seekeroftruth
Well-Known Member
Quran 18:25. And they stayed in their cave for three hundred years, adding nine.
26. Say, “God knows best how long they stayed.” His is the mystery of the heavens and the earth. By Him you see and hear. They have no guardian apart from Him, and He shares His Sovereignty with no one.
27. And recite what was revealed to you from the Book of your Lord. There is no changing His words, and you will find no refuge except in Him.
28. And content yourself with those who pray to their Lord morning and evening, desiring His Presence. And do not turn your eyes away from them, desiring the glitter of this world. And do not obey him whose heart We have made heedless of Our remembrance—so he follows his own desires—and his priorities are confused.
29. And say, “The truth is from your Lord. Whoever wills—let him believe. And whoever wills—let him disbelieve”. We have prepared for the unjust a Fire, whose curtains will hem them in. And when they cry for relief, they will be relieved with water like molten brass, which scalds the faces. What a miserable drink, and what a terrible place.
30. As for those who believe and lead a righteous life—We will not waste the reward of those who work righteousness.
31. These will have the Gardens of Eden, beneath which rivers flow. Reclining on comfortable furnishings, they will be adorned with bracelets of gold, and will wear green garments of silk and brocade. What a wonderful reward, and what an excellent resting-place.
And this is the commentary.
Commentators consider this verse as being conjoined to v. 22 with the words they say as being understood. But as shown in 22a, the history of Christianity, which runs like an undercurrent in the story of the Companions of the Cave, finds a clear expression now. There is no tradition that the Companions of the Cave remained in the Cave for three hundred years, but Christianity itself remained in a Cave for full three hundred years. It is a fact that Christianity rose to power with the conversion of Constantine, and at the same time it lost its purity with the formulation of the doctrine of the Trinity, which was promulgated in 325 A.D. It is, moreover, now almost agreed that Jesus Christ was born five or six years before the reputed date of his birth. Bishop Barnes says in The Rise of Christianity that he may have been born in 6–5 B.C. So if he began his ministry at the age of thirty, the Christian religion may be said to have been born at about 25 A.D., and thus exactly after three hundred years it lost its purity by the promulgation of the Trinitarian doctrine, emerging at the same time as a State religion. Thus it remained in the Cave for three hundred years. But what does this, the addition of nine years, mean? To reduce solar years to lunar years, three years have to be added to every hundred years, and to the three centuries another nine years are thus added. It is due to this computation that nine years are spoken of as being added.
Ab©ir bi-hß wa asmi‘ means må ab©ara wa asma‘a, or what a sight He has and what a hearing! The reference here is to the prophecies of the ultimate triumph of the Prophet and Islåm.
By kalimåt (“words”) are meant here prophecies, because it is the prophecy of the Prophet’s Flight and his final triumph over his enemies that is referred to here. These prophecies, it is claimed, cannot be altered by men, and they must come to pass, however great the opposing forces.
They refused the water of spiritual life in this life, and so they will have no water to quench their thirst in the life after death.
It is after these things that men hanker in this life, but the ornaments and robes of this life are transitory. The righteous, who in this life desire and struggle for only spiritual ornaments and moral beauty, find these visible in the after-life. It should, however, be borne in mind that these prophecies were in one sense brought to fulfilment in this very life. The Arabs, whose only wealth consisted of their camels and horses, and whose clothes were made of skins or cloth of rough textures, found the treasures of Rome and Persia laid at their feet, and the bracelets of gold and the silk brocade interwoven with gold, which they had never seen before, were now brought to them in abundance, while the gardens of Mesopotamia and Persia were given to them for a permanent heritage.
I'll make this quick.... yeah right....Even Christians know that December 25th is not Jesus's birthday. That's the Hallmark store date. That's the buy it before the end of the fiscal year so I can figure out how to write it off of my taxes date. It follows a Fall harvest [Thanksgiving... thanks Pilgrims] and it happens in the dead of winter to give us hope that Spring will come. Even Bible thumping Christians know that we don't have an exact date of His birth. Mary didn't check into a hospital to have Jesus. We don't have His Birth Certificate. We have historical proof of His life because of the trial held to murder Him on a Cross.
It makes sense they would use Jesus to refute the whole Christian Religion.... after all even the name "Christian" comes from "Christ".
It also makes sense Satan would use the "exact date" as an argument.... Satan has to throw a "hail Mary" once in a while.... and Mary's Son gets the grief. Satan talked someone into raising Mary to goddess status.... when the real miracle is that God chose an ordinary little girl to bring His Son to Earth so His Son could solve the "death" issue Satan started.
The Bible tells us not to wish for all our rewards here on earth. The Quran is telling us the same. Some day.... comparatively soon.... we will all get our wishes answered way beyond our wildest dreams. We'll either get our good dreams answered or our nightmares will come to life. I refuse to believe that God would put all the people who Believe Christ went to the Cross for them.... so that they could have eternal life.... in Hades. It just doesn't compute. We Believe..... in the same God!.
If you ask me.... and you really shouldn't because I really don't have a clue..... I'm just an old bitty in front of a keyboard with an online Bible and Quran along with the commentaries.... who has nothing better to do when she gets up in the morning.... But.... if you ask me....
...... The Cave represents ignorance and stupidity. The Quran says the Gospel was being changed for over 300 years. Even if we use the solar calendar or the lunar calendar... three hundred years is a long long long time.... and on top of that... they had to calculate the differences between the Sun and the Moon! [Light and Dark?]
I've been to a lot of churches over these 71 years. I've met a lot of preachers and priests and teachers. I don't think a lot of them have ever opened the Bible unless there were specific directions in the morning message to open to a particular page [not even chapter and verse but page].... and they don't really care what about the context or the true message.... but "hail Mary" they are in church.
Yep... some of them are still in the cave.
