SOME PASSAGES FROM KORAN
This Appendix containing a few representative verses (or portions of them) from the Koran has been included in this book only to substantiate the unknown author’s point of view of Islam and its adherents. This was felt to be necessary because the Koran is the source scripture, and indeed the only scripture from which is derived the entire existence of the religion of Islam and its theology; and a careful study of the the Koran and an analysis of its content is a sine qua non to understanding the objective of this book.
The excerpts from the Koran have been grouped according to subject, to the extent possible. It will be noted that the original is in chaste Arabic and almost poetic language. Hence translation to another language does not always render the exact meaning and nuance of the original. We find that more recent translation of the Koran are `sanitised’ versions when compared to earlier ones [i.e. the translators have tried very hard to soften down the harsh passages of the Quran. The Arabic Quran is far more shocking than its English translations] and hence we have chosen two well known translators-the earlier by Mohammed Marmaduke Pickthal (P), an Englishman serving in the court of the Nizam (in India) and who had converted to Islam, and the modern version by Dawood (D). It is in the interest of Hindus, other pagans, all other non-Muslims, for Hindu and other non-Muslim scholars proficient in the Arabic language, to translate the Koran and bring out its nuances, of interest and concern to us.
There may be several translations and interpretations, but what is important is how and how much have Muslims themselves understood their scripture and implemented its injunctions and precepts in their lives at various times. It is also important for us to know how they have reconciled the contradictions which abound in the Koran, whenever they have been forced to defend their conduct and their scripture after being accused of intolerance and fanaticism. It should be remembered that most of the verses preaching tolerance are of the early Meccan period when Muhammad’s followers were in a minority and their faith had not received wide acceptability. The substance of these conciliatory verses has been abrogated, that is, replaced chronologically by the content of the later Medinan suras which are most intolerant, fanatic and unforgiving of any deviation. It is from the later suras that most of the passages are quoted below.
IDOLATORS AND IDOLATERY
1- If you have doubt what we have revealed to Our Servant, produce one chapter comparable to it. Call upon your idols to assist you, if what you say be true. But if you fail (as you are sure to fail) then guard yourselves against the Fire whose fuel is men and stones, prepared for the unbelievers. 2:23-24 D
2- God is the enemy of the unbelievers. 2:98 D
3- But the infidels who die unbelievers shall incur the curse of God. 2:161 D
4- And slay them wherever ye find them, and drive them out of the places whence they drove you out, for persecution is worse than slaughter….2:191 P
5- Fight against them until idolatry is no more and God’s religion reigns supreme. But if they desist (i.e. give up), fight none except the evil-doers. 2:193 D
6 God will not forgive idolatry. He will forgive whom he will all other sins. He that serves other gods besides God has strayed far indeed. 4:116 D
(In other words, Gandhi will burn in Hell forever because he was a polytheist, but Osama bin Laden may be forgiven because he was a monotheist. Polytheism is a worse sin than having sex with neighbor’s wife, according to Islam! )
7- You will find that the most implacable of men in their enmity to the faithful are the Jews and the pagans….5:82 D
8-Tell the unbelievers that if they mend their ways [i.e. embrace Islam] their past shall be forgiven; but if they persist in sin [i.e. idol worship], let them reflect upon the faith of their forefathers. 8:38 D
9- And make war on them [unbelievers] until idolatry shall cease and God’s religion shall reign supreme…8:39 D
10- Proclaim a woeful punishment to the unbelievers… 9:4 D
11- When the sacred months are passed, slay the idolaters wherever you find them. Arrest them, besiege them, and lie in ambush everywhere for them. If they repent and take to prayer and render the alms levy, allow them to go their way. God is forgiving and merciful. 9:5 D
12- God and his Apostle repose no trust in idolaters…9:7 D
