I’m guessing that that makes it, therefore, the more “holy” of the two. Once again there are specific atonements that can be done if a person is unable to attend for a good reason (including having “a hurt in his head”)