Messages

[θεόπνευστος]

Dear Quran's Message forum,

A Jehovah's Witness once showed me on JW mobile app a verse, which helped me keep my faith and communicate it when studying the scriptures. Because while I studied all the similar words shared between TaNaKh in Hebrew, the Gospels in Greek, and the Qur'an in Arabic, I began to think it was all human and began to lose faith. I also did not want others to feel the same and want to respect our religion(s).

2 Timothy 3:16 (Stephenus Textus Receptus 1550, Greek Parallel, BibleHub)

πᾶσα γραφὴ θεόπνευστος καὶ ὠφέλιμος πρὸς διδασκαλίαν πρὸς ἔλεγχον, πρὸς ἐπανόρθωσιν πρὸς παιδείαν τὴν ἐν δικαιοσύνῃ

2 Timothy 3:16 (NIV, BibleHub)

All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness,

The word γραφὴ indicates that a person had written this. It is text, it is shapes of symbols created by people to communicate ideas, that's how linguists and historians perceive them. The word θεόπνευστος is interesting, because the second part of it πνευστος is similar to the Spanish word "pneumático", which means "tire", like the wheel of a car. The Greek word pneuma and the Spanish word pneumático are related, because a tire is filled with air.

For ancient people, spirit was similar to air, which is mostly invisible to the naked eye. Early scientists would call Carbon Dioxide (CO₂) the spirit of wood. I believe the idea of spirit is the idea of metaphysical properties, a quality of something hidden inside of it, which goes beyond physical barriers.

I believe the words in these books are written by people, who were trained and educated. I believe the words contain the spirit of God, the deep wisdom that God wants us to know so that we can be aware of God, live a better life, and cope with the struggles.

There's a Messianic Jewish Christian named Rabbi Steve Berkson and he runs a ministry on YouTube called MTOI. While I don't agree with everything does, I gain a lot of knowledge and perspective from his sermons on YouTube. He receives a lot of criticism, and so I look beyond the differences and focus on the ideas that resonate with me. He said that in the time of Jesus and the writing of the Gospels, people didn't have the New Testament, a term which many Jewish people and some Christian people don't agree with, because it implies the TaNaKh is less worthy or irrelevant. Therefore, he says that the people writing about scriptures were talking about the Torah and probably would've had difficulty accessing the entire TaNaKh, since perhaps only the central temple would have had all of those scrolls. Made me think.

Sincerely,
Firehear47

[Disclaimer]

Dear Quran's Message forum,

Disclaimer

I am a privileged person, who can talk about these topics and explore them without immediate consequences. I am in a warm house, sitting on a computer, writing about controversial topics. Other people can get hurt or killed for saying things like I do. Please be mindful of this.

El Apocalipsis de Juan

The Book of Revelation is a confusing book, and has inspired many people in awful ways, because of fears and feelings of shame. For example, I've worried about being False Prophet or being the Anti-Christ, because I have an imaginative mind and feel fear or shame.

Fears and ideas

One of the important steps in my journey was when I felt I had sold my soul to devil, and met a person, whose father was a pastor. The person I spoke to wore shirts with pentagrams and worshiped the devil at some point in his youth. He later found God again as an adult. He didn't judge me when I cried to him and told him my fears, instead he told me, "You can't sell what's not yours to sell." This inspired me to read the Bible and later Qur'an, and try to understand where these ideas come from.

Here are some observations I've had and things I've learned:

Apocalypse

The word "apocalypse" is often understood as the end of the world. However, in the Bible and in Biblical Greek or Jewish Koine Greek, the word apocalypse (ᾰ̓ποκᾰ́λῠψῐς) means revelation. There is something being revealed in this book. What is being revealed? Above all, the scribes want to reveal the message of Jesus from the Christian perspective. Despite the doomsday prophecies and end of the world ideas, the Book of Revelation ends with hope of an optimistic future.

I believe the Book of Revelation is an allegory meant to reveal the dangers of organized religion in a secret way.

Patterns in scripture

I believe there are patterns in the scriptures placed by scribes to indicate to the readers that the scriptures have been altered. This is not to cause people to lose faith, rather to maintain faith in spite of the reality of human activities and human nature.

