Surah 33
The Sects
1. O prophet, obey not the non-believers and the hypocrites, indeed God is All Informed Sovereign,
2. Follow what is being inspired to you from your Lord, indeed God is Knower of what you [all] do,
3. And do rely on God, God is Sufficient Reliance,
4. Gods makes not two hearts for a man inside his chest, and he makes not your spouses by whom you are seen/are backed your mothers, and He made not your callers your sons, this is your say from your mouths, God says the truth, and guides you to the way,
5. Name them to their fathers, it is fairer in God, and if you don’t know their fathers then your brothers in religion and in your masters, you are not in error if you mistake it, but what your hearts intended, and God is Forgiving Compassionate.
[As those verses are concerned with then traditions which are not common practice in Islamic or other communities today, and as the historic facts about those traditions are now unknown or unclear in the best case, and as the concept of a “caller” is unlike that of a step-son or an adopted one, and as the different Arab historians and theologians have not agreed on one version of describing accurately those traditions: I see it is best to take the moral from them, bearing in mind the cultural and social changes which have occurred since the uttering of them.]
6. The prophet is more a master of the believers than their own selves, and his wives are their mothers, and those of blood relations are more masters of one another by God’s Book than the believers and the immigrants [over them], except when you do your masters a favour, this has been written in the Book.
[The verse is not referring solely to inheritance, as some Qur’anic interpreters seem to understand, but rather to allegiance in general. Again, these are tribal traditions, and the moral of this verse should be the concern to non-tribal societies].
7. And when We took from the prophets their covenant, and from you, Noah, Abraham, and Jesus the son of Mary, We took a hard binding covenant,
8. To question the honest ones about their honesty, and He set up for the non-believers painful suffering.
9. O you who believe, remember God’s providence upon you, when soldiers came to you, so we sent wind and soldiers that you saw not, and God was seer of what you do,
10. When they came to you from above you and from below you, and the visions were fuzzy the hearts raced to the throats, and you [still] have about God suspicions,
11. There the believers were tried and were shaken a tough shake,
12. And when the hypocrites and those who have an illness in their hearts say: “God and His messenger promised us none but an illusion”,
13. And when a sect of them said: “O people of Yathreb, there is residence for you so go back”, so a team of them took the permission from the prophet, they say our houses are a disgrace, and they are not a disgrace, they only want to migrate/run away,
14. And if it was entered to them by its neighbouring countries, then strife is asked of them they would get involved, even though they haven't been in it but shortly.
[As all those verses do not have an esoteric layer, I translate them as literally as possible, without consulting available interpretations. This particular verse seems to refer to a situation whereby as a result of tribal war many got displaced or took the war as an opportunity to migrate. But in their new settlement they still seem keen to get involved in strife again.]
15. And they had sworn an oath to God before, that they turn not back, and God’s oath is indeed an accountability.
16. Say: “running away won’t benefit you if you run away from death or killing, and hence you won’t be delighted except shortly”,
17. Say: “who can bar God from you? if He wants for you ill or compassion”, they cannot find below God for themselves a master or a supporter,
18. God does know the disabled of you and the dependent on their brethren, come to us and they come to misery only briefly,
19. Are they parsimonious to you, when fright comes they look you with eyes rolling back, as if blacking out of death, and when fright has gone they grill you with harsh language, parsimonious with good, those have not believed, God has frustrated their deeds, to God this is facile,
20. They reckon the sects haven’t gone, and if the sects come they wish they stood out among Arabs, they ask about your news, and if they were amongst you they wouldn’t fight except little,
21. There has been for you in the messenger a good example for those who wanted God and the last day in earnest and who have remembered God often,
22. And when the believers saw the sects they said this is what God and His messenger promised us, Truthful is God and His messenger, He increased them only in faith and loyalty.
23. Among the believers are men who honoured their oaths to God, some have ended their lives and some are waiting, and haven’t changed any change,
24. So that God may reward the honest ones by their honesty, and make the hypocrites suffer if He will, or that He forgive them, God is indeed Forgiving Compassionate,
25. And God turned back the non-believers by their own anger, they earned no good, God has sufficed the believers of their fight, God is Powerful and Glorious,
26. He brought those of the people of the Book who pretended to them down from their fortresses, thrusted He fright onto their hearts, one group you kill and another you take as captives,
27. He bequeathed their land to you, their houses and their assets, and a land you had not set foot on, and God is of everything Capable.
