Street Prophets

Ramadan Day 8: Verses from the Quran

by lauramp

Wed Oct 12, 2005 at 07:49:43 PM PDT

From the diaries--PD. Meditate on this.

Each day during Ramadan, I am presenting a verse from the Quran with a few thoughts or comments. An introduction to this series is here. Inshallah (God willing), I hope that this may be of benefit to any who are interested in learning a bit more about Islam and Muslim belief.

Quran 7:40:

Surely those who lie against Our signs and are arrogant, the gates of heaven will not open for them and they will not enter Paradise until the camel passes through the eye of the needle. Like that is the recompense of the wrongdoers
Note that the speaker in this verse is God.

The reason I selected this verse is its similarity to a well-known passage from the Bible, Matthew 19:24, which reads:

Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God

I think it's interesting that the Bible verse mentions the rich, while the Quran focuses on those whose behavior displays rejection, falsity, and arrogance. However, I'll leave it to the readers if they wish to draw any conclusions from the slight difference here.

The meaning of this verse in itself is well worth reflecting on. Arrogance is something we should strive to remove from our characters.

This could be arrogance in thinking we know all the answers and that we don't need to learn anything new, or some other thing that we have too much pride about.

Everything that we have is from God and it is only because of His generosity and mercy that we have it. He may bestow it without regard to our merit, as a test to see how we handle it. So we should remain humble and grateful for all that we have.

The behavior mentioned here and here (verses about how to act to those of other religions) is also a kind of arrogance.


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  • outstanding (0 / 0)

    I don't recall reading that passage before - and I enjoy how you've compared and contrasted it with the Matthew text.

    I'll be making use of this.  

    Join http://www.soulforce.org Soulforce -seeking Justice for God's GLBT children.

    by its simple IF you ignore the complexity on Wed Oct 12, 2005 at 08:35:42 PM PDT

    • parallels (0 / 0)

      As a former Christian, I thought of the Matthew verse immediately the first time I read this passage in the Quran. I guess that camel metaphors are particularly apt in the Middle East, but it's also a clear illustration that the two religions really do convey the same message in many ways.

      Also, thanks to Pastor Dan for front-paging it!

      "Riches does not mean having a great amount of property, but riches is self-contentment." (Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him)

      by lauramp on Wed Oct 12, 2005 at 08:41:44 PM PDT

      [ Parent ]

  • also mark 3 (0 / 0)

    the first part (those who lie against Our signs and are arrogant, the gates of heaven will not open for them) also parallels something from mark 3, i think.
    "Truly I tell you, people will be forgiven for their sins and whatever blasphemies they utter; but whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit can never have forgiveness, but is guilty of an eternal sin"-- for they had said, "He has an unclean spirit."

    mark 3:28-30

    that had always been one that baffled me until recently.  i mean, you can be forgiven for saying bad things about jesus, but talk trash about the holy ghost and you've fallen into the one loophole even grace can't save you from? WTF?

    but we covered it in bible study, and once i saw it in context i think i finally get it.  and it seems almost quranic in its tone.

    what had just happened was jesus - or perhaps i should call him isa (PBUH) in here? - had just been casting demons out of people.  but the pharisees said he could only be doing that if he were working for baal-zebul.  jesus' response means, "look, you want to trash-talk me, that's fine.  but if you can actually stand here and see the good work god's spirit is doing right in front of your eyes, and turn around and call it evil, there's really no hope for you."

    in other words, there are some people who just don't get it.  and worse, they go around trying to make sure everyone elese doesn't get it either.  so they actually say up is down and evil is good.  they just keep diggin' that hole deeper and deeper...

    all that is opposed to love and to peace
    is from the fiend and his party.
    — julian of norwich

    by zeke L on Wed Oct 12, 2005 at 09:38:47 PM PDT

    • blasphemy and disbelief (0 / 0)

      Thanks for sharing the passage from Mark. I think there's definitely a parallel there. In the case of the Quran, with it being revealed right in front of people the same thing could be said "If you can deny good things that are happening right before your eyes, there's no hope for you". Understanding the context is very important.

      Related to this is the question about whether God forgives disbelief if it is not repented. If you don't believe in God, it doesn't actually matter what He thinks of you, right? The only time that His forgiveness matters is if you do believe in Him. In which case, you don't have to worry about it.

      It also emphasizes that we lose connection to God when we turn away from Him, not by His own action.

      I also find it helpful when reading verses like this about "those who lie against Our signs" to think of people who really twist the truth and persist in their claims even when presented with evidence to the contrary. I can easily imagine that they would go on to deny even more obvious proofs.

      Like if the Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) came back and told Bin Laden to his face that killing civilians is forbidden. Or Jesus (pbuh) told Pat Robertson that calling for assassination is forbidden.

      The kind of proclamations people such as that make really are blasphemy.

      "Riches does not mean having a great amount of property, but riches is self-contentment." (Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him)

      by lauramp on Wed Oct 12, 2005 at 11:32:40 PM PDT

      [ Parent ]

  • Jesus said: (0 / 0)

    It is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for one who is rich to enter the Kingdom of God.

    You can't serve two masters - God and mammon.

    I have always found the similarities striking. This is a good time to end with my sig line...

    God has many names

    by leftofcenter on Thu Oct 13, 2005 at 09:00:20 AM PDT

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