Apologetics: Flippin’ Fatwa Friday – Screw It. We’re Gonna Speed Run Surah 2:159-202.

It’s been at least three months since I last wrote a Flippin’ Fatwa Friday post criticizing the Quran. We’ve gotten 158 verses into this thing, though I hoped to be in Surah 3 by now. So, I’m going to switch tactics and instead of going chunk by chunk, I’m just going to speed run a massive chunk of it, picking out the ridiculous stuff so we can finally be done with it sooner.

Starting with Surah 2:159-171, we get a bunch of stuff about Allah’s clear guidance, both as revealed in the Quran and in nature. It talks about how wrong non-Muslims are for not worshipping Allah despite those things, how they’re cursed by Allah and the angels, and how Muslims are to stay faithful to Allah. Real fun stuff.

Moving on from that into Surah 2:172-173, we get some food laws. One would think that the section on food laws would be longer, similar to what we get in the Torah, but no. Instead, we just get two measly verses, which say:

^172.O ye who believe! Eat of the good things that We have provided for you, and be grateful to Allah, if it is Him ye worship. ^173. He hath only forbidden you dead meat, and blood, and the flesh of swine, and that on which any other name hath been invoked besides that of Allah. But if one is forced by necessity, without willful disobedience, nor transgressing due limits,- then is he guiltless. For Allah is Oft-forgiving Most Merciful.

Interestingly, the only reason I can think of why these food laws are here is because the Quran is the really bad fanfic of the Bible that tries to be like it but fails miserably. Other than that, I’m not sure why it’s here.

Then we have Surah 2: 174-176, which talks about people concealing Allah’s revelations for profit. These verses aren’t talking about the Quran, but, according to the Islamic scholar Ibn Kathir, are talking about the Jews allegedly hiding verses in the Torah that showed Muhammad to be a prophet. Some Muslims may try to use these verses to show how the Bible has somehow been corrupted, but in the context, it seems that the Quran is talking about them hiding these supposed verses in their oral recitations. It says nothing of the actual text itself.

Verse 177 illustrates how Islam offers a works-based salvation, giving readers a laundry-list of things to do to get in Allah’s good graces. Verses 178-179 talks about equal retribution, but not in the sense that we would think of it. The way we Westerners who have grown up in a world built on Christianity would see equality and justice would be in the sense that all men are made equal in the eyes of God. There is neither slave nor free, man or woman. However, when the Quran talks about it, it’s only referring to equal retribution for your specific group, saying:

^178.O ye who believe! the law of equality is prescribed to you in cases of murder: the free for the free, the slave for the slave, the woman for the woman. But if any remission is made by the brother of the slain, then grant any reasonable demand, and compensate him with handsome gratitude, this is a concession and a Mercy from your Lord. After this whoever exceeds the limits shall be in grave penalty.

Surah 2:180-182 talks about what to do with your possessions after you die, and 183-187 talk about Ramadan. I’ve already written a post, on this, which you can check out here.

After that, verse 188 seems to be randomly thrown in, telling people essentially not to usurp other people’s wealth or possessions through various means, before jumping into the topic of times to worship Allah in verse 189 and how to enter a house.

Because how you enter a house is as important to Allah as how you pee. I wish I were joking, but that’s Islam for you.

Surah 2:190-194, however, isn’t so funny, as it commands Muslims to wage jihad. While Muslims will argue that the fighting mentioned here only refers to self-defense in cases of persecution, we need to ask what counts as persecution? Is persecution something that happens when you’re actually being attacked and your life and community is at risk just for existing? Or is it anything that you don’t like, such as mockery, and self-defense on their part? The reason I bring this up is because Islam has had a long history of its followers whining about being persecuted, even though they instigated the attack by mocking or attacking the other side.

As though that wasn’t bad enough, verse 195 then tells Muslims to spend money in the cause of jihad. The Quran literally tells them to finance wars against the infidels.

Finally, verses 196-202 talk about the Hajj, which I’ve also done a post on which you can read here.

Until next time,

M.J.