For example, in verse Revelation 3:14 in Greek there are three words and between these three words are the Greek letter Omicron. In the Book of Revelation this is common, and it seems like they are chanting or emphasizing these ideas, yet in English they get translated away. In Rev 3:14, the three words are the names of God.

Book of Revelation 3:14, * Originally from BibleHub

Καὶ τῷ ἀγγέλῳ τῆς ἐκκλησίας Λαοδικέων γράψον· Τάδε λέγει ὁ Ἀμήν ὁ μάρτυς ὁ πιστὸς καὶ ἀληθινός ἡ ἀρχὴ τῆς κτίσεως τοῦ θεοῦ·

Rev 3:14 (The New World Translation) * JW bible, had to remove annotations from copy and pasted text.

To the angel of the congregation in La·o·di·ceʹa write: These are the things that the Amen says, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of the creation by God:

However, in another verse with the names of evil, there are 7 Omicron. This indicates to me the scribes cared more about the fear of the Devil and might've secretly worshiped it, because they were being mistreated by organized religion or because they wanted to rebel.

καὶ ἐβλήθη ὁ δράκων ὁ μέγας ὁ ὄφις ὁ ἀρχαῖος ὁ καλούμενος Διάβολος καὶ ὁ Σατανᾶς ὁ πλανῶν τὴν οἰκουμένην ὅλην ἐβλήθη εἰς τὴν γῆν καὶ οἱ ἄγγελοι αὐτοῦ μετ' αὐτοῦ ἐβλήθησαν

So down the great dragon was hurled, the original serpent, the one called Devil and Satan, who is misleading the entire inhabited earth; he was hurled down to the earth, and his angels were hurled down with him.

Words, concepts, and religious systems

One of the things, which has helped me feel less fear is acknowledging the Oneness of Allah. Nothing is outside of the control of Allah. I believe we will never be completely abandoned by Allah. I believe that when the Hebrews (the people crossed over from Euphrates to Mediterranean Sea and Nile River) went to Ancient Egypt (Kemet) they learned concepts from the religious systems of that society. In that society, there were different levels of understanding. The priests knew the deities were archetypes of concepts, allegories and stories to teach ideas, yet the average people or the organized religion taught that they were gods and worshiped them. I believe cult of Set influenced the Hebrews to use this word to describe the evil forces that destroy. It is important then to understand where this comes from.

In this allegory, the most important person is Horus, which represents consciousness and the observer. The Kings would be initiated into a ceremony that would teach them this and give them awareness of the natural order. Osiris represented plants and nature, and Set represented death and conflict. They also represented star systems. Osiris represented Orion and Set represented Alderbaran. In the story, Osiris is dismembered by his evil brother into 14 pieces. Orion constellation is 10 stars. Perhaps, the ancient Egyptians included 14 stars in this constellation and therefore it made the story more powerful and taught the idea of death. A cult formed around Set, despite it being a less important figure in the story. I believe it promoted fighting, power, war, and military. The Ancient Egyptians traded metal for their weapons with the Hittites in Anatolia. The Israelites would've been in the middle of it, part of the trade.

In Hebrew, the word Satan means "to oppose" as it used in the Story of Balak in Book of Numbers (Book of Numbers 22:22).

Think of what Jesus is quoted saying about the nature of God.

Matthew 5:45 (NIV, BibleHub)

that you may be children of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.

Forgiveness and transformation

I used to fear that I was these evil prophecies in the Bible, even though truly I am not the most evil person I can imagine. I believe all people can be forgiven if they repent. For this reason, I think there is a hidden meaning behind the two witnesses in the story of the Book of Revelation, because they cause all these problems, like the Anti-Christ and the False Prophet. Could they be the same people? Are we waiting for people to realize that forgiveness is free and that people can change?

Inspiration

I believe we should be aware that people can be inspired by the ideas in the Bible, regardless of their true meaning.

The idea of the Mark of the Beast can inspire people to put implants in people and do dangerous evil things, even though the authors of the Book of Revelation weren't necessarily talking about that.