[If the Islamic or indeed any other sects which are waging wars in the name of god today can tell us how they see those verses fit them as the believers and fit their enemies as non-believers: they can perhaps win their wars,
By the very power of those verses and inspiration: all warring religions will destroy one another. This is a natural law that their rituals and self-proclaimed titles cannot sway one way or another.
And we have seen how those wars bring devastation, while on each side the celebrations of victory go on for years,
But at the speed the technology is going and the hatred is brewing: there will be a time when there will be no one left on either side to celebrate victory or weep over defeat.]
29. O prophet, say to your wives: “if you want the low lives and their ornaments, come, I bestow pleasure on you and journey with you a beautiful journey,
30.” And if you want God and His messenger and the other home, God has set up for those of you who do good a great reward”,
30. O women of the prophet, whoever of you commit an obscenity blatantly He doubles the suffering for her a double, and this is for God too facile,
31. And whoever of you listens and obeys God and His messenger and does good, We bring her her reward twice, and We have set up for her a generous provision,
32. O women of the prophet, you are not like just any women if you feared [God], so you don’t submit by words, so the one in whose heart is an illness doesn’t become greedy, and do say a virtuous say,
33. And do shelter in your homes, wear not the makeup of the early heathenry, keep up the prayers and give charity, do obey God and his messenger, that so, wants God to remove the impurity, O people of the house, to purify you purely,
34. And do remember what is read to you in your homes of God’s Verses and the Wisdom, God is All Kind and All Informed,
35. Indeed, the male and female Muslims, the male and female faithful ones, the male and female thoughtful ones, the male and female honest ones, the male and female patient ones, the male and female revering ones, the male and female charitable ones, the male and female fasting ones, the male and female ones who guard their gaps, the male and female ones remembering God immensely, God has set up for them forgiveness and a great reward,
[When Muslims in general, and indeed their scholars and imams, read those verses which teach basic decency and expose the ugly side of tribal traditions: and believe that the world stopped there: it is little wonder why they can’t progress politically, socially or in any other way. Those verses were meant to set them on a path of progress and point them in a new direction, so they can be a role model to other nations. By keeping those traditions alive they have in fact rejected this directive and have dwelled in a far past]
36. It is not for a faithful male or a female, if God and the messenger rule an issue, to have a choice about their issue, and whoever disobeys God and the messenger, they have been distracted in a distancing distraction,
37. And as you say to the one whom God has lavished and whom you have lavished: “hold on to your wife and take refuge in God”, and you hide in yourself what God has exposed, and you fear the people, and God is more worthy of fear, so when Zayd consummated his desire We let you marry her, so that the believers have not an embarrassment about their callers’ spouses, if they have consummated their desire of them, and God’s command is thus accomplished,
38. There has been no awkwardness for the prophet about what God enforced on him of the law of the past ones of before, and God’s commandment is a predetermined determination,
39. Those who promulgate God’s message and fear Him and fear no one else, and God is a sufficient admonisher,
40. Mohammad has never been any one of your men’s father, but a messenger of God and the seal of the prophets, and God is All Knower of all things.
[“The law of the past ones of before” is hinting to the pre-Christian teaching: “who looks at a woman with lust has already committed adultery with her in his heart (Matthew)”.
I’ve argued on COB that before the advent of Islam, Arabs were predominantly Jewish, perhaps of the non-mainstream sects of the Jews of the Levant. All the Qur’anic verses which address the people of Israel were addressed to them, as they must have considered themselves to be descendants of Abraham, by one name or another.
But I can’t imagine Jewish Books legislating such an easy exchange of husbands for a woman, even if the rule of counting of days (عدّة) were to be applied. This must have been a tradition going back to heathen times, or a false interpretation of Jewish teaching.
Hence the commandment to the prophet not to obey the non-believers, which is repeated twice in this Surah alone. And by permitting the prophet to go by the traditions of the early ones of before, the Qur’an is clearly putting an end to such traditions.
Hence the following verse declares Mohammad to be the “seal” of approval of the prophets, as I read it. The word that I translate to “seal” has been understood to mean “the last”. A chain of posts in Arabic recently posted on COB was dedicated to explaining some of those misconceptions. It can also be found on the website circleofbeauty.org under the title “مواضع الكلم”.]
