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“The Unbelievers will be led to Hell in throngs”
According to Muhammad’s favorite wife, Aisha, “The Messenger of Allah used to fast until we would say, ‘He does not want to break fast,’ and he would not fast until we would say, ‘He does not want to fast.’ And he used to recite Bani Isra’il [Al-Isra’] and Az-Zumar every night” – that is, suras 17 and 39.
Sura 39 once again emphasizes the evil of worshipping others alongside Allah, and castigates the unbelievers for doing so. It takes its title from verses 71 and 73 — the “throngs” in question are the unbelievers crowding into hell and the believers crowding into Paradise. The recurring theme of this sura is that those whom the unbelievers worship are worthless – they can’t help those who pray to them, and in the end those who relied on them will regret it. This is a Meccan sura that was revealed fairly early in Muhammad’s career. According to the Ruhul Ma’ani, it was revealed around the time that a group of Muslims left Arabia and sought refuge in Abyssinia, to escape persecution from the pagan Quraysh tribe.
Verses 1-29 repeat many familiar themes. Allah repeats that he revealed the Qur’an (vv. 1-2). Then he dismisses the core assumption involved in the intercession of the saints – that they bring one closer to God (v. 3) — with greater precision and accuracy than he demonstrated in his dismissal of the idea of the Trinity (5:116). If Allah wanted a son, he could have chosen one from those he created, but he is above that (v. 4). The workings of the natural world show his presence and power (vv. 5-6, 21). Allah does not need human beings, but he dislikes ingratitude (v. 7). When men are in trouble they pray, but in good times they forget him and worship others along with him – such people are headed for hell (v. 8).
The believer and the unbeliever are not equal (vv. 9, 22, 24). This oft-repeated notion has many implications; the emphasis in this sura is on the fact that they will not receive equal treatment on the Day of Judgment. At the same time, however, the absolute way in which the statement is made underscores the idea that the Muslims are the “best of people” (3:110) and the unbelievers are the “vilest of created beings” (98:6). There is no compatibility of this with the idea of the equality of dignity of all people as created by the same God. Instead, there is a sharp dichotomy between believer and unbeliever that runs through all of Islam – including its laws for the governance of states. In light of this, it should come as no surprise to anyone that there is not a single Muslim-majority state in the world today, even though Islamic law is not fully enforced in almost all of them, where non-Muslims enjoy absolute legal equality with Muslims. Even in secular Turkey there are restrictions on conversion from Islam to another religion, and immense amounts of red tape involved in trying to get official permission to build a church. This is no accident: it is a cultural hangover of the deeply ingrained traditional idea that non-Muslims in a state that Muslims control should “feel themselves subdued” (9:29), in accordance with the dictum that they are not equal to the believers, and should be made in every possible way to remember their perversity in rejecting Islam.
Allah tells Muhammad a series of things he should say to the unbelievers, emphasizing that he is simply Allah’s messenger and would face his wrath as they will if he disobeyed him (v. 13). Allah tells Muhammad to say, “And I am commanded to be the first of those who are Muslims” (v. 12) – which would seem to contradict the Qur’an’s (chronologically) later claim that Abraham was a Muslim (3:67), as were the other prophets. However, Islamic exegetes smooth over the contradiction by saying that this refers to Muhammad’s community specifically, not to the earlier communities of believers. “The Ummah [community] of the Holy Prophet,” explains Maulana Bulandshahri, “is the last Ummah to appear on earth. The first believer of this Ummah was none other than the Holy Prophet himself.”
Then Allah contrasts the fates of the believers (Paradise) and the unbelievers (Hell) (vv. 16-20). He says that the Qur’an is “the most beautiful Message in the form of a Book, consistent with itself, (yet) repeating (its teaching in various aspects)” (v. 23). Mujahid explained: “This means that the entire Qur’an’s parts resemble each other and are oft-repeated” – and of course, truer words were never spoken. The Qur’an contains numerous parables, by way of warning (v. 27). It is in Arabic, with no crookedness (v. 28) – that is, says the Tafsir al-Jalalayn, no “contradiction or variance.”
Verses 30-52 again warns about the Day of Judgment. The unbelievers threaten Muhammad with punishment by their false idols – and here again Allah repeats that “he whom Allah sendeth astray, for him there is no guide” (v. 36). The unbelievers are perverse and self-contradictory, acknowledging that Allah created all things but still calling on their false gods (v. 38). There is an odd statement in v. 42: “those on whom He has passed the decree of death, He keeps back (from returning to life), but the rest He sends (to their bodies) for a term appointed verily in this are Signs for those who reflect.” Qur’an translator Abdullah Yusuf Ali explains this by asserting that sleep is a little death: “Sleep being twin-brother to Death, our souls are for the time being released from the bondage of the flesh. Allah takes them for the time being. If, as some do, we are to die peacefully in sleep, our soul does not come back to the physical body, and the later decays and dies. If we still have some period of life to fulfill according to Allah’s decree, our soul comes back to the body, and we resume our function in this life.”