Mark of the Beast

Someone on the internet told me about a verse from the TaNaKh that helped describe the meaning of 666.

1 Kings 10:14 (Tanach.us)

ויהי משקל הזהב אשר בא לשלמה בשנה אחת שש מאות ששים ושש ככר זהב

1 Kings 10:14 (NIV, BibleGateway)

The weight of the gold that Solomon received yearly was 666 talents

Rev 13:16-18 (BSB, BibleHub)

16 And the second beast required all people, small and great, rich and poor, free and slave, to receive a mark on their right hand or on their forehead, 17 so that no one could buy or sell unless he had the mark—the name of the beast or the number of its name.

18 Here is a call for wisdom: Let the one who has insight calculate the number of the beast, for it is the number of a man, and that number is 666

I believe that this passage is warning us that organized religions exclude people from charity, based on religious membership. The name "Solomon" is based from roots SLM or ש-ל-מ or س-ل-م. This represents the organized religion, then in Jerusalem. Its members were m-slm. People who weren't m-slm, did not get to participate and did not get help they needed, the help that our scriptures say they should receive from believers.

I believe the mark on the forehead and the hand represent our beliefs and our actions. Those without the mark are those who do not believe the same things or do the same things as the members of the organized religion.

Book of Exodus 13:9 (Tanach.us)

והיה לך לאות על ידך ולזכרון בין עיניך למען תהיה תורת יהוה בפיך כי ביד חזקה הוצאך יהוה ממצרים

Exodus 13:9 (NIV, BibleHub)

This observance will be for you like a sign on your hand and a reminder on your forehead that this law of the LORD is to be on your lips. For the LORD brought you out of Egypt with his mighty hand.

Back in the day of Jesus, the central temple and the organized religion was in Jerusalem. However, today, the non-organized religions of the Nazarenes has organized in Vatican, and the non-organized religion of the Arabs (nomads descended from Israelites and economic partners of Israelites) is centralized in Mecca.

Organized religion is not entirely bad. Without organized religion, we wouldn't have the organization that we do today and there would be too much disorder for us to find meaning and have faith in the wisdom of religious books and traditions. Traditions have wisdom and that is what makes them good. However, they can become the reason why people get hurt.

The Qur'an says again and again that the simple true religion is to pray to God and to give zakat. The Bible also agrees when it says something similar, worship God and love thy neighbor as thyself. This is the worship of the Hidden One, called by many names like God or Allah, and to follow the Golden Rule, known to many religious worldwide.

Sheikh Hamza Yusuf talks about in this video how hidden within the books of the Hindu religion, they believe that God is pure and imageless, like Abrahamic religions. Many educated Hindus believe some of the same ideas as Muslims, Christians and Jews.

Video of Sheikh Hamza Yusuf on alternative YouTube platform called Invidious, hosted on website called Nadeko, which supposedly protects people from being monitored or stops it from affecting YouTube data collection.

https://inv.nadeko.net/watch?v=gYfuRgSQF2w

YouTube

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gYfuRgSQF2w

Thank you for reading what I've shared. This is only my perspective. Please consider it, doubt it, test it and figure out for yourselves. May Allah guide us to the truth. Subhanallah.

Sincerely,
Fireheart47

Dear abdul.samad and Wakas,

Do you think the meaning of "qatal" in 9:5 could be interpreted as "fight" instead of "kill". If the former where true, perhaps it would indicate holy months as time when religious conversion would be less intense, in order to be merciful. It seems like a contradiction to permit killing.

What is holy about the holy months? Are there any activities forbidden during the holy months, which indicate why and how they are holy? For example, do they coincide with any agricultural activity or hardship due to difficult yearly weather?

Thank you for considering these questions.

I've been thinking about topic of animals, and diet.

As a baby I was fed a lot and was fat, and had big head. When I was a kid, I ate dairy, meat, and seafood. Then became skinnier with time as diet changed.

The diet I eat now is particular to my stage in life and the health issues I have made for myself because previous diet.

In documentary about Sahara, showed young women being fattened. Seems like another diet related change that occurs during stages of life.

