Turning the Tables on a Muslim Taqiyyist

“I’m not going to say anything further about Steve's comments. I just want to thank him very much for coming and I want to give him a gift which is, ‘The Message of the Qur'an,’ translated and explained by Muhammad Asad, WHICH IS ACTUALLY MY FAVORITE TRANSLATION.” (Salvation in Christianity and Islam, Part 2)

And (remember) when Musa (Moses) said to his people: “O my people! Verily, you have wronged yourselves by worshipping the calf. So turn in repentance to your Creator and kill yourselves (the innocent kill the wrongdoers among you), that will be better for you with your Lord.” Then He accepted your repentance. Truly, He is the One Who accepts repentance, the Most Merciful. And (remember) when you said: “O Musa (Moses)! We shall never believe in you till we see Allah plainly.” But you were seized with a thunderbolt (lightning) while you were looking. Then We raised you up after your death, so that you might be grateful. And We shaded you with clouds and sent down on you Al-Manna and the quails, (saying): “Eat of the good lawful things We have provided for you,” (but they rebelled). And they did not wrong Us but they wronged themselves. S. 2:54-57 Hilali-Khan

Did you (O Muhammad) not think of those who went forth from their homes IN THOUSANDS, fearing death? Allah said to them, "Die". And then He restored them to life. Truly, Allah is full of Bounty to mankind, but most men thank not. S. 2:243 Hilali-Khan

And we gave Moses the scripture, complete with the best commandments, and detailing everything, and a beacon and mercy, that they may believe in meeting their Lord. S. 6:154

“He said, ‘O Moses, I have chosen you, out of all the people, with My messages and by speaking to you. Therefore, take what I have given you and be appreciative.’ And We wrote for him on the Tablets the lesson to be drawn from all things and the explanation of all things (and said): Hold unto these with firmness, and enjoin your people to take the better therein. I shall show you the habitation of the ungodly… Those who follow the Messenger, the gentile/unlettered Prophet, whom they find mentioned in the Torah and the Gospel WHICH ARE WITH THEM…” S. 7:144-145, 157

Abu Huraira reported Allah's Messenger as saying: There was an argument between Adam and Moses in the presence of their Lord. Adam came the better of Moses. Moses said: Are you that Adam whom Allah created with His Hand and breathed into him His spirit, and commanded angels to fall in prostration before him and He made you live in Paradise with comfort and ease. Then you caused the people to get down to the earth because of your lapse. Adam said: Are you that Moses whom Allah selected for His Messengership and for His conversation with him and conferred upon you THE TABLETS, IN WHICH EVERYTHING WAS CLEARLY EXPLAINED and granted you the audience in order to have confidential talk with you. What is your opinion, how long Torah would have been written before I was created? Moses said: Forty years before. Adam said: Did you not see these words: Adam committed an error and he was enticed to (do so). He (Moses) said: Yes. Whereupon, he (Adam) said: Do you then blame me for an act which Allah had ordained for me forty years before He created me? Allah's Messenger said: This is how Adam came the better of Moses. (Sahih Muslim, Book 033, Number 6411; *)

“… After the conclusion of the injunctions relating to marital life, the Qur'an returns here to the problem of warfare in a just cause by alluding to people who - obviously under a hostile attack - "forsook their homelands for fear of death". Now, neither the Qur'an nor any authentic Tradition offers any indication as to who the people referred to in this verse may have been. The "HISTORICAL" explanations given by some of the commentators are most contradictory; they seem to have been derived from Talmudic stories current at the time, and cannot be used in this context with any justification. We must, therefore, assume (as Muhammad 'Abduh does in Manar II, 455 ff.) that the above allusion is PARABOLICALLY connected with the subsequent call to the faithful to be ready to lay down their lives in God's cause: an illustration of the fact that fear of physical death leads to the moral death of nations and communities, just as their regeneration (or "coming back to life") depends on their regaining their moral status through overcoming the fear of death. This is undoubtedly the purport of the elliptic story of Samuel, Saul and David told in verses 246-251. (Asad, The Message of the Qur'an [The Book Foundation, Second edition edition, 2008], p. 78, fn. 232; bold and capital emphasis ours)

“… In this as well as in several other passages relating to Solomon, the Qur'an alludes to the many POETIC LEGENDS which were associated with his name since early antiquity and had become part and parcel of Judeo-Christian and Arabian lore long before the advent of Islam. Although it is undoubtedly possible to interpret such passages in a ‘rationalistic’ manner, I do not think that this is really necessary. Because they were so deeply ingrained in the imagination of the people to whom the Qur'an addressed itself in the first instance, these legendary accounts of Solomon’s wisdom and magic powers had acquired a cultural reality of their own and were, therefore, eminently suited to serve as a medium for the parabolic exposition of certain ethical truths with which this book is concerned: and so, without denying or confirming their MYTHICAL character, the Qur'an uses them as a foil for the idea that God is the ultimate source of all human power and glory, and that all achievements of human ingenuity, even though they may sometimes border on the miraculous, are but an expression of His transcendental creativity.” (Pp. 638-639, fn. 77; bold and capital emphasis ours)

