Street Prophets

Ramadan Day 20: Verses from the Quran

by lauramp

Mon Oct 24, 2005 at 07:57:42 PM PDT

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 28:71, 72, and 73

Say: Do you see? If Allah made the night perpetual over you until the Day of Resurrection, who is the god other than Allah who could bring you light? Will you not listen? Say: Do you see? If Allah made the day perpetual over you until the Day of Resurrection, who is the god other than Allah who could bring you night to rest in? Will you not see? From His mercy, He made for you the night and the day to rest in and to seek out His bounty, in order that you are grateful
I picked this verse for today largely because I think it's an interesting hypothetical to ponder. What would it be like with perpetual day or night? Could we survive.

The general theme of the verse is that all of the universe runs by a single set of natural laws (as far as we know) and this suggests a singular Creator. If we don't like the length of day or night, we can't just switch to some other system that we like better.

So if there is no other Creator, shouldn't we direct our worship to God alone?

In response to two diaries about the views of Abrahamic religions about paganism, I posted a couple of comments (1, 2) that address this question further so I invite people to read these.


Tags: (all tags)

Permalink | 2 comments

  • Ultimate unity (0 / 0)

    I recognize this as the beginning of a reasoning argument for ultimate unity, in language anyone can understand. That is, if the Prophet does not develop this direction of thought in subsequent passages, he is clearly indicating that he is prepared to do so, & likely did many times in informal settings.

    "There ain't no sanity clause." Chico Marx http://wfmu.org/playlists/RX

    by Asbury Park on Tue Oct 25, 2005 at 12:40:46 AM PDT

    • Quran (0 / 0)

      This is a common theme that appears in both the Quran and the sayings of the Prophet (pbuh). By the way, just as a note, Muslims do consider the Quran to be the word of God rather than of the Prophet.

      For those who do not believe this to be the case, a felicitous way of phrasing it might be "The Quran develops this direction further in other passages". By concentrating on the text rather than its authorship, we can avoid confusion (to Muslims, referring to the sayings of the Prophet means the hadith rather than the Quran) while not going against anybody's beliefs.

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

      by lauramp on Tue Oct 25, 2005 at 11:21:01 AM PDT

      [ Parent ]

Permalink | 2 comments