Blogging the Qur’an: Sura 30, “The Byzantines,” and Sura 31, “Luqman”
posted at 8:00 am on June 22, 2008 by Robert Spencer
Send to a Friend |
Share on Facebook | printer-friendly
After many passages in which the unbelievers ask Muhammad for a sign that he is a genuine prophet, but are rebuffed (6:37; 10:20; 13:7; 13:27), in sura 30 he delivers an actual prophesy – although this Meccan sura likely predates most, if not all, of the recorded demands for a sign. The prophecy regards the fate of the Byzantine Empire: the title of this surah is Ar-Rum (الرُّومُ), which literally means “The Romans,” but refers to the forces of the Eastern Roman Empire, commonly known today as the Byzantine Empire. I have thus entitled it here “The Byzantines.”
Allah says that the Byzantines have been defeated (v. 2), but will be victorious within a few years (v. 4). The Persians defeated them in 615 A.D., taking Jerusalem. According to the Tafsir al-Jalalayn, the pagan Arabs used this news to taunt the Muslims: “The Meccan disbelievers rejoiced in this [defeat of the Byzantines] and said to the Muslims, ‘We shall vanquish you as the Persians vanquished the Byzantines.’” But Muhammad was right: in 622, the Byzantines defeated the Persians and soon drove them out of Asia Minor. In 630, they retook Jerusalem.
Abdullah Yusuf Ali points out that the word translated “a few years” – bid’ (بِضْعِ) – means “a period of three to nine years,” although it’s not clear why Allah wouldn’t be more specific when he knows everything (6:59). Whether or not the Byzantine victories fulfill the prophecy depends on whether one wants to see in them confirmation or disconfirmation that Muhammad was a prophet. Maududi declares: “The prediction made in the initial verses of this Surah is one of the most outstanding evidences of the Quran’s being the Word of Allah and the Holy Prophet Muhammad’s being a true Messenger of Allah.”
The outcome was the will of Allah (v. 5). His promises are trustworthy, although most men don’t understand (v. 6); they don’t realize that those who rejected Allah’s previous messengers were destroyed (v. 9). Those evil people who reject and ridicule Allah’s signs (ayat, which can be understood as verses of the Qur’an as well as signs in nature), will suffer extreme evil themselves (v. 10).
Verses 11-16 repeat warnings of the Day of Judgment: those who associated partners with Allah will find no help from those partners (v. 13); the righteous will enjoy delights while those who reject Allah’s signs will be punished (v. 16). Then verses 17-29 sing Allah’s praises, pointing out various features of the natural world as signs of his presence and power, including the creation of women as companions of men and the harmony between the two (v. 21). Ibn Kathir explains: “If Allah had made all of Adam’s progeny male, and created the females from another kind, such as from Jinn or animals, there would never have been harmony between them and their spouses. There would have been revulsion if the spouses had been from a different kind. Out of Allah’s perfect mercy He made their wives from their own kind, and created love and kindness between them.”
Other signs are the creation of heaven and earth, the variations of languages and colors (v. 22); sleep (v. 23); and lightning and rain (v. 24). But the unbelievers just follow their own lusts, rather than paying heed – and no one can guide those who Allah leaves astray (v. 29). (Here again is yet another indication that belief and unbelief are up to Allah, who, after all, has created some men just to torture them in hell – see 7:179).
Verses 30-45 continue to excoriate the unbelievers for their lack of faith. The righteous should not split up their religion into sects (v. 32). Ibn Kathir says that this refers to “the Jews, Christians, Zoroastrians, idol worshippers and all the followers of false religions, besides the followers of Islam.” Muhammad himself said: “The Jews were split up into seventy-one or seventy-two sects; and the Christians were split up into seventy one or seventy-two sects; and my community will be split up into seventy-three sects.” But one sect will have the truth. Ibn Kathir continues: “The followers of the religions before us had differences of opinions and split into false sects, each group claiming to be following the truth. This Ummah too has split into sects, all of which are misguided apart from one, which is Ahlus-Sunnah Wal-Jama’ah [the People of the Prophet’s Way and Community], those who adhere to the Book of Allah and the Sunnah of the Messenger of Allah and what was followed by the first generations, the Companions, their followers, and the Imams of the Muslims of earlier and later times.”
Men cry to Allah when they’re in trouble (v. 33). They turn “back” to him at such times because all were originally Muslim. A hadith says: “There is none born but is created to his true nature (Islam). It is his parents who make him a Jew or a Christian or a Magian.” But men are ungrateful (v. 34). Allah has given man everything – which of his “partners” can do these things (v. 40)? Men should embrace the true religion before it’s too late (v. 43).
