A Few Questions About Different Subjects From The Qur'an
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Peace,
I had a few questions about the Qur'an, I have listed them below.
Question #1
In verse 440 God says "Indeed, God does not wrong the weight of an atom; and if it is good He will double it. And He grants from Himself a great recompense."At first, that verse gives me the idea that every good deed will have double the reward from God. But later on in verse 6160 God says "Whoever comes with a good deed, he will receive ten times its worth, and whoever comes with a sin, he will only be recompensed its like; they will not be wronged."
So do we get double the reward or ten times its worth? Is this a contradiction? Is this a translation error? Or did I simply misunderstand and missed the wisdom behind these verses?
Question #2
This one has also got me confused. It's about christians and jews. Verse 262 gives me the impression that ANYONE (including christians and jews) who believes in God and the Last Day and does good, will have nothing to fear and can enter to heaven. But when I keep reading the Qur'an, I get the impression that the Qur'an is very negative about those who reject the revelations of the Qur'an? So what does this mean? You can be a christian, as long as you believe in the Qur'an? I don't really get it.
447 "O you who have received the Book, believe in what We have sent down affirming what is with you, before We cast down faces and turn them on their backs or curse them as the people of the Sabbath were cursed. And the will of God is always done."
Question #3
One of the traditional (Sunni) pillars of faith is to believe that all good and evil comes from God. I never really believed this, because I believe that God only wants good for His servants and that he does not wrong the people, but that people wrong themselves. However, traditional muslims base their opinion on verse 478 "Wherever you may be, death will find you, even if you are in fortified towers. If any good befalls them, they say "This is from God," and if any evil befalls them, they say "This is from you!" Say "All is from God;" what is wrong with these people, they barely understand any narrative!"But a verse later (479), you will read the following "Any good that befalls you is due to God, and any evil that befalls you is due to yourself. We have sent you as a messenger to the people and God is enough as a witness."
Is this a contradiction? Or a further explanation on how we should understand the previous verse?
Question #4
I always thought that anyone who dies would not wake up again until the Day of Judgment where they will get to hear whether they go to Hell or Heaven. However, verse 693 implies that some wicked people will instantly get to know (by the angels?) that they will receive the worst punishment "And who is more wicked than he who invents lies about God, or says "It has been inspired to me," when We did not inspire anything to him; or who says "I will bring down the same as what God has sent down." And if you could only see the wicked at the moments of death when the angels have their arms opened "Bring yourselves out, today you will be given the severest punishment for what you used to say about God without truth, and you used to be arrogant towards His revelations."
So does this mean they don't get to wait like the rest of us, but will instantly enter Hellfire, just like those who die on the path of God will instantly go to Heaven as implied in verses 2154 and 3169?
Question #5
Qur'an 6162 "Say "My contact prayer/Salat, and my nusuk, and my life, and my death, are all to God-Lord of the worlds."
Every translator chooses different words for nusuk, like rites or sacrifices.
What does the word nusuk really mean? What is the best translation according to you guys and why?
Bonus Question
This one isn't exactly a question I have about the Qur'an, but a different subject. A friend asked me how prayer exactly works in the area of relationships/love, and if we should leave things that we can't simply fix on our own to God or not. Of course he also knows that besides prayer we should also work hard for what we want. He explained to me that he has had a relationship with a girl for 3 years. They truly loved each other since the beginning, and were both very religious (they also happened to be interested in Quranism but also Sufism). He said that he does not believe he encountered her by chance, as he learned a lot from her about religion and she also learned a lot from him. She had brought him closer to God and taught him to become less 'extreme'. The sad part is however, that the girl he met suffers a major depressive disorder since she was a child and also had a bad childhood. He said she has completely turned into a wreck, is mostly negative about everything when they are with each other and that she even had a hallucination once that her boyfriend tried to choke her. She even distanced herself from practicing/reading about her religion (although he still believes she is a believer, but has too much pain right now. The girl is also suicidal and said that if she didn't have her faith, she wouldn't be here anymore). After a lot of relationship problems because of her depression, she decided to break up. He says he still loves her and tried to call her a short while ago. This led her to being so scared (for no reason) that she overreacted, yelled at him (while he was being calm) and threatened to call the police. He is now too afraid to call her again, but says that he keeps praying for her every day. He has been doing this for a long time and is praying to God to help her become positive again and to help reconcile again, since he himself feels powerless over the situation. He believes that their meeting was no coincidence and was planned by God. Since he doesn't see improvement on the situation, he thinks he is doing something wrong. Should he not only pray but make contact with her anyway? Or should he not do anything (he already tried everything and is afraid she might call the police again) and just rely on God, Who is the Knowledgeable, the Expert, the Caretaker, Who is in control of all things, to make a way for them to reconcile again if He wills?
I couldn't really give him an answer. Would God intervene in this sort of situation and make her see the light again or make her remember all the positive things, or will He stay out of it and leave it all to people to change what is in themselves on their own as the Qur'an states? Does this verse also apply on this situation "...God does not change the condition of a people until they change the condition of their souls..." (1311) He says that she is blinded by her depression and negativity.