41. O you who believe, remember God an immense remembrance,
42. And transcend in Him at the dawn and at the dusk,
43. It is He who is watchful over you, also His angels, to bring out of darkness to the light, and is He Merciful to the believers,
44. Their salutations the day they meet Him are of the peace, and a great reward is set up for them,
45. O prophet, We have sent you as a witness, a bringer of glad tidings and a warner,
46. And a caller to God by His Leave and an incandescent lamp,
47. And pass the glad tidings to the believers that for them, from God, is a great bestowment,
48. Obey not the disbelievers and the hypocrites, ignore their harm, do rely on God, God is sufficient reliance,
49. O you who believe, if you copulate the believing women then divorce them before touching them, there is no period of days for you to count, so give them pleasure and release them a beautiful re-lease,
[One can’t but wonder how such a situation can arise. This indicates that quick marriage declarations/ceremonies were being held at the spur of the moment, then the marriage is immediately broken for whatever reason.]
50. O prophet, We have legitimised to you the wives whom you have given their payments and what your right hand possessed of what God has given you, and your paternal cousins and your maternal cousins who migrated with you, and a believing woman who offered herself to the prophet if the prophet wants to copulate her exclusively to him and not to the believers, We know what We enforced on them about their spouses and what their right hand possessed, so there is no awkwardness upon you, and God is Forgiving Compassionate,
51. You request whomever you wish of them, and you house with you whomever you wish, and those whom you wanted of those you have isolated, you are not in error, it is closer that their eyes are comforted and they grieve not, and they are satisfied with what you have given them, all of them, God knows what’s in your hearts, God is All Knowing Sovereign,
52. Not legitimate to you the women thereafter, and nor to exchange them for spouses, even if their beauty has impressed you, except what your right hand possesses, God is Overseer of everything,
[Again, this is clearly exposing pre-Islamic practices and putting an end to them.
As for the marriage between cousins, I see this verse as a one-off ruling, as the verse which follows declares clearly.
The verse in Surah 4, “The Women”, which deals with legal marriages: actually forbids the marriage between cousins, and goes further to forbid marriage between life time friends who have lived, even shortly, under the same roof, in our reading of it.
The tradition of marriage of cousins must’ve been a pre-Islamic and pre-Jewish tribal tradition in the Middle East and Arabia, whose purpose was to keep the tribe’s assets within the tribe, and to keep the self-proclaimed purity of the tribe’s blood.
Unfortunately, this tradition has persisted to the present, despite the scientific evidence to the bad consequences of it.
Hereditary diseases are conspicuous in families which have married one another for many consecutive generations, and in many cases mental underdevelopment and retardation.
But Islamic sects, old and new, insist on this practice despite medical advice to the contrary. Their answer is often: do you know better than god?
No one knows better than God. Reason and the science are also from God.]
53. O you who believe, enter not the houses of the prophet until you are permitted to food, avoiding looking at its dishes, but if you were invited do enter, so if you are fed then do spread, and do not stay to listen to conversations, this has hurt the prophet and he shies of you, and God shies not from the right thing, and if you ask the females for pleasure do so from behind a veil, this is purer to your hearts and theirs, you are not to harm God’s messenger, and neither to copulate his wives after him ever, this is gross in God,
[Again, having to teach basic curtesy and decency is evidence that basic curtesy and decency were lacking among the Arab tribes among whom the prophet was living.
Some pre-Islamic poetry, on the other hand, show that this was not the case for other tribes.
I’ve mentioned the poetry of Antara bin Shaddaad, who says that he turns his eyes away, when his unwary female neighbour is around, until she goes back inside her house.
The poetry of Zuhayr bin abi Salma, also exhibits high standards of behaviour.]
