Some traditional interpretation of Quran & Translation of Message 2nd edition
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Peace all,
Please note that as per my reading, the translation of the verses 1327, 1693 and 358 in the Message 2nd edition gives a different meaning than what is understood from reading the Arabic version.
It felt like the traditional interpretation of the Quran found its way as translation in the Message. I think the subject of these verses "God's Guidance" is very important; hence this post is to explore the issue and seek the attention of whom this might concern.
The following are the Arabic verses and their translations as in the Message 2nd edition; my argument will trail the verses, please read along.
1327
1327 And those who have rejected say ?If only a sign were sent down to him from his Lord!? Say ?God misguides whom He wishes and guides to Him whoever is repenting.?
1693
1693 And if God had wished, He would have made you one nation, but He misguides whom He wishes, and He guides whom He wishes. And you will be asked about what you used to do.
358
358 As for he whose evil work is adorned so he sees it as being good; for God thus misguides whom He wills, and He guides whom He wills; do not let yourself grieve over them. God is fully aware of what they are doing.The issue
- The insertion of the pronoun "He" with Capital H, as in the following extracts from above verses, God misguides whom He wills/wishes and God guides whom He wills/wishes make me ask the following questions
a. Why adding to Quran's words?
b. Is Quran's words not enough or not complete to produce clear meanings?
c. Is this a way to produce a different meaning?
d. Is this an error due to lack of hard work " " or some minds still have locks " "?- The usage of whom which together with the insertion of the pronoun He produce a different meaning that supports the fatalistic views and contradicts God's will of free choices for humans.
My reading
The Arabic reading says "" God " / " misguides / guides " " who wills/wishes; God is the subject in God misguides/guides and the humans, since the verses are directed to them, are the subject in who wills/ wishes.
As you see the insertion of "He" has introduced a new subject "God" to replace the humans for wills/wishes and the "Whom" has converted the true subject, humans, to an object for God's wills/wishes. Hence the new sentence "God misguides/guides whom He wills/wishes " has a completely different meaning from the sentence "God misguides/guides who wills/wishes ".
The last sentence in each of the three verses and the first sentence in the 3rd verse support that the humans are the subject in who wills/wishes. Bold and underlined, these sentences indicate humans' deeds as the cause of misguidance and guidance.
1327
1327 And those who have rejected say ?If only a sign were sent down to him from his Lord!? Say ?God misguides whom He wishes and guides to Him whoever is repenting.?1693
1693 And if God had wished, He would have made you one nation, but He misguides whom He wishes, and He guides whom He wishes. And you will be asked about what you used to do.358
358 As for he whose evil work is adorned so he sees it as being good; for God thus misguides whom He wills, and He guides whom He wills; do not let yourself grieve over them. God is fully aware of what they are doing.Furthermore, God's Guidance came to us in forms of Revelations such as Old Testimony, New Testimony and The Quran, reveled to Human Messengers and Prophets. Read the following verses from The Quran and its translation to see for your self.
238
239
238 We said ?Descend from it all of you, so when the guidance comes from Me, then whoever follows My guidance, they will have nothing to fear, nor will they grieve.?
239 And those who disbelieve and deny Our revelations, they are the dwellers of Hell, in it they will abide.Finally, a misguided human is the one who drove his mind to a locking point by his deeds which gave full control of his mind to whatever satisfies his senses and needs "" and therefore became incapable of finding guidance, similar to the man and his wife in verse 111 of the Quran.
On the other hand a guided human is the one who drove his/her mind toward unlocking, level after level, by controlling his/her deeds (and ء and following God's guidance as per revelations only so that he/she might reach definite awareness, Ilmulyaqeen " ". Only some humans " " from ancient generations and very little "" from later ones will reach the highest levels. Many more might reach moderate levels, the people of the right " ".
Those whom remained neutral are the majority blind followers, they will have no one but themselves to blame and hope for God's forgiveness.
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Peace
If I understood you correctly, does it mean that God guides whoever wants to be guided?
God bless
Peace nsws1988,
Yes brother, that is my understanding. I trust the following verses will further support my point.
1829
1829 And say ?The truth is from your Lord, so let whoever desires believe, and whoever desires reject.? We have prepared for the wicked a Fire whose walls will be surrounding them. And if they cry out, they are given water like boiling oil which burns their faces. What a miserable place!1715
1715 Whoever is guided is guided for himself, and whoever is misguided is for his own loss. And no person shall carry the burdens of another, and We were not to punish until We send a messenger.1718
1718 Whoever seeks the life of haste, We will make for Him what he wishes, then We will make Hell for him a place which he will reach disgraced and rejected.1719
1719 And whoever seeks the Hereafter and strives for it as it deserves, and is a believing person, then to those what they have sought is given in thanks. -
peace,
You may have something, although I have not thoroughly checked the Arabic and cross-referenced. The translations of Asad, Shakir and RQT seem to agree with you.
1327
...qul (say) inna (truly/surely) Allaha (God) yudillu (misguides) man (him/He) yashao (wills) wa (and) yahdee (guides) ilayhi (to Him) man (him) anaba (turns)I am assuming theoretically according to the Arabic, it can be translated either way. Thus, the deciding factor will likely be the internal consistancy/logic of AQ with regard to this topic.
