chapter 30, my thoughts...

Transltion from http://www.submission.org/quran/webqt.php compare up to six different translations side by side


30:0
In the name of GOD, Most Gracious, Most Merciful.
30:1
A. L. M.
30:2
Certainly, the Romans will be defeated.
30:3
In the nearest land. After their defeat, they will rise again and win.
30:4
Within several years. Such is God's decision, both in the first prophecy, and the second.
On that day, the believers shall rejoice
30:5
in GOD's victory. He grants victory to whomever He wills. He is the Almighty, Most Merciful.
30:6
Such is GOD's promise - and GOD never breaks His promise - but most people do not know.
30:7
They care only about things of this world that are visible to them, while being totally oblivious to the Hereafter.
30:8
Why do they not reflect on themselves? GOD did not create the heavens and the earth, and everything between them
except for a specific purpose, and for a specific life span. However, most people, with regard to meeting their
Lord, are disbelievers.
30:9
Have they not roamed the earth and noted the consequences for those who preceded them? They used to be more powerful
more prosperous, and more productive on earth. Their messengers went to them with clear signs. Consequently,
GOD was not the One who wronged them, they are the ones who wronged their own souls.
30:10
The consequences for those who committed evil had to be evil. That is because they rejected GOD's revelations,
and ridiculed them.
30:11
GOD is the One who initiates the creation and repeats it. Ultimately, you will be returned to Him.
30:12
On the Day when the Hour comes to pass, the guilty will be shocked.
30:13
Their idols will have no power to intercede on their behalf; on the contrary, they will disown their idols.
30:14
On the day when the Hour comes to pass, they will part company.
30:15
As for those who believe and lead a righteous life, they will be in Paradise, rejoicing.
30:16
As for those who disbelieve, and reject our revelations and the meeting of the Hereafter, they will last in
the retribution forever.
30:17
Therefore, you shall glorify GOD when you retire at night, and when you rise in the morning.
30:18
All praise is due to Him in the heavens and the earth, throughout the evening, as well as in the middle of your day.
30:19
He produces the live from the dead, and produces the dead from the live, and He revives the land after it
had died; you are similarly resurrected.
30:20
Among His proofs is that He created you from dust, then you became reproducing humans.
30:21
Among His proofs is that He created for you spouses from among yourselves, in order to have tranquillity
and contentment with each other, and He placed in your hearts love and care towards your spouses. In this,
there are sufficient proofs for people who think.
30:22
Among His proofs are the creation of the heavens and the earth, and the variations in your languages
and your colors. In these, there are signs for the knowledgeable.
30:23
Among His proofs is your sleeping during the night or the day, and your working in pursuit of His provisions.
In this, there are sufficient proofs for people who can hear.
30:24
Among His proofs is that He shows you the lightning as a source of fear, as well as hope, then He sends down
from the sky water to revive a land that has been dead. In these, there are sufficient proofs for people who
understand.
30:25
Among His proofs is that the heaven and the earth are standing at His disposal. Finally, when He calls you out
of the earth, one call, you will immediately come out.
30:26
To Him belongs everyone in the heavens and the earth; all are subservient to Him.
30:27
And He is the One who initiates the creation, then repeats it; this is even easier for Him. To Him belongs the
most sublime similitude, in the heavens and the earth, and He is the Almighty, Most Wise.
30:28
He cites for you herein an example from among yourselves: Do you ever elevate your servants or subordinates to
the level where they rival you, and to the point that you pay them as much allegiance as is being paid to you?
We thus explain the revelations for people who understand.
30:29
Indeed, the transgressors have followed their own opinions, without knowledge. Who then can guide those who have
been sent astray by GOD? No one can ever help them.
30:30
Therefore, you shall devote yourself to the religion of strict monotheism. Such is the natural instinct placed
into the people by GOD. Such creation of GOD will never change. This is the perfect religion, but most people
do not know.
30:31
You shall submit to Him, reverence Him, observe the Contact Prayers (Salat), and - whatever you do - do not ever
fall into idol worship.
30:32
(Do not fall in idol worship,) like those who divide their religion into sects; each party rejoicing with what
they have.
30:33
When adversity afflicts the people, they turn to their Lord, totally devoting themselves to Him. But then,
as soon as He showers them with mercy, some of them revert to idol worship.
30:34
Let them be unappreciative of what we have given them. Enjoy temporarily; you will surely find out.
30:35
Have we given them authorization that justifies their idolatry?