35. Cf. 21: 81 and the corresponding note. For the meaning, in general, of THE MANY LEGENDS surrounding the person of Solomon, see note on 21: 82. (P. 890; bold and capital emphasis ours)

“… The story told in this verse is obviously a PARABLE meant to illustrate God's power to bring the dead back to life … The speculation of some of the earlier commentators as to the ‘identity’ of the man and the town mentioned in this story are without any substance, and may have been influenced by TALMUDIC LEGENDS.” (P. 83, fn. 253; bold and capital emphasis ours)

“… This short reference to the oft-repeated ALLEGORY of God’s commands to the angels to "prostrate themselves before Adam" is meant, in the above context, to stress man's inborn faculty of conceptual thinking…” (P. 569, fn. 52; bold and capital emphasis ours)

“… As regards Satan's SYMBOLIC ‘rebellion’ against God, see notes 26 on 2:34 and note 31 on 15:41.” (P. 569, fn. 55; bold and capital emphasis ours)

“… Lit., ‘the garden’. There is a considerable difference of opinion among the commentators as to what is meant here by ‘garden’; a garden in the earthly sense, or the paradise that awaits the righteous in the life to come, or some special garden in the heavenly region? According to some of the earliest commentators (see Manar I, 277), an earthly abode is here alluded to – namely, an environment of perfect ease, happiness and innocence. In any case, this story of Adam is OBVIOUSLY one of the ALLEGORIES referred to in 3:7.” (P. 22, fn. 27; bold and capital emphasis ours)

“… As in the parallel account of this parable of the Fall in 2:35-36, the dual form of the address changes at this stage into the plural, thus connecting once again with verse 10 and the beginning of verse 11 of this surah, and making it clear that the story of Adam and Eve is, in reality, an ALLEGORY of human destiny… In this deeper sense, the ALLEGORY of the Fall does not describe a retrogressive happening but, rather, a new stage of human development…” (Pp. 256-257, fn. 16; bold and capital emphasis ours)

“… In this instance, it evidently marks a connection, with verse 54 above (‘many facets have We given in this Qur'an to every kind of lesson [designed] for [the benefit of] mankind’), and introduces an ALLEGORY meant to illustrate the fact that knowledge, and particularly spiritual knowledge, is inexhaustible… The subsequent PARABLE of Moses and his quest for knowledge (verses 60-82) has become, in the course of time, the nucleus of INNUMERABLE LEGENDS with which we are not concerned here… There is no doubt that this Tradition is a kind of ALLEGORICAL introduction to our Qur'anic PARABLE… As for the 'junction of the two seas', which many of the early commentators endeavored to 'identify' in geographical terms (ranging from the meeting of the Red Sea and the Indian Ocean at the Bab al-Mandab to that of the Mediterranean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean at the Straits of Gibraltar), Baydawi offers, in his commentary on verse 60, a purely ALLEGORICAL explanation…” (Pp. 571-572, fn. 67; bold and capital emphasis ours)

“… In the Tradition on the authority of Ubayy ibn Ka'b (referred to in note 67) this mysterious sage is spoken of as Al-Khadir or Al-Khidr, meaning "the Green One". Apparently this is an epithet rather than a name, implying (according to popular LEGEND) that his wisdom was ever-fresh (‘green’) and imperishable: a notion which bears out the assumption that we have here an ALLEGORIC FIGURE symbolizing the utmost depth of mystic insight accessible to man.” (P. 573, fn. 73; bold and capital emphasis ours)