The idea that anyone can intercede for anyone else before Allah is again rejected (vv. 43-44) and the perversity of the unbelievers again emphasized: when they hear of Allah, their hearts are “filled with disgust and horror,” but they hear about their idols with joy (v. 45). On the Day of Judgment the evil deeds of the unbelievers will overtake them (v. 51).
In verses 53-60 Allah again tells Muhammad a series of warnings to say to the unbelievers, telling them to turn to Allah before it’s too late. Then verses 61-75 conclude the sura with more warnings of the Day of Judgment, when “the unbelievers will enter Hell in throngs,” and will again be reminded of the messengers they did not heed (v. 71), while the believers enter Paradise in throngs (v. 73) — the final outcome of their inequality.
Next week: Sura 40, “The Believer”: the first of seven suras known as “The Family of Ha Mim.” Said Ibn Mas’ud: “When I reach the family of Ha Mim, it is like reaching a beautiful garden, so I take my time.”
(Here you can find links to all the earlier "Blogging the Qur'an" segments. Here is a good Arabic Qur’an, with English translations available; here are two popular Muslim translations, those of Abdullah Yusuf Ali and Mohammed Marmaduke Pickthall, along with a third by M. H. Shakir. Here is another popular translation, that of Muhammad Asad. And here is an omnibus of ten Qur’an translations.)
Posted by Robert at August 18, 2008 5:32 AM
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Mohammed's "Believe It or Else", otherwise known as the Koran. It's "or else" for me.
If Abraham Lincoln was a Muslim, speaking at Gettysburg:"And in the eyes of Allah, all men are created equal, but the believers are more equal than others."
I'd just like to know how so many "liberals" can be so sympathetic to the purveyors of this elitist claptrap.
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at August 18, 2008 6:20 AM
Robert,
I thank you with all my heart for your Qur'an blog.
The Qur'an, despite its importance as a peek into the mind of a madman, is pure agony to read.
When I try to read it, it's just so much senseless gibberish.
Posted by: Abscedere at August 18, 2008 9:48 AM
In thongs?!? Oh, the horror!
Oh, you mean throngs! Thank goodness! Even sinners have their dignity.
To me, the Qur'an makes Calvinists look indecisive. Even though Allah doesn't need humanity, his prophet constantly requires believers to kill unbelievers (whom Allah creates for the sole purpose of giving his followers target practice and to provide victims in Allah's Islamic hell).
Last I heard universal salvation had trumped predestination in round 3 of the modern religious debate in the West. How can Muslims ask us to worship a deity who would create humans to use as unwilling participants in his sadistic playground. Shouldn't a supreme being be more moral not less?
My spiritual forebears were criticized for "thinking they were too good for God to damn." Their reply was that "God was too good to damn them".
Increasingly, Islam is a dysfunctional system of thought that requires it's followers to adopt a sociopathic personality and lifestyle.
Posted by: tanstaafl at August 18, 2008 9:57 AM
On the Day of Judgment the evil deeds of the unbelievers will overtake them (v. 51).
Every day we live is a day of judgment for the unbeliever. Muslims presume to judge the rest of us here in this life, rather than leave it to the deity. They will impose that judgment on each and every one of us, if we let them. They have decided that they alone know the will of God, an act of supreme presumption. Their kingdom is of THIS world, in contrast to that of Christ and most other deities.
Posted by: PMK at August 18, 2008 10:06 AM
Robert
I had read about Mohammed once saying that all women populate hell. Is this something to be found in any of the surahs yet to come, or is that something sourced from the hadiths?
Posted by: Infidel Pride at August 18, 2008 10:31 AM
Bukhari:V1B22N28 "The Prophet said: 'I was shown the Hell Fire and the majority of its dwellers were women who are disbelievers or ungrateful.' When asked what they were ungrateful for, the Prophet answered, 'All the favors done for them by their husbands.'"
Posted by: interestinconundrum at August 18, 2008 10:51 AM
More:
Muslim:B1N142 "'O womenfolk, you should ask for forgiveness for I saw you in bulk amongst the dwellers of Hell.' A wise lady said: Why is it, Allah's Apostle, that women comprise the bulk of the inhabitants of Hell? The Prophet observed: 'You curse too much and are ungrateful to your spouses. You lack common sense, fail in religion and rob the wisdom of the wise.'"
Ishaq:185 "In hell I saw women hanging by their breasts. They had fathered bastards."
Posted by: interestinconundrum at August 18, 2008 10:54 AM
And if a woman is married to a man who "does wrong" she's had it too.
http://skepticsannotatedbible.com/quran/37/index.htm#22
at August 18, 2008 11:01 AM
The God of the Bible is trying to keep people OUT of hell - so much so that came in the person of Christ, to die in order to save people.
