Differing Opinions

April 24, 2009, 8:43 am by dc-agape.

Image by Kounelli via Flickr

Surāh 84 – Al-Inshiqāq: The Bursting Asunder

I will start each post on the Qur’an with a link to M Mohammad Ali’s translation of the Qur’an with his commentaries. 

This surāh is going to be difficult to describe because M Ali has a completely different interpretation than either M Esed or M Yusuf (who just happen to agree with each other).  The main difference between the two different translations is that M Ali does not see this surāh to be about the afterlife, yet the other two commentators see this verse as how events will take place on the Day of Truth. 

I will start with the commentaries of M Yusuf, first because no proof of this future event can be relied upon.  Second because it is more positive than the outcome that M Ali describes.  In M Yusuf and M Esed opinion the opening of this surāh is about the day when this universe stops.  In their opinion it is due to the will of Allāh.  As a scientific Atheist this is actually quite easy to recognize as pure bluster.  The age of the universe at present is between 10,200,000,000 and 13,900,000,000 years old.  Interestingly, in science, three different tests come to the same result.  The present age of this planet is 4,500,000,000 years old.  When the same concepts are used to date the end of earth and then the end of the universe, the worst case scenario is that the sun will continue to burn hotter and hotter and the habitable zone around the our sun will shift.  This may occur as soon as 500,000,000 years from now.  The universe itself will take another 1 trillion trillion trillion trillion trillion trillion years to die.  For those of you waiting for the Day of Judgment, it’s going to be a very long wait.

Another part of the interpretations of M Esed and M Yusuf is that working (striving) for Allāh is painful while living in sin is pleasurable.  This is clearly not the case.  In psychology it is well known that the persistence of bad experiences remain much stronger in our memory than do happy ones.  So everyone feels exactly the same way that the Prophet felt when this revelation came to him.  There is nothing surprising that a dichotomy between “good Muslims” and “disbelievers” would arise.

M Yusuf has an interesting interpretation of verse 14.  In his perspective evil is due to human’s lack of taking responsibility.  Even with the “fear” of Allāh/YHWH/God evil is still present in those that actually fear this supernatural being.  And yet, it is the Ethical Humanist that teaches humans to take responsibility for each of our action.  Not due to fear of an ever watching super being but due to the harm our action cause to other humans and the earth.  So the same teaching with a much stronger motivation is given by the Ethical Humanist.  Fear is a powerful emotion, but it drains you of life.  Where, on the other hand, the desire to not hurt others is a powerful concept that most humans cannot overcome.  The easiest way to overcome this prerogative is to create the “us vs. them” attitude, and then harming other people is not about harming other people but about removing a threat.

Somehow M Esed claims that since the moon and the earth go through phases so does the human.  Yet the phases of humankind include phases that the earth and moon do not experience.  M Esed somehow jumps to the conclusion that man must have more phases than just this existence on earth.  It is true that humans go through at least four stages: birth, youth, maturity, and old age.  But to add an additional stage of afterlife has no earthly example.  Animals and plants rot away when they die, yet for some odd reason, human life does not end at the rotting stage.  Why?

M Ali has a completely different take on this surāh.  The opening verses are not about the Day of Judgment, but instead are about the daily and yearly cycles of the planet.  The “heavens bursting asunder” is an example of rain.  And when the earth “casts forth what is in it” is when plants stretch forth after the rain.  With this concept the rest of the surāh is not about a specific day, no, it is about the conquest of Islam over the rest of the world.  M Ali even goes so far as to use the writings of ‘Abd Allāh ibn ‘Abbās and the commentary Al-Tafsir al-kabir by Imām Fakhr al-Dīn Rāzī (I hope I got all the proper names and documents right) to prove that the cycles of the earth (seasons and days) are proof that the Muslim tradition will face surges and ebbs of power until the day of complete triumph over the unbelievers.  With a major Maulana writing in about triumph and conquest, no wonder that some Muslim sects are bent on world domination and that some non-believers see the Muslim religion in general as one of world conquest. 

Posted in Personal Responsibility, Holy Qur'an, Readings | Print | 14 Comments »