seekeroftruth
Well-Known Member
Quran 4:116. God will not forgive that partners be associated with Him; but will forgive anything less than that, to whomever He wills. Anyone who ascribes partners to God has strayed into far error.
117. They invoke in His stead only females. In fact, they invoke none but a rebellious devil.
118. God has cursed him. And he said, “I will take to myself my due share of Your servants.”
119. “And I will mislead them, and I will entice them, and I will prompt them to slit the ears of cattle, and I will prompt them to alter the creation of God.” Whoever takes Satan as a lord, instead of God, has surely suffered a profound loss.
120. He promises them, and he raises their expectations, but Satan promises them nothing but delusions.
121. These—their place is Hell, and they will find no escape from it.
122. But as for those who believe and do righteous deeds, We will admit them into gardens beneath which rivers flow, where they will abide forever. The promise of God is true—and who is more truthful in speech than God?
123. It is not in accordance with your wishes, nor in accordance with the wishes of the People of the Scripture. Whoever works evil will pay for it, and will not find for himself, besides God, any protector or savior.
124. But whoever works righteousness, whether male or female, and is a believer—those will enter Paradise, and will not be wronged a whit.
125. And who is better in religion than he who submits himself wholly to God, and is a doer of good, and follows the faith of Abraham the Monotheist? God has chosen Abraham for a friend.
126. To God belongs what is in the heavens and what is on earth, and God encompasses everything
There are two statements in the commentary that I am showing here.
Inåth has two significances, either of which may be adopted. (1) It signifies inanimate things, as trees and stones and wood. (2) It also means i d o l s, because they named the idols as females, for instance Låt, ‘Uzzå, Manåt, (LL). Ïasan says every one of the Arabian tribes had an idol, which they called the u nt hå (lit., f e m a l e) of such a tribe (Rz). Hence the word may also be translated as feminine divinities.
The practice of slitting or cutting off the ear of certain animals was a prevalent form of polytheism in Arabia, for such an animal was looked upon as devoted to certain idols
OK... I'm getting some odd vibes this morning. This part of the chapter is about idols. It's about putting things on the same level as God.Tribe.... that word has kind of lost it's meaning since I was reading the stories of Abraham's time or Joseph's [coat of many colors] time. Tribe was family. When the Nation of Israel was formed.... it was formed by twelve "brothers". They were step brothers and sons.... brothers from other mothers.... but there were twelve brothers. Twelve family members with families of their own.
Each of the tribes took a plot of land. That's where all their family lived. Unlike today when a family might have members in New Hampshire, Maryland, Virginia, and Arizona..... back then... the earth was flat and people lived around others of their own family. This was 600 years after Jesus.
This was written while the Vikings were invading England. This was written while the Roman Empire was beginning to fade. This was written when the Church of England was a big bully. This was when people were being murdered for having a "different" religion. People were prizing their possessions.
In Arabia.... they were still in tribes. They weren't living in cities under a monarch like they were in the "good Christian" civilizations. In Arabia... family meant something.... but then they started to count their worth in dollars and cents.... or pence..... or roman coin. They were saying "mine, mine, mine".
Slitting an animal's ear was like a brand. "That animal belongs to me... you cannot have it... that's my slit.... I'll fight you over it.... it's mine!" One person in the tribe would not share with another for fear of "losing out" on the deal. People started to get greedy. Idols....
Humans are like Magpies..... they love the shiny idols.
We use to all pray.... but by the time we got to the 600's..... we turned greedy again.... stubborn again.... and split again. Christians ran the Church of England where the nuns were sleeping with the priests.... and the church was stealing from the poor and pocketing their coins. Jews were running the businesses, counting the coins, and avoiding those pagan Christians. The Muslims were just beginning to get greedy..... but they were persecuted for not being Isaac's offspring like the rest.
The Protestant Reformation would not start for another 1000 years.
God was taking a back seat to the pomp of the Church of England. God was taking a back seat to Roman coins. God was taking a back seat to the "mine mine mine" attitude of man.
Would you give up your child to get a little more gold coin? Idols.....