You guys don't need to answer every single question, I'd appreciate it if you could also answer just the ones you know or share your thoughts about it.
Thank you and peace be with you.
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peace be upon you, i do not know exactly how to explain some questions but i will try answering to the best pf mu ability )
Question 1
perhaps what it means that when God means double the reward it probobly feels like it is ten times more? i mean did you get it hopefull that explains( just message me if it is unclear i will try answering you Inshaallah)
Question 2
perhaps it is talking about those jews and christians who died before prophet muhammad( for the xtians) or prophet isa( for the jews) were born; like for the hews, the righteous amongs them would enter paradise if they were righteous before prophet isa was born and same goes with the xtians( although perhaps before hearing anout prophet muhammad) I mean you cant enter paradise unless you believe in Prophet muhammad right? Because I dont think that the people of the book who were mention that will enter paraise are the same people of the book that rejected him during his lifetime and after his death. ( sorry if it doesnt make sense just message me if it you want more elaboration and I shall respond GOD willing)
Question 3
I dont know sorry
Question 4
Well according to my undertanding that if you die being a martyr you would go to paradise since if I remember correctly anyone who died for cause of God would enter paradise emmdietly but flr those who died in an evil state then some angels will pick them up and the reason for them saying that he/she might go to hell, it like telli g them in advance where they will be heading...I guess.
Question 5
peryaps it is sacrifice and if you want to understand about sacrifice. Well perhaps that means the life and time you sacrifice for the sake of God. Like sacrificing some of your time just to perform prayers even though you might be in a middle of doing something importan
Bonus
If she treathens to call the police on him I think it is best if He just leave her alone for now and let her be in God's care. Then maybe after few days or weeks or so he should try calling her perhaps maybe that long period of time of not contacting him should be enough time to cool her off ( God willing)Peace )
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Peace,
I had a few questions about the Qur'an, I have listed them below.
Question #1
In verse 440 God says "Indeed, God does not wrong the weight of an atom; and if it is good He will double it. And He grants from Himself a great recompense."At first, that verse gives me the idea that every good deed will have double the reward from God. But later on in verse 6160 God says "Whoever comes with a good deed, he will receive ten times its worth, and whoever comes with a sin, he will only be recompensed its like; they will not be wronged."
So do we get double the reward or ten times its worth? Is this a contradiction? Is this a translation error? Or did I simply misunderstand and missed the wisdom behind these verses?
Question #2
This one has also got me confused. It's about christians and jews. Verse 262 gives me the impression that ANYONE (including christians and jews) who believes in God and the Last Day and does good, will have nothing to fear and can enter to heaven. But when I keep reading the Qur'an, I get the impression that the Qur'an is very negative about those who reject the revelations of the Qur'an? So what does this mean? You can be a christian, as long as you believe in the Qur'an? I don't really get it.
447 "O you who have received the Book, believe in what We have sent down affirming what is with you, before We cast down faces and turn them on their backs or curse them as the people of the Sabbath were cursed. And the will of God is always done."
Question #3
One of the traditional (Sunni) pillars of faith is to believe that all good and evil comes from God. I never really believed this, because I believe that God only wants good for His servants and that he does not wrong the people, but that people wrong themselves. However, traditional muslims base their opinion on verse 478 "Wherever you may be, death will find you, even if you are in fortified towers. If any good befalls them, they say "This is from God," and if any evil befalls them, they say "This is from you!" Say "All is from God;" what is wrong with these people, they barely understand any narrative!"But a verse later (479), you will read the following "Any good that befalls you is due to God, and any evil that befalls you is due to yourself. We have sent you as a messenger to the people and God is enough as a witness."
Is this a contradiction? Or a further explanation on how we should understand the previous verse?
Question #4
I always thought that anyone who dies would not wake up again until the Day of Judgment where they will get to hear whether they go to Hell or Heaven. However, verse 693 implies that some wicked people will instantly get to know (by the angels?) that they will receive the worst punishment "And who is more wicked than he who invents lies about God, or says "It has been inspired to me," when We did not inspire anything to him; or who says "I will bring down the same as what God has sent down." And if you could only see the wicked at the moments of death when the angels have their arms opened "Bring yourselves out, today you will be given the severest punishment for what you used to say about God without truth, and you used to be arrogant towards His revelations."
So does this mean they don't get to wait like the rest of us, but will instantly enter Hellfire, just like those who die on the path of God will instantly go to Heaven as implied in verses 2154 and 3169?
Question #5
Qur'an 6162 "Say "My contact prayer/Salat, and my nusuk, and my life, and my death, are all to God-Lord of the worlds."
Every translator chooses different words for nusuk, like rites or sacrifices.
What does the word nusuk really mean? What is the best translation according to you guys and why?
