Koran Curious - A Guide for Infidels and Believers (33 page)

BOOK: Koran Curious - A Guide for Infidels and Believers
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[51:60] Woe to those who disbelieved from the day that is awaiting them.
 
SURA 52: THE MOUNTAIN
 
In the Name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful
 

This Meccan sura comprises forty-nine verses and was revealed to Muhammad at a time when the Meccans began to become more openly hostile towards him. The sura reads as two discourses. The first, deals with the Hereafter, and the second an address to the Quraysh chiefs who claimed he was merely a poet or a sorcerer.

The Mountain that Muhammad refers to the Old Testament’s Mount Sinai.

Verses 1 – 28

A narration of Paradise and its rewards.

[52:7] Your Lord’s requital is unavoidable.
 
[52:8] No force in the universe can stop it.
 
[52:9] The day will come when the sky will violently thunder.
 
[52:10] The mountains will be wiped out.
 
[52:11] Woe on that day to the disbelievers –
 
[52:17] The righteous have deserved gardens and bliss.
 
[52:18] They enjoy what their Lord has reserved for them; their Lord has spared them the retribution of Hell.
 
[52:19] Eat and drink happily, in return for your works.
 
[52:20] They relax on luxurious furnishings, and we match them with beautiful spouses.
 
[52:21] For those who believed, and their children also followed them in belief, we will have their children join them. We never fail to reward them for any work. Every person is paid for what he did.
 
[52:22] We will supply them with fruits and meats that they love.
 
[52:23] They will enjoy drinks that are never polluted, and never sinful to drink.
 
[52:24] Serving them will be servants like protected pearls.
 
[52:25] They will meet each other and reminisce among themselves.
 
Verses 29 – 49

Muhammad is the messenger of God and the unbelievers should accept him.

[52:29] You shall remind the people. With your Lord’s blessing’s upon you, you are neither a soothsayer, nor crazy.
 
[52:30] They may say, “He is a poet; let us just wait until he is dead.”
 
[52:31] Say, “Go on waiting; I will wait along with you.”
 
[52:32] Is it their dreams that dictate their behavior, or are they naturally wicked?
 
[52:33] Do they say, “He made it all up?” Instead, they are simply disbelievers.
 
[52:34] Let them produce a Hadith like this, if they are truthful.
 
[52:35] Were they created from nothing? Are they the creators?
 
[52:36] Did they create the heavens and the earth? Indeed, they have no certainty.
 
[52:37] Do they possess the treasures of your Lord? Are they in control?
 
[52:38] Do they climb a ladder that enables them to listen? Let their listeners show their proof.
 
SURA 53: THE STAR
 
In the Name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful
 

This sura is considered one of the earliest. Here Muhammad addresses the legitimacy of his prophetic visions and his divine authority.

Verses 1 – 18

Muhammad claims his visions of the Archangel are true.

[53:1] As the stars fell away.
 
[53:2] Your friend (Muhammad) was not astray, nor was he deceived.
 
[53:3] Nor was he speaking out of a personal desire.
 
[53:4] It was divine inspiration.
 
[53:5] Dictated by the Most Powerful.
 
[53:6] Possessor of all authority. From His highest height.
 
[53:7] At the highest horizon.
 
[53:8] He drew nearer by moving down.
 
[53:9] Until He became as close as possible.
 
[53:10] He then revealed to His servant what was to be revealed.
 
[53:11] The mind never made up what it saw.
 
[53:12] Are you doubting what he saw?
 
[53:13] He saw him in another descent.
 
[53:14] At the ultimate point.
 
[53:15] Where the eternal Paradise is located.
 
[53:16] The whole place was overwhelmed.
 
[53:17] The eyes did not waver, nor go blind.
 
[53:18] He saw great signs of his Lord.
 
Verses 19 – 28

Idols are worthless.

[53:19] Compare this with the female idols Allaat and Al-’Uzzah.
 
[53:20] And Manaat, the third one.
 
[53:21] Do you have sons, while He has these as daughters?
 
[53:22] What a disgraceful distribution!
 
