The Quran - through my eyes.

[Muslimwoman]

Chapter 50 is called Qaf (this is a letter of the Arabic alphabet) and has 45 verses.

This chapter deals with the Day of Judgement and those that will attain heaven or be punished in hell.

This chapter was often recited by the Prophet Mohammad (pbuh) during Friday sermons and particularly during Eid (at the end of Ramadan).

It tells us that whether you choose to believe or reject the faith of Islam that cannot and does not alter the truth of it or the promises of Allah for the hereafter.

Remember that the Pagans did not believe in any form of after life, they believed that you died and that was that, you turned to dust. So for them to believe every particle of your body could be gathered together and made whole to be judged went totally against their core beliefs.

This chapter contains a fundamental belief of Muslims ... that of the two guardian angels.

We verily created man and We know what his soul whispereth to him, and We are nearer to him than his jugular vein. (50:16)

When the two Receivers receive (him), seated on the right hand and on the left, (50:17)

He uttereth no word but there is with him an observer ready. (50:18)

And the agony of death cometh in truth. (And it is said unto him): This is that which thou wast wont to shun. (50:19)

And the trumpet is blown. This is the threatened Day. (50:20)

And every soul cometh, along with it a driver and a witness. (50:21)

If you watch Muslims at prayer you will see at the end (when we are kneeling on the floor) we turn to the right and speak and then to the left and speak. Because you generally see on tv men in rows praying most believe they are speaking to the people next to them but in fact when I pray alone at home I do the same thing. This is because I am saying peace be upon you to the angel that sits on my right and my left sides.

From the day of the creation of our soul until the Day of Judgement not only is Allah aware of our every deed and thought but also we have guardian angels that will record every deed, both good and bad.

On the Day of Judgement our eyes will see clearly everything we have done (you know all those things you try to forget or pretend aren't really bad ... woops). We will not be able to deny even the smallest deed.

Try to imagine life being concious every moment of every day that every thought, word and deed is recorded and witnessed ..... makes you think doesn't it but if only we could all be more concious of it the world would be a better place.

[Muslimwoman]

The next 2 chapters deal with the mockery of the Prophet and the afterlife, these are both believed to have been revealed in the Meccan period during the early stage when the Prophet was merely mocked or called a magician.

Sura 51 is called adh-dhariyat (meaning winnowing winds), it has 60 verses and deals with the afterlife.

In this chapter Allah explains that the Prophet Mohammed (pbuh) is simply a warner and that Allah created mankind and jinns for His worship. It says that Allah need nothing from mankind in the form of "offerings" but only their worship. It recounts the stories of the fates of people that rejected previous Prophets (Noah, Moses, Abraham, (pbut) etc, as a way to demonstrate that retribution in this life can be taken against people that reject His message.

The chapter also comments on the question often asked ...

They ask: When is the Day of Judgment? (51:12)

for those that refuse to believe it is not a day they should hope to come quickly because of the punishments that will be awarded to wrongdoers.

So withdraw from them (O Muhammad), for thou art in no wise blameworthy, (51:54)


Then turn your back upon them for you are not to blame; (51:55)

The Prophet is told to give the message and it is for each person to accept or deny it, the Prophet is not responsible for people's choices only for delivering the message.

Sura 52 is called at-tur (meaning the mount) and has 49 verses.

In mocking the Quran and the Prophets recitation the pagans called the Prophet a soothsayer, a poet, a magician or a madman. In responde Allah says:

Then let them produce speech the like thereof, if they are truthful. (52:34)

This challenge was issued at the time the Quran was revealed and despite many scholarly men attempting to take up the challenge they have never succeeded.

Allah tells the Prophet to basically ignore rejectors and be patient, all will receive reward or punishment for their deeds in this life.

Then let them be (O Muhammad), till they meet their day, in which they will be thunder-stricken, (52:45)

So wait patiently (O Muhammad) for thy Lord's decree, for surely thou art in Our sight; and hymn the praise of thy Lord when thou uprisest, (52:48)

And in the night-time also hymn His praise, and at the setting of the stars. (52:49)

[Muslimwoman]

Sura 53 is called an-najm (the star), it has 62 verses and has a fascinating story.