Watching the documentary and seeing the diet of the nomadic desert people reminded me of the Qur'an and how it focuses on livestock (meat, dairy) as the main good thing. Yet also encourages eating dates and other fruit and vegetables to possibly encourage a balanced diet.

In the Bible, it talks about how it is our words that are more important than our food. Some stories make it look like dietary restrictions don't matter. I don't think this is what Jesus preached, because he is quoted saying that the body is the temple of God. Yet, he also is quoted questioning the purpose of tradition and wanting to establish the fundamentals, which are to treat others with empathy and to worship God. He is quoted saying to worship God secretly, hidden, with faith that God knows everything. He is quoted criticizing the people who look Godly and yet put people down, making rules and not following them themselves.

Food for thought.

Dear relearning,

I thought to check back on this topic, because I remembered something, which I forgot to mention.

Some of the earliest evidence of Jesus was found in the ruins of Pompeii, which was preserved in the pyroclastic flow. Graffiti showed signs of Jewish followers of Jesus. Pompeii erupted in 79 A.D. in the Gregorian calendar.

Scientists who studied these ruins, and the writings of philosophers and ancient authors, say that Pompeii was famous for its sex slavery. They had many male and female Jewish sex slaves.

In my mind, it is not a coincidence it suffered such fate at the moment it did. In my experience, moments often align, and things occur simultaneously without explanation.


I don't know a lot of the answers to the questions you have. However, I can tell you first what I'd do to find the answers.

The Qur'an is written in Arabic, and so first I'd look at all the problematic verses and try to find out if there's a hidden translation or interpretation that can be rationally determined through linguistics, comparative linguistics, scriptural comparisons, and historical comparison. Part of this process includes looking at what scholars have already said in what people call, "tafsir".

If that doesn't make sit right with my conscience, then I'll read the entire Surah, looking for connections across long portions of the text, because people's attentions span was much longer during that era.

In your questions you mention God a lot. If God is the force which set the world in motion, giving life, instead of letting it be nothing, than it doesn't make sense for people to act against that by opposing others into submission and killing.

This sort of logic is the reasoning behind the Golden Rule and the fundamental ideas in Qur'an and earlier books, which give context to what "peace", "completeness" and all these other concepts which define "Islam". This is often not said, because religion is organized and people repeat the same thing over and over, fighting and killing, contradicting the fundamentals, instead of considering, discerning and testing through various methods.

For this reason, I do not want to mislead into an organized religion. Yet I believe the concept of Islam is important, and it's why the Qur'an has value.

You said I didn't answer any of your questions before, so I'll re-address myself simply. Scripture is written by humans called scribes. God is spiritual, it communicated with people before any book ever existed. The books have the spirit of God, because when you study it, it gives us wisdom and guidance in a transformative powerful way.

Errors, mistakes, and misleading information which contradict the fundamental ideas exist in all the scriptures. Yet, people say they're 100% true, because they just want everyone to follow along.

Be should careful what we follow, because if we don't know where we're going, than there's a risk we're going to be misled. Like a bunch of buffalo jumping off a cliff together unable to stop, because the people behind push you towards it.

Just because these scriptures aren't 100% true doesn't mean they aren't perfect. Because they reveal something important: a warning of what is truly happening.

It is a mystery, because even though it's not all true, it fits together and works together. Someone wise told me if this is a religion of God than only God can add and remove. Even if something seems bad, we shouldn't change it. It's not our responsibility, and the burden falls on those who made that mistake a long time ago. That's what, "Woe to the scribes" means. The scribes made a big big shameful mistake, yet God is merciful and exceeds our understanding.

I think we should forgive the scribes, just like we would want others to forgive us.


The way it happens is complicated (ex: the real first surah, the real first ayah, the location of vowels,  differences in archeological finds). The Qur'an is exceptional in that it seems to have less differences than other scripture.

So, when the Qur'an says to kill pagans, I am upset that it says that, and I disagree with it because it contradicts the fundamental ideas (ex: Cain and Abel, Mark of Cain to prevent vengeance, Noah's flood on murderous world, Jesus pacifism even with Samaritans, Hud's camel).