13- Fight them! Allah will chastise them at your hands, and He will lay them low and give you victory over them, and He will heal the breasts of folks who are believers. 9:14 P
14- Vain shall be their works, and in the fire they shall abide for ever. 9:17 D
15- Prophet, make war on the unbelievers and the hypocrites and deal rigorously with them. Hell shall be their home: and evil fare. 9:73 D
16- Do the unbelievers think that that they can make My servants patrons besides me? We have prepared Hell for the unbelievers to dwell in. Say : ‘Shall we tell you who will lose most through their labours? Those whose endeavors in this world are misguided and who yet think that what they do is right; who disbelieve the revelations of their Lord and deny that they will ever meet Him.’ Vain are the works of these. On the day of Resurrection We shall not honour them. Hell is their reward because they had no faith, and because they scoffed at My apostles and My revelation. 18:102-106 D
17-You and your idols shall be the fuel of Hell; therein you shall all go down. Where they true gods, your idols would not go there : but there they shall abide for ever. They shall groan with anguish and be bereft of hearing. 21:98-100 D
18- When you meet the unbelievers in the battlefield strike off their heads, and when you have laid them low, blind your captives firmly. Then grant them their freedom or take ransom from them, until War shall lay down her burdens. 47:4 D
19- Prophet, make war on the unbelievers and the hypocrites, and deal sternly with them. Hell shall be their home, evil their fate. 66:9 D
20- The unbelievers in among the People of the Book and the pagans shall burn for ever in the fire of Hell. They are the vilest of all creatures. 98:6 D
FATALISM
1- As for the unbelievers, it is the same whether or not you forewarn them: they will not have faith. God has set a seal upon their hearts and ears: their sight is dimmed and grievous punishment awaits them. 2:6 D
2- God will mock them and keep them long in sin, blundering blindly along. 2:15 D
3- Would you guide those whom God has confounded? He whom God confounds, you cannot guide. 4:88 D
4- Had Allah willed, they [the idolaters] had not been idolatrous. We have not set thee [Muhammad] as a keeper over them, nor art thou responsible for them. 6:108 P
5- We will turn away their hearts and eyes from the Truth since they refused to believe in it at first. We will let them blunder about in their wrongdoing. 6:111 D
6- He who Allah leadeth, he indeed is led alright, while he whom Allah sendeth astray-they indeed are losers. 8:178 P
7- Already we have urged unto hell many of the jinn and humankind, having hearts wherewith they understand not, and having eyes wherewith they hear not. These are as the cattle – nay, they are worse! These are the neglectful. 7:179 P
8- Say : ‘Nothing will befall us except what God has ordained’. 9:51 D
9- And Allah summoneth to the abode of peace, and leadth whom He will to a straight path. 10:26 P
10- And if thy Lord had willed, he verily would have made mankind one nation, yet they cease not differing. Save him on whom thy Lord hath mercy; and that He did create them. And the Word of thy Lord hath been fulfilled; Verily I shall fill hell with the jinn and mankind together. 11:118-119 P
11- God leaves in error whom He will. 13:27 D
12- Indeed their fold devices seem fair to the unbelievers, for they are debarred from the right path. None can guide those God whom has lead astray. They shall be punished in this nether life, but more grievous is the punishment of the life to come. None shall protect them from God. 13: 33-34 D
13- …But God leaves in error whom He will and guides whom He pleases. He is mighty, the Wise One. 14:4 D
14- Had God pleased, He would have united you into one nation. But He confounds whom He will and gives guidance to whom he pleases. You shall be questioned about all your actions. 16:93 D
15- The fate of each man We have bound about his neck. 17:13 D
16- Those whom God guides are rightly guided; but those whom he confounds shall find no friend besides Him. We shall gather them all on the Day of Resurrection, prostrate upon their faces, deaf, dumb and blind. Hell shall be their home: whenever its flames die down, We shall rekindle them with a greater Fire. 17:97-98 D
17- …and verily Allah guideth whom He will. 22:16 P
18- Had it been our will, We could have sent to every nation someone to give warning. 25:51 D
19- Had it been Our will, We could have given every soul its guidance. But My word shall be fulfilled: ‘I will fill the pit of Hell with jinn and men.’ 32:13 D