AQ=al quran
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Peace Wakas,
I am assuming theoretically according to the Arabic, it can be translated either way. Thus, the deciding factor will likely be the internal consistancy/logic of AQ with regard to this topic.
AQ=al quran
This might be the case in strictly theoretical linguistic usage.
However, I think to say that God misguides whom he wills, is to say that the humans have no choice. Such a statement is contradictory to all that in the Quran with regards to judgement day when only our deeds are considered; and most importantly to God's statement in the Quran that HE loves for us "humans" to be guided and on the right path and that HE dislikes for us to be misguided and on the wrong path.
Thank you.
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peace mmouhammad,
Dont get me wrong, I am inclined to agree with what you're saying. I was simply providing additional information, e.g. both sides of the story, for us to reflect upon.
One should never be afraid to look at both sides, as the truth can withstand all scrutiny.
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Peace Wakas,
I appreciate your feed back; I really did not misunderstand your comments, I was only adding more emphasis to my point.
I totally agree, we have to keep our minds open to all possibilities.
Thanks again and I look forward to seeing the results of your verifications.
Mahmoud
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Peace Wakas,
This might be the case in strictly theoretical linguistic usage.
However, I think to say that God misguides whom he wills, is to say that the humans have no choice. Such a statement is contradictory to all that in the Quran with regards to judgement day when only our deeds are considered; and most importantly to God's statement in the Quran that HE loves for us "humans" to be guided and on the right path and that HE dislikes for us to be misguided and on the wrong path.
Thank you.
7431 We have made the guardians of the fire to be angels; and We did not make their number (19) except as a test for those who have rejected, to convince those who were given the book, to strengthen the acknowledgment of those who have acknowledged, so that those who have been given the book and those who acknowledge do not have doubt, and so that those who have a sickness in their hearts and the ingrates would say, "What did God mean by this example?" Thus God misguides whom He wishes, and He guides whom He wishes. None knows your Lord's soldiers except Him. It is but a reminder for people.
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Peace
I'm a sister D
Peace nsws1988,
My apology sister,
Thanks
Peace progressive1993,
Verse 7431 is another verse with same issue,
Thank you
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Peace Mahmoud,
Thank you for your excellent work. bravo bravo bravo
May the god bless you. I hope these errors are corrected soon in The Message.
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Peace truthseeker11,
Thank you, I hope so too.
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My reading
The Arabic reading says "" God " / " misguides / guides " " who wills/wishes; God is the subject in God misguides/guides and the humans, since the verses are directed to them, are the subject in who wills/ wishes.
As you see the insertion of "He" has introduced a new subject "God" to replace the humans for wills/wishes and the "Whom" has converted the true subject, humans, to an object for God's wills/wishes. Hence the new sentence "God misguides/guides whom He wills/wishes " has a completely different meaning from the sentence "God misguides/guides who wills/wishes ".
Perfectly valid, well observed.
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We must also take into account similar constructs elsewhere in the Quran.
Example, yu3addibu man yashaa'u wa-yaghfiru li-man yashaa'.
Peace uq,
Thank you for your participation.
I agree, one has to keep studying the Quran as the Quran explains itself.
I think to forgive whom He wills is correct as per my current understanding. This is because he who commits the wrong doing can repent and make up for his wrong doing in many forms, however, forgiveness is for God to decide as He wills.
1715 Whoever is guided is guided for himself, and whoever is misguided is for his own loss.
We can will the guidance and seek it in Gog's book as he has shown us, look and work hard for it to. The guidance is there for us to take on. However, we can only repent, work hard, wish and hope for God's forgiveness.
Forgiveness is from God's goodness while Misguidance is from our own doings.
Peace
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Peace uq,
Thank you for your participation.
I agree, one has to keep studying the Quran as the Quran explains itself.
I think to forgive whom He wills is correct as per my current understanding. This is because he who commits the wrong doing can repent and make up for his wrong doing in many forms, however, forgiveness is for God to decide as He wills.
1715 Whoever is guided is guided for himself, and whoever is misguided is for his own loss.
We can will the guidance and seek it in God's book as he has shown us, look and work hard for it to. The guidance is there for us to take on. However, we can only repent, work hard, wish and hope for God's forgiveness.
Forgiveness is from God's goodness while Misguidance is from our own doings.
Peace
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Salam Mohammed,
I had a look at your post, and, ignoring the accusatory language, I find fault in your analysis and findings.
If we examine the Quran, we find in several places the mention that it is indeed God who is the reason and subject of both guidance and misguidance
488 What is the matter with you that you are divided into two groups over the hypocrites, while God has regressed them for what they have earned? Do you want to guide those whom God misguides? Whoever God causes to be misguided, you will never find for him a path.
3029 No, those who were wrong followed their desires without knowledge. So who can guide one whom God misguides? And they will have no victors.
9115 And it is not for God to misguide a people after He guided them, until He makes clear to them what they should avoid. God is aware of all things.
1637 If you are concerned for their guidance, for so God does not guide whom He misguides; and they will have no supporters.
Therefore, based on the above, and several other verses, the understanding of the verses that you referred support the notion that the "he" in "misguides" returns to God as the subject and not to the individual.