Unlike other sura's the name of this one does not relate to it's subject matter but is a symbol.

This chapter requires prostration at the end, as performed by the Prophet Mohammed (pbuh). It is quite certain that this chapter was revealed during Ramadan of the 5th year of Prophethood.

Up until this time the Prophet had recited the Quran (what he had been given of it so far) to individuals and small private groups, when he tried to recite the Quran publicly he was jeered to the point that nobody could hear him.

However this sura he recited beside the kaaba in Mecca during a public gathering of Meccans during Ramadan. At the end of the chapter the Prophet prostrated and many witnesses to the event stated that everyone except one man also prostrated.

These were pagans and some were the strongest opposers of Islam, the chiefs had banned people from listening to the Quran yet here they were quietly listening to a whole sura and then prostrating. The one man that did not prostrate rubbed dirt on his forehead.

Prior to this time some Muslims, through fear, had emigrated to Abyssinia but on hearing that everyone (believers and non believers) had prostrated they thought the pagans had converted to Islam and returned to Mecca. They found that not only had they not converted but had started opposing Islam more strongly, so they returned to Abyssinia but in greater numbers.

This chapter was a clear message to the pagans of Mecca and deals with some important beliefs of the Meccans.

Have ye thought upon Al-Lat and Al-'Uzza (53:19)

And Manat, the third, the other? (53:20)


These were the three godesses, daughters of the great god, that the pagans prayed to. They also believed that angels are female.



Remember that at the time female infanticide was common practice, female children where seen as shameful by the Meccans, so Allah asks ....


Are yours the males and His the females? (53:21)


this was to demonstrate that they were making a mockery even of their own beliefs and suggesting the great god would have the thing they themselves saw as shameful.


Some try to suggest that there were other verses of this chapter saying it is ok to worship these godesses and this is the reason the pagans prostrated but when you read the content of the chapter you can see it would be impossible .... an example:


Lo! it is those who disbelieve in the Hereafter who name the angels with the names of females. (53:27)

And they have no knowledge thereof. They follow but a guess, and lo! a guess can never take the place of the truth.(53:28)

so how could anyone fit in here verses about it being ok to worship godesses????? The pagans of course did not believe in an afterlife.


The final verse is:


Rather prostrate yourselves before Allah and serve Him.(53:62)

[CertifiedHandy]

Originally Posted by Muslimwoman

as salaam aleykum wr wb

I am so tired of being told that my faith teaches hatred and violence and has no ethical core. Whenever Islam is discussed people always ask about verses that mention violence, which is fine and understandable but the discussions rarely touch on the majority of verses of peace and ethics, therefore only one side of the Quran is shown. So this thread is my new project, I shall post here verses of peace, verses that demonstrate the ethical core of Islam (Quran verses will be in red). I shall also post comments from Muslims and non Muslims regarding Islam. I shall use Pickthals translation for the Quran.

This is the Quran through my eyes for anyone that is interested and open minded enough to try to see their is another side to the coin.

The Quran has 114 Surahs (chapters) and 6236 Ayahs) (verses). Let us see over time how many speak of peace and ethics, against those of violence.

The extinction of race consciousness as between Muslims is one of the outstanding moral achievements of Islam, and in the contemporary world there is, as it happens, a crying need for the propagation of this Islamic virtue. The forces of racial toleration, which at present seem to be fighting a losing battle in a spiritual struggle of immense importance to mankind, might still regain the upper hand if any strong influence militating against racial consciousness were now to be thrown into the scales. It is conceivable that the spirit of Islam might be the timely reinforcement which would decide this issue in favor of tolerance and peace. (A. J. Toynbee, Civilization an Trial, Oxford university Press, 1948, pp. 205-6)

Toynbee was an economic historian not a Muslim.

