An Atheist Explores the Qur'an Part 22: Satan Gets a Job. Plus: It sure rains stones a lot (Hijr (al-Hijr) 1-99)

Hijr (al-Hijr) 1-99

Satan Gets a Job. Plus: It sure rains stones a lot.

Welcome to the next 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

Hijr  1-20

” Leave them to eat and enjoy and to be diverted by longings. Soon they will know.”

Not for the first time I find myself wondering why the Qur’an is laid out the way that it is. From what I’ve heard, the surahs are given in order of descending size; this one has more verses than the last, but so far the verses are all shorter, which means that somebody had to arrange them in order of word count, not merely number of verses.

Given that compared to the Bible there’s not been any linear history, nor different kinds of book (like the history, poetry and prophets of the Old Testament), so I guess any order is as a good as any other. You’d think order of revelation would be used, perhaps the rationale is that since the message is coming from a timeless entity, linear time is meaningless anyway. Is the Qur’an meant more like a miscellany of religious thinkings, to be dipped into at random rather than read through from start to finish? I suppose I could do some research on it, but as with the Bible read-through part of the fun for me is coming up with these thoughts on my own.

Anyway, the verses themselves for this part tell how God sends apostles to places, who then don’t get listened to, so the places are destroyed, each in its own time. Makes you wonder why He bothers since presumably He knows, but, well…. There are some verses that explain why God, and His apostles, can’t just rustle up miracles as proof - ”We do not send down the angels except with due reason”, and also that “Were We to open for them a gate of the sky, so that they could go on ascending through it, they would surely say, ‘Indeed a spell has been cast on our eyes; rather we are a bewitched lot.’” Instead, the verses pull a “look at the trees” argument, or in this case a “look at the stars” argument as “proof” of the existence of God. Which is probably why Muslim apologetics videos are always so fond of this strand of argument. “Things exist, therefore God”.

Hijr 21-40

“Certainly We created man out of a dry clay¹ [drawn] from an aging mud”

Now we’re cooking, this is a bit of a creation myth. God creates man, with the repeated phrase

“out of a dry clay [drawn] from an aging mud”, and also “created the jinn earlier out of a piercing fire”. So the Jinn are created first, and from subsequent verse it would appear that jinn and angels refer to the same beings; possibly this is the Qur’an overlaying monotheistic concepts (angels) onto older Arabic polytheism (jinni).

God then commands the angels to worship man, “Thereat the angels prostrated, all of them together, but not Iblis: he refused to be among those who prostrated.” For his refusal to obey mankind, Iblis is outcast by God, but Iblis pleads for mercy “‘My Lord! Respite me till the day they will be resurrected.’” And God relents “‘You are indeed among the reprieved until the day of the known time.’”. So the devil gets a pardon, even if non-believers and apostates don’t. I suppose the moral here is that Iblis asks for one, whereas those other groups don’t.

Anyway, this doesn’t seem to mollify Iblis who swears to “glamourise evil” and “pervert them all” apart from Allah’s chosen servants (whom I suppose means either the apostles or Muslims in general).

Hijr 41-60

“It has seven gates, and to each gate belongs a separate portion of them”

The verses continue from last time, stating the fate of those that follow Satan – they will be punished in a place that has seven gates – suggesting possibly seven types of transgression, one for each gate. Those who follow Allah, however, will get gardens and springs. “We will remove whatever rancour there is in their breasts; [intimate like] brothers, [they will be reclining] on couches, facing one another”. That sounds a bit dull for an eternity, to be frank.

Anyway, the narrative then shifts to recounting Abraham’s encounters with some heavenly messengers on their way to visit Lot to save him, en route dropping off news with Abraham that he will be a father. The text doesn’t actually say they are heavenly messengers – merely the “guests of Abraham”, but Abraham is frightened of them so it is strongly implied. Also of note, it’s already been ordained by God that Lot’s wife will not be saved. So much for free will.

HIjr 61-80

“Take your family in a watch of the night; and follow in their rear, and none of you should turn round, and proceed as you are bidden”

The strangers come to Lot and warn him to get his family the heck out of Sodom. The people of Sodom come around knocking on the door. Unlike the OT here they seem more angry that Lot is entertaining strangers and “were bewildered in their drunkenness” rather than anything overtly homosexual, but even so Lot offers them his daughters to “marry” (the translation here inserts this phrase where there is none in the Arabic; it’s possibly a coy translation). The narrative cuts to the chase and Sodom (not named) is destroyed by a rain of shale. The text then also mentions somewhere called Aykah that meets the same fate, and that both places are “on an open highway”. Evidently there were some ruins on a trade route somewhere around which these stories grew.

Hijr 81-99

“Certainly the inhabitants of Ḥijr denied the apostles.”

Here we get to the chapter-namer, the town of Hijr which also ignored the signs (what signs is not given) and was destroyed by “the Cry”, a fine poetic name for a rain of stones. Hijr sounds like an interesting place, its people “used to hew out dwellings from mountains” which you’d think would withstand dodgy weather; perhaps a collapse instead. And that’s about all the surah has to say about Hijr. The rest is more about getting what’s coming to you if you become a polytheist yada yada yada.