The god of the Koran REVELS in sending people to hell. That's why it's been such difficult reading for me - the heaviness of the hatred is felt on each page. It's the most horrible thing I have ever read.
That alone should make people sit up and think, and compare these two books and these two worldviews.
Posted by: Mo at August 18, 2008 11:10 AM
The disgust and outright hatred Islam shows to women is appalling.
Someone please explain to me why Western women keep converting to this sickening ideology? Don't they know that Allah seems to hate them? Don't they feel the hatred and condescencion from men, who are given divine sanction to treat them as property - or worse?
I can understand women who are born into this system in Islamic countries. They don't know anything else. My heart goes out to them.
But when you are used to freedom and a normal life, why would any woman freely CHOOSE to live this way?
Posted by: Mo at August 18, 2008 11:17 AM
'This is a Meccan sura that was revealed fairly early in Muhammad’s career.'
Revealed?
Don't you mean something like 'composed' or 'invented' or 'thought up'?
'Revealed' implies that there was something there before and independent of Mohammed, which, I submit, was definitely NOT the case!
Posted by: Aardvark at August 18, 2008 1:20 PM
Aardvark - I would go with "made up by" .
When Mo moves to Medina, Allah is always handy to justify any of Mo's transgressions. Marry your daughter-in-law? No problem, Allah reveals to Mo that it is halal for the prophet. Trouble with the wives? Allah is quick to offer Mo new wives that are more obedient and submissive than the current crew.
Mo may be Allah's messenger, but most of the messages seem to help Mo out of whatever mess he got himself into.
Posted by: tanstaafl at August 18, 2008 3:03 PM
Aardvark:
'This is a Meccan sura that was revealed fairly early in Muhammad’s career.'Revealed?
Don't you mean something like 'composed' or 'invented' or 'thought up'?
As when I quote Ibn Kathir, the two Jalals, etc., I am in this merely reflecting the traditional Muslim view.
Cordially
Robert Spencer
at August 18, 2008 6:26 PM
Very clear and very enlightening exposition by Robert Spencer.
Posted by: traeh at August 18, 2008 9:07 PM
Mr Spencer is to the Qur'an as Steve Irwin was to crocodiles and large venomous snakes.
(After Irwin died someone did a hilarious cartoon involving Irwin in khakis with angel wings, in a hellish landscape, holding up a pitchfork on the end of which was a snarling, spitting demonic creature; Irwin was smiling happily and saying, 'It's a succubus! Isn't she GORGEOUS!!" Sometimes I visualise Mr Spencer holding a large spitting scorpion [representing the Qur'an] with a pair of tongs, and delivering himself of similar remarks, sunnily smiling).
Perhaps when St Mark records certain words of Jesus, describing His future followers, what Jesus and Mark *really* had in mind was not, in fact, rattlesnakes or arsenic, but rather, what we see as we watch Mr Spencer reading and expounding the Qur'an:
"And these signs shall follow them that believe...
they shall take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them.." (Mark 16: 17a, 18a).
Mr Spencer seems able to appreciate, with fine intellectual detachment, the subtleties of the Arabic verse and the fiendish convolutions of the thought-world exposed in it, without being tempted or confused or frightened in the slightest. Honestly, it's like watching someone walking on water - or handling snakes without getting bitten.
Though, oddly enough, speaking of poison, and in light of the claims made in the Quranic passage under discussion, about the superior power of 'allah', here's a curious story from Stuart Robinson's "Mosques and Miracles" (which is, essentially, an alarm bell about Islam, written to instruct and galvanise the charismatic and evangelical churches in Australia - the bibliography includes Ali Dashti, Bat Yeor and Ibn Warraq but, oddly enough, no Spencer).
"In Indonesia when a 20 year old Sundanese Muslim girl accepted Christ, she automatically shared her new faith with her family. As was to be expected, however, her family greeted the good news with dismay and even hostility. Her faither was angry because of the loss of honour this would bring to his family.
"But as is often the case, new believers have faith equivalent to that of little children, which Jesus so commends, and to which he always responds...The new believer prayed that her whole family would accept Christ within the next month. During the first 3 and a half weeks, nothing changed, nothing happened. Then a couple of days before the end of the month:
'...the father turned to his daughter and said, 'Why aren't you dead? I have poisoned you three times. Each time I increased the dosage. I don't understand why you are not dead.' To this the young woman replied that she was unaffected by the poison, because Jesus was now her protector and had taken care of her. Upon hearing this, the whole family placed their faith in Jesus...'".
[Testimony recounted by Ron Peck, 'Speaking on Behalf of Muslims', Intercede, Sept/Oct 1998, p. 2; in Stuart Robinson, Mosques and Miracles, page 236].
Posted by: dumbledoresarmy at August 18, 2008 10:56 PM
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