20- ….Such is Allah’s guidance, wherewith He guideth whom He will. And whom Allah sends astray, for him there is no guide. 39:23 P
21- Every misfortune that befalls the earth, or your persons, is ordained before We bring it into being. 57:22 D
22- who has ordained their destinies and guided them. 87:2 D
WOMEN
1- Women are your fields : go, then, into your fields when you please… 2:223 P
2- Women shall with justice have rights similar to those exercised against them, although men have a status above women. God is mighty and wise. 2:228 D
3- If a man divorces his wife, he shall not remarry her until she has wedded another man and been divorced by him; in which case it shall be no offense for either of them to return to the other, if they think that they can keep within the bounds set by God. 2:230 D
4- Give women their dowry as free gift; but if they choose to make over to you a part of it, you may regard it as lawfully yours. 4:4 D
5- A male shall inherit twice as much as a female. 4:11 D
6- Men have authority over women because God had made the one superior to the other. 4:34 D
7- Enjoin believing women to turn their eyes away from temptations and to preserve their chastity; to cover their adornments (except such as are normally displayed); to draw their veils over their bosom and not to reveal their finery except to their husbands, their fathers, their husbands’ fathers, their sons, their women-servants, and their slave-girls; male attendants lacking natural vigour, and children who have no carnal knowledge of women. And let them not stamp their feet when walking so as to reveal their hidden trinkets. 24:31 D
8- Prophet, enjoin you wives, you daughters, and the wives of true believers to draw their veils close around them. That is more proper, so that they may be recognized and not be molested. God is forgiving and merciful. 33:58 D
PROPHET’S PRIVILEGES
1- Prophet, We have made lawful to you the wives to whom you have granted dowries and the slave girls whom God had given as booty; the daughters of your paternal and maternal uncles and of your paternal and maternal aunts who fled with you; and any believing woman who gives herself to the Prophet and whom the Prophet wishes to take in marriage. This privilege is yours alone, being granted to no other believer. [Swami Dayananda Saraswati rightly characterized the Allah of the Quran as Muhammad’s domestic servant. Of course, Muhammad made these verses to serve his own purpose.] We well know the duties we have imposed on the faithful concerning their wives and slave-girls. We grant you this privilege so that none may blame you. God is forgiving and merciful. 33:50 D
2- You may put of any of your wives you please and take to your bed any of them you please. Nor is it unlawful for you to receive any of those whom you have temporarily set aside. That is more proper, so that they may be contented and not vexed, and may all be pleased with what you give them. 33:51 D
3- It may happen that his Lord, if he divorces you will give in your stead wives better than you, submissive (to Allah), believing, pious, penitent, inclined to fasting, widows and maids. 66:5 P
HELL AND PARADISE
1- Lo! Those who disbelieve Our revelations, We shall expose them to the Fire. As often as their skins are consumed We shall exchange them for fresh skins that they may taste the torment. Lo Allah is ever Mighty, Wise. 4:56 P
2- Allah promiseth the hypocrites, both men and women, and the disbelievers the fire of hell for their abode. It will suffice them. Allah curseth them, and theirs is lasting torment. 9:68 P
3- …..As for those who disbelieve, theirs will be a boiling drink and painful doom because they disbelieved. 10:5 P
4- …..those who gave no heed to Our revelations, shall have the Fires as their home in requital for their deeds. 10.8 & 9 D
5- …But as for those who disbelieve, garments of fire will be cut out for them: boiling fluids will be poured down on their heads. 22.19 P
6- The righteous shall return to a blessed retreat: the gardens of Eden, whose gates shall open wide to receive them. Reclining there with bashful virgins for companions, they will call for abundant food and drink. All this shall be yours on the Day of Reckoning; Our gifts can have no end. But doleful shall be the return of the transgressors. They shall burn in Hell, a dismal resting place. There let them taste their drink : scalding water, festering blood, and other putrid things. We shall say to their leaders : ‘This band shall be thrown in headlong with you. No Welcome shall await them; they shall be promply cast into the Fire.’ 38:51-59 D
