Sura Maryam
I find it fascinating that the Qur'an has an entire Sura dedicated to Mary. She is mentioned possibly more often in the Qur'an than the Bible. I cannot be certain. She holds incredible importance to the muslims, seen as the greatest example of womanhood. The Qur'an talks of her piety and faith, she being one of the greatest believers. This pleases me for I always felt a connection to Mary. The only part of a church I have ever felt comfortable in is a chapel dedicated to Mary. So her importance both to womanhood and to the religion gives me great comfort.
Sura Al Anbiyaa
This is the Sura of the prophets. I enjoyed the story of Abraham. I sometimes forget that his story is of such great importance. Destroying the idols so they may learn their lesson.
The Qur'an mentions in probably every couple Suras that God has not begotten a son. It comes out of no where. Not sure why it is repeated so often. The concept of all 3 religions being people of the book and being able to find their way to heaven is mentioned frequently. Often, it follows ayahs mentioning that God did not begot a son. Not sure why.
In this Sura there is a lot of “We” and “Us”. Who is the “We” if God is speaking and God is one being with no partners? Towards the end I think the Qur'an is quoting a group of angels.
example:
21: 73
And We made them
leaders, guiding by
Our command, and We
sent them inspiration
to do good deeds,
to establish regular prayers,
and to practice regular charity,
and they constantly served
Us and Us only
The ayah with “Gog and Magog” is 21: 96
It ends again with those who believe in the one true God will find their way to paradise.
The Qur'an is getting repetitive and choppier. Its not flowing in a comprehensive way again, but seems fragmented.
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I am quite sure that there is more about Mary in the Quran than in the Bible. However, the Bible obviously contains more about Isa, his sayings, and life, and also contains the books of many prophets that are briefly mentioned in the Quran.
ReplyDeleteI think that the "we" and "us" is called a plural of respect, or a royal plural in Arabic.
I enjoyed reading your thoughts about things as you read them. Thank you for sharing. I find all this interesting. :)
ReplyDeleteStacy: Oh I get it, thanks. I didn't know about this type of plural in the Arabic language
ReplyDelete(The Qur'an is getting repetitive and choppier. Its not flowing in a comprehensive way again, but seems fragmented).
ReplyDeleteThat's the problem with translation (or should I say: interpetation), it takes away some of the beauty and majesty of the original text.
In Arabic it sounds SO amazingly moving that it's almost hard to hold back your tears.
That's why many convert work hard to learn Arabic.
There is a reason why certain phraises are repetited in certain Suras... but I'll leave it up to you to discover that in School. =)
Anonymous: It does sound ten times better in Arabic, even if I can't understand it that way. :)
ReplyDeleteI've caught on to why some things repeat, but I'm still figuring out the rest. Its so fascinating.