The Difference

April 29, 2009, 6:31 am by dc-agape.

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Surāh 80 – ‘Abasa: He Frowned

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 begins with the story of how a blind man humbled the Prophet.  Since this is early in his career, we have to forgive him his arrogance.  We also have to assume that this surāh was his admonishment.  Then the Prophet returns to the concept that it is Allāh that provides life, water, and food to humans.  Allāh is doing such a great job!  The surāh ends on the Prophets preoccupation with the Day of Judgment. 

The story of the blind man and the Prophet is the exact opposite of the stories of Jesus and the blind men.  Here the Prophet shows his human attitudes by being displeased by interruptions by the weak while he is talking to the powerful chiefs of the Quraish.  Jesus on the other hand, ignored the powerful and always treated the downtrodden with great respect.  But this surāh is supposed to remind both the Prophet and all of us that only those willing to accept the spiritual gifts of the Qur’an will be honored.  This concept that only those willing to understand will obtain enlightenment is nothing new to religion or the mystic arts.  Every religion, even Kabbalah and modern-day Alchemy teach that one must first believe before one can learn the art.  Belief is the key to all these mystic religions, if you do not believe you cannot learn the “Truth”.  Islam is no different and this surāh attempts to explain that fact.

Further into the surāh, the Prophet reminds those who believe that only Allāh provides live (the correct “proportions”), water, food, and supplies to humans.  The meaning of this section has changed over the years, whether the Muslim wants to believe this or not.  Since the Prophet was aiming this towards the pagan leaders of Arabia, these men were not people who believed they were self-sufficient in today’s concept of that word.  These men, being pagans, believed in numerous gods instead of one.  So they believed in the requirement to ask for assistance from individual gods for each crisis.  Today Atheist are self-sufficient, and therefore arrogant, in the knowledge that life, water, food, and supplies come directly from a nature that does not require a supernatural being to create these things.  Our proof of this is how good Allāh is providing.  Allah is failing to create humans made in the correct proportions, examples are the rise in birth numbers of children with autism, and other genetic diseases like Parkinson’s Disease, microcephaly, even sickle cell anemia.  Atheists, in contrast, see that all these disease occur because of natural causes. A supreme supernatural being, who creates humans in his likeness or in the correct proportions, would not allow such diseases, because the people suffering from these diseases would not live healthy lives and some would not have the mental capacity to comprehend spiritual abstract concepts like “god”.  Atheists also see that water is a replenishing cycle that can only be broken by direct natural causes.  Food and other supplies are also natural in abundance.  Science has proven that soil chemistry is required to provide the growth of plants, and that seeds will sprout (germination) under selected controlled environments.  And we know how well Allāh is providing these things to certain areas of the world, such as in Kenya, Zimbabwe, and even general potato crops.  Science can explain these horrific conditions with rather unsophisticated methods but religion has to use complex analogies of human sin and “god’s” wrath to explain these events.

The surāh ends with the goal of using the concept of Judgment Day to inspire readers to come into the “fold”.  Promises of light, laughing, and joy are like the carrot on a stick before the horse.  The earthly reason for this passage is to get humans to follow the Traditions of Men with an unobtainable promise (the carrot).  And if the promise does not work then there is the threat.  The threat consists of doom and gloom.  In the end, we are provided with only two outcomes: paradise or hell.  Either a person follows the religious decrees without question and receives paradise or that person is punished.  The catch, of course, is that the afterlife cannot be proven.  It is true that some humans (maybe most) require this type of dichotomy to do the right thing, but the Atheist movement is directed towards the people who are capable of doing the right thing without external forces encouraging them.

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