Verses 46-60 return to the signs of Allah in nature – specifically, the winds (vv. 46, 48), but the unbelievers continue to be ungrateful (v. 51). The Qur’an contains every kind of parable, but the unbelievers dismiss it as “vanities” (v. 58). Allah has sealed up their hearts (v. 59).
Another Meccan sura, Sura 31 is named for Luqman the wise. Abdur-Rahman bin Harmalah told this story: “A black man came to Sa‘id bin Al-Musayyib to ask him a question, and Sa‘id bin Al-Musayyib said to him: ‘Do not be upset because you are black, for among the best of people were three who were black,’” including “Luqman the Wise, who was a black Nubian with thick lips.”
Verses 1-5 praise the Qur’an, which is a “guide and mercy” to the righteous (v. 3). However, verses 6-11 return to the unbelievers, who ridicule Islam (v. 6) and turn away in arrogance when the Qur’an is recited (v. 7).
Luqman, by contrast, tells his son not to join partners with Allah, “for false worship is indeed the highest wrong-doing” (v. 13). The highest wrongdoing: as the Invitation to Islam newsletter explained in 1997: “Murder, rape, child molesting and genocide. These are all some of the appalling crimes which occur in our world today. Many would think that these are the worst possible offences which could be committed. But there is something which outweighs all of these crimes put together: It is the crime of shirk” – that is, associating partners with Allah. A man should be good to his parents (v. 14) unless they try to get him to worship other gods (v. 15) – as apparently some pagan Meccans were trying to do with their Muslim convert children.
In verses 20-34, Allah returns to the perversity of the unbelievers in not reckoning with the many signs of his reality. He tells Muhammad not to grieve over the unbelievers (v. 23), for they will soon be subjected to unrelenting punishment (v. 24), for they know Allah created all, but do not understand that must obey him (v. 25). His words are inexhaustible (v. 27), and men should not be deceived by this present life into ignoring them (v. 33).
Next week: Sura 32, “The Prostration”: Has Muhammad forged the Qur’an?
(Here you can find links to all the earlier “Blogging the Qur’an” segments. Here is a good Arabic Qur’an, with English translations available; here are two popular Muslim translations, those of Abdullah Yusuf Ali and Mohammed Marmaduke Pickthall, along with a third by M. H. Shakir. Here is another popular translation, that of Muhammad Asad. And here is an omnibus of ten Qur’an translations.)
You must be logged in to post a comment.
Blowback
Note from Hot Air management: This section is for comments from Hot Air's community of registered readers. Please don't assume that Hot Air management agrees with or otherwise endorses any particular comment just because we let it stand. A reminder: Anyone who fails to comply with our terms of use may lose their posting privilege.
Trackbacks/Pings
Trackback URL
Comments
So, if not for Allah, my wife might have been, say, a squid or something?
flipflop on June 22, 2008 at 8:11 AM
All I could think of at that point was camel beauty contests. Maybe Allah should have picked camels instead.
Anna on June 22, 2008 at 8:16 AM
There are some who may have liked that.
flipflop on June 22, 2008 at 8:44 AM
hmm..they treat women as if they are unclean..like pigs, for example.
Camels are treated way better than women.
becki51758 on June 22, 2008 at 9:05 AM
btw..I’m off to church where I can commit some shirk.
becki51758 on June 22, 2008 at 9:07 AM
So Allah controls who believes and who does not, and he subjects the unbelievers (who are unbelievers because Allah wills them to be) to unrelenting punishment? Nice.
AZCoyote on June 22, 2008 at 9:09 AM
I always felt sorry for Heraclius, the East Roman Emperor at the time of Muhammad: he struggles mightily to save the Empire from near disaster at the hands of the Persians, only to have it almost all ripped away by Muslim armies.
He must have felt at times as if God hated him. :)
irishspy on June 22, 2008 at 10:48 AM
Allah is one slick dude with all the bases covered. But he is a lot more self conscious and in need of attention than most other divinities. A very jealous and insecure god created by a very jealous an insecure human.
Death to Islam and it’s Prophet.
BL@KBIRD on June 22, 2008 at 10:50 AM
I guess Mo was unstuck in time like that Kurt Vonnegut character, as prophecies postdate actual happenings and vice versa, and everything is mish moshed together.
Honestly, I’ve never read anything so confusing in my life.
Mommynator on June 22, 2008 at 10:50 AM
flipflop:
Yes, like poor Mr. Loopner, who was born without a spine.