However, it doesn't shake my faith in the rich wisdom that it provides me with. For me, the Qur'an answers the mysteries of why Christianity and Judaism are what they are.

Allah, al-Ilah, ilah, El, Eloh, Elohim, Elaha. These are the original written names of an ancient idea of single source behind and pushing reality.

Traditionally when a word in Hebrew ends with Ha, it is feminine.

Please question this information, doubt it, test it. I hope you find an answer and that we all figure it out ourselves. I hope you or anyone reading this does not get mislead into harmful situations.

Sincerely,
Fireheart47

Dear relearning,

Forgive me, because I did not address the topic of sex slavery as much as I wish I would have.

It goes against the basic principles of these religions.

Even if it is popular in society, and found in scripture, it contradicts the fundamentals (Leviticus 19:17-18)(Gospel of Matthew 22:36-40)(Qur'an 41:34-36).

https://www.newageislam.com/islamic-ideology/naseer-ahmed-new-age-islam/the-quran-golden-rule-do-unto-others-them-unto-you/d/108800

People like Dan McClellan look deeply into scriptures and talk about these sensitive topics. It is important to discern what he says, yet he knows a lot about the meaning of words.

Just like people should discern what I say. I am fallible. Only human.

May God guide us all.

Sincerely,
Fireheart47

[Pre-Islam]

Dear relearning,

Your questions seem important to me. Although I am not a woman, it is important to strive to find the truth, for the sake of all of Allah's creatures. Here is my perspective on the verses and topics you have mentioned.

Pre-Islam

What is the role of scripture? And what does it mean for it to be the word of God? There was a moment in history when the Qur'an did not exist. I have faith that it was a prophet named Muhammed, who revealed the Qur'an and it changed how Arab tribes lived. Women in some places were very mistreated, and the spread of the Qur'an helped better their condition. https://www.mehbooba.com/women-in-the-jahiliyyah-pre-islamic-arabia/

Arabs

Arabs traveled a lot. The people of Judah were more sedentary with a central temple in Jerusalem for all tribes, all believers, and descendants of Israelites that left Egypt. Not all people in Judah believed or practiced the way the priests and scribes instructed. Those who did, are the antecedents of the Jewish faith. They had faith this is how God wanted them to live. Christians became a group of Jewish and non-Jewish people who became categorized as different group, because they came from Nazareth and had beliefs which differed from the religious authorities in Jerusalem. They used metaphor of Father for God very frequently, whereas Jewish writings used it less frequently. Some Arabs traveled and heard all of this, participated in this, because many of them too had ancestors who left Egypt and who had lived earlier in Mesopotamia. An Arab prophet miraculously recited what we now know as the Qur'an, which gave the believers (Jewish, Christian or any other group) a reminder of the earliest wisdom.

Islam

Now this wisdom has spread around the world through travel, commerce, war, conquest, recitation, book, and computers. It is part of what people call the religion of Islam, though the word Islam has a deeper meaning and is not just a category. That's why the prophets before the recitation of Prophet Muhammed were also muslims. It is an idea central to the Isrealite worldview and the word "muslim" is an attribute or adjective.

Here are two documentaries showing the lives of Muslim people: "A Glimpse of Paradise Culture Garden in the Islamic World" by Veronika Hofer. "Mystic Iran: The Unseen World" by Aryana Farshad.

Your verses

Some people say, the verse you shared Quran 33:59, has the implication that too much covering of the face is not advisable. The issue of sex slavery is important. It is not mentioned in this verse.

The other verse has interesting words with possible different translations. Same words in other parts of the Qur'an have different meanings. For example, "fataya-tikum" or "فتيتكم" comes from root letters ف-ت-ى, which can mean "ask", "boy", or "youth" in different contexts. Why? I don't know. Though it seems societal. https://www.islamicity.org/quransearch/?q=chapter:24

Woe to the scribes

In the Gospels, Jesus is quoted announcing to the crowds how scribes mislead people (Gospel of Matthew Chapter 23). The four gospel books were written in Greek by Christians, and the narratives are similar to each other in many ways. They must be discerned and evaluated. In the Book of Revelation, the names of God (Book of Revelation 3:14) are repeated between "ὁ"'s. There are more names of Satan repeated together (Book of Revelation 12:9). The scribes and priests in many organized religions of the ancient world and today have been forbidden to be with women. This might be a reason why they would depict The Church as a woman, in the allegory.