Before I begin I would like to mention one verse, as it is one of my favourites:

O mankind! Be careful of your duty to your Lord Who created you from a single soul and from it created its mate and from them twain hath spread abroad a multitude of men and women. Be careful of your duty toward Allah in Whom ye claim (your rights) of one another, and toward the wombs (that bare you). Lo! Allah hath been a watcher over you. (4:1)

Clearly this means to be mindful of your mother. When asked who we should love, after Allah, the Prophet Mohammad (pbuh) replied your mother. Asked again, after your mother then who, again he said your mother. Asked a third time he again responded your mother. The forth time of asking he replied your father. This is the reverence in Islam given to mothers. It goes against the misconception of Islam that men are superior and women are lesser beings.

Salaam

Which came first? Bible or Quran ? From what single soul was man created? As a Christian I reverence no one except God. I Love my family after God, but I reverence only Him because . The Bible says: Psalms 111:9... Holy and reverend is His name my Lord and Saviour Jesus The Christ Amen...

[c0de]

Hello CH, welcome to the forums

Originally Posted by CertifiedHandy

Which came first? Bible or Quran ?

Which came first, the Old Testament, or the New?

If we started to rank the scriptures based on their
chronological order alone, we would all have to adopt Judaism.

[farhan]

Which came first? Bible or Quran ?

Rigveda...

[Muslimwoman]

Originally Posted by CertifiedHandy

Which came first? Bible or Quran ? From what single soul was man created? As a Christian I reverence no one except God. I Love my family after God, but I reverence only Him because . The Bible says: Psalms 111:9... Holy and reverend is His name my Lord and Saviour Jesus The Christ Amen...

Hello and welcome

If you would like to discuss your belief in Jesus (pbuh) as the son of God I shall be happy to do so on another thread where we can discuss the following verses of the bible among others but this thread is intended to be a look at how I personally read and understand the Quran and would appreciate it if you could try to respect that. Thank you.

I, even I, am the LORD; and beside me there is no saviour. I have declared, and have saved, and I have shewed, when there was no strange god among you: therefore ye are my witnesses, saith the LORD, that I am God.
Yea, before the day was I am he; and there is none that can deliver out of my hand: I will work, and who shall let it? Isaiah 43:11-13


Of all the commandments, which is the most important? The most important answered Jesus is this: Hear O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength. Mark 12:28-30

[Muslimwoman]

Chapter 55 is called al-qamar (meaning the moon), it has 55 chapters and deals with judgement and the truth of revelation. This chapter was an early chapter revealed in Mecca.

Allah is telling us that the scriptures hold many stories as warnings against going stray but time and again we fail to listen or remember and carry on making the same mistakes.

Six times in this chapter Allah tells us:

And in truth We have made the Qur'an easy to remember; but is there any that remembereth? (54:17)

remembereth is often translated as receive admonition but I am using Pickthals translation of the meaning of the Quran and he uses remembereth.

The Sura begins with this verse:

The hour drew nigh and the moon was rent in twain. (54:1)

Islamic scholars over time have given three explanations for this verse:

1) During the life of the Prophet Mohammad (pbuh) the moon was actually 'cleft asunder' in order to prove the Prophethood.

2) That the moon being split in two will be in the future as a sign of the approach of the Day of Judgement.

3) That it is metaphorical, meaning something as clear to us as would be the moon rent in twain.

There is a particular message to the Quraish tribe of Mecca, it tells of the penalty paid by Pharoah and his people for their disbelief and then goes on to say:

Are your Unbelievers, (O Quraish), better than they? Or have ye an immunity in the Sacred Books? (54:43)

[Muslimwoman]

Woops I do apologise the previous chapter is number 54 not 55 - typing error.

Sura 55 is incredibly important so may take me a while to go through the various issues.

It is named ar-Rahman (meaning the Beneficient, the Mercy Giving) and of course refers to Allah.

