Surah 58
The Argument
1. Has heard God the say of her, who argues with you [the messenger] about her husband, and complains to God, and God hears your both dialogues, that God is Hearer Seer,
2. Those of you [the people] who turn their backs to their wives, they are not their mothers, their mothers are no one but those who gave birth to them, that they say a repugnant say and a false one, and God is Pardoning Forgiving,
3. And those who turn their backs to their women then withdraw what they said: [the penalty is:] the freeing of a slaved person before a touching encounter, this and all is what you are being advised, and God is of what you do All Informed,
4. If they don’t find [a slave to free], then the fasting of two months consecutively before they have a touching encounter, those incapable [of fasting]: the feeding of sixty poor ones; that, so you believe in God and His messenger, and these are God’s limits, and for the non-believing ones is painful suffering,
5. That those who challenge God and His messenger: are suppressed, like were suppressed the ones before them, and We have descended clear verses, and for the non-believers is a demeaning suffering,
6. The day remits them God altogether and informs them of what they did, has counted it God, and they have forgotten it, and God is to everything a Witness,
[This is another Surah which addresses the social issues of then Arabia,
Social issues which have persisted to the present, and as if no Book has addressed them,
The ease of declaring divorce in a supposedly Islamic tradition: hasn’t changed since this Surah was delivered,
Male Muslims still have the power to declare their marriage terminated just by saying it three times …
In then Arabia: it was by saying to the wife: you are my mother …
The words used to declare the divorce have changed: but the dark spirit of it has persisted,
Islamic law enforcers defend their shariah, and can’t see that marriage breakdowns and family breakups are rampant in their countries …, giving little or no regard to the consequences on the married couple and their children …, and little or no regard to the sanctity of marriage …
And contrary to the Qur’an, the reversal of the divorce is carried out today in a most ludicrous manner, annulling the penalty that the Qur’an has imposed,
Whereby the man has little to do with copping any penalty whatsoever, and the woman has to marry another man, albeit for a short time, just to have sex with him at least once: until she can return to her husband …!
Their wrong reading of verse 230 of Surah 2 has done more damage than repair,
At least in pre-Islamic Arabia the tradition of a transitional marriage was not prescribed as a way to reverse a divorce,
This one is totally post-Islamic,
And what we have now is burgeoning agencies and businesses which provide temporary grooms to willing temporary brides …
And volumes of books written on the subject of the “wisdom” of the transitional marriage …!
Indeed, marriage laws and traditions, wherever in the world, aren’t prefect,
But when a law is thought to be a god’s law that humans aren’t allowed to change …: this is when a society stagnates morally, socially and intellectually …
The entire of the Shariah of Muslims, whether Sunni or Shia, is their own making,
It is based on then practices, which are obviously and blatantly heathen,
The Hadith they back up their Shariah with: is not true, and they themselves dispute about it,
It is time to put it completely in the archive section of their laws, and start going by the virtues that the Qur’an, and indeed all the Books, have pointed to them,
The transition from adhering to the exegeses of past scholars to an understanding based on human values and reason, however: is not going to be easy for all the sects of Islam, but it has to be started …]
7. Have you not seen that God knows what is in the heavens and what is in the earth? there isn’t a council of three unless that He is their fourth, and nor five, unless He is their sixth, and neither less than this and nor more, unless He is with them wherever they are, then informs them He of what they did the day of the up-rise, that God is of everything All knowing,
8. Have you not seen those who were disallowed from the council then they return to what they were disallowed from? they counsel one another in sinfulness and aggression, and the disobedience of the messenger, and if they come to you [the messenger] they greet by what [even] God didn’t greet you, and they say to themselves: “if only God makes us suffer by what we say”, the low world suffices them attending it, and a bad becoming,
9. O you who believe, when you counsel one another, counsel not one another about sin and aggression, and disobedience to the messenger, and counsel one another about being frum and pious, and take refuge in God, to whom you will be gathered,
10. That so, counselling is from Satan, to sadden those who believed, and he is not harming them [in] anything, except by God’s leave, and upon God should the believers rely,
[The word that we’ve translated to counsel is from a root (نجا) which points mainly to “to be salvaged or rescued”, in its intransitive usage, and to “ask someone for help and rescue”, in its transitive usage,
And of course, where it is used as a noun, “council” was the translation,
By the sound of things, the word was being used by then Arabs to point to a ritual or a tradition … in which invocations were made, and in which spiritual help and advice were provided by supposedly holy people …
As the concept per se is not an evil thing, it’s the purpose of using it that can be evil,
Hence the warning about the bad use and the advice to the good use.
The greeting that “God didn’t greet” … deserves more attention than what Islamic scholars have given it!
Clearly, Arabic traditions haven’t changed, even the everyday ones …
The effusion of insincere greetings and glorifications, and the pretentious care about the greeted person’s health and well-being …: seem to be an old tradition as well …
Of course, Islamic scholars would like to see all non-Muslims as the source of all the evil that the Qur’an warns about …
Their explanation that the phrase “they greet you” is about the Jews “greeting the prophet” by a greeting contrary to “salam”: doesn’t withstand a linguistic examination,
The word “greet” refers to greetings, not to curses,
The Qur’an would’ve used another word, if curse was the verb,
The accuracy of the wording of the verses of the Qur’an have gone unnoticed by scholars, and often words have been taken to mean their opposite.]
