An Atheist Explores the Qur'an Part 65: “I Done Nuffink” – Satan (The Banishment (al-Hashr))

The Banishment (al-Hashr)
“I Done Nuffink” – Satan.

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 Banishment (al-Hashr) 1-24
“It is He who expelled the faithless belonging to the People of the Book from their homes at the outset of [their] en masse banishment.”

There’s a hefty wedge of background to this chapter, and I think perhaps I’ll just quote the heading notes in full here, because it pertains to various sieges, battles and intrigues:

“The surah that mentions The Banishment, God’s expulsion, of the clan of Banū al-Naḍīr from their prodigious fortress-settlement near Medina, in the mustering it calls the first of its kind: for they had betrayed their covenant of mutual defence by aiding idolaters against monotheistic believers. It takes its name from the “banishment” or “gathering of forces” (ḥashr) of the Jewish tribe from Medina, which is mentioned in verse 2. The Banū al-Naḍīr, who originally agreed with the Prophet that they would fight neither for nor against him, yet, after the Meccan defeat of the Muslims in the Battle of Uḥud (year 3/625), made an alliance with the Meccans. They also tried to kill the Prophet while he was in their area. He asked them to leave and they agreed, but Ibn Ubayy, the head of the “hypocrites” of Medina, promised them that, if they fought the Muslims, he and his camp would fight with them (verse 11 ff.), and, if they had to leave Medina, he and his camp would leave with them. Because the Banū al-Naḍīr had repeatedly broken their agreements, the Muslims besieged them in Medina (in year 4/626), Ibn Ubayy did not keep his promise, and the Banū al-Naḍīr agreed to leave, some going to Syria and some to Khaybar”

Got all that? Good. Because it’s “explained” in only the verse quoted at the top of the chapter. Concerning the banished Jews, the Qur’an says that Allah would have got them some other way anyway - “If Allah had not ordained banishment for them, He would have surely punished them in this world, and in the Hereafter there is for them the punishment of the Fire.”

After this it discusses division of spoils, which are not for the enrichment of the already rich, but for “Allah and His Apostle”, as well as “the relatives and the orphans, the needy and the traveller […and…] the poor Emigrants who have been expelled from their homes”. Note that the “relatives” are the relative s of the Prophet – nice bit of nepotism there, otherwise it seems quite charitable.

As well as the banished Jews there’s also opprobrium for “hypocrites” who have evidently chosen to fight for the Jews, possibly as mercenaries or maybe as allies. Nuh-uh, says the Qur’an, you wouldn’t actually do it if it came down to it because you’re a bunch of dirty double-crosssers. There’s an attempt to impugn their bravery - “They will not fight against you in a body except in fortified townships or from behind walls” – but me, I’m a fan of Sun Tzu and don’t see any dishonour in engineering a fight to your advantage.

Remember in the last chapter (or thereabouts) I wondered how the relationship of God and Satan was supposed to work? Well we get a bit more here, but I’m not sure it makes it much clearer. Satan tricks people into giving up their faith and then runs away, saying, nothing to do with me - “like Satan, when he prompts man to renounce faith, then, when he renounces faith, he says, ‘Indeed I am absolved of you. Indeed I fear Allah, the Lord of all the worlds’” So Satan is scared of God and tries to pretend like he isn’t corrupting souls, even though God basically gave him that job.

And talking of God, or Allah, He is given a long list of titles at the end - “the Sovereign, the All-holy, the All-benign, the Securer, the All-conserver, the All-mighty, the All-compeller, the All-magnanimous […]the Creator, the Maker, the Former. To Him belong the Best Names.” I can’t help but think with that last one of Trump and his “best words”. Given how vain and insecure and thin-skinned the Old Testament God is, well….

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