Robert Spencer on June 22, 2008 at 12:22 PM
AZCoyote:
Yes, that’s about the size of it. Contrary to caricature, I love Islamic culture, Islamic art, Islamic music (and the food, yes, the food), and many things about the Qur’an and Sunnah, or I wouldn’t have studied them for so long and in such depth. But I am not going to lie about what they contain, and they do contain doctrines of warfare against unbelievers, doctrines oppressing women, and this: the idea that the supreme deity creates beings in order to torture them. I can’t sign up with that.
Robert Spencer on June 22, 2008 at 12:25 PM
irishspy:
I feel the same way about Heraclius. I root for him all the way, and he has such a hard time. One of the tragic figures of history, and a great hero in many ways.
Robert Spencer on June 22, 2008 at 12:26 PM
AZCoyote:
On a less personal note I should perhaps point out that this was a controversy in early Islam — does Allah control absolutely everything, or do human beings have free will? The Qadariyya, the free will party, lost this debate, given the weight of Qur’anic evidence that contradicted their position, and were deemed heretics. A few months ago Alt.Muslim took notice of my Qur’an blog — on sura 10, if I recall correctly — and claimed that I misrepresented Islamic doctrine in noting that it denied free will. When I brought up the Qadariyya, the guy said something like, Well, Spencer just hates Muslims. Yeah, I guess that means Islam teaches free will!
Robert Spencer on June 22, 2008 at 12:39 PM
Robert
I’m surprised you have an admiration for things Islamic. I find the enslavement of souls in a bastardized criminal/religious cult to contain nothing of praiseworthiness. And Islamic music and art are suspect if not outright haram in Islam are they not? It’s the vestiges of humanity left in Muslims that you admire. Imagine if the cultures ensnared in Islam were free to be fully human.
BL@KBIRD on June 22, 2008 at 2:08 PM
Have the Muslims decided on the question Allah misguiding some men? If Allah does this, then it is the will of Allah, and therefore these men are meant to live this way, and the Muslims should not interfere. Why, then do the Muslims interfere?
I find it surprising that Mo was able to:
- Repeatedly ignore calls for signs, miracles and any proof that he was a messenger of God,
- Repeatedly make assertions (that his words were true, that other religions had distorted their own doctrine, etc.) yet fail to prove them,
- Violate his own commandments (from God, no less) and get called on it (by Aisha’s father),
- Contradict himself (the Quran is created perfect, vs. Sura 106; which is it?),
and still retain a loyal following.
Apparently, the restriction of education combined with free use of sharp swords and an appeal to lust, booty and the baser instincts of the rabble was quite effective.
Arbalest on June 22, 2008 at 2:21 PM
Religion poisons everything.
ronsfi on June 22, 2008 at 2:29 PM
This also becomes highly important in Arab (and Islamic) identity as they reflect on how through the narrative of the raids (ghazawat), the Bedouin tribesmen were able to bring two empires to their knees, destroying the Persian Sassanids (especially how the Arabs, much like the Goths, were used by both sides as barbarian auxiliary).
Though the Sassanids were destroyed, and a great part of what Heraclius won back for the ERE lost, the Arabs were unable to bring Constantinople to its knees, a source of dueling admiration and obsession. In the Abbasid years, with the Islamic triumphant of a Caliph, Sultan, and Vizir (Arab Abbasids would manipulate the “minority groups” such as Persians/Turks to play the “barbarian auxiliary role”), the Arab Caliph would only go on military campaigns to the Roman frontier, as such it would legitimize his position as holding the key to religious power in the empire.
Like the Gothic relationship with the Romans, once these groups found out who truly had the power (through observation, military events, and even the Sufi interaction with the Turks), being that of the military might of the Arabs, you see them seizing power from the Abbasids and venturing out of their own empire-creating.
TheEJS on June 22, 2008 at 2:50 PM
BL@CKBIRD:
Yes, music and representational art are haram. Do these things exist despite Islam or because of it? A bit of both. Human beings are human beings everywhere, and the human spirit is unconquerable.
Robert Spencer on June 22, 2008 at 4:04 PM
Arbalest:
Because Allah tells them to call all men to Islam, even though he leaves some to go astray, and even leads them astray.
He didn’t ignore them. He repeatedly offers excuses/explanations throughout the Qur’an. I have touched on these in passing throughout the Q-Blog. He says that they wouldn’t believe no matter what they saw, and that the Qur’an is itself a sign, etc.
In 7th century Arabia, he didn’t have to prove it. No one had ancient manuscripts lying around. It was his word against theirs.
He gave himself an out for this in 33:21: he is the excellent example of conduct, so what he does is proper because he did it.