Bonus Question
This one isn't exactly a question I have about the Qur'an, but a different subject. A friend asked me how prayer exactly works in the area of relationships/love, and if we should leave things that we can't simply fix on our own to God or not. Of course he also knows that besides prayer we should also work hard for what we want. He explained to me that he has had a relationship with a girl for 3 years. They truly loved each other since the beginning, and were both very religious (they also happened to be interested in Quranism but also Sufism). He said that he does not believe he encountered her by chance, as he learned a lot from her about religion and she also learned a lot from him. She had brought him closer to God and taught him to become less 'extreme'. The sad part is however, that the girl he met suffers a major depressive disorder since she was a child and also had a bad childhood. He said she has completely turned into a wreck, is mostly negative about everything when they are with each other and that she even had a hallucination once that her boyfriend tried to choke her. She even distanced herself from practicing/reading about her religion (although he still believes she is a believer, but has too much pain right now. The girl is also suicidal and said that if she didn't have her faith, she wouldn't be here anymore). After a lot of relationship problems because of her depression, she decided to break up. He says he still loves her and tried to call her a short while ago. This led her to being so scared (for no reason) that she overreacted, yelled at him (while he was being calm) and threatened to call the police. He is now too afraid to call her again, but says that he keeps praying for her every day. He has been doing this for a long time and is praying to God to help her become positive again and to help reconcile again, since he himself feels powerless over the situation. He believes that their meeting was no coincidence and was planned by God. Since he doesn't see improvement on the situation, he thinks he is doing something wrong. Should he not only pray but make contact with her anyway? Or should he not do anything (he already tried everything and is afraid she might call the police again) and just rely on God, Who is the Knowledgeable, the Expert, the Caretaker, Who is in control of all things, to make a way for them to reconcile again if He wills?
I couldn't really give him an answer. Would God intervene in this sort of situation and make her see the light again or make her remember all the positive things, or will He stay out of it and leave it all to people to change what is in themselves on their own as the Qur'an states? Does this verse also apply on this situation "...God does not change the condition of a people until they change the condition of their souls..." (1311) He says that she is blinded by her depression and negativity.
You guys don't need to answer every single question, I'd appreciate it if you could also answer just the ones you know or share your thoughts about it.
Thank you and peace be with you.
The first question is purely amatter of translation and I think also that when we re talking at certi level like spiritual or non countable rewards, how do you understand ten timesmore or one thousand times more. Take for instance I see a good looking young man, good mannered and all that evokes admiration or approval and say I compare him with any other chap, I can say Oh he is a thousand time snicer than any other guy or I can say a hundred times nicer or even ten time nicer. ll those number will mean the same, he surpasses all others in my view and what term of appreaciation I use will mean the same, it is matter of letting know that my appreciation of him bears nocomparison to the other term of the comparison.
That is one thing,
he other is that the problem in your question relies on translation.
The term used in 4.40 is yuDaa3if, of root D-3-f. D-3-f basic meaning is nothing to do with twice anything it basically means multiply, or that something is a multiple of something else. twice would be a particular case of that but it is not a counting term but a term that generally means an increase in something.
You say any that rejects the revelations of the Qur'an...
So what is that with jews orr christians in particular?
Arn't there many "muslims" that reject the revelations of the Qur'an?
And what re the revelations of the Qur'an. As faras the Qur'an itself says, it says nothing new, it confirm what has been descended upon allhte peoples allthe sme warnings given by God along the time since humankind became humandkind. The reveltion is not a private club where some are admitted and some other are not admitted, and even if that were the cae it is neither you nor I nor any people with any concet who dmits, but God who admits. You do not have a member card. It is betweenyou and God and how you do believe ot disbelieve in his revelations. No man can say those who are labelled this are admitted and those who are labelled that are admitted. Not labels, belief is the question annd belief God only knows.
We are not God. Has God from the very start (in itself bsurd since for God there is no past or present that is a condition of mtter not of God) meant some people to do good or bad?
To start with, good or bad are human criteria, set by God but for humans, not for him, not for stones, not for planets not for animals, just for us.
God never does wrong, He just does. And our wrong an right is just as a reference to our condition and goal of our life. What is our destiny, our goal? As the Qur'an says time and again return to God. Wat is themeaning of revelation? to help us return to God the quickest and more sublime way. Look at the faatiha
Guide us to the path of ascension (mustaqim) traidtionally trnaslated as "straight" butwhich is straight up not on a flat line. That is we all will return to God, sooner or later with more or less pain. Evil, God doe nto hzave evil,that is a human evaluation concept which is necessary for our guidance.Now let us look at something else
So some woman is raped. Is it painful for her? It is very much, indeed. It is humiliating, depending on her own character and age and other factor is may be destroying and psychologically a permanently dammaging to hermind and emotions. Samy with murder...
But does thaxt mean that the victims are evil? No they are not set back in the least in their return to God. Those who do it to them, be it by God's design or be it by their own design, we do not know how that works, but we re certainly given enough information cocnerning that in the Qur'an, those who commit the deeds then are they themseves trapped in evil, at least in enough evil to commit such heinous deeds. They obviously will have to overcome that in this life in order to return to God, or go through hell o overcome it in the next life or lives. hey will have to be cleansed in the fire that is fuelled by men and stones.
