An Atheist Explores the Qur'an Part 95: I Swear By Mathematics (The Dawn (al-Fajr))
The Dawn (al-Fajr)
I Swear By Mathematics.
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 Dawn (al-Fajr) 1-30
” By the Dawn, by the ten nights, by the Even and the Odd, by the night when it departs!”
The summary annotation at the start of this chapter includes the sentence “The surah compares the destiny of the ungrateful with that of the souls at peace”, to which I groaned at the prospect of yet another description of drinking boiling water or gardens with green couches. But in fact, at the end, the comparisons are very brief – on the one hand “On that day none shall punish as He punishes and none shall bind as He binds” and on the other “Return to your Lord, pleased, pleasing!”
That out of the way, I’ll return to the beginning and that elaborate oath given above. The annotations tell me that “The Dawn” refers specifically to “the month of Muḥarram, which marks the beginning of the year”, or at least is thought to be by some Islamic scholars. Not for the first time since starting this whole “An Atheist Explores Sacred Texts” series have I thought that perhaps a divine messenger ought to be able to communicate his message without ambiguity.
“Is there an oath in that for one possessing intellect?” the Qur’an next asks. To which, although I recognise it as an oath, I’m bereft of any deeper meaning to it and so can only assume that in this instance I lack intellect. What, for example, are the “ten nights”? Is this a reference to ten specific nights of a particular significance? The annotations are quiet on this. And what, also, are the “Even and the Odd”? Quran.com inserts the parenthetical “numbers” into the translation, so this suggests it’s a general swearing by… maths. Capitalised like that implies it refers to something more specific.
Sounds pretty cool though.
The surah then turns to some examples of places previously punished by Allah. They’ll be familiar to you by now - “ʿĀd, [and] Iram, [the city] of the pillars […] and [the people of] Thamūd, who hollowed out the rocks in the valley” as well as “Pharaoh the impaler”. Because these places disobeyed God, He “poured on them lashes of punishment”, which made me think of custard, but that would be “lashings of…”.
Having made these examples, the surah then inexplicably states that “Indeed your Lord is in ambush”. So… God is waiting to leap out a go “Gotcha! You’re a sinner! It’s a smiting for you...”? I turned again to Quran.com for a less esoteric translation and got “Indeed, your Lord is in observation”. So, kind of what I thought, but this wording implies mere observation, Ceiling Cat is Watching You but isn’t going to pounce until you’re dead anyway.
There’s a section next wherein some hypothetical sinner is addressed who thanks God for his successes but curses God for his misfortunes (I’m guessing the implication here is that he should be thanking God for his misfortunes also?) Or perhaps not, since the surah then goes to upbraid the hypothetical sinner for not giving to the needy and stealing from orphans, which then implies that his misfortunes are brought upon himself by inviting God’s punishment.
This kind of direct karmic intervention by Allah seems at odds with other parts of the Qur’an that are at pains to point out that Allah’s punishment or reward *only* comes at the Day of Retribution, and tells people not to look to Allah for an immediate punishment on wrong-doers but instead to trust that He has been taking notes for later.
Then, of course, the bad person goes to Hell by which point it’s too late for them to be sorry about it, while the good people go to Paradise.
I Swear By Mathematics.
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 Dawn (al-Fajr) 1-30
” By the Dawn, by the ten nights, by the Even and the Odd, by the night when it departs!”
The summary annotation at the start of this chapter includes the sentence “The surah compares the destiny of the ungrateful with that of the souls at peace”, to which I groaned at the prospect of yet another description of drinking boiling water or gardens with green couches. But in fact, at the end, the comparisons are very brief – on the one hand “On that day none shall punish as He punishes and none shall bind as He binds” and on the other “Return to your Lord, pleased, pleasing!”
That out of the way, I’ll return to the beginning and that elaborate oath given above. The annotations tell me that “The Dawn” refers specifically to “the month of Muḥarram, which marks the beginning of the year”, or at least is thought to be by some Islamic scholars. Not for the first time since starting this whole “An Atheist Explores Sacred Texts” series have I thought that perhaps a divine messenger ought to be able to communicate his message without ambiguity.
“Is there an oath in that for one possessing intellect?” the Qur’an next asks. To which, although I recognise it as an oath, I’m bereft of any deeper meaning to it and so can only assume that in this instance I lack intellect. What, for example, are the “ten nights”? Is this a reference to ten specific nights of a particular significance? The annotations are quiet on this. And what, also, are the “Even and the Odd”? Quran.com inserts the parenthetical “numbers” into the translation, so this suggests it’s a general swearing by… maths. Capitalised like that implies it refers to something more specific.
Sounds pretty cool though.
The surah then turns to some examples of places previously punished by Allah. They’ll be familiar to you by now - “ʿĀd, [and] Iram, [the city] of the pillars […] and [the people of] Thamūd, who hollowed out the rocks in the valley” as well as “Pharaoh the impaler”. Because these places disobeyed God, He “poured on them lashes of punishment”, which made me think of custard, but that would be “lashings of…”.
Having made these examples, the surah then inexplicably states that “Indeed your Lord is in ambush”. So… God is waiting to leap out a go “Gotcha! You’re a sinner! It’s a smiting for you...”? I turned again to Quran.com for a less esoteric translation and got “Indeed, your Lord is in observation”. So, kind of what I thought, but this wording implies mere observation, Ceiling Cat is Watching You but isn’t going to pounce until you’re dead anyway.
There’s a section next wherein some hypothetical sinner is addressed who thanks God for his successes but curses God for his misfortunes (I’m guessing the implication here is that he should be thanking God for his misfortunes also?) Or perhaps not, since the surah then goes to upbraid the hypothetical sinner for not giving to the needy and stealing from orphans, which then implies that his misfortunes are brought upon himself by inviting God’s punishment.
This kind of direct karmic intervention by Allah seems at odds with other parts of the Qur’an that are at pains to point out that Allah’s punishment or reward *only* comes at the Day of Retribution, and tells people not to look to Allah for an immediate punishment on wrong-doers but instead to trust that He has been taking notes for later.
Then, of course, the bad person goes to Hell by which point it’s too late for them to be sorry about it, while the good people go to Paradise.
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