30:36
When we bestow mercy upon the people, they rejoice therein. But when adversity befalls them, as a consequence
of their own works, they become despondent.
30:37
Do they not realize that GOD increases the provision for whomever He wills, or reduces it? These should be
lessons for people who believe.
30:38
Therefore, you shall give the relatives their rightful share (of charity), as well as the poor, and the
traveling alien. This is better for those who sincerely seek GOD's pleasure; they are the winners.
30:39
The usury that is practiced to increase some people's wealth, does not gain anything at GOD. But if you
give to charity, seeking GOD's pleasure, these are the ones who receive their reward manifold.
30:40
GOD is the One who created you. He is the One who provides for you. He is the One who puts you to death.
He is the One who resurrects you. Can any of your idols do any of these things? Be He glorified. He is
much too exalted to have any partners.
30:41
Disasters have spread throughout the land and sea, because of what the people have committed. He thus
lets them taste the consequences of some of their works, that they may return (to the right works).
30:42
Say, "Roam the earth and note the consequences for those before you." Most of them were idol worshipers.
30:43
Therefore, you shall devote yourself completely to this perfect religion, before a day comes which is
made inevitable by GOD. On that day, they will be shocked.
30:44
Whoever disbelieves, disbelieves to the detriment of his own soul, while those who lead a righteous life,
do so to strengthen and develop their own souls.
30:45
For He will generously recompense those who believe and lead a righteous life from His bounties. He does
not love the disbelievers.
30:46
Among His proofs is that He sends the winds with good omen, to shower you with His mercy, and to allow
the ships to run in the sea in accordance with His rules, and for you to seek His bounties (through commerce),
that you may be appreciative.
30:47
We have sent messengers before you to their people, with profound signs. Subsequently, we punished those
who transgressed. It is our duty that we grant victory to the believers.
30:48
GOD is the One who sends the winds, to stir up clouds, to be spread throughout the sky in accordance with
His will. He then piles the clouds up, then you see the rain coming down therefrom. When it falls on whomever
He chooses from among His servants, they rejoice.
30:49
Before it fell on them, they had resorted to despair.
30:50
You shall appreciate GOD's continuous mercy, and how He revives the land that has been dead. He will just
as certainly resurrect the dead. He is Omnipotent.
30:51
Had we sent upon them instead a yellow sandstorm, they would have continued to disbelieve.
30:52
You cannot make the dead, nor the deaf, hear the call, once they turn away.
30:53
Nor can you guide the blind out of their straying. You can only be heard by those who believe in our revelations,
and decide to become submitters.
30:54
GOD is the One who created you weak, then granted you after the weakness strength, then substituted after the
strength weakness and gray hair. He creates whatever He wills. He is the Omniscient, the Omnipotent.
30:55
On the day when the Hour comes to pass, the guilty will swear that they lasted (in this world) only one hour.
That is how wrong they were.
30:56
Those who are blessed with knowledge and faith will say, "You have lasted, according to GOD's decree, until
the Day of Resurrection. Now, this is the Day of Resurrection, but you failed to recognize it."
30:57
Therefore, no apology, on that day, will benefit the transgressors, nor will they be excused.
30:58
Thus, we have cited for the people in this Quran all kinds of examples. Yet, no matter what kind of proof
you present to the disbelievers, they say, "You are falsifiers."
30:59
GOD thus seals the hearts of those who do not know.
30:60
Therefore, you shall steadfastly persevere - for GOD's promise is the truth - and do not be intimidated
by those who have not attained certainty.
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This is what I am perchance to be reading this month and some of its verses stopped me dead and made me consider some things
you see, when i read, i like to circle things that outwardly jumps at me for reference sake and also so that i can mull over it,
and in reading this chapter a couple of things that i don't understand....
the first of these is the first 4 verses... the one about Rome.... now there are some times when i consider things to be important and
there are some times when i don't... This verse i don't understand purely because i am not too clear what happened in the "Roman era"
so i am not going to make any conjecture about it...
sometimes i feel , some things concern me and others dont... The ones that do - i will worry about them.. and the ones that don't - " you have guessed my reply"
Verse 5 and 6 are pretty self explanatory for me as God's victory will always be established as it always has been as is Gods' promise, for "His word will always come to pass"
Verse 6-7 got me thinking about myself, and about people... the saying " care only about things of this world that are visible to them, while being totally oblivious to the Hereafter"
is interesting because in reality it is true... We only focus on the things of this life, family, children, money, career, friends while not being concerned of the things of the after life...
these things, money, friends and family etc. have no weight or relevance in the hereafter and as such i wonder why we seek these things...
