38:44
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Peace all,
In light of the ongoing thread about wife beating in the general questions section, I remembered there is another verse that is often touted as evidence to support wife beating 3844. This has a story that goes kinda like, the wife of job was sick of his illness and was rude to him so he made an oath that he would beat her once he got well again. And after he did get well, he regretted his oath and God gave him an easy way out or somesuch...It seems quite a fantastical story, the verse itself though has many different translations
3844
YUSUFALI "And take in thy hand a little grass, and strike therewith and break not (thy oath)." Truly We found him full of patience and constancy. How excellent in Our service! ever did he turn (to Us)!
PICKTHAL And (it was said unto him) Take in thine hand a branch and smite therewith, and break not thine oath. Lo! We found him steadfast, how excellent a slave! Lo! he was ever turning in repentance (to his Lord).
SHAKIR And take in your hand a green branch and beat her with It and do not break your oath; surely We found him patient; most excellent the servant! Surely he was frequent m returning (to Allah).
KHALIFA "Now, you shall travel the land and preach the message, to fulfill your pledge." We found him steadfast. What a good servant! He was a submitter.
LITERAL And take with your hand a handful of grass/a handful, so strike/beat with it, and do not break oath, that We, We found him patient blessed/praised the slave/servant , that he truly is repentant .
FREE-MINDS "And take in your hand a bundle and travel with it, and do not break your oath." We found him steadfast. What a good servant! He was obedient.
In the first we have take a little grass, in the second it's take a branch, in the third it's a green branch to beat 'her' with and the fourth it's completely different, the literal translation has basically the same concepts except for the 'her' and the FM has travel instead of beat/strike and a bundle?Though there is a consistency with fullfilling/not breaking an oath throughout them...
In another verse I found the same word for strike (either 2077 or 2663)
in which moses should strike a path through the sea, so could this be the same striking a path through (as in travelling) to fulfill his oath? Is this supported by the verse and the grammar used?I would appreciate any comments by those having studied this (or not), regarding a consistent translation and what it implies...Thanks in advance!
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SaLaM SC
This may go against everything i believe about wife beating. But it may be that IF the oat was to simply hit her, God made him take the lightest thing to hit her with. For example if i take an oth to hit you, i might as well hit u with a pillow, like in pillow fight. Technically, i will be full-filling my oath of hitting you. I hope you understand.
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Peace Jaxal
This may go against everything i believe about wife beating. But it may be that IF the oat was to simply hit her, God made him take the lightest thing to hit her with. For example if i take an oth to hit you, i might as well hit u with a pillow, like in pillow fight. Technically, i will be full-filling my oath of hitting you. I hope you understand.
I understand your point. As far as I've read, there is nothing to suggest that he took upon himself an oath to strike his wife or anyone else for that matter...it might be that this oath/pledge was something akin to spreading God's word (that he thought of during his illness/distress) and after the mercy He showed him, maybe something he vowed he would do if he ever healed etc...just some thoughts...
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SaLaM SC
This has a story that goes kinda like, the wife of job was sick of his illness and was rude to him so he made an oath that he would beat her once he got well again. And after he did get well, he regretted his oath and God gave him an easy way out or somesuch
This is what i had in mind when i was replying )
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Peace Jaxal,
This is what i had in mind when i was replying
I know, thats what is meant by the IF in your post...the thing is, I too remembered thinking at the time that's what the verse meant, but after reading the quran on its own, it lends no credence to this story at all...I think it's just one more concocted story to try and explain/embellish a verse, it fails at doing so when analyzed though...