Radi (Radical): I have been studying Sura 6, Modi, and found it much easier than the others so far. I read it the first time without Mawdudi’s introduction and thought I understood most of it; however, after I read Mawdudi, I found I had not understood it, and the introduction cleared it up.
Mani (Mainstream): I had the same experience, Radi.
Modi: Only the introduction warns you that you are reading the first Meccan Sura in the Qur’an, other than The Opening, and a Sura revealed during Muhammad’s final year (pbuh).
Radi: I did not understand, though, why Allah chose again to remind us He is the only God and to worship anyone or anything else is shirk, a grievous sin.
Mani: Hmm. That is close to what I was thinking. Suras 2 through 4 gave us a very good hint as to what was in store for us if we did not give Him His due.
Radi: I believe that it is Sura 6, ayat 32 (Q6:32), that you thought should be reworded, Modi. Quote: “And the life of this world is nothing but play and amusement. But far better is the house in the Hereafter for those who are al-Mutaqûn (the pious). Will you not then understand?”
Modi: I am surprised you remembered that, Radi. You are right. That ayat and others like them have been worded in such a way as to trash the only world we know and glorify the world we know not.
Mani: Why is that a problem?
Modi: Many people shrug off this life and dream only of the next. People should spend this life enjoying what Allah has given them in this life, the earth, the animals, the rain, rivers, and other people. They should also use their heads for thinking and improving themselves.
Radi: I especially enjoy other people. Heh-heh.
Modi: Life should be pleasant, filled with the laughter of children and grandchildren, not dark and gloomy, filled with slavery, destruction, hatred, and violent death.
Mani: Look how many ayats followed that one, describing the retribution for sin. In ayat 43 (Q6:43), Shaitan (Satan) was brought up. I always considered Shaitan an early Christian invention to give them a more powerful epithet to hurl at one another[1].
Radi: You will sing another tune when you meet up with him, Mani.
Mani: No thanks, having you for a friend is quite enough.
Modi: I read ayat 137 first in the Noble Qur’an (Saudi Arabia), and I thought I knew the tradition to which the ayat referred but was not sure. I switched to the Glorious Qur’an (Pickthall), and it was much clearer. However, the Message of the Qur’an (Asad) not only cleared it up, but the reference note (123)[2] was outstanding. Q6:140 agrees with his reference note, calling such parents “ignorant.” Ayat 151 of this sura also shows Allah’s great displeasure about Arabs killing their children. Three times in one sura Allah condemns the practice of Honor Killing!
Mani: Is ayat 137 the one about burying baby girls alive? Tradition often is ignorance carried forward without question by ignorant people. Can you imagine burying your baby girl alive FOR ANY DAMNED REASON? I have a very playful daughter who is the delight of my life. When I watch her at play, I see Allah’s most beautiful gift to a father and mother. And when she looks at me and smiles, that is itself paradise! If ever I would want time to stand still, it is only when I hold her and hear her laughter.
Radi: You will have to find a good husband for her.
[Mani punches Radi and knocks him down.]
Radi: What is the matter with you? Are you crazy?
Mani: When I talk about my beautiful baby girl, Radi, I do not want to hear anything about finding husbands, arranging marriages, honor killings, or anything else in that dirty mind of yours. When I speak beautiful words about my baby girl, you had better just listen and say nothing.
[Modi helps Radi to his feet. Radi rubs his jaw. He opens his mouth to speak, but Modi clamps his hand over his mouth.]
Modi: Just listen for a while, Radi. Do not say anything.
Mani: I heard you say many times a certain sentence and ran into it only last night in this sura, ayat 144:
Modi: Yes. How many imams are simply making up rules or rearranging the wording on ayats or leaving words out of ayats to fit an evil agenda that they consider holy? God never said what they are imputing to Him. Surely that would rate a very special place in hell.
Mani: Radi is still quiet. I think Q6:144 makes him feel ill.
Modi: I believe that you should let him be for a while, now that he is quiet. However, you should be glad that he is quiet this time. Something may be getting through to him.
Radi: I heard my name mentioned. I did not realize that Honor Killings were so evil. I thought Allah commanded that they be done.
Modi: Good for you, Radi. You are joining the human race.