Wisdom of Islam

I have been told that Islam doesn't have this situation, because it promotes people to have families. The Qur'an also affirms that God is not a literal father, which is the belief of the community. It also prompts the inquisitive believers to go back and find out that the Father was a metaphor in Jewish literature, which appears to have caused people to deviate from the original wisdom and faith. The original wisdom and faith is that Allah cannot be represented by physical forms.

I have faith that if you pray to God, especially with repetitive meditational prayer like Lord's Prayer and/or Surah al-Fatihah. This technique grows faith that God already knows all of your thoughts (Gospel of Matthew 6:7-13). Comparison of Lord's Prayer and Surah al-Fatihah: https://qcpages.qc.cuny.edu/~mmiller/Fatiha-LordsPrayerComp.pdf

God will show you what you seek.

Sincerely,
Fireheart47



 

One of the things which I've been reminded to consider is my privilege to be able to do what I do without immediate consequences. For example, the privilege to read the Bible and the Qur'an. I also come from a place with resources, education and other advantages. If it wasn't for the struggles, I wouldn't have pursued trying to understand the Qur'an and scriptures the way I have. I feel as if good to acknowledge the constructive role of bad things to alleviate worries. Yet, it is the material advantage which allows me to do what I do. My hope is that I can flow and be part of the many.

I feel as if I should still provide my perspective when it is needed or requested, however I seek to be more conscious of the differences between people, and what role I play and how I influence. Forgive me if I misguide you. May God guide us. May God protect us from people and keep us and our loved ones safe.

Peace,

When I began to study the Qur'an, I was surprised by the meaning of the word Qur'an and its Hebrew cognate. For me this made total sense, because traditionally it is recited. Later, more recently, I thought about the verses, which refer to the Qur'an as a book, and this troubled me, because I asked myself, "Why would someone reciting something verbally refer to their speech as a book?".

Your inquiry and explanation of the multiple meanings of the word kitab in Arabic resolved this mystery, because it explains how the word kitab doesn't only mean book, instead also record and decree. Therefore, there would be no contradiction if understood in the original Arabic of the Qur'an.

Thank you for helping us learn more about the Qur'an and resolving doubts, which may hinder our faith in the important messages within the Qur'an.

Perhaps I should not discuss Bible verses in this forum category. If it has any value, it should be that the moral of the story has to be extracted from the whole chapter, because certain verses alone leave room for the imagination to introduce new ideas out of context. Perhaps the Qur'an requires similar intra-Surah analysis. People's minds had longer attention span back then, it seems. Concepts are spread apart across the Surah, for example the criticisms of self-loathing and automatic denial of wisdom in Judah found in Surah an-Nisa.

I haven't concluded in my understanding of 27:40. If you have a cogent understanding please share.

The verse reminds me of this article: https://www.islamicity.org/7691/understanding-kufr/

From my perspective, the Qur'an teaches how people cover up the truth (كفر), and they also deny it (كذب).

Especially in relation to the interpretation of scriptures. Just look at how people cover up and deny the sons of God (plural) in the Bible. I believe if it were not covered up or denied by believers, it would've directed our devotion to each other in servitude of God, rather than to statues and images of one person.
Although it might also cause people to feel like special, and better than others, hateful of "the sinners" (because we all are). That's why 1st Letter of John Chapter 3 discusses Cain and Abel, hate is the sin. 

The article has now been updated...

Your articles are always very informative. I found the other one about lunar calendar very insightful.

I agree with your argument in this article about kitab and hikmah, it being one and the same. Your discussion about the deeper meaning of kitab resolved one of my doubts of the Qur'an. I agree it makes sense for us to interpret it as a record or decree.

However, life experience shows me wisdom can be found outside of the scriptures. I'm sure the hadiths have some wisdom. Yet, when it pertains to religion, it makes sense to focus on the original documents and prioritize those.

