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Monday, June 30, 2008
Blogging the Qur'an: Sura 32, "The Prostration"
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One paragraph especially catches my eye. Here's the first part:
We see something new in the statement that everything Allah created is good (v. 7). This appears to contradict the idea that Allah created many jinns and men for hell (7:179 and v. 13 of this sura). However, the Imam Malik says that this only means that “he created everything well and in a goodly fashion,” not that everything he created is itself good.
Malik's spin on Verse 7 doesn't jive with the noted translators cited in this series:
YUSUFALI: He Who has made everything which He has created most good: He began the creation of man with (nothing more than) clay,
PICKTHAL: Who made all things good which He created, and He began the creation of man from clay;
SHAKIR: Who made good everything that He has created, and He began the creation of man from dust.
Now for the conclusion of the paragraph:
In v. 13 is also repeated the assertion that Allah would have guided all human beings to the truth if he had so desired – indicating here again that Allah does not, unlike the God of the Bible, will “that all men be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth” (I Timothy 2:3)
The God of the Bible created angels and humans with free will, each free to accept or reject God (who, being omniscience, knows in advance who will choose what). Allah created certain beings who may have choices in other matters but are compelled by Allah to reject Allah. I find the former deity much more appealing.
Click the "Koran" label to see all my posts on this series.
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