Koran Curious - A Guide for Infidels and Believers (32 page)

BOOK: Koran Curious - A Guide for Infidels and Believers
3.15Mb size Format: txt, pdf, ePub
 
[47:28] This is because they followed what angered GOD and hated the things that please Him. Consequently, He has nullified their works.
 
[47:34] Those who disbelieve and repel from the path of GOD, then die as disbelievers, GOD will never forgive them.
 
[47:35] Therefore, you shall not waver and surrender in pursuit of peace, for you are guaranteed victory, and GOD is with you. He will never waste your efforts.
 
SURA 48: THE VICTORY
 
In the Name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful
 

Comprising only twenty-nine verses, ‘The Victory’ was recited by Muhammad shortly after signing the Peace Treaty with the Meccans in 628. For the previous six years, the Quraysh had banned the Muslims from entering the holy shrine, and had waged several major military campaigns against him, so for Muhammad, this was huge victory.

Verses 1 – 9

Muhammad trumpets his success.

[48:0] In the name of God, Most Gracious, Most Merciful
 
[48:1] We have bestowed upon you (O Messenger) a great victory.
 
[48:2] Whereby GOD forgives your past sins, as well as future sins, and perfects His blessings upon you, and guides you in a straight path.
 
48:5] He will certainly admit the believing men and women into gardens with flowing streams, wherein they abide forever. He will remit their sins. This is, in the sight of GOD, a great triumph.
 
[48:6] And He will requite the hypocrite men and women and the idol worshipping men and women, for they have harbored evil thoughts about GOD. Their evil will backfire against them. For GOD is angry with them, condemns them, and has prepared for them Gehenna. What a miserable destiny!
 
Verses 10 – 15

Muhammad claims his victory is proof he is God’s messenger.

[48:10] Surely, those who pledge allegiance to you, are pledging allegiance to GOD. GOD approves their pledge; He places His hand above their hands. Those who violate such a pledge, commit the violation to their own detriment. As for those who fulfill their pledge with GOD, He will grant them a great recompense.
 
[48:11] The sedentary Arabs who stay behind will say, “We have been preoccupied with our money and our families, so ask forgiveness for us!” They utter with their tongues what is not in their hearts. Say, “Who can protect you from GOD, if He willed any adversity for you, or if He willed any blessing for you?” GOD is fully Cognizant of everything you do.
 
[48:12] You secretly believed that the messenger and the believers will be defeated and never come back to their families, and this was firmly established in your hearts. You harbored evil thoughts and turned into wicked people.
 
[48:13] Anyone who refuses to believe in GOD and His messenger, we have prepared for the disbelievers a hellfire.
 
Verses 16 – 29

Our victory will inspire future Arab generations to conquer those who oppress us.

[48:18] GOD is pleased with the believers who pledged allegiance to you under the tree. He knew what was in their hearts and, consequently, He blessed them with contentment, and rewarded them with an immediate victory.
 
[48:19] Additionally, they gained many spoils. GOD is Almighty, Most Wise.
 
[48:20] GOD has promised you many spoils that you will gain. He thus advanced some benefits for you in this life, and He has withheld the people’s hands of aggression against you, and has rendered this a sign for the believers. He thus guides you in a straight path.
 
[48:25] It is they who disbelieved and barred you from the Sacred Masjid, and even prevented your offerings from reaching their destination. There were believing men and women (within the enemy camp) whom you did not know, and you were about to hurt them, unknowingly. GOD thus admits into His mercy whomever He wills. If they persist, He will requite those among them who disbelieve with a painful retribution.
 
[48:26] While those who disbelieved were enraged, and their hearts were filled with the pride of the days of ignorance, GOD blessed His messenger and the believers with peaceful contentment, and directed them to uphold the word of righteousness. This is what they well deserved. GOD is fully aware of all things.
 
SURA 49: THE APARTMENTS
 
In the Name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful
 

This 18 verse Medinan sura is a call to the Muslims to maintain unity. That no force can conquer them should they remain a house united. Thus Muhammad implores the Muslims to be generous and civil to one another. Much of it is to do with civility and social order.

Verses 1 – 5

Always obey God and his messenger.

[49:1] O you who believe, do not place your opinion above that of GOD and His messenger. You shall reverence GOD. GOD is Hearer, Omniscient.
 
[49:2] O you who believe, do not raise your voices above the voice of the prophet, nor shall you shout at him as you shout at each other, lest your works become nullified while you do not perceive.
 
Verses 6 – 9

Don’t perpetuate rumors without investigating the facts first.

[49:6] O you who believe, if a wicked person brings any news to you, you shall first investigate, lest you commit injustice towards some people, out of ignorance, then become sorry and remorseful for what you have done.
 