As to the victims as I just said they are not set back a bit, but depending on how they endure it or react to it, may even become much nearer to God.
Tht is one of the great, sublime aspects of faith, when you trust God, everything is a blessing, because everything reveals to you a new way back to nearness to God. Suffering is disgusting and we do not want, but we do know that when we go through it we become deeper persons, more grateful persons, wiser persons, unless we close ourselves in bitterness instead of in faith.
Some people say well I will not believe in aGod that consents ons uch awful things. Fine. So what. If they do not believe does that means that those oawful things won't happen? No, they will happen all the samebut he willsee no meaning and no opportunity for him in them, or may be he will but in his mind will estblish an ideal which He thinks may be a negation of God, but which will be in fact a way nearer to God bu without the word God, and may be another word he may use, may be goodness, may be help to people, never mind, things are not what anybody calls them but what they are.
It is fine tahat people believe in God without ever realising that those things they believe in are in fact NAMES OF GOD, the just, which they do worship if they ursue justice with deep belief in it.Or the compassionate, Whom anybody acting out of sincere compassion will be worshipping ven not realising that is what they are doing.
There are other questions in the message but I feel that the writer connects themto side issues.
Howver I think the important question, all the time, the fundamental question always, is where are we going, What do we live for, what is our goal. That is the root of everything and the reason of everything. We are meant to go back to God and we will go back to God, because God so wants it and makes it, but we in earth are told by thatsame God that the way back to him can be harder or softer, wuicker or slower, it is our choice. Is it really our choice or does God make us in such a way that we choose one way or another? Does not matter, does not matter at all. We are what we are and who we are,and however or whoever we are, WE, those who we feel we are, do choose things, whether because we are meant to choose them from the beginning or because we do choose, is beyond us and of nouse as to what we do choose. We are subjects at least to some extent, because that is what we feel we are. We cannot be objective on that nor there is any need or obligation to be ojective on that.
There is one more line to this. God tells us to ask him for things, for whatever, He does indeed instruct us to do so and He says He answers, and many believers will confirm that He answers, Iknow He answers, He heeds wqhe we ask him for something that hels us along our way back to him giving us strength or whatever is best for us. So we do have the freeedom of praying to God, and He has promised that He answers. We have that.
Do people who call thmselves atheists pray too. I am sure they do, when in their hearts they wish for things to become better for those who suffer, they pray that eople who are evil stop being evil... and they are heard.
God does not need labels, because knows, He made us.
Salaam
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peace,
first of all i am using the Dr. R. Khalifa translation because the Quran Explorer app is handy to search with, and no translation is perfect which is why we should all look into the original text and seek clarification. tools such as word for word qurans, Project root list, Quranic arabic corpus, Quran software with search etc are very helpful when seeking clarification for those of us who are not scholars of the arabic language. i would encourage you too research yourself anything i, or any quran translation says, as God tells us to use our brains etc responsibly.I will God willing attempt to answer your questions from a Quranic perspective
The problem here is of two parts i believe, firstly translation which inevitably leads to problems, secondly not taking in the context, here are a range of verses talking about rewards for good works and how they are multiplied.
a. Say, "O My servants who believed, you shall reverence your Lord." For those who worked righteousness in this world, a good reward. GOD's earth is spacious, and those who steadfastly persevere will receive their recompense generously, without limits.
b. This is the good news from GOD to His servants who believe and lead a righteous life. Say, "I do not ask you for any wage. I do ask each of you to take care of your own relatives." Anyone who does a righteous work, we multiply his reward for it. GOD is Forgiver, Appreciative.
c. Surely, the charitable men and women have loaned GOD a loan of goodness. They will receive their reward multiplied manifold; they have deserved a generous recompense.
d. To these we grant twice the reward, because they steadfastly persevere. They counter evil works with good works, and from our provisions to them, they give.
e. Whoever does a righteous work receives the reward for ten, and the one who commits a sin is requited for only one. No one suffers the slightest injustice.the sum up
-for believers who work righteousness is a good reward (a)
-those who steadfastly persevere will receive a reward without limits (a)
-Anyone who does a righteous work/ and charitable men and women will be rewarded for it multiplied (b)(c)
-those who believe from the recipients of the previous scriptures will receive twice the reward (d)
-whoever does righteous work receives the reward for ten (e)from all these verses it is clear to see that there is no contradiction.
We see that anyone who believes and works righteousness receives a good/multiplied reward. God specifies in 610 that it will be a reward for literally 'ten times the like of it'.
The people who receive double according to 2854 you will read in the previous 2 verses are those who believe in the Quran from the recipients of previous scriptures.I believe that God will reward us a million times if he so desires. However he knows best and does what he wills.
i also agree with @huruf that the word translated as double does not necessarily always mean literally double. as there is a great difference in the meaning of differing languages
essentially as God says anyone who believes in God, the last day, Leads a righteous life, whatever 'religion' they follow or whatever they call themselves will receive their recompense.