54. Whether you disclose a thing or hide it, God is of everything a Knower,
55. The females are not in error about their fathers, their children, their siblings, their brothers’ children, their sisters’ children, and neither their women, and neither what their right hands have possessed while fearing God, God is witness to everything,
56. God and His angels are watchful over the prophet, O you who believe pray on Him [God] and do surrender,
[The expression that I’ve translated to “watchful over” in this verse and a previous one (43) can be translated literally, and according to the agreed Qur’anic prints, to: “pray upon”,
So, verse 43 would read: It is He who prays upon you, also His angels,
And verse 56 would read: God and his angels pray upon the prophet,
And although Qur’anic interpreters and translators have never been able to explain what “pray upon” means, and although the expression makes god, in the best case, equal to the prophet: Islamic sects, old and new, seem adamant about god “praying on the prophet”,
If this is saying metaphorically that God blesses and forgives, then it is clear that God’s blessings and forgiveness are bestowed on all the people, as in verse 43,
But Islamic authorities insist on preserving them to the prophet,
And moreover, they differ about who else is entitled to them. So, while the Sunni of them say god prays on the prophet and his family/descendants and his close friends, the Shia find this wrong, and preserve god’s prayers to the prophet and his family/descendants only …
Such a semantic quagmire adds to their differences and grudges and veers them completely from a true philosophic pursuit and an understanding of their Book.
On the other hand, the Druze, who were given hints to the true meaning of those Qur’anic expressions in the Hikmah, are also found to be using them without understanding them … changing only the names of the prophets and messengers which they have followed.
A number of posts on COB have tackled this delicate issue and argued that they are all meant to say: God is watchful over everyone, as verse 43 clearly states,
The spelling in Arabic of the two expressions are identical, with a slight difference in the print, (that is a stress over the laam and a fat-ha over the yaa2) that changes the meaning of the verb.]
57. Those who harm God and His messenger, God has cast damnation on them in the low world and the hereafter, and has set up for them a humiliating suffering,
58. And those who harm the male and female believers by what they have not earned [what they don’t deserve], those have been burdened by delusion and a distancing sin,
59. O prophet, say to your wives and your daughters and the believers’ women to make low their frocks, this is closer for identification and so they are not harmed, and God is Forgiving Compassionate,
60. If the hypocrites do not refrain, and those who have an illness in their hearts, and the disturbing ones in the town, We shall mingle you with them, then they’ll neighbour you only shortly,
61. Damned are they wherever they are recognised, taken and killed harshly:
62. God’s law in those of past time, and you won’t find for God’s law a substitute,
[The expression “they are damned wherever they are recognised” has featured a few times in the Qur’an, and is being used now as an excuse to fuel religious wars indefinitely,
The word that is used in the Qur’an is from the root of “ثقف”. The verb in its original usage, points to: to polish,
Hence the usage of it has been extended in modern and ancient Arabic to point to: to educate,
Thus, I see that the use of it in the sense of: to find: is metaphorical,
There’s no shortage of words in Arabic, and if the essence of “to find”, as in a place, was intended, then another word could’ve been used, like “وجد", whose usage is more consistent with: to find in a place,
Hence, I find that every time the Qur’an says: fight them wherever you “recognise” them: it points to an intellectual pursuit, rather than a military campaign,
And the killing and the death which are a result of recognising false beliefs can thus be only metaphorical.
Of course, all Islamic authorities will be dismissive of such an understanding, and will persist on their holy wars, all of which will lead to nowhere except their total annihilation. And the miracles all sects have been waiting for will not materialise: there’s no reference to any of them in the Grand Book, and no verse of it specifies which of those sects are the believers and which are the non-believers. This is God’s Ruling that He, transcends He, shares with none of them.]
63. The people have asked you about the Hour, say: “the knowledge of it is in God”, and you never know, perhaps the Hour becomes shortly,
64. God has cursed the non-believers and set up for them a blaze,
65. Residing in it eternally, they find no master in it and no supporter,
66. The day when their faces are turned all around in the fire, they say: if only we obeyed God and the messenger,
67. They say: “Lord, we have obeyed our masters and our dignitaries and they veered us off the way,
68. “Lord, bring them two-fold the suffering, and curse them a big curse”,
69. O believers, be not like those who harmed Moses, then God vindicated him of what they said, and thus he was in God of a high status,
70. O believers, fear God and say a straight say:
71. Reform He your deeds and forgive your sins, and he who obeys God and His messenger he has succeeded a great success,
72. We have put forth the Trust to the heavens and the earth and the mountains, they declined from carrying it and they were intimidated by it, and mankind has carried it, it [mankind] is indeed darkened and ignorant,
73. Thus God punishes the male and female hypocrites, and the male and female affixers, and forgives He the male and female believers, God is ever Forgiving Compassionate.
