An Atheist Explores the Qur'an Part 93: Scum, Stubble, and The Prophet’s Homework Assignment (The Most Exalted (al-A’la))
The Most Exalted (al-A’la)
Scum, Stubble, and The Prophet’s Homework Assignment.
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 Most Exalted (al-A’la) 1-19
“Celebrate the Name of your Lord, the Most Exalted,”
I don’t know enough (any) Arabic to be able to say if the title Most Exalted (al-A’la) is entonymically related to “Allah”, but if not it’s a pretty good homophone to use. Allah is credited with creating, proportioning, determining and guiding – the implication here is “you”, but it could equally be “everything”. No object is given for the verbs, as the verses then continue “who brought forth the pasture, then turned it into a black scum”.
Now, I’ve since found a different translation of the Qur’an, in which the English is a bit less flakey, and this gives the translation as “a blackened stubble”, which makes a lot more sense as a description of a destroyed pasture. I’m going to stick with al-quran.info though since I’ve used it this far, but keep quran.com as a back-up to clarify mysterious translations. I guess the Qur’an really is better in the original Arabic.
The surah then turns to address the Prophet personally, telling him to “admonish, for admonition is beneficial” because the ones that fear and listen to it don’t end up in The Fire. The Prophet is also given some homework to do - “We shall have you recite [the Qurʾān], then you will not forget [any of it]”. Seems fair enough, really. But hang on, because the next verse adds “except what Allah may wish”.
Um. I realise that Allah is meant to be billions of times greater than people and so utterly beyond their comprehension, but why send down a word to be recited and then decide to make the reciter forget some of it?
Anyway, the surah closes by saying that the one who purifies himself and prays is “felicitous”, but that “Rather you prefer the life of this world” which is short-sighted (apparently), because “ the Hereafter is better and more lasting”.
The surah lastly claims that “This is indeed in the former scriptures, the scriptures of Abraham and Moses”. Except that it isn’t. There’s nothing about heaven and hell in the sections of the Bible that deal with Abraham and Moses. The covenant with God is to make the Israelites prosper as a people, and it’s strongly implied many times that when you dead you dead, regardless of how you behaved in life. The Qur’an would be on better ground if it referred to “the Evangel” or whatever it wants to call the New Testament, and even this only comes later in the Pauline Epistles and some of John’s writings.
Scum, Stubble, and The Prophet’s Homework Assignment.
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 Most Exalted (al-A’la) 1-19
“Celebrate the Name of your Lord, the Most Exalted,”
I don’t know enough (any) Arabic to be able to say if the title Most Exalted (al-A’la) is entonymically related to “Allah”, but if not it’s a pretty good homophone to use. Allah is credited with creating, proportioning, determining and guiding – the implication here is “you”, but it could equally be “everything”. No object is given for the verbs, as the verses then continue “who brought forth the pasture, then turned it into a black scum”.
Now, I’ve since found a different translation of the Qur’an, in which the English is a bit less flakey, and this gives the translation as “a blackened stubble”, which makes a lot more sense as a description of a destroyed pasture. I’m going to stick with al-quran.info though since I’ve used it this far, but keep quran.com as a back-up to clarify mysterious translations. I guess the Qur’an really is better in the original Arabic.
The surah then turns to address the Prophet personally, telling him to “admonish, for admonition is beneficial” because the ones that fear and listen to it don’t end up in The Fire. The Prophet is also given some homework to do - “We shall have you recite [the Qurʾān], then you will not forget [any of it]”. Seems fair enough, really. But hang on, because the next verse adds “except what Allah may wish”.
Um. I realise that Allah is meant to be billions of times greater than people and so utterly beyond their comprehension, but why send down a word to be recited and then decide to make the reciter forget some of it?
Anyway, the surah closes by saying that the one who purifies himself and prays is “felicitous”, but that “Rather you prefer the life of this world” which is short-sighted (apparently), because “ the Hereafter is better and more lasting”.
The surah lastly claims that “This is indeed in the former scriptures, the scriptures of Abraham and Moses”. Except that it isn’t. There’s nothing about heaven and hell in the sections of the Bible that deal with Abraham and Moses. The covenant with God is to make the Israelites prosper as a people, and it’s strongly implied many times that when you dead you dead, regardless of how you behaved in life. The Qur’an would be on better ground if it referred to “the Evangel” or whatever it wants to call the New Testament, and even this only comes later in the Pauline Epistles and some of John’s writings.
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