Radi: Who’s ahead?
Mani: Not the humans, that is for sure.
Radi: There is one ayat in this sura that tells me that I am right in punishing people who sin. It is ayat 157 (Q6:157):
Modi: The ayat does not say that a Believer will requite those who turn away from Our messages with evil suffering for having thus turned away. It says “WE WILL,” meaning Allah will see to it. If you were suddenly given superhuman sight and you saw one of God’s angels about to smite an evildoer, would you interfere and try to smite the evildoer first?
Radi: Of course not. I would honor the angel’s presence and his task.
Modi: Then, Radi, when you see an evildoer, just presume that he soon will meet such an angel whose task it is to smite him. Therefore, if you plan to do it yourself, you are only interfering with Allah’s work. Then go on about your business and be pleased with yourself because Allah sees all and knows our hidden thoughts.
Radi: That is something to think about.
Mani: I left my slip of paper at home. What are the prayer times today?
Modi: Well, you already know that Fajr (Early Morning Prayer) was 5:38. Zuhr is 12:14, Asr (Late Afternoon Prayer) is 3:04 PM, Maghrib (Early Evening Prayer) is 5:24 PM and Isha (Late Evening Prayer) is 6:46.[3]
Mani: I am amazed at your memory. How can you just rattle those times off like that?
Modi: There is a neighborhood message board behind you. The times are posted there.
Mani: Looks as if we just have time for wudu; ooops, Bilal has started to call.
Radi: Mani, I apologize for getting you upset.
Mani: Please, do not apologize. We Arabs have an image to maintain.
Radi: OK, to hell with you then. I will not bother to clean my knife to kill you.
Mani: That’s better. Apology accepted.
HJS
Mani (Mainstream): I had the same experience, Radi.
Modi: Only the introduction warns you that you are reading the first Meccan Sura in the Qur’an, other than The Opening, and a Sura revealed during Muhammad’s final year (pbuh).
Radi: I did not understand, though, why Allah chose again to remind us He is the only God and to worship anyone or anything else is shirk, a grievous sin.
Mani: Hmm. That is close to what I was thinking. Suras 2 through 4 gave us a very good hint as to what was in store for us if we did not give Him His due.
Radi: I believe that it is Sura 6, ayat 32 (Q6:32), that you thought should be reworded, Modi. Quote: “And the life of this world is nothing but play and amusement. But far better is the house in the Hereafter for those who are al-Mutaqûn (the pious). Will you not then understand?”
Modi: I am surprised you remembered that, Radi. You are right. That ayat and others like them have been worded in such a way as to trash the only world we know and glorify the world we know not.
Mani: Why is that a problem?
Modi: Many people shrug off this life and dream only of the next. People should spend this life enjoying what Allah has given them in this life, the earth, the animals, the rain, rivers, and other people. They should also use their heads for thinking and improving themselves.
Radi: I especially enjoy other people. Heh-heh.
Modi: Life should be pleasant, filled with the laughter of children and grandchildren, not dark and gloomy, filled with slavery, destruction, hatred, and violent death.
Mani: Look how many ayats followed that one, describing the retribution for sin. In ayat 43 (Q6:43), Shaitan (Satan) was brought up. I always considered Shaitan an early Christian invention to give them a more powerful epithet to hurl at one another[1].
Radi: You will sing another tune when you meet up with him, Mani.
Mani: No thanks, having you for a friend is quite enough.
Modi: I read ayat 137 first in the Noble Qur’an (Saudi Arabia), and I thought I knew the tradition to which the ayat referred but was not sure. I switched to the Glorious Qur’an (Pickthall), and it was much clearer. However, the Message of the Qur’an (Asad) not only cleared it up, but the reference note (123)[2] was outstanding. Q6:140 agrees with his reference note, calling such parents “ignorant.” Ayat 151 of this sura also shows Allah’s great displeasure about Arabs killing their children. Three times in one sura Allah condemns the practice of Honor Killing!
Mani: Is ayat 137 the one about burying baby girls alive? Tradition often is ignorance carried forward without question by ignorant people. Can you imagine burying your baby girl alive FOR ANY DAMNED REASON? I have a very playful daughter who is the delight of my life. When I watch her at play, I see Allah’s most beautiful gift to a father and mother. And when she looks at me and smiles, that is itself paradise! If ever I would want time to stand still, it is only when I hold her and hear her laughter.