Now they are not required to believe in the Quran, However they are required not to reject it, but you cant reject something you are not aware of. if they rejected God and his revelation and subsequently become/are still a disbeliever as we see in the quran they are wicked and will dwell in hell;
We have sent down to you such clear revelations, and only the wicked will reject them.
"As for those who disbelieve and reject our revelations, they will be dwellers of Hell, wherein they abide forever."
Miserable indeed is what they sold their souls forrejecting these revelations of GOD out of sheer resentment that GOD should bestow His grace upon whomever He chooses from among His servants. Consequently, they incurred wrath upon wrath. The disbelievers have incurred a humiliating retribution.hence, from my understanding, Anyone who believes whether Jew Christian, whatever, anyone who believes in God and Works righteousness, past present or future will receive a reward, if God so wills, However people that reject Gods revelations will not.
Everything that happens is in accordance with the will of God;
Nothing happens to you except in accordance with GOD's will. Anyone who believes in GOD, He will guide his heart. GOD is fully aware of all things.GOD created you from dust, then from a tiny drop, then He causes you to reproduce through your spouses. No female becomes pregnant, nor gives birth, without His knowledge. No one survives for a long life, and no one's life is snapped short, except in accordance with a pre-existing record. This is easy for GOD.
Anything that happens on earth, or to you, has already been recorded, even before the creation. This is easy for GOD to do.
we learn from the Quran that God punishes whoever he wills;
To GOD belongs everything in the heavens and the earth. Whether you declare your innermost thoughts, or keep them hidden, GOD holds you responsible for them. He forgives whomever He wills, and punishes whomever He wills. GOD is Omnipotent.
Do you not know that GOD possesses the sovereignty of the heavens and the earth? He punishes whomever He wills, and forgives whomever He wills. GOD is Omnipotent.To GOD belongs the sovereignty of the heavens and the earth. He forgives whomever He wills, and punishes whomever He wills. GOD is Forgiver, Most Merciful.
but God is just and he only punishes people who deserve it;
Many a community in the past committed evil, and I led them on for awhile, then I punished them. To Me is the ultimate destiny.Who is more evil than one who is reminded of these revelations of his Lord, then insists upon disregarding them? We will certainly punish the guilty.
Like Pharaoh's people and those before them, they rejected our revelations and, consequently, GOD punished them for their sins. GOD is strict in enforcing retribution.
these are just some of the verses in the context of the whole Quran that point to the facts that God decrees/does everything he wills, everything comes from Him, so If he punishes someone it is From Him because it is his will, however it is also from us, because we have sinned or transgressed, because God is not unjust in the least.
i will get back to you on this one, as i am unsure and this is something on my long list of things to look into myself but its getting late.
according to Project Root List, the root of the noun nusuki is n-s-k = to lead a devout life, be pious, be godly, worship/serve God, sacrifice, slaughter an animal by way of sacrifice, act of worship/servitude, performers/observers of such acts, rite of devotion, to wash and purify, to apply oneself.
in my opinion, and having just looked into the Quran at the occurrences of the root n-s-k i would say it is meaning more 'rites/service or acts of devotion/worship' and not sacrifice in terms of sacrificing an animal, as in the context of 2196 i believe Dr. Khalifa has translated it accurately as 'form of worship' for it seems to me that having to come up with an animal to sacrifice just because your sick or have a gash in your head is seemingly unreasonable and God says he does not want any hardship for us (310 and that God did not (in my understanding) say a specific number of days to fast, or amount to give in charity, so it makes more sense in the context that he wants us to perform some act of worship.You shall observe the complete rites of Hajj and 'Umrah for GOD. If you are prevented, you shall send an offering, and do not resume cutting your hair until your offering has reached its destination. If you are ill, or suffering a head injury (and you must cut your hair), you shall expiate by fasting, or giving to charity, or some other form of worship. During the normal Hajj, if you break the state of Ihraam (sanctity) between 'Umrah and Hajj, you shall expiate by offering an animal sacrifice. If you cannot afford it, you shall fast three days during Hajj and seven when you return homethis completes tenprovided you do not live at the Sacred Mosque (Masjid). You shall observe GOD, and know that GOD is strict in enforcing retribution.
although animal sacrifice is one of those rites of worship as in the following.
For each congregation we have decreed rites whereby they commemorate the name of GOD for providing them with the livestock. Your god is one and the same god; you shall all submit to Him. Give good news to the obedient.
bonus! i love bonuses.
also having been in a similar situation of being with a girl, believing that God put us together, because we both grew and learnt so much being with each other, i would have to say 'you only love her when you let her go' its tough but it has to be done. At the end of the day, noone an intercede with God unless he wills, (3944 and others) and i would recommend praying for himself that he can 'let go and let God.' Not all relationships last forever, especially young love. ' and just rely on God, Who is the Knowledgeable, the Expert, the Caretaker, Who is in control of all things, to make a way for them to reconcile again if He wills? ' and "...God does not change the condition of a people until they change the condition of their souls..." (1311) is very relevant, God has given us free will, and challenges us in various ways. Only he can heal us, but we have to be willing to be healed, and work on our issues. Having suffered from depression myself, it can be tough, but God is the peacemaker.