[49:7] And know that GOD’s messenger has come in your midst. Had he listened to you in many things, you would have made things difficult for yourselves. But GOD made you love faith and adorned it in your hearts, and He made you abhor disbelief, wickedness, and disobedience. These are the guided ones
 
Verses 10 – 18

All Muslims are part of one family.

[49:10] The believers are members of one family; you shall keep the peace within your family and reverence GOD, that you may attain mercy.
 
[49:11] O you who believe, no people shall ridicule other people, for they may be better than they. Nor shall any women ridicule other women, for they may be better than they. Nor shall you mock one another, or make fun of your names. Evil indeed is the reversion to wickedness after attaining faith. Anyone who does not repent after this, these are the transgressors.
 
[49:12] O you who believe, you shall avoid any suspicion, for even a little bit of suspicion is sinful. You shall not spy on one another, nor shall you backbite one another; this is as abominable as eating the flesh of your dead brother. You certainly abhor this. You shall observe GOD. GOD is Redeemer, Most Merciful.
 
SURA 50: KAF
 
In the Name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful
 

Named after the first letter of this early Meccan sura, ‘The Kaf’ comprises 58 verses and deals primarily with the Hereafter. Islamic tradition holds that a young Muslim woman was unable to recite this sura to memory because she had difficulty in believing there’d be an afterlife, which is something a majority of Arabs, prior to Muhammad, did not believe. This sura is addressed to the Muslims in regards to Paradise.

Verses 1 – 45

It is a single address to the woman’s concerns regarding the Hereafter.

[50:2] They found it strange that a warner from among them came to them! The disbelievers said, “This is really strange.
 
[50:3] “After we die and become dust; this is impossible.”
 
[50:4] We are fully aware of anyone of them who gets consumed by the earth; we have an accurate record.
 
[50:16] We created the human, and we know what he whispers to himself. We are closer to him than his jugular vein.
 
[50:17] Two recording (angels), at right and at left, are constantly recording.
 
[50:18] Not an utterance does he utter without an alert witness.
 
[50:19] Finally, the inevitable coma of death comes; this is what you tried to evade.
 
[50:20] The horn is blown; this is the promised day.
 
[50:21] Every soul comes with a herder and a witness.
 
[50:22] You used to be oblivious to this. We now remove your veil; today, your vision is (as strong as) steel.
 
[50:31] Paradise will be offered to the righteous, readily.
 
[50:32] This is what was promised to every repenter, steadfast.
 
[50:33] They reverenced the Most Gracious, in their privacy, and came wholeheartedly.
 
[50:34] Enter it in peace; this is the Day of Eternity.
 
[50:41] Prepare for the day when the caller calls from a place that is near.
 
[50:42] When they hear the inevitable cry; that is the day you come out.
 
SURA 51: THE SCATTERING
 
In the Name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful
 

This sixty-verse sura is said to have been recited at the same time as the sura before it, as it deals mostly with the Hereafter and little to do with outright hostility against the Meccans, who had not yet targeted Muhammad so vigorously at this stage.

Verses 1 – 60

Reads a single address regarding Paradise and rewards for the believers.

[51:5] What is promised to you will surely come to pass.
 
[51:6] The Day of Judgment is inevitable.
 
[51:7] Despite the perfectly created sky.
 
[51:8] You continue to dispute the truth.
 
[51:9] Deviating therefrom are the deviators.
 
[51:10] Woe to the falsifiers.
 
[51:11] In their blundering, they are totally heedless.
 
[51:12] They question the Day of Judgment.
 
[51:13] The day they are presented to the fire.
 
[51:14] Taste the retribution; this is what you used to challenge.
 
[51:15] The righteous have deserved gardens and springs.
 
[51:35] We then delivered all the believers.
 
[51:36] We did not find in it except one house of submitters.
 
[51:37] We set it up as a lesson for those who fear the painful retribution.
 
[51:38] In Moses (there is a lesson). We sent him to Pharaoh with manifest proofs.
 
[51:39] But he turned away, in arrogance, and said, “Magician, or crazy.”
 
[51:40] Consequently, we punished him and his troops. We threw them into the sea, and he is the one to blame.
 
[51:47] We constructed the sky with our hands, and we will continue to expand it.
 
[51:48] And we made the earth habitable; a perfect design.
 
[51:49] We created a pair (male and female) of everything, that you may take heed.
 
[51:50] You shall escape to GOD. I am sent by Him to you as a manifest warner.
 
[51:58] GOD is the Provider, the Possessor of all power, the Supreme.
 
[51:59] The transgressors have incurred the same fate as their previous counterparts; they should not challenge.

Other books

Hardpressed by Meredith Wild
The Young Nightingales by Mary Whistler
His Best Friend's Baby by Molly O'Keefe
Cash: The Autobiography by Johnny Cash, Jonny Cash, Patrick Carr
Diary of an Ugly Duckling by Langhorne, Karyn
Captivity by James Loney
Decoy by Simon Mockler