Koran Curious - A Guide for Infidels and Believers (20 page)
Read Koran Curious - A Guide for Infidels and Believers Online
Authors: C.J. Werleman
[17:7] “If you work righteousness, you work righteousness for your own good, but if you commit evil you do so to your own detriment. Thus, when the second time comes to pass, they will defeat you and enter the masjid, just as they did the first time. They will wipe out all the gains you had accomplished.”
The Koran is a sign from God.
[17:9] This Quran guides to the best path, and brings good news to the believers who lead a righteous life, that they have deserved a great recompense.
[17:10] As for those who disbelieve in the Hereafter, we have prepared for them a painful retribution.
Everyone is destined for the Day of Judgment.
[17:13] We have recorded the fate of every human being; it is tied to his neck. On the Day of Resurrection we will hand him a record that is accessible.
[17:14] Read your own record. Today, you suffice as your own reckoner.
[17:15] Whoever is guided, is guided for his own good, and whoever goes astray does so to his own detriment. No sinner will bear the sins of anyone else. We never punish without first sending a messenger.
Muhammad prescribes the life Muslims should live.
[17:23] Your Lord has decreed that you shall not worship except Him, and your parents shall be honored. As long as one or both of them live, you shall never say to them, “Uff” (the slightest gesture of annoyance), nor shall you shout at them; you shall treat them amicably.
[17:24] And lower for them the wings of humility, and kindness, and say, “My Lord, have mercy on them, for they have raised me from infancy.”
[17:25] Your Lord is fully aware of your innermost thoughts. If you maintain righteousness, He is Forgiver of those who repent.
[17:26] You shall give the due alms to the relatives, the needy, the poor, and the traveling alien, but do not be excessive, extravagant.
[17:27] The extravagant are brethren of the devils, and the devil is unappreciative of his Lord.
Muhammad rebukes the reasons the Meccans have rejected him.
[17:41] We have cited in this Quran (all kinds of examples), that they may take heed. But it only augments their aversion.
[17:42] Say, “If there were any other gods beside Him, as they claim, they would have tried to overthrow the Possessor of the throne.”
[17:43] Be He glorified, He is much too exalted, far above their utterances.
[17:46] We place shields around their minds, to prevent them from understanding it, and deafness in their ears. And when you preach your Lord, using the Quran alone, they run away in aversion.
[17:47] We are fully aware of what they hear, when they listen to you, and when they conspire secretly - the disbelievers say, “You are following a crazy man.”
[17:58] There is not a community that we will not annihilate before the Day of Resurrection, or inflict severe retribution upon them. This is already written down in the book.
Don’t turn away from God when the going gets good.
[17:67] If you are afflicted in the middle of the sea, you forget your idols and sincerely implore Him alone. But as soon as He saves you to the shore, you revert. Indeed, the human being is unappreciative.
[17:69] Have you guaranteed that He will not return you to the sea another time, then send upon you a storm that drowns you because of your disbelief? Once this happens, we will not give you another chance.
Muhammad states the importance of prayer and righteousness.
[17:78] You shall observe the Contact Prayer (Salat) when the sun declines from its highest point at noon, as it moves towards sunset. You shall also observe (the recitation of) the Quran at dawn. (Reciting) the Quran at dawn is witnessed.
[17:79] During the night, you shall meditate for extra credit, that your Lord may raise you to an honorable rank.
Muhammad speaks out against the Meccans.
[17:97] Whomever GOD guides is the truly guided one. And whomever He sends astray, you will never find for them any lords and masters beside Him. We will summon them on the Day of Resurrection forcibly; blind, dumb, and deaf. Their destination is Hell; whenever it cools down, we will increase their fire.
[17:98] Such is their just retribution, since they rejected our revelations. They said, “After we turn into bones and fragments, do we get resurrected into a new creation?”
Muhammad describes himself as an Arabic Moses.
[17:101] We supported Moses with nine profound miracles - ask the Children of Israel. When he went to them, Pharaoh said to him, “I think that you, Moses, are bewitched.”
[17:102] He said, “You know full well that no one can manifest these except, obviously, the Lord of the heavens and the earth. I think that you, Pharaoh, are doomed.”
The suras of the Koran should be released slowly so as to facilitate memorization.
[17:105] Truthfully, we sent it down, and with the truth it came down. We did not send you except as a bearer of good news, as well as a warner.
[17:106] A Quran that we have released slowly, in order for you to read it to the people over a long period, although we sent it down all at once.
[17:107] Proclaim, “Believe in it, or do not believe in it.” Those who possess knowledge from the previous scriptures, when it is recited to them, they fall down to their chins, prostrating.