In terms of what he can do for her, i would not recommend hassling her, or trying to contact her too much, maybe just a simple message to the effect of 'i love and care about you and i respect that you need your own space but if you ever need/want to talk im here for you' kind of thing.im no relationship expert, but from my own experience people who are really down quite often whether consciously or subconsciously push away the people they love to prove their theory that noone loves them. or because they feel like noone should love them or they are not worthy to be loved etc. i will ask my friend and see what she says, shes quite insightful and studying psychology.
peace, i hope this helps is some may, may God guide us and reward us all for sharing and seeking understanding of His perfect system.
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Hello Alper88,
At first, that verse gives me the idea that every good deed will have double the reward from God. But later on in verse 6160 God says "Whoever comes with a good deed, he will receive ten times its worth, and whoever comes with a sin, he will only be recompensed its like; they will not be wronged."
So do we get double the reward or ten times its worth? Is this a contradiction? Is this a translation error? Or did I simply misunderstand and missed the wisdom behind these verses?
However, traditional muslims base their opinion on verse 478 "Wherever you may be, death will find you, even if you are in fortified towers. If any good befalls them, they say "This is from God," and if any evil befalls them, they say "This is from you!" Say "All is from God;" what is wrong with these people, they barely understand any narrative!"
But a verse later (479), you will read the following "Any good that befalls you is due to God, and any evil that befalls you is due to yourself. We have sent you as a messenger to the people and God is enough as a witness."
Is this a contradiction? Or a further explanation on how we should understand the previous verse?
Yes it is contradictions in the interpretation. You are awake indeed. It is not the only time the interpretations are contradictory either. It is not the scripture's fault but the problem is with those who ever interpreted it and brought the interpretation you have today.
But when I keep reading the Qur'an, I get the impression that the Qur'an is very negative about those who reject the revelations of the Qur'an?
Negative is an understatement, it is quite hateful.
Question #2
This one has also got me confused. It's about christians and jews. Verse 262 gives me the impression that ANYONE (including christians and jews) who believes in God and the Last Day and does good, will have nothing to fear and can enter to heaven. But when I keep reading the Qur'an, I get the impression that the Qur'an is very negative about those who reject the revelations of the Qur'an? So what does this mean? You can be a christian, as long as you believe in the Qur'an? I don't really get it.
447 "O you who have received the Book, believe in what We have sent down affirming what is with you, before We cast down faces and turn them on their backs or curse them as the people of the Sabbath were cursed. And the will of God is always done."
The ancient interpreters struggled hard to come up with the interpretation that they did and it is not always coherent.
Question #4
I always thought that anyone who dies would not wake up again until the Day of Judgment where they will get to hear whether they go to Hell or Heaven. However, verse 693 implies that some wicked people will instantly get to know (by the angels?) that they will receive the worst punishment "And who is more wicked than he who invents lies about God, or says "It has been inspired to me," when We did not inspire anything to him; or who says "I will bring down the same as what God has sent down." And if you could only see the wicked at the moments of death when the angels have their arms opened "Bring yourselves out, today you will be given the severest punishment for what you used to say about God without truth, and you used to be arrogant towards His revelations."
So does this mean they don't get to wait like the rest of us, but will instantly enter Hellfire, just like those who die on the path of God will instantly go to Heaven as implied in verses 2154 and 3169?
Same here. The interpreters did not take everything they had "interpreted" into consideration when fabricating what Quran said. It is quite inconsistent and incoherent if one applies their brain to what the sectarian renditions say, not at all without contradiction as their translation of a passage in chapter 2 claims.
Question #5
Qur'an 6162 "Say "My contact prayer/Salat, and my nusuk, and my life, and my death, are all to God-Lord of the worlds."
Every translator chooses different words for nusuk, like rites or sacrifices.
What does the word nusuk really mean? What is the best translation according to you guys and why?
The work 'nusuki' is likely from root Nun-Siin-Kaf, the input in Project Root List says this
= Nun-Siin-Kaf = to lead a devout life, be pious, be godly, worship/serve God, sacrifice, slaughter an animal by way of sacrifice, act of worship/servitude, performers/observers of such acts, rite of devotion, to wash and purify, to apply oneself.
I would aim for the definitions I highlighted above.