Radi: You will have to find a good husband for her.
[Mani punches Radi and knocks him down.]
Radi: What is the matter with you? Are you crazy?
Mani: When I talk about my beautiful baby girl, Radi, I do not want to hear anything about finding husbands, arranging marriages, honor killings, or anything else in that dirty mind of yours. When I speak beautiful words about my baby girl, you had better just listen and say nothing.
[Modi helps Radi to his feet. Radi rubs his jaw. He opens his mouth to speak, but Modi clamps his hand over his mouth.]
Modi: Just listen for a while, Radi. Do not say anything.
Mani: I heard you say many times a certain sentence and ran into it only last night in this sura, ayat 144:
“And who could be more wicked than he who, without
any (real) knowledge, attributes his own lying inventions to God, and thus leads
people astray. Behold, God does not grace (such) evildoing folk with His
guidance.”
Modi: Yes. How many imams are simply making up rules or rearranging the wording on ayats or leaving words out of ayats to fit an evil agenda that they consider holy? God never said what they are imputing to Him. Surely that would rate a very special place in hell.
Mani: Radi is still quiet. I think Q6:144 makes him feel ill.
Modi: I believe that you should let him be for a while, now that he is quiet. However, you should be glad that he is quiet this time. Something may be getting through to him.
Radi: I heard my name mentioned. I did not realize that Honor Killings were so evil. I thought Allah commanded that they be done.
Modi: Good for you, Radi. You are joining the human race.
Radi: Who’s ahead?
Mani: Not the humans, that is for sure.
Radi: There is one ayat in this sura that tells me that I am right in punishing people who sin. It is ayat 157 (Q6:157):
“We shall requite those who turn away from Our
messages in disdain with evil suffering for having thus turned away.”
Would you not say that the ayat
gives me the right to torture the fool before I lop off his head?
Modi: The ayat does not say that a Believer will requite those who turn away from Our messages with evil suffering for having thus turned away. It says “WE WILL,” meaning Allah will see to it. If you were suddenly given superhuman sight and you saw one of God’s angels about to smite an evildoer, would you interfere and try to smite the evildoer first?
Radi: Of course not. I would honor the angel’s presence and his task.
Modi: Then, Radi, when you see an evildoer, just presume that he soon will meet such an angel whose task it is to smite him. Therefore, if you plan to do it yourself, you are only interfering with Allah’s work. Then go on about your business and be pleased with yourself because Allah sees all and knows our hidden thoughts.
Radi: That is something to think about.
Mani: I left my slip of paper at home. What are the prayer times today?
Modi: Well, you already know that Fajr (Early Morning Prayer) was 5:38. Zuhr is 12:14, Asr (Late Afternoon Prayer) is 3:04 PM, Maghrib (Early Evening Prayer) is 5:24 PM and Isha (Late Evening Prayer) is 6:46.[3]
Mani: I am amazed at your memory. How can you just rattle those times off like that?
Modi: There is a neighborhood message board behind you. The times are posted there.
Mani: Looks as if we just have time for wudu; ooops, Bilal has started to call.
Radi: Mani, I apologize for getting you upset.
Mani: Please, do not apologize. We Arabs have an image to maintain.
Radi: OK, to hell with you then. I will not bother to clean my knife to kill you.
Mani: That’s better. Apology accepted.
HJS
[2] Note 123: “This is a reference to the custom prevalent among the pre-Islamic Arabs of burying alive some of their unwanted children, mainly girls, and also to the occasional offering of a boy-child in sacrifice to one or another of their idols. Apart from this historical reference, the above Qur’an verse seems to point out, by implication, the psychological fact that an attribution of divinity to anyone or anything but God brings with it an ever-growing dependence on all kinds of imaginary powers which must be “propitiated” by formal and often absurd and cruel rites: and this, in turn, leads to the loss of all spiritual freedom and to moral self-destruction.” Muhammad Asad
[3] The prayer times for January 22, 2008.[Partially adapted from Mawdudi's Introduction to Sura Six]
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