In the Name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful
Recited by Muhammad in Mecca, the title comes from the opening few verses of the sura. What makes this sura stand out from others, however, is he uses non-biblical stories as parables and metaphors for his prophethood.
This sura contains one hundred and ten verses.
Opening statement that the Koran is from God and he challenge to the Meccans to accept it because of the signs that Allah gives. He also warns Christians they’re wrong.
[18:1] Praise GOD, who revealed to His servant this scripture, and made it flawless.
[18:2] A perfect (scripture) to warn of severe retribution from Him, and to deliver good news to the believers who lead a righteous life, that they have earned a generous recompense.
[18:3] Wherein they abide forever.
[18:4] And to warn those who said, “GOD has begotten a son!”
Muhammad tells the story of the People of the Cave, which tells of a group of young monotheistic men who lived in fear of persecution. They fled the city together, and took refuge in a cave where they fell asleep. God caused them to remain sleeping for 309 years, and when they woke the surrounding area had become monotheistic as well.
[18:9] Why else do you think we are telling you about the people of the cave, and the numbers connected with them? They are among our wondrous signs.
[18:10] When the youths took refuge in the cave, they said, “Our Lord, shower us with Your mercy, and bless our affairs with Your guidance.”
[18:11] We then sealed their ears in the cave for a predetermined number of years.
[18:12] Then we resurrected them to see which of the two parties could count the duration of their stay therein.
[18:17] You could see the sun when it rose coming from the right side of their cave, and when it set, it shone on them from the left, as they slept in the hollow thereof. This is one of GOD’s portents. Whomever GOD guides is the truly guided one, and whomever He sends astray, you will not find for him a guiding teacher.
[18:18] You would think that they were awake, when they were in fact asleep. We turned them to the right side and the left side, while their dog stretched his arms in their midst. Had you looked at them, you would have fled from them, stricken with terror.
[18:19] When we resurrected them, they asked each other, “How long have you been here?” “We have been here one day or part of the day,” they answered. “Your Lord knows best how long we stayed here, so let us send one of us with this money to the city. Let him fetch the cleanest food, and buy some for us. Let him keep a low profile, and attract no attention.
[18:20] “If they discover you, they will stone you, or force you to revert to their religion, then you can never succeed.”
[18:25] They stayed in their cave three hundred years, increased by nine.
Muhammad tells of the Parable of Two Men. This story discusses two men who had both been given blessings from God, but one wronged his soul by saying that none of it could ever be taken away from him. At the end of the parable God destroys what he had given the man.
[18:32] Cite for them the example of two men: we gave one of them two gardens of grapes, surrounded by date palms, and placed other crops between them.
[18:33] Both gardens produced their crops on time, and generously, for we caused a river to run through them.
[18:34] Once, after harvesting, he boastfully told his friend: “I am far more prosperous than you, and I command more respect from the people.”
[18:37] His friend said to him, as he debated with him, “Have you disbelieved in the One who created you from dust, then from a tiny drop, then perfected you into a man?
[8:39] “When you entered your garden, you should have said, ‘This is what GOD has given me (Maa Shaa Allah). No one possesses power except GOD (La Quwwata Ellaa Bellaah).’ You may see that I possess less money and less children than you.
Muhammad tells the story of Moses traveling to gain knowledge from another servant of God.
[18:60] Moses said to his servant, “I will not rest until I reach the point where the two rivers meet, no matter how long it takes.”
[18:61] When they reached the point where they met, they forgot their fish, and it found its way back to the river, sneakily.
[18:62] After they passed that point, he said to his servant, “Let us have lunch. All this traveling has thoroughly exhausted us.”
[18:63] He said, “Remember when we sat by the rock back there? I paid no attention to the fish. It was the devil who made me forget it, and it found its way back to the river, strangely.”
[18:64] (Moses) said, “That was the place we were looking for.” They traced their steps back.
Muhammad tells of a story of a man who traveled from one end of the earth to the other.
[18:83] They ask you about Zul-Qarnain. Say, “I will narrate to you some of his history.”
[18:86] When he reached the far west, he found the sun setting in a vast ocean, and found people there. We said, “O Zul-Qarnain, you can rule as you wish; either punish, or be kind to them.”
[18:87] He said, “As for those who transgress, we will punish them; then, when they return to their Lord, He will commit them to more retribution.
[18:88] “As for those who believe and lead a righteous life, they receive a good reward; we will treat them kindly.”
Muhammad tells of a story about Gog and Magog, which will be the final sign before the end of the world.