7- The fruit of the Zaqqum tree shall be the sinner’s food. Like dregs of oil, like scalding water, it shall simmer in the belly. A voice will cry: ‘Seize him and drag him into the depths of Hell. The pour out scalding water over his head’, saying: ‘Taste this, illustrious and honourable man! This is the punishment which you have doubted.’ 44:43-50 D
8- As for the righteous, they shall be lodged in peace together amidst gardens and fountains, arrayed in rich silks and fine brocade. Yes, and We shall wed them to dark-eyed houries. Secure against all ills, they shall call for every kind of fruit; and, having died once, they shall die no more. 44:51-55 D
9- They shall recline on jeweled couches face to face, and there shall wait on them immortal youths with bowls and pitchers and a cup of purest wine (that will neither pain their heads not take away their reason); with fruits of their own choice and flesh of fowls that they relish. And theirs shall be dark eyed houris [virgins], chaste as hidden pearls: a reward for their deeds. Then they shall hear no idle talk, no sinful speech, but only the greeting, ‘Peace! Peace!’. Those on the right hand-happy shall be those on the right hand! They shall recline on couches raised on high in the shade of thornless sidrs and clusters of talh [plantain?]; amidst gushing waters and abundant fruits, unforbidden, never-ending. We created the houries and made them virgins, loving companions for those on the right hand. 56: 15-38 D
10- The unbelievers among the People of the Book [Jews and Christians] and the pagans shall burn for ever in the fire of Hell. They are the vilest of all creatures. But of all creatures those that embrace the Faith and do good works are the noblest. 98: 6-7 D
INSTRUCTIONS TO BELIEVERS
1- Fight against them until idolatry is no more and God’s religion reigns supreme… 2:193 D
2- Warfare is ordained for you, though it is hateful unto you; but it may happen that ye hate a thing which is good for you, and it may happen that ye love a thing which is bad for you. Allah knoweth, ye know not. 2:216 P
3- You shall not wed pagan women, unless they embrace the Faith. A believing slave-girl is better than an idolatress….2:221 D
4- Let believers not make friends with infidels in preference to the faithful – he that does this has nothing to hope from God-except in self-defence. God admonishes you to fear Him: for to God you shall all return. 3:28 D
5- You are the noblest nation that has ever been raised up for the mankind. You enjoin justice and forbid evil. 3:110 D
6- Do not befriend them until they mend their homes for the cause of God. If they desert you, seize them and put them to death wherever you find them. Look for neither friends not helpers among them. 4:89 D
7- Tell the unbelievers that if they mend their ways (i.e. convert to Islam) their past shall be forgiven. 8:39 D
8- If you fear treachery from any of your allies, you may fairly retaliate by breaking off your treaty with them. God does not love the treacherous. 8:58 D
9- ….Allah is free from obligations to the idolaters and (so is) His messenger. So, if ye repent, it will be better for you; but if ye are averse, then know that ye cannot escape Allah. Give tidings (O Muhammad) of a painful doom to those who disbelieve. 9:3 P
10- O ye who believe! Choose not your fathers not your brethren for friends if they prefer disbelief to belief, such are wrong-doers. 9:23 P
11- You shall not pray for any of their (unbelievers) dead, nor shall you attend their burial. For they denied God and His apostle and remained sinners to the last. 9:84 D
12- It is not for the Prophet, and those who believe to pray for the forgiveness of idolaters even though they may be near of kin (to them) after in hath become clear that they are people of hell-fire. 9:113 P
13- Believers, make war on the infidels who dwell around you. Deal firmly with them. Know that God is with the righteous. 9:123 D
14- Do not yield to the unbelievers, but fight them with this, most strenuously. 25:52 D
15- Muhammad is the messenger of Allah. And those with him are hard against the disbelievers and merciful among themselves. 48:29 P
16- Believers! Shall I point out to you a profitable course that will save you: enmity and hate shall reign between us until you believe in God only. 60:4 D
17- Prophet, make war on the unbelievers and the hypocrites, and deal sternly with them. Hell shall be their home, evil their fate. 66:9 D