seekeroftruth
Well-Known Member
Quran 29: In the name of God, the Gracious, the Merciful.
1. Alif, Lam, Meem.
2. Have the people supposed that they will be left alone to say, “We believe,” without being put to the test?
3. We have tested those before them. God will surely know the truthful, and He will surely know the liars.
4. Or do those who commit sins think they can fool Us? Terrible is their opinion!
5. Whoever looks forward to the meeting with God—the appointed time of God is coming. He is the All-Hearing, the All-Knowing.
6. Whoever strives, strives only for himself. God is Independent of the beings.
7. Those who believe and do righteous deeds—We will remit their sins, and We will reward them according to the best of what they used to do.
8. We have advised the human being to be good to his parents. But if they urge you to associate with Me something you have no knowledge of, do not obey them. To Me is your return; and I will inform you of what you used to do.
9. Those who believe and do good works—We will admit them into the company of the righteous.
10. Among the people is he who says, “We have believed in God.” Yet when he is harmed on God’s account, he equates the people's persecution with God’s retribution. And if help comes from your Lord, he says, “We were actually with you.” Is not God aware of what is inside the hearts of the people?
11. God certainly knows those who believe, and He certainly knows the hypocrites.
12. Those who disbelieve say to those who believe, “Follow our way, and we will carry your sins.” In no way can they carry any of their sins. They are liars.
13. They will carry their own loads, and other loads with their own. And they will be questioned on the Day of Resurrection concerning what they used to fabricate.
Fabrication.... to create something. Making it up as they go along... right?
Here's the commentary.
By the trials spoken of in these verses are meant the persecutions of the believers by the disbelievers. This is made clear in v. 10. A misconception as to the nature of these trials has led some critics to think that the first ten verses must have been revealed at Madßnah.
The knowing in this case relates to a knowledge of the event when it takes place, when reward or punishment is meted out to a man for what he does. Allåh knows what a man will do but does not reward or punish, until He knows that the man has done a deed.
As shown in 25:52a, the word jihåd occurs in Makkan revelation frequently, and carries its proper significance of striving hard in Allåh’s way. The suffering of persecutions and tortures at the hands of their enemies for the sake of their faith was no less a jihåd for the Muslims at Makkah than their fighting in defence of Islåm at Madßnah.
Kafara, as also kaffara, means originally he covered or concealed, and kaffaral-sayyi’at, he did away with the evil or effaced it (LL). Sayyi’ah has a double significance, it means an evil deed or a sin, as also an evil accident, a trial or an affliction (LL). Hence the words la-nukaffiranna ‘an-hum sayyi’åti-him may signify either the doing away with their afflictions or trials, or the doing away with their evil deeds. I prefer the first because it is of the trials and afflictions of the believers that these verses speak. If the second significance is adopted, it would mean that the evil deeds which the believers did before they accepted the Truth would be effaced, because the course of their lives was now changed.
This verse, while signifying the importance of obedience to parents, warns against attaching over-importance even to filial duty. It shows that when an important duty clashes with a still higher one, the former is to be sacrificed for the latter. It is related that when Sa‘d ibn Abß Waqqås became a convert to Islåm, his mother swore that she would neither eat nor drink, until he reverted to disbelief, and that this verse was revealed on that occasion. It is a further proof that these verses were revealed at Makkah, because Sa‘d was one of the early converts. In fact, it was at Makkah that children had to leave their parents on account of their conversion to Islåm, the parents not allowing them to forsake their old religion.
The meaning is that those who are weak in faith consider the persecution by the disbelievers, which was necessary to strengthen and purify their faith, as if it were a punishment from Allåh for their change of faith. The latter part of the verse is a prophecy as to what the weak in faith will say when they see the help of Allåh coming to the Muslims.
It should be noted that the Qur’ån does not anywhere say that the burden of one shall be taken away by another. Each one is responsible for what he does. The “other burdens” are really their own burdens in misleading others, and thus the two burdens spoken of here are the burden of one’s own wrongdoing and the burden of misleading others.
Parents can have an affect on the Salvation of their children. Children are terrific mimics. They go through life learning from those around them. If parents truly worship the One True Living God.... the children will probably follow their example. If the parents are rapists, thieves, robbers, drunks, or addicts... the children will probably follow their example. God will understand.... for a while..... but then when the child gets mature enough to start making their own decision.... it's up to each of us to make the right decision or suffer the consequences of our own decisions.
If my child is a blithering idiot... there's nothing I can do about it!
One sad part about all this is.... I have to choose God over my blithering idiot of a child. I can't pray away the sins of my child. I can only pray that God will watch over that child.... but it's up to that child to do what is right.
The second part about all this is.... the use of the word jihad. We've come to recognize the word jihad to mean the Muslims would war against anyone who is not a Muslim. Well we can put that to bed.... in this case.... and in most cases.... the jihad everyone fights is the war against disbelief. If you choose the polytheist way in life.... then you have lost jihad. If you stick to the One True Living God who brought you to the dance of life.... then you have won jihad.
It's not all about swords and guns.... it's about Salvation
Jihad.... will you win?