You mean 2:106. Islamic apologists say that Allah canceled material by way of progressive instruction, to lead the Muslims to accept principles (such as the prohibition of alcohol) that they would presumably have not accepted had he sprung them on them all at once.
He was, evidently, a clever, quick-witted, and unscrupulous person.
That was certainly part of it.
Robert Spencer on June 22, 2008 at 4:09 PM
Oh, and Arbalest, one thing I overlooked:
Yes, that is quite clear in the Qur’an. See 7:179:
“Many are the Jinns and men we have made for Hell: They have hearts wherewith they understand not, eyes wherewith they see not, and ears wherewith they hear not. They are like cattle,- nay more misguided: for they are heedless (of warning).”
Robert Spencer on June 22, 2008 at 4:10 PM
ronsfi:
A pinched, narrow, blinkered view of religion, and of the world.
Robert Spencer on June 22, 2008 at 4:11 PM
Just wanted to mention how powerful the latest “Jihad Watch” was.
The ever escalating effort to silence free speech with regards to Islam truly frightens me.
The courage of you and Mark Steyn continues to be an inspiration for me.
Hawkins1701 on June 22, 2008 at 5:22 PM
Hawkins1701:
Thanks. When I am in prison for telling the truth about Islamic jihad, I do hope you will bake me a cake with a file in it.
Robert Spencer on June 22, 2008 at 5:45 PM
I still have a hard time following the “Allah is responsible for everything” thing. I mean, even in Christianity, we say God knows all and sees all. But God gave us all “free will”, which I take in Islam, how could Allah have given “free will” if everything that happens, everything, is by the will of Allah.
So then, the unbelievers must certainly been “willed” by Allah. You reinded us last week that Allah had even created evil men so he could put them in Hell. But by all this reasoning, all the unbelievers are willed by Allah, no?
JetBoy on June 22, 2008 at 6:01 PM
JetBoy:
Yep. See my quote of Qur’an 7:179 above.
Also, there’s Qur’an 10:99:
“If it had been thy Lord’s will, they would all have believed, all who are on earth! wilt thou then compel mankind, against their will, to believe!”
And there are plenty of others in this vein.
Robert Spencer on June 22, 2008 at 6:03 PM
On a side note, I’ve done some researching of Jinns (I’ve always spelled it “Djinns” but I guess it’s all the same) as that aspect has interested me.
But what I fail to understand is, how can the Koran and Allah say to “fight the infidels”, when the infidels are willed by Allah himself? If the Muslims win, it’s by Allah. Lose, it’s by Allah. Man seems to have no play in this.
And Mohammed’s prophecy cited above seems almost irrelevant, especially given that it’s thought to have been written after the fact.
We’re really getting into the nitty-gritty here in the Koran, and I feel I’m getting lost a little….not because of this series, as you’ve been extremely thorough and explain everything so well…but because the more I learn, the less I see the reasoning of Islam. Man seems to have less and less to do with any outcome. It’s all by the will of Allah. Free will and choices, good and bad, are the basis of religious belief to me. That we control our own destiny if we go to heaven or to hell.
But in Islam, that’s already been preordained.
JetBoy on June 22, 2008 at 6:23 PM
I’ll make you one with a flamethrower in it.
dentalque on June 22, 2008 at 6:24 PM
This seems to a reoccuring theme in Islamic Theology. It has come up before here at the Qur’an blog. I beleive it is important for EVERYONE
dentalque on June 22, 2008 at 6:29 PM
This seems to a reoccuring theme in Islamic Theology. It has come up before here at the Qur’an blog. I beleive it is important for EVERYONE WHO VALUES LIBERTY to understand this
key diffecence between our value system an Islam.
Sorry for the above premature post.
dentalque on June 22, 2008 at 6:32 PM
Don’t worry. There are still millions of us in the U.S. who believe in our Constitution, and especially the First and Second Amendments. We won’t let our God-given freedoms be taken from us –any of us– without putting up a fight.
Keep up your good work. Lots of us are listening.
AZCoyote on June 22, 2008 at 6:51 PM
Mr. Spencer,
First, I second the comment of Hawkins1701 at 5:22PM, and several others too. I admire your actions. I think that the tide of PC is turning; Steyn and Levant seem to be making it happen very publicly in Canada. Jail time seems unlikely.
Second, I thank you for your response. Of course, this means I won’t be “Hot Air’s Most Ignored (non-Troll) Poster for 2008” (I had a shot till now), but such is life.
I’ve read all of your “Blogging the Quran” posts, and I’m somewhat familiar with history and the effects of the Arabs on the civilizations of the Middle East, Africa and India. The level of civilization and achievement of 7th century Arabia is hardly secret; little in the way of technology by Mo’s time, but Arabs in the immediate vicinity could still read and write (and apparently did). Unfortunately for them, Mo’s sword defeated their pen.