This one isn't exactly a question I have about the Qur'an, but a different subject. A friend asked me how prayer exactly works in the area of relationships/love, and if we should leave things that we can't simply fix on our own to God or not. Of course he also knows that besides prayer we should also work hard for what we want. He explained to me that he has had a relationship with a girl for 3 years. They truly loved each other since the beginning, and were both very religious (they also happened to be interested in Quranism but also Sufism). He said that he does not believe he encountered her by chance, as he learned a lot from her about religion and she also learned a lot from him. She had brought him closer to God and taught him to become less 'extreme'. The sad part is however, that the girl he met suffers a major depressive disorder since she was a child and also had a bad childhood. He said she has completely turned into a wreck, is mostly negative about everything when they are with each other and that she even had a hallucination once that her boyfriend tried to choke her. She even distanced herself from practicing/reading about her religion (although he still believes she is a believer, but has too much pain right now. The girl is also suicidal and said that if she didn't have her faith, she wouldn't be here anymore). After a lot of relationship problems because of her depression, she decided to break up. He says he still loves her and tried to call her a short while ago. This led her to being so scared (for no reason) that she overreacted, yelled at him (while he was being calm) and threatened to call the police. He is now too afraid to call her again, but says that he keeps praying for her every day. He has been doing this for a long time and is praying to God to help her become positive again and to help reconcile again, since he himself feels powerless over the situation. He believes that their meeting was no coincidence and was planned by God. Since he doesn't see improvement on the situation, he thinks he is doing something wrong. Should he not only pray but make contact with her anyway? Or should he not do anything (he already tried everything and is afraid she might call the police again) and just rely on God, Who is the Knowledgeable, the Expert, the Caretaker, Who is in control of all things, to make a way for them to reconcile again if He wills?
The woman has to wake up herself. Depression is due to a shattered Spirit and one has to get a grip of themselves in order to be cured. We should try to help those around us as much as we can and the friend of yours may try to support her, but if she does not wish for him to contact her he should not stress her about it. Life tests can be really difficult and it is meritorious to have patience. I do not know what kind of issues she was exposed to in her childhood since it did not come forth, but she will need to somehow deal with the trauma and even if she cannot forget she needs to be able to control its incapacitating impact.
I have myself suffered from depression some decade ago and does virtually always have a root of the problem from somewhere, something that causes trauma and lack of peace. There can be many small factors or one big factor, or many small and one big, that causes mental stress and when their distraction on the mind becomes too unbearable the person will be likely to develop a mental disorder. No medicine will treat it in the long run but you can only give relief to the symptoms and the person will have to either deal with the source of the problem themselves with strong willpower or go to a psychologist for therapy which many people choose to do.
My own problems I will not speak about here, but the reason why I have been depressed was related to something in my life, some factors and I have dealt with them. It is very important that the subject works hard on their self-esteem, positive thinking and to distance themselves from the negative thoughts. It can also important that the person neutralizes the source of the problem if possible, to accept its affection and move on with the consequential effect on your life without the sensation of personal failure. One has to get on with it. It depends on what happened exactly.
Depending on your description of the events between your friend and the woman, it seems like the woman is suffering from paranoia, anxiety that people are out to hurt her and her fears are expressed in the hallucination that her boyfriend tried to choke her. It can be likely that the childhood experiences are somewhat connected to this. It seems obvious that she does suffer from fear of harm. One way or another she is not happy with her life and things seem to go wrong, and she does not have the right life perception. A problem is that such people are often vulnerable and require proper treatment and cannot handle even small adversities without breaking apart. It is important that she gets cognitive therapy and change her way of countering adversities, in small steps and build up the defense by boosting her self-esteem in any way. She has to feel she has good qualities and enhance that. Maybe in her childhood, someone systematically assaulted one or several factors about her being and that has affected her in such way that she simply does make her feel she has no value and what the person or persons said about her is true. It can be on subconscious level too so she may need to reach her inner memories. Such memories are often suppressed by the subject causing depression without any apparent reasons in adult age and you have to investigate carefully. In domestic abuse, a child usually "forgets" about events as a defense mechanism in order to cope with it but the trauma will emerge every time something in adult age will trigger it, causing in evil spiral.
I could write more about it, but I think you have a clue about what the girl needs. And your friend will have to deal gently with her. If she avoids contact he should not push her, and it is important that he does not make open accusations against her even if he has a little feeling about being right about something, but it is better to be empathetic and listen to her. That woman does likely have a huge deal to talk about, but she may be mute because she does not trust people around her. The only way of talking to her to make her open is by gaining her trust and she does seem to reject a lot. You should pity her because such a person suffers greatly within and I wish personally that it was something that I could do for her. She is very vulnerable and she cannot handle adversities well and if she has some kind of feelings for your friend then she will be sensitive to rejection, so your friend has to make up his mind to avoid a "to and fro" scenario. A person with this level of degraded self-worth will be likely to commit suicide if the pressure gets to high because she appears that mentally unstable. As she said, her faith in God may keep her alive and it is a reason why faith can be a positive factor.
I have studied AS-level of psychology, but I am not a psychologist by any means even if I am very interested. Psychology is very good to know to understand why people do the things they do, and a learner will learn that the human does act according to preset patterns more than people care to think, i.e. like an animal or a primate.