I like when you mentioned the lack of intra-textual analysis. This is very descriptive of the thinking pattern, which is best to analyze the text to fullest potential.

Dogmatic thinking often causes people to fall into routine, and causes people to confuse faith in the unseen and receptivity with obedience. It can hinder the most important part of our faith, which is to treat other people well.

When I think of an example in the gospels, I think of the one Son of God and Son of Man versus the many more examples of Sons of God, Sons of Devil, and Sons of Gehenna, and many of other examples in the Hebrew Bible and other Jewish literature (ex: Sons of Prophets [bnei nevim]). Most people ignore these metaphors, because they contradict the practice of worshipping Jesus. I don't think he would've wanted that, and would've wanted us to worship God and help others. He is quoted, however, telling his disciples that he set forth an example for them to know the Father, which again is a less-frequently occurring metaphor used in the Hebrew Bible for God, which seems to have been popularized at the time of Jesus in certain Jewish communities. The apparent contradiction between Qur'an and Bible, seems to orient us towards a perspective of the gospels, which supports the historical worldview, where it makes most sense that it is not literal father nor literal son, rather a metaphor or attribute, and for all who behave that way, not just one.


My questions are:

What did you mean when you said this about 27:40? Can you help me understand this verse? To me it doesn't seem to say that, was it a mistake?

natural laws of the universe for example (see the interesting example of 27:40).

Also, can you help me understand Surah at-Tahrim 66:3? What does it mean by

she informed [another] of it and Allah showed it to him, he made known part of it and ignored a part

?

May God guide us. May God protect us.

During my studies, I studied a major within the plant sciences. I took a course on genetics, which focused on human and animal genetics. Plant genetics is an important topic, because it is where the first contributions to the study of genetics occurred, and also other fields within biology.

This is important and sensitive information. Before the mechanics of genetics was understood, people used the concept of genetics to murder millions of innocent people. It goes to show how easily people can manipulate the truth. This occurred after World War 1, which created the conditions where people were not at their healthiest and sound of mind.

The simple lesson from the course, which I learned: DNA instructs the production of RNA and proteins.

The false idea that DNA affects everything is called, "genetic determinism". Some of it is controlled by societal factors (how parents treated us, how their parents treated them, generational trauma, wealth, poverty, diet).

There are many factors, which influence our being.

In other biology courses, we talked about "emergent features", which show how complicated functions arise from the simple functions. This is an important topic. DNA is near the bottom of a long list of processes and structures, which contribute to higher function. This is why there is a lot of risk in changing DNA, and RNA.

I have faith we are not doomed. I have faith God will protect us. One of my reasons is that DNA is not the main process influencing complicated processes. For example, if you studied a fish in the ocean, and I told you it happened because of the formation of the Milky Way galaxy, it wouldn't give you the relevant processes. Yet without the proper formation of the Milky Way galaxy, Earth wouldn't exist, neither us or the fish. For this reason, I believe our collective understanding of DNA does not seem to be accurate, which gives room for unexpected protection for honest mistakes.

This is one reason I am very critical of Genetic Engineering (GE). DNA is at the beginning of a complicated process tree, and changing it can have unintended consequences. Also, because changes which are made do not appear to be reversible.

In the case of crop seeds, new GE crops get bred and replace the old seed. I am unaware of any GE crops which affect our health through consumption. This could be an important research topic. It is entirely possible, a GE crop could produce an unwanted metabolite. This is something researchers are interested in. Yet, it certainly is a problem for the future genetics of the crop species. Even conventional breeding can have detrimental effects, so why is it so controversial to speak out against the manipulation of some of the most important and consequential features of life on Earth?

I have faith in God, even though I cannot provide proof. My faith gives me hope there are things, which we don't understand which will protect us. Mechanisms in our bodies which protect us against mistakes.

In one course, they talked about how mosquitos can make changes to the expression of DNA through RNA interference. They often boasted about this, because it disproved the naysayers against GE. This doesn't change the risk of changing the fundamental processes at the beginning of chains of processes we don't seem to understand.

We have many warners, and yet we do not listen. We also have many people who fight for a cause they do not know the consequences of. We have people who try to manipulate others, because they realize they can't convince others with information.

