| Pain, Pleasure and Prejudice The Complete Layman’s Guide to the Koran The Antagonizers 58:5 Those who antagonize Allah and His Messenger shall be abased by Allah, as He abased those who preceded them. We have, indeed, sent down very clear Signs; and the unbelievers shall have a demeaning punishment. 58:6 On the Day when Allah shall raise them all from the dead, then inform them of what they did. Allah has kept count of it, but they have forgotten it. Allah is a witness of everything. The antagonizers are people who talk behind the Prophet’s back; who hold discussions of which the Prophet is not aware. You would think that Allah would tell His Messenger what had been said that he needs to know immediately after He has heard it, as oppose to waiting until Judgement Day. After all, He was party to the secret discussions. 58:7 Have you not considered that Allah knows what is the heavens and on the earth. No three conspire in secret, but He is the fourth of them; nor five but he is the six of them; nor even less than that or more but He is with them wherever they are. Then He shall inform them of what they did on the Day of Resurrection. Allah, indeed, has knowledge of everything. The Prophet had obviously forbidden the believers to hold secret meetings to make it more difficult for his enemies, and the enemies of Allah to plot against them. A sensible precaution! 58:8 Have you not considered those who were forbidden to converse secretly, then they return to what they were forbidden from and converse secretly in sin and aggression and the disobedience of the Messenger? Then when they come to you, they greet you with a greeting that Allah never greeted you with. They say within themselves: “If only Allah were to punish us for what we say!” May Hell suffice them; and what a wretched fate! In a matter of a few short years, Islam would be triumphant everywhere on the Peninsula and the Prophet’s position unassailable, and his person secure. God's Messenger, who was in his fifties, would die from natural causes a short time after undertaking to convert the kingdoms that bordered Arabia. Why would Allah include a warning in His timeless Koran about people expressing opinions in private about the Prophet and/or his objectives, when the Prophet had only a few more years in the here-and-now before he joined his Benefactor in the hereafter? 58:9 O believers, if you converse secretly among yourselves, do not converse in sin, aggression and disobedience of the Messenger; but converse in righteousness and piety, and fear Allah unto Whom you shall be mustered. 58:10 Conversing in secret is an act of Satan, so as to sadden the believers, but that will not harm them in the least, except with Allah’s Leave. Let the believers put their trust in Allah. A verse about making room in assemblies. 58:11 O believers, if you are told: “Make room in assemblies”, then make room that Allah may make room for you; and if you are told: “Sally forth”, then sally forth, that Allah may elevate those of you that have believed and those who have been given knowledge many steps. Allah is truly Fully Aware of what you do. It is okay to converse in private with His Messenger as long a you pay for the privilege, if you can afford it. 58:12 O believers, if you converse privately with the Messenger, then tender a free offering before your secret conversing. That is better for you and purer; but if you do not have the means, then Allah is All-Forgiving, Merciful. If you can’t afford to pay for a private conversation with the Prophet, and Allah knows this (the reason for the "pardon" in the following verse), then do penance and do as you were told. 58:13 Do you dread to make free offerings before your private converse. If you do not do so and Allah pardons you, then perform the prayer, give the alms and obey Allah and His Messenger. Allah is Aware of what you do. What those who befriend people who have incurred Allah’s displeasure, such as the antagonizers, can expect! 58:14 Have you not considered those who befriended a people who incurred Allah’s Wrath? They are not of you nor of them; and they swear in falsehood knowingly. 58:15 Allah has prepared for them a terrible punishment. Evil indeed is what they used to do. 58:16 They took they oaths as a smoke-screen, and so they debarred access to Allah’s Path. Theirs, then, is a demeaning punishment. 58:17 Neither their possessions not their children shall avail them anything against Allah. Those are the Companions of the Fire, dwelling therein forever. 58:18 On the Day Allah shall resurrect all and they will swear to Him as they swear to you, thinking that they have something to gain. Indeed, they, are the liars. 58:19 Satan has taken a hold of them, and so caused them to forget the mention of Allah. They are the party of Satan; indeed the party of Satan are the losers. A final reminder that the antagonizers are weak and Allah is strong. 58:20 Those who antagonize Allah and His Messenger are surely among the lowliest. 58:21 Allah has written: “I shall certainly vanquish, I and My Messengers.” Surely Allah is Strong, All-Mighty. And for God’s sake, don’t take them as friends even if they are part of your family, close relatives or clan members, if you don’t want Allah to accuse you of being an unbeliever, with all the pain that entails. 58:22 You will not find a people who believe in Allah and the Last Day befriending those who antagonize Allah and His Messenger, even if they are their fathers, their sons, their brothers or their clansmen. Those, Allah has inscribed faith upon their hearts and strengthened them with a spirit from Himself, and He will admit them into Gardens, beneath which rivers flow, dwelling therein forever. Allah is well-pleased with them and they are well-pleased with him. Those are Allah’s Party; surely Allah’s Party shall be the prosperous.
|
