**[5.59] Say: O followers of the Book! do you find fault with us (for aught) except that we believe in Allah and in what has been revealed to us and what was revealed before, and that most of you are transgressors?
[5.60] Say: Shall I inform you of (him who is) worse than this in retribution from Allah? (Worse is he) whom Allah has cursed and brought His wrath upon, and of whom He made apes and swine,** and he who served the Shaitan; these are worse in place and more erring from the straight path.
i am not sure who is being called apes and swine here. please explain.
You asked me to reply so I will try to do that. Who is being called apes and swine? The people who served Shaytaan, the people who did evil, and their punishment was to become apes and swine. That was a punishment for a single generation. Just like some people were punished by being drowned in a flood, like the people of Noah, or in the sea like Pharaoh and his troops, or a city burned like Sodom and Gomorrah, this is just another example of a punishment mentioned in the Qur’an. It does not apply to people later, and it would not be in anyway appropriate to refer to any group of people on the earth as descendents of apes and swine–they were punished, they did not go on to have children bearing resemblance to apes and pigs or anything like that.
i think most of us are trying really hard to discern if the quran is being misinterpreted for political power or not. i know i have cringed myself hearing some of the things Christian fundamentalists have preached and i get upset at how the message of love gets distorted. the Bible can be hard to understand, but when a Catholic comes to a passage that does not appear to be a message of love, we can go to the Church for guidance as to it’s interpretation.
It’s really important to view any text like the Bible or the Qur’an in its context. The Qur’an is obviously being twisted for political power. There are verses in it which have their place, and their time, which are being pulled and put in improper places. Muslims also, when unsure of the meaning of some verses, refer their questions to scholars and those more able to answer.
please explain the peaceful message to be found in quran here:
**
[9.29] Fight those who do not believe in Allah, nor in the latter day, nor do they prohibit what Allah and His Apostle have prohibited, nor follow the religion of truth, out of those who have been given the Book, until they pay the tax in acknowledgment of superiority and they are in a state of subjection.
[9.30] And the Jews say: Uzair is the son of Allah; and the Christians say: The Messiah is the son of Allah; these are the words of their mouths; they imitate the saying of those who disbelieved before; may Allah destroy them; how they are turned away!**
what do you do if one muslim takes a different meaning out of quran than another muslim? who has final say as to what is the correct meaning?
i also want to say that words can not express how awesome it is that people of varying faiths from all over the world can have this discussion! we should pray for those that live in fear and can not express their questions. God gave us brains to explore ideas and hearts to know to always love the individual no matter how wrong you think they are.
Peace be unto all of us.
Jen
First of all, just like the laypeople among the Catholics may not interpret the Bible on their whim, Muslims are not allowed to interpret the Qur’an for law. That job is reserved for people who have been qualified for it by their teachers, who were qualified by their teachers, and so on. A Muslim who tries to do that is really opening a door to sin if he does that.
Your two quotes here actually hinge on two different issues. It is the end of one passage and beginning of another.
Regarding the first quote, either one of two scenarios will apply.
The first scenario of the non-Muslim is that he is actually at war with the Muslims. The rules of war then apply. (And by the way, it is forbidden in Islam to kill women, children, and the elderly in war.)
The second scenario is that he is not at war, so he has a peace treaty with the Muslims or is living under Muslim rule, in which case
his life, honour and wealth are protected, and it is
not permissible to transgress against him. The Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) warned against transgressing against or wronging a kaafir whose rights are protected, as he said: “
Whoever does wrong to a mu’aahad (a kaafir who has a peace treaty with the Muslims), or tries to put him down, or burdens him with more than he can bear, or takes something from him without his consent, I will be his opponent on the Day of Resurrection.” Narrated by Abu Dawood, 3052; classed as saheeh by al-Albaani in Saheeh Abi Dawood.
from
here
The second verse is talking about what is considered blasphemy in Islam and that the punishment for it is with Allah.