"... Lit., 'I will convey unto you a remembrance [or "mention"] of him' - i.e., something that is worthy of remembrance and mention: which, I believe, is an allusion to the PARABOLIC CHARACTER of the subsequent story and the fact that is is confined, like the preceding PARABLE of Moses and the unknown sage, to a few fundamental, spiritual truths. - The epithet Dhu'l-Qarnayn signifies "the Two-Horned One" or "He of the Two Epochs", since the noun qarn has the meaning of "horn" as well as of "generation" or "epoch" or "age" or "century". The classical commentators incline to the first of these meanings ("the Two-Horned"); and in this they appear to have been influenced by the ancient Middle-Eastern imagery of "horns" as symbols of power and greatness, although the Qur'an itself does not offer any warrant for this interpretation. In fact, the term qarn (and its plural qurun) occurs in the Qur'an - apart from the combination Dhu'l-Qarnayn appearing in verses 83, 86 and 94 of this surah - twenty times: and each time it has the meaning of "generation" in the sense of people belonging to one particular epoch or civilization. However, since the ALLEGORY of Dhu'l-Qarnayn is meant to illustrate the qualities of a powerful and just ruler, it is possible to assume that this designation is an echo of the above-mentioned ancient symbolism, which - being familiar to the Arabs from very early times - had acquired idiomatic currency in their language long before the advent of Islam. Within the context of our Qur'anic ALLEGORY, the "two horns" may be taken to denote the two sources of power with which Dhu'l-Qarnayn is said to have been endowed: namely, the worldly might and prestige of kingship as well as the spiritual strength resulting from his faith in God. This last point is extremely important - for it is precisely the Qur'anic stress on his faith in God that makes it impossible to identify Dhu 'l-Qarnayn, AS MOST COMMENTATORS do, with Alexander the Great (who is represented on some of his coins with two horns on his head) or with one or another of the pre-Islamic, Himyaritic kings of Yemen. All those historic personages were pagans and worshipped a plurality of deities as a matter of course, whereas our Dhu 'l-Qarnayn is depicted as a firm believer in the One God: indeed, it is this aspect of his personality that provides the innermost reason of the Qur'anic ALLEGORY. We must, therefore, conclude that the latter HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH HISTORY OR EVEN LEGEND [sic], and that its sole purport is a PARABOLIC discourse on faith and ethics, with specific reference to the problem of worldly power (see the concluding passage in the introductory note to this surah). (Pp. 621-622, fn. 81; bold and capital emphasis ours)

4002. It was narrated that Abu Dharr said: “I was riding behind the Messenger of Allah while he was on a donkey, and the sun was setting. He said: ‘Do you know where this (sun) sets?’ I said: ‘Allah and his Messenger know best.’ He said: ‘IT SETS IN A SPRING OF WATER (fa innaha taghrubu fi ‘ainin hamiyah).’” (SAHIH) (English Translation of Sunan Abu Dawud, Compiled by Imam Hafiz Abu Dawud Sulaiman bin Ash‘ath – From Hadith no. 3242 to 4350, ahadith edited and referenced by Hafiz Abu Tahir Zubair ‘Ali Za’i, translated by Nasiruddin al-Khattab (Canada), final review by Abu Khaliyl (USA) [Darussalam Publishers & Distributors, First Edition: July, 2008], Volume 4, 29. The Book Of The Recitations And Readings Of The Qur’an, p. 375; capital emphasis ours) 

"... In all the three instances where Jonah's 'great fish' is explicitly mentioned in the Qur'an (as al-hut in the above verse and in 68:48, and an-nun in 21:87), it carries the definite article al. This may possibly be due to the fact that THE LEGEND of Jonah was and is so widely known that every reference to THE ALLEGORY of 'the great fish' is presumed to be self-explanatory. The inside of the fish that 'swallowed' Jonah apparently SYMBOLIZES the deep darkness of spiritual distress of which 21:87 speaks: the distress at having 'fled like a runaway slave' from his prophetic mission and, thus, 'from the presence of the Lord'. Parenthetically, the story is meant to show that, since 'man has been created weak' (4:28), even prophets are not immune against all the failings inherent in human nature." (P. 937, fn. 56; bold and capital emphasis ours)

"... I.e., to shade and comfort him. Thus, rounding off THE ALLEGORY of Jonah and the fish, the Qur'an points out in the FIGURATIVE manner so characteristic of its style that God, who can cause a plant to grow out of the most arid and barren soil, can equally well cause a heart lost in darkness to come back to light and spiritual life." (Ibid, fn. 58; bold and capital emphasis ours)

“… The noun tayr is plural of ta'ir (‘flying creature' or 'bird'), or an infinitive noun ('flying') derived from the verb tara ('he flew'). In pre-Islamic usage, as well as in the Qur'an, the words ta'ir and tayr often denote 'fortune' or 'destiny', whether good or evil (as, for instance, in 7:131, 27:47 or 36:19, and still more clearly in 17:13). Many instances of this idiomatic use of tayr and ta'ir are given in all the authoritative Arabic dictionaries; see also Lane V, 1904 f. Thus, in THE PARABOLIC MANNER so beloved by him, Jesus intimated to the children of Israel that out of the humble clay of their lives he would fashion for them the vision of a soaring destiny and that this vision, brought to life by his God-given inspiration, would become their real destiny by God's leave and by strength of their faith (as pointed out at the end of this verse).” (P. 102, fn. 37; bold and capital emphasis ours) 