I’m also somewhat familiar with Muslim attitudes towards rational thought and inquiry (Hot Air, Jihad Watch, FrontPageMag, LGF and others have added details).
Your points are well taken, but I was looking for a, or the, theological response to my abbreviated points.
That Mo could claim that fragmentary comments on bone, palm leaves, etc, in and of themselves are evidence of anything Divine seems ludicrous, and I think that the literate Arabs/Meccans of the time said so. I’m waiting for the negatives taken of a certain Quran (in Yemen, I think) to be published. Preliminary forecasts indicate much angst and rage.
I note the phrase “Allah knows best”, or some variant, is frequently the final sentence of an Islamic statement, verdict, etc. Its frequent use seems to weigh heavily against quoting some tangentially relevant portion of Islamic scripture. Thus, since some men are led astray by the will of Allah, and cannot be saved, as per the words of Allah, the Islamicly-indisputable quote “Allah knows best” should render any Islamic interference as a sin, against the will of God, and label the involved Muslims as Hypocrites.
My recollection is that Mo threatened Aisha’s father with Divine Judgement for questioning Mo’s desire for his 6-y.o daughter, and it seems that this sort of argument/threat is, ultimately, the only one Mo and the Muslims ever use.
I understand then, that 2:106 is Sura 2 Verse 106. It seems then that Islamic apologists would have a difficult time explaining, theologically, Allah changing the direction of prayer from Jerusalem to Mecca. I suppose that the contemporary Arabs saw nothing wrong with any of this, but still, why the change?
The list of internal Islamic problems and contradictions is long.
The attempts I’ve read, to justify Mo’s actions and contradictions, all fail after a brief debate. I suppose that we will be seeing more attempts as Islam spreads and inflicts itself upon others.
I notice that it is the exposure of the theological failure of Islam that gets the most response, hence, my severely-abbreviated posts.
Arbalest on June 22, 2008 at 7:08 PM
This is actually the best part of Islam. “Free will” is just an excuse Christians and other religious people use to get around the fact that if there really is a God He must be a monster of epic proportions. There is no other explanation for why, if God exists, He would allow such horrible things to happen. So their God is all-knowing, all-powerful, and all-loving, but there’s not a damn thing he can do about that dreaded “free will”.
Muslims, on the other hand, put their faith completely in their God. Christians and other religious people cannot bring themselves to believe it is the same God, but the smart ones don’t say that outright. They can’t because they know how stupid it will sound.
Some of them do say it, but they’re idiots.
Muslims just admit He’s a monster. That is the one thing they are honest about. It’s also why they can shoot little kids in the back and not feel the least bit of guilt.
Jaynie59 on June 22, 2008 at 9:03 PM
It’s amazing how, if their allah is so omniscient, he couldn’t, or wouldn’t, tell muslims that they were going to be beaten down and curb-stomped by the very people they constantly denegrate as being beneath them: the Jews. It’s also equally amazing how their book (which I regard as a book of Satanic lies) fails to inform their most devout that the State of Israel was on it’s way back onto the world stage, and become one of the 3 most important, newsworth nations on the planet Earth.
Virus-X on June 22, 2008 at 10:21 PM
First, Jaynie, you should actually find out what you’re talking about, before you show your ignorance about Christianity and Christians on the World Wide Web, for all to see.
Second, you obviously not being a person of faith, and incapable of believing the fact that there is something so much greater than yourself, couldn’t understand that God could allow us to go on our own way, as well as retain the ability to revoke free will. This is made abundantly clear by you calling God “…a monster of epic proportions…”, simply because you can’t understand why “…He would allow such horrible things to happen…” Think about all the horrible things you’ve done, and said, to others, and ask why you didn’t prevent them. There’s this thing that Christians and non-Christians, alike, believe: that’s called taking responsibility for your own actions. That’s when you take responsiblity for the things you say and do, and not blame monsters “…of epic proportions…” for making you do anything. Then, maybe you consider how when people like you denegrate Christ and Christians, we don’t hunt you down and saw off your head, like many a muslim certainly would. Maybe that’s because we trust God to handle it, if He even sees it as a problem, whereas muslims don’t believe their allah will, and therefore, must constantly take matters into their own hands. Kind’ve flies in the face of your pompous statement:
Virus-X on June 22, 2008 at 10:40 PM
Thank you, Robert and do not fear prison. Free Speech is not dead yet in the US.
awake on June 23, 2008 at 8:37 AM