One example is how people use a creative interpretation of Genetically Modified Organism (GMO), which says traditionally bred animals and crops are also GMO. This gives the false impression, that the proposed GMO is normal and not new. For this reason, I refer to it as Genetically Engineered (GE).

There are many terrible things in this world, and it is easy to fall into a very negative mindset. One which enables us to act against God's will for peace, and contributes more to the problems. I believe in the power of prayer. I also believe in the power of people. For this reason, I feel obligated to warn you all, and to try my best to give you reassurances if you feel scared about the current moment.

However, I am fallible, elementary, and only human. May God protect us, and may God grant us peace to talk to people and treat each other as we would want to be treated. May God help us win people's hearts, and to find peace in our inability to control the world.

One topic related to knowledge and science, and also to the aforementioned verse, is the topic of miracles.

Many dismiss the possibilities of miracles, because they often think of the unrealistic stories we often told to accept by force, which contradict common sense. Many stories could've been exaggerated through time, changed through the game of telephone and hearsay, yet which still hold an element of truth, or a moral.

One certain miracle is how any of the holy scriptures have maintained a comparatively high degree of stability through countless scribes and thousands of years, with ancient wisdom and visions into the ancient past to savor.

There are things which defy our understanding and there some things we cannot study well.

The scientific method is a method to discover knowledge, which has been the best method to discover truths in our world. The scientific method requires building a hypothesis, experimentation, logical interpretation of data, and a conclusion, or continuation. It also requires peer-review, and this is what distinguishes it from religion. Because science ideally seeks to be refuted, until it arrives to certainty.

Religion teaches other truths. Truths about how people interact, how to expect the unexpected, and teaches the importance of faith.

The scientific method is really good at discovering the mechanistic properties of the universe, yet if something can only occur once, or appear to occur once, it is difficult to study. Also, even though the scientific process is logically oriented and the work scrutinized by others with a logical standard, the hypothesis building process can be illogical and involves faith. The way someone's life journey unfolds towards a certain topic can be a mystery, which is hard to predict. Often people have dreams or experience something illogical, which inspires them (ex: Mendeleev's Dream). Many times emotions, opinions, and worldviews influence what topics receive more attention, and what topics should be refuted.

Even our refutations belong at first to the world of imagination, possibilities upon possibilities.

It is important to distinguish the ideals of scientific method and the reality. The reality is that many people educate others and contribute to our collective opinions, and fewer participate in the real process.

How can we explain how events coincide? How does time work? And are the miracles we experience illusions, which appear to be exceptions to the rules? Or is there something we just can't understand? Perhaps if we satisfy ourselves with the unexpected goodness, we can receive its benefit. I've been told often people shun good things which come their way, because of self-perception.

May God help us. May God allow us to accept the miracles in our lives and to not feel excessive fear, rather to use discernment when necessary. May God help us have an ordered mind, which is not too rigid, yet natural and productive, so we can discover and do more good.

Praise belongs to God, the Lord of all Being.

One perspective, which I think should be considered, is the complexity of the world and in our inability to understand it and communicate it perfectly. One term which I found intriguing was "Black Swan event". It seems there are many factors which contribute to big events in history, and we are only able to understand it collectively in hindsight. Some of these factors include societal issues we aren't all aware of, or if we are, we often dismiss them because of other things. Sometimes it is hard to communicate this with others, because many are dogmatic and disrespectful about things beyond their true knowledge, when sometimes it is good to say, "It could be." or "It might be." or "I find that one thing you said interesting." There are also timescales we aren't well adjusted to and so this can challenge our expectations of how events unfold. I was told by my brother, we should leave room for miracles, so we allow an opportunity for good things to happen unexpectedly. So we can heal from chronic issues. I strive to find simple ways to live, simple ingredients in food, simple attitudes towards others and ourselves, and simple methods behind solving problems, in order to avoid unintended consequences. I believe God is merciful, and we are given many chances to make the right choices. May God guide us and show us what we need to know, and for our faith to be strengthened for the uncertainties and a purpose to survive the struggles, like Viktor Frankl talked about.