It may be that God is testing your friend and that he is tested through this way and that she is planned to play a role in his life. I would say it is important that your friend stays vigilant. From a faith perspective, the woman's Spirit is broken and needs healing and it affects the functionality of the Body with derailed neurotransmitter communications within the brain as a consequence. No drug will permanently solve her problems. Her problems must be solved from within. Depending on her surroundings she may need an environmental change for a while and another perspective of the World. The World as it is, is not known for making a person feel better exactly. Particularly it may help her if she diminishes the expectations on her to be wealthy, pretty, popular etc, and to follow the common stereotype for her group identity if she has any. Dump religion if she can because mental health is better than strict disciplined practices and such, because God will understand. The less she thinks about "musts" the better she will feel. A vulnerable person should not expose themselves to the mental stress that may occur if they are involved in a institutionalized religion where things need to be executed in an exact manner and if they do something wrong they feel terrible about it. This terrified mood causes a disharmony to her.
Okay. I wrote a little more than I planned. Sorry if it was much to read.
Be safe
Amenuel -
question 1. "comes with" implies a unfinished deeds like ghost lol, but really a reward is given in this life or in the hereafter, doubled could mean both in this world and held to your credit so you don't receive a response like "oh you did that... well we gave you that as a reward, so what else do you want?" while Ex I died saving a life your too martyred to receive your reward in this world. even with good deeds never forget you are dealing with actual numbers 1 and the unit is . deeds are efforts and efforts take energy, energy is never lost (vanishing in to nothing) even our wills are energy that will go to a real heaven. your always dealing with real numbers and real places
*I used to thing about this same question as a new convert welcome to the cult of Abraham lolz, salaam wailaykum.- they are bad they rejected prophets and revealations, these men suffered all their lives like Abraham who was burned alive (yet saved from the fire by ALLAH) by his own father and people he used to sell idols too. and they reject this books after reading them, if something is "true" and your "reject" the truth you are what? A "reject-er" of "truth". faith is struggle not just doing what is easiest but incorrect or outdated. Christ was a messenger and he'll return someday he did not write the bible with his own hands it's just a collection of stories (VH1 behind the music interviews with his band mates and people who knew him).
believe in what is true also some give partners to ALLAH which is a great wrong (doing), more than one god or partners to your god makes you a "poly" theist, "multi-" theist bearing person you believe in more than what is true..... you don't really believe in one.
3.you sound young. this is simply you going through boot camp and testing, you have to be tried for your faith, not like hazing but as a good man a man of religion you have enemies, their going to hell, they know it, and they want to drag you with them so they can live maybe 30, 000 "DAYS" of life (about 90 years) without thinking about fixing their sins. it's easier to ignore homework than to complete it, the "F" is not as bad as the hardwork to get a "D". lazy kafirun. suffering will be held to your credit and you can go to a masjid after you've suffered in the cause of ALLAH, that's your permission to enter these sacred places.
4.once again this is a question most imams wonder, we're dealing with real numbers and real places again. how far is hell? how far is heaven? what means will get you there? (THERE IS NO MAGIC!)
in the bible remember a prophet by the name Elijah? he used to set up alters in contest with the pagans? he would pray for fire to come down from the sky to consume his offering and when it did he would pick up his sword and chop up the unbelievers seeing clearly they were just lairs? he had an assistant named elais and he told him today I will die, you will see a chariot of fire come and take me into the sky and then gave him his mantle. a flaming chariot came from the sky and took him to heaven and elias was the new Prophet (pro-fessor of truth) and messenger (bringer of the messege)recall the verse they will be dragged on their faces? the verse one to bring them forth the other to read their account? they will be asked what was your plight on the earth?
the angels are what?
always near youwhen you die maybe you just begin to see them and they have a written date and time to begin to bring you back to ALLAH for judgement.
your birth was written so is your death they just have to stay on schedule and record everything you do.
*you were born to inherit certain qualities like me I'm earthy and in the year of the dragon, these were qualities discovered by other prophets and messengers (I believe from the far east).- I don't speak ar-abic but it's sacrifice and I consider it to imply hardship. remember it will be held to your credit.
dude "contact" prayers? your being recruited by sectarianist they're all going to hell get away from them quick and learn the quran on your own. the quran says have nothing to do with sectarianist.
your bonus question is too long and ...... is the answer yes or no?
but to be a muslim you have to obey the messenger among you and if they are saying prophet muhammed is the messenger among you ask them why is prophet Abraham in the hereafter? ask them what are they going to do for years lying unmoving in their graves (which is a torment for themselves)? say the real world is about real numbers and real places if heaven and hell only exist in your fantasy imagination then you all don't believe in anything?
converted sunni at first then became an Abrahamic monotheist, Allah instructs us in the quran to follow the ways of Prophet Abraham the truth in faith, the sane in faith.
What prophet? - they are bad they rejected prophets and revealations, these men suffered all their lives like Abraham who was burned alive (yet saved from the fire by ALLAH) by his own father and people he used to sell idols too. and they reject this books after reading them, if something is "true" and your "reject" the truth you are what? A "reject-er" of "truth". faith is struggle not just doing what is easiest but incorrect or outdated. Christ was a messenger and he'll return someday he did not write the bible with his own hands it's just a collection of stories (VH1 behind the music interviews with his band mates and people who knew him).