[53:23] These are but names that you made up, you and your forefathers. GOD never authorized such a blasphemy. They follow conjecture, and personal desire, when the true guidance has come to them herein from their Lord.
 
Verses 29 – 44

Choose friends from among the believers only.

[53:29] You shall disregard those who turn away from our message, and become preoccupied with this worldly life.
 
[53:38] No soul bears the sins of another soul.
 
[53:39] Every human being is responsible for his own works.
 
[53:40] And everyone’s works will be shown.
 
[53:41] Then they will be paid fully for such works.
 
[53:42] To your Lord is the final destiny.
 
SURA 54: THE MOON
 
In the Name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful
 

If we recall the first five years of Muhammad’s calling, you will remember he spoke only of the Koran’s words to immediate family and a close circle of friends. Well, this fifty-five-verse Meccan sura was revealed shortly after he gave his first public address, the one whereby he was ridiculed and mocked by almost the entire city.

Verses 1 – 12

The unbelievers refuse to hear the signs and see the proofs.

[54:1] The Hour has come closer, and the moon has split.
 
[54:2] Then they saw a miracle; but they turned away and said, “Old magic.”
 
[54:3] They disbelieved, followed their opinions, and adhered to their old traditions.
 
[54:4] Sufficient warnings have been delivered to alert them.
 
[54:5] Great wisdom; but all the warnings have been in vain.
 
[54:6] Ignore them; the day will come when the caller will announce a terrible disaster.
 
Verses 13 – 55

The story of Noah’s Ark, and Sodom & Gomorrah.

[54:13] We carried him on a watercraft made of logs and ropes.
 
[54:14] It ran under our watchful eyes; a reward for one who was rejected.
 
[54:15] We have set it up as a lesson. Does any of you wish to learn?
 
[54:16] How terrible was My retribution after the warnings!
 
[54:17] We made the Quran easy to learn. Does any of you wish to learn?
 
[54:18] ‘Aad disbelieved. Consequently, how terrible was My retribution after the warnings.
 
[54:19] We sent upon them violent winds, on a day of continuous misery.
 
[54:20] It tossed the people around as if they were decayed palm tree trunks.
 
[54:33] The people of Lot rejected the warnings.
 
[54:34] We showered them with rocks. Only Lot’s family was saved at dawn.
 
[54:35] We blessed him and his family; we thus reward the appreciative.
 
[54:36] He warned them about our requital, but they ridiculed the warnings.
 
[54:37] They negotiated with him about his guests; we blinded them. Suffer My retribution; you have been warned.
 
[54:38] Early the next morning, a devastating retribution struck them.
 
SURA 55: THE MERCIFUL
 
In the Name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful
 

The main theme of the sura is the importance of giving manifestation and fruits to the attribution of God’s mercy and grace, which is evident right from the beginning, till the very end.

‘The Merciful’ is a Meccan sura comprising seventy-eight verses and reads as a single address.

[55:0] In the name of God, Most Gracious, Most Merciful
 
[55:1] The Most Gracious.
 
[55:2] Teacher of the Quran.
 
[55:3] Creator of the human beings.
 
[55:4] He taught them how to distinguish.
 
[55:5] The sun and the moon are perfectly calculated.
 
[55:6] The stars and the trees prostrate.
 
[55:7] He constructed the sky and established the law.
 
[55:17] Lord of the two easts and the two wests.
 
[55:18] Which of your Lord’s marvels can you deny?
 
[55:19] He separates the two seas where they meet.
 
[55:20] A barrier is placed between them, to prevent them from transgressing.
 
[55:49] Which of your Lord’s marvels can you deny?
 
[55:50] Two springs are in them, flowing.
 
[55:51] Which of your Lord’s marvels can you deny?
 
[55:52] Of every fruit in them, two kinds.
 
[55:53] Which of your Lord’s marvels can you deny?
 
[55:54] While relaxing on furnishings lined with satin, the fruits are within reach.
 
[55:55] Which of your Lord’s marvels can you deny?
 
[55:56] Their beautiful mates were never touched by any human or jinn.

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