11. O you who believe, if you are told to spread [away] at meetings, do spread; God opens up for you, and if you are told to quit, do quit; God raises those who believed of you, and those who are given the knowledge: in grades, and God is of what you do All Informed,
[This is about the meetings at which philosophic discussions were held and spiritual advice was given to high ranking believers, by the messenger Gabriel,
The tradition of asking the novices to sit aside or to leave: is probably still observed in secret and esoteric communities, such as now Druze and Ismailis in the Middle East, and indeed Free Masons around the world,
In mainstream Islam, no consideration needs to be taken when lessons of Shariah are being given, hence the point is completely missed by Islamic scholars.]
12. O you who believe, if you ask the messenger for counsel: do offer between the hands of your request a donation, this is better for you and purer, and if you can’t find [anything to give], God is Forgiving Compassionate,
13. Have you [the people] shied from offering between the hands of your counsel a donation? so, if you don’t - and He has bestowed repentance upon you: do hold up the prayers and perform the purifications, and do obey God and His messenger, and God is All Informed about what you do,
[The donation is to anyone who needs it. Donations aren’t a way of soliciting support, but rather a giving to whomever needs it most …
And neither are they a way of exhibition of charitableness for the sake of earning admiration …
The best way of giving donations is secrecy … so that neither the donor is harmed by them, and nor is the receiver of them …
Let’s not forget “لا تُبطلوا صدقاتكم بالمن و الأذى” (annul not your donations by obligation and harm), in this very Book; and let’s not forget “do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing” (Gospel of Matthew),
This indeed is a way of purification from the harmful rewards of exhibitionist donations ...
Islamic scholars can’t understand by the word zakat except a tax of three per cent, to be given to the closest needing person, in full view of the world …
We’ve explained on this Page that zakat means purification,
Purification of intention that is,
But when zakat, and indeed all forms of “worship”, are thought to be a trade which buy good luck in the world and a paradise of food and sex in the hereafter: they are a losing trade, as this very Book has declared it …]
14. Have you not seen those who have taken as masters: people that God is angry with? not of you are they and nor [are you] of them, they swear dishonestly while they know,
15. Has set up God for them severe suffering, that is bad what they were doing,
16. They have taken their swears as a frock [we read “جبّة"], they barred [the people] from the Way of God, they hence have demeaning suffering,
[Indeed, the worst kind of deception is when people pretend to be pious and holy. Although they might sound wise when they preach, their dark spirit will transpire despite their wit,
True wise people can notice their dark spirit and will hence quit them. But the less capable ones will continue to follow them to their own loss and detriment.]
17. Will not make them unneeding from God, their money, and nor their offspring: of anything; those are the dwellers of the fire, they are in it eternally,
18. The day God remits/resurrect them altogether, so they swear like they have sworn to you, while thinking they are ]upon[ something; O yes, it is them the liars,
19. Has seized them Satan, hence made them forget the remembrance of God, those are the sect of Satan; O yes, that the sect of Satan are them the losers,
20. Those who challenge God and His messenger are them the meanest,
21. Has written God “I shall conquer, Me and My messengers”, that God is Powerful Exalted,
[The following verse which terminates this Surah is yet another verse which has been taken by individuals as well as political parties as a pretext to declare themselves "the party of god", and to point their fingers at the damned ones: god’s and the messengers’ enemy,
To the honest reader, however, the verse doesn’t give any individual or any party the authority to make such a judgement,
If Muslims are truly believers in the Qur’an, they should know that this is His Word and His announcement and His judgement, and that His execution is of His judgement …
And when someone is known to have evil inclinations: people naturally distance themselves from them, unless they can help them …, and this doesn't make them automatically enemies, except in a judgemental frame of mind.
The status of complete lawlessness and anarchy in the Middle East today, which is indeed spreading to the whole of the world: is the result of individuals and groups appointing themselves as the “party of god”, and awarding themselves the authority to judge and carry out their sentences …
When it was said in this very Book that if there were multiple gods other than God: the heavens and the earth would have collapsed
: it was describing the very present state of anarchy: whereby multiple gods are issuing contradicting judgements and arbitrarily executing them …
Not surprisingly, Islamic scholars and Qur’anic haters together agree on Islamic scholars’ exegeses! It suits their both divisive political agendas and religious bigotries …, each from their own perspective …
The religions of the world are yet to learn that in matters of belief they have to admit difference,
Nay, they have to help one another exercise their freedom of belief …
This is how bridges can be built between them,
Bridges can be built only by a good and honest will, and founded only on the common grounds between them …
Whatever minute degree of universality was gleaned from the Books of Abrahamic religions in the past: it is being made forgotten by each religion’s self-confinement and self-interest … so much so that bridges between them are thought to be close to impossible to build,
This is when a total breakdown is inevitable, God forbid …]
22. You do not find a people believing in God and the last day: [closely] befriending those who challenge God and His messenger, even if they were their fathers or their sons or their brothers or their tribesmen; those: has written God in their hearts faith, and endorsed them by a Spirit from Him, and enters them He in Gardens, the days stream underneath them, eternally in it, Content is God with them, content are they with Him, those are the party of God; O yes, God’s party are them the achievers