You may hear Muslims refer to the 99 names of Allah, these are not names as such but attributes and ar-rahman is one of these 99. We call them names because the Quran says:
Allah! there is no god but He! To Him belong the Most Beautiful Names. (20:8)

I have been told that there are 100 parts to everything, Allah has 99 and the other 1 was used to create everything else, showing just how amazing Allah is .... personally I have not read this in texts so can't confirm it.

The Prophet Mohammad (pbuh) told us that anyone who can memorise all 99 Names will enter Paradise.

There are 78 verses in this chapter and 31 of them say:

Which is it, of the favours of your Lord, that ye deny? (55:13)

This is the sixth of seven chapters that deal with the favours Allah has bestowed upon the world and also the next life.

Almost all of the chapter uses the grammatical form for pairs or duel, suggesting He has created everything in pairs but the theme suggests a unity between these pairs. Everything Allah has created is well balanced.

This is demonstrated well in the following two verses:

He hath loosed the two seas. They meet. (55:19)
There is a barrier between them. They encroach not (one upon the other). (55:20)

This refers to salt water and fresh water, they meet but stay seperate. They are duel and yet have an underlying unity.

Then we see:

Soon shall We settle your affairs, O both ye worlds! (55:31)

Even two worlds, this refers to the world of men (the seen world) and the world of the jinn (the unseen). Both man and jinn will be called forth on Judgement Day.

One of the ideas that were new to me when I became a Muslim that made me feel all warm and fuzzy is that all of creations worships Allah, so even my cat worships Allah but we simply do not know how. As humans we worship through prayer and good deeds but even trees and rocks worship:

All that are in the heavens and the earth entreat Him. Every day He exerciseth (universal) power. (55:29)

Now we come to one of my soap box issues I'm afraid, that of this idea of 72 virgins to fool around with in heaven, especially if we commit suicide and commit murder at the same time.

Allah tells us:

Therein are those of modest gaze, whom neither man nor jinni will have touched before them. (55:56)

then goes on to say:

Is the reward of goodness aught save goodness? (55:60)

As Muslims we believe that we will be rewarded for our good deeds done in this life and punished for our bad deeds.

So lets have a look at these 72 virgins .... they are often described as "chaste females" but the word used in the Quran is hur'in (often seen as houri) and 'hur' in arabic can refer to both masculine or feminine. It would translate as beautiful eyed companions. Yes the Quran says they are untouched and pure but are they male or female or both or neither?

They are available to all inhabitants of Heaven, male and female and not just to martyrs. They are also 60 cubits high (over 27 meters).

This idea comes from a medievil collector of hadiths called al-Tirmidhi and some of his collection are considered untrustworthy. The Quran does not mention 72 virgins or orgies in Heaven and this hadith is not found in reliable collections of hadith. The hadith also mentions 80,000 servants for each person in heaven ..... what on earth could 80,000 servants possibly do for one person for eternity??

al-Tirmidhi has quite a number of hadith that go into detail about the look of the virgins breasts, etc ... I think he might have needed a cold shower and a lie down personally.

I asked my new husband about the 72 virgins and he thought I had gone slightly mad, he has never even heard of them and yet has commited half of the Quran to memory so far and is quite knowledgable about hadiths. Most Muslims are far too concerned about just trying to stay out of hell to be worried about how many vrgins they'll get.

Unfortunately western propaganda continues to shout about the 72 virgins and the rampant sexual adventures in paradise, yet they never mention that the Quran says they will 'restrained as to their glances' ... that doesn't suggest to me good time girls! Since it is such a sensationalist story I doubt the media will ever look for the truth or bother to ask Muslims about it.

We are given mental glimpses of what may be to come for those lucky enough to get to Heaven, it will be blissful, we may be made young again, we may live with our family and friends, we may be made pure (ie virgins), we may palaces to live in .... but one thing is for certain, Allah has told us anyone entering Heaven will be transformed and only Allah knows what that transformation will be or what rewards he will offer.

Where the houri are concerned I personally believe that symbolism has been used to describe something pure, I cannot imagine Heaven as anything but pure.