“… It is probable that the 'raising of the dead' by Jesus is A METAPHORICAL DESCRIPTION of his giving new life to people who were spiritually dead… If this interpretation is – AS I BELIEVE – correct, then the ‘healing of the blind and the leper’ has a similar significance: namely, an inner regeneration of people who were spiritually diseased and blind to the truth.” (Ibid, fn. 38; bold and capital emphasis ours) 

“… Although the Qur'an mentions in 3:46 that Jesus would ‘speak unto men [while yet] in his cradle’ - i.e., would be imbued with wisdom FROM HIS EARLY CHILDHOOD – verses 30-33 seem to be in the nature of the trope, projecting the shape of things TO COME by using, for the sake of emphasis, the past tense to describe something that WAS TO BECOME REAL IN THE FUTURE…” (P. 587, fn. 23; bold and capital emphasis ours)  

“… Since IT IS NOT CONCEIVABLE that anyone could be granted divine revelation and made a prophet before attaining to full maturity of intellect and experience, ‘Ikrimah and Ad-Dahhak – as quoted by Tabari – interpret this passage as meaning, ‘God has decreed (qada) that He would vouchsafe unto me revelation…’ etc., regarding it as an allusion to THE FUTURE. Tabari himself applies the same interpretation to the next verse, explaining it thus: ‘He has decreed that He would enjoin upon me prayer and charity’. However, the whole of this passage (verses 30-33) may also be understood as having been uttered by Jesus AT A MUCH LATER TIME – namely, after HE HAD REACHED MATURITY and been actually entrusted with his prophetic mission: that is to say, it may be understood as an ANTICIPATORY description of the ethical and moral principles which were to dominate the adult life of Jesus and particularly his deep consciousness of being only 'a servant of God’.” (Pp. 587-588, fn. 24; bold and capital emphasis ours) 

“… Its application to Jesus may have been due to the widespread conviction among his contemporaries (references to which are found in several places in the Synoptic Gospels) that he was descended in direct – and obviously legitimate – line from the royal House of David. (It is to be noted that this COULD NOT HAVE BEEN RELATED TO HIS MOTHER'S SIDE, because Mary belonged to the priestly class descending from Aaron, and thus the tribe of Levi, while David descended from the tribe of Judah.)…” (P. 101, fn. 32) 

“… In connection with the announcement of a son to Mary, the Qur'an states in 3:47 that ‘when He wills a thing to be, He but says unto it, “Be” – and it is’; but since neither the Qur'an nor any authentic Tradition tells us anything about the chain of causes and effects (asbab) which God's decree 'Be' was to bring into being, all speculation as to the 'how' OF THIS EVENT MUST REMAIN BEYOND THE SCOPE OF A QUR'AN-COMMENTARY...” (P. 586, fn. 15; bold and capital emphasis ours) 

Some Legendary Figures

In the course of developing its teachings, the Qur'an frequently cites the example not of prophets and sages of ancient times, but also of some LEGENDARY, MYTHICAL or even FICTITIOUS persons. Chief among these is Khidr, the Evergreen who, though not mentioned by name, is recognised as the mysterious person (the possessor of divinely-inspired knowledge of the secret sources of life) whom Moses met on his ALLEGORICAL journey… Another LEGEND prominently described in the Qur’an is that of the "seven sleepers" or the "Companions of the Cave" also mentioned in another section of this book. In this connection mention is made of the angels Harut and Marut who taught magic at Babylon, but warned the people that the teaching was imparted to them only to try them. In the commentaries of the Qur'an Harut and Marut have been identified with the two fallen angels of Jewish tradition who, having sinned on earth, were hung by their feet over a well for punishment.

A summary is given below of the contents of the Qur’an relating to three LEGENDARY figures: Dhulqarnain, Luqman, Qarun. A section is also included on Pharaoh who, although a historical person, often appears in the Qur'an as an archetype for autocracy. The experiences or characteristics of these MYTHICAL or SEMI-MYTHICAL figures are included to serve a salutary example or a dissuasive lesson to believers. (Faruq Sherif, A Guide to the Contents of the Qur'an [Garnet Publishing, 8 South Court South Street, Reading, RG1 4QS UK, 1995], pp. 94-95; bold and capital emphasis ours)

And when OUR verses are recited to them, they say, `We have heard. If we wished we could certainly say the like of it. This is nothing but mere tales of the ancients'. S. 8:31 Sher Ali

And when it is said unto them: What hath your Lord revealed? they say: (Mere) fables of the men of old, S. 16:24 Pickthall

That, when Our revelations are recited unto him, he saith: Mere fables of the men of old. S. 68:15 Pickthall

Who, when thou readest unto him Our revelations, saith: (Mere) fables of the men of old. S. 83:13 Pickthall – Q. 6:25; 16:24; 25:4-6