An Atheist Explores the Qur'an Part 39: The Yathribi and their (((Sponsors))). Plus: Allah’s Special Marriage Rules for The Prophet (The Confederates (Al-Ahzab))
The
Confederates (Al-Ahzab) 1-73
The Yathribi and their (((Sponsors))). Plus: Allah’s Special Marriage Rules for The Prophet.
The “confederates” of the title are the attacking non-Muslims, by the way, which we get in verse 20.
The Yathribi and their (((Sponsors))). Plus: Allah’s Special Marriage Rules for The Prophet.
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
The
Confederates (Al-Ahzab) 1-20
“Allah has
not put two hearts within any man, nor has He made your wives whom you
repudiate by ẓihār your mothers, nor has he made
your adopted sons your sons. These are mere utterances of your mouths. But
Allah speaks the truth and He guides to the way.”
I’m not sure what “ẓihār” is even with the footnotes. But no matter because
apparently we’ll get a more detailed explanation in a later chapter (an earlier
chronological one?). And besides, this verse has little to do with the rest of
the section, which instead describes a battle against the polytheists, after a
brief interlude to discuss the best way to look after adopted children (“name
them after their fathers”, if you know who their fathers were. I suppose this
is meant to stop disinheritance or something).
I’m not sure if the battle is the same one as described in an earlier
chapter, where here the faithful are defending Mecca against an army of non-Muslims
and, as the verse quaintly puts it ,“the
faithful were tested and jolted with a severe agitation”. Evidently the
agitation was too severe for one particular group, the people of Yathrib, who try
to get out of the fight by claiming that they need to go back to defend their
homes. They are rebuked by the Prophet who tells them (if not at the time then later,
via the Qur’an) that it’s of little import if they save themselves short-term
because they will be punished by Allah in the long term.
The “confederates” of the title are the attacking non-Muslims, by the way, which we get in verse 20.
Now, this concept of the fearful trying to get out of fighting is
one that gets a bit unstuck when dealing with an all-powerful God. Presumably
Allah could have bolstered the resolve of the Yathribi if He’d wanted, but
seems content to let people do as they will but punish them after. And although
the Qur’an accuses the Yathribi lying about their homes being in danger, how do
we know that this isn’t merely propaganda? Anyway, I guess the confederates
were defeated regardless.
The
Confederates 21-40
“But when
the faithful saw the confederates, they said, ‘This is what Allah and His
Apostle had promised us, and Allah and His Apostle were true.’ And it only
increased them in faith and submission.”
Apparently the faithful know that the words of the Prophet are
true because he predicted that they would be attacked. Given the time and
place, this doesn’t seem like a breath-takingly unlikely prophecy. And also, I
knew it – “Allah sent back the faithless
in their rage, without their attaining any advantage, and Allah spared the
faithful of fighting, and Allah is all-strong, all-mighty”. So regardless
of the actions of the Yathribi, Allah sticks His oar in and sorts out the
battle. So I suppose that the “crime”
of the Yathribi is not having faith that Allah would do this, much like some of
the occasions in the Bible where the Israelite armies didn’t put enough faith
in God.
And it turns out that the confederates had Jewish backers, like
any good modern conspiracy theory, and this is used as an excuse to kill them
and take their land - “And He dragged
down those who had backed them from among the People of the Book from their
strongholds, and He cast terror into their hearts, [so that] you killed a part
of them, and took captive [another] part of them.” So I guess we’re past
the “respect the People of the Book” stuff now? Or perhaps it was the Christian
Byzantines who sponsored the attack, since they’d also be classed as “people of
the Book”. Either way, a bit of a backfire.
And then suddenly the text jumps from the battle to a section on
obedient wives, but not just any wives, but specifically the wives of the
Prophet. “O wives of the Prophet! Whoever
of you commits a gross indecency, her punishment shall be doubled, and that is
easy for Allah”. And the prize for being obedient, of course, is also
increased. They are told to “Stay in your
houses and do not display your finery”, but instead do a lot of praying.
And if you think this sounds rather authoritarian on behalf of the
Prophet, you’re not wrong, and it gets worse. “A faithful man or woman may not, when Allah and His Apostle have
decided on a matter, have any option in their matter, and whoever disobeys
Allah and His Apostle has certainly strayed into manifest error”. That’s
pretty much elevating an Apostle of Allah (which at this current time and place
happens to be the Prophet) on a par with Allah when it comes to authority. And
also “There is no blame on the Prophet in
respect of that which Allah has made lawful for him”, so not only must you
obey the Prophet without question, the Prophet is always right. In this case
the “blame” seems to concern marrying another man’s ex-wife. Sounds like the
old Nixon Defence to me.
The
Confederates 41-60
“Indeed
those who torment Allah and His Apostle are cursed by Allah in the world and
the Hereafter, and He has prepared a humiliating punishment for them.”
In the last section I noted a growing authoritarianism on behalf
of the Prophet, and here it continues to hilarious effect. As well as telling
people who bother him that they’ll be sent to hell (and providing the correct
way to have dinner with the Prophet), there’s a lot, and I mean a lot, that
seems to be a self-justification for his behaviour with women. Reading between
the lines, that on the one hand try to give divine justification for his number
of wives and concubines, and on the other threatens divine punishment on
rumourmongers, I suspect that there was some muttering about the Prophet
keeping all the women to himself, and so what you get here amounts pretty much
to “God said I could, so nyah-nyah-nyah”.
In fact I’m going to quote one of the verses in full, even though
it’s long:
“O Prophet! Indeed We have
made lawful to you
your wives whom you have given their dowries, and those whom your
right hand owns, of those whom Allah gave you as spoils of war, and the daughters of your
paternal uncle, and the daughters of your paternal aunts, and the daughters of your
maternal uncle, and the daughters of your maternal aunts who migrated with you,
and a faithful woman if she offers herself to the Prophet and the Prophet
desires to take her in marriage, (a privilege exclusively for you,
not for [the rest of] the faithful; We know what We have made lawful for them
with respect to their wives and those whom their right hands own so that there
may be no blame on you,) and Allah is all-forgiving, all-merciful.”
Several things here – its decreed lawful that the Prophet can
marry his cousins. “Those whom your right
hand owns” refers’ to slave women. And finally note the special privilege
granted to the Prophet by a very generous Allah to marry whoever takes his
fancy. And then there’s an amusing bit of self-deprecation in the following
verse - “Beyond that, women are not
lawful for you,
nor that you
should change them for other wives even though their beauty should impress you,
except those whom your right hand owns”. It’s like the Prophet is
saying “I can have any woman I want, except a small number not on the list.
Unless of course they’re slaves”.
The
Confederates 61-73
“The day
when their faces are turned about in the Fire, they will say, ‘We wish we had
obeyed Allah and obeyed the Apostle!’”
Regarding the rumourmongers mentioned in the last section, here
it’s said that “they will be seized
wherever they are confronted and slain violently”. Nice. Mob justice. And
lest we forget there’s more about obeying the Apostle (see quote above for
example), which contrasts with the “I’m just a humble messenger” concept given
in earlier surah.
That’s kind of about it for this chapter, but in case you missed
the message earlier we get this verse just before the end - “Allah will surely punish the hypocrites, men
and women, and the polytheists, men and women, and Allah will turn clemently to
the faithful, men and women, and Allah is all-forgiving, all-merciful.”
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