It is hard, i know and it is only with clear mind and focus that one can seek to live this life as we have it... because the trappings are many and temptous...
but we don't realise that it is as such... The Christians say something like "the poor will inherit the earth" and this statement
is indicative of this need by us to acquire all these trappings which - believe it or not - are the same things that may tempt us from the path of the Most high..
it is all a balance i guess, as long as one is clear that priority lies with God first and foremost and everything comes second...

you have money, you seek money, this involved spending time, calculating time , loads of money can lead to other things, this also tempts you from the path of god, The search of the money also when you haven't got it may make you do things that under normal
circumstances you wont even consider
you have friends, they need your time, need your attention, want you to go out with them, socialise which in itself may lead you off the path of the most high, you are in their company, things are said, tongues are loosened.. beliefs are lost in hope of
preserving friendships... is that being true to the most high???
You have family, this very family will test you, they want your attention, you need to look after them, these things which will take time and energy, time that can be devoted to God...
You have family, children, husband/wife that wants your time, house needs grooming, food needs organising, children needs tending to... all these takes time and may lead you off the path of the most high... husband/wife needs tlc, needs cuddling, needs love making
needs us time... time that can be better spent in the cause of the most high... you know one should be careful of what they wish for because the everything that you seek may be the very thing that costs you your soul... and as such, I in myself ask the most
High to provide for me that which is good for me from Him, in the time that befits me... as only He will know that
Verse 8-16
these verses are clear as well in itself. God asks us to believe and lead righteous lives... its not about what religion that you belong to, because I am getting here that it dont matter... believe and lead a righteous life!!
The consequences of not doing that is loosing your soul in the hereafter, which some people call "eternal damnation"
Verse 17-18
this verse jumped out at me because it relates to praising and glorifying God..
the first part starts glorify God when you retire at night and when you rise in the morning and the second part goes praise God throughout the evening as well as in the middle of your day.
Glory be to God!! why so i smirk... well its because of this prayer thing... what i have found as per my own reading is the 3 prayers as i have already mentioned... and for me prayer is before sunrise, from the sun's decline at highest point as it approaches
sunset and just after sunset... At night what we are asked to do is to meditate on god...
this is what i feel it has mentioned here... glorify God when you retire at night - meditate on god, read Quran and generally praise God... remember the verse where it says at night we should be saying " My Lord admit me a honourable admittance and let me
depart a honourable departure and grant me from thee a powerful support"
" During the night, you shall meditate for extra credit, that your lord may raise you to a honourable rank
And say, "My lord admit me an honourable admittance and let me depart an honourable departure and grant me from you a powerful support"
Proclaim - Truth has prevailed and falsehood has vanished; falsehood will inevitably vanish. (17:80-81)
Glorifying God when you rise: this is the morning prayer/fajr prayer
Praising God in evening: this is the after sunset before the advent of darkness
Both earlier statements are linked via surah 11:14 ""You shall observe the contact prayers at both ends of the daylight, that is, during the adjacent hours of the night. . . " ( bearing in mind that this surah is a bone of contention amongst us all in terms of
interpreting... but for me this here one logifies it for me..)
Praising God in middle of day is linked via surah 2:238 "You shall consistently observe the contact prayers, especially the MIDDLE PRAYER, and devote yourselves totally to God." .
as is all linked by 20:130 "Therefore, be patient in the face of their utterances, and praise and glorify your Lord before sunrise and before sunset. And during the night glorify Him, as well as at both ends of the day, that you may be happy". I have a different thought to this whole thing
This life, fraught with everything... I find it interesting and perplexing... God guide us to the straight path
Verse 18-20
Self explanatory..
Verse21
i find this verse poignant.... probably because i have just seen a bollywood movie "rab ne bana di Jodi" which delved into intricacies on "own choice marriage" and "arranged marriage"
"Among His proofs is that He created for you spouses from among yourselves, in order to have tranquillity and contentment with each other, and He placed in your hearts love and care towards your spouses. In this, there are sufficient proofs for people who think"
interesting choice....in the film it was an arranged marriage however from that it blossomed or turned into a love marriage... God in His wonders eh!!!.
Verse 22-27
Self explanatory for me
Verse 28
"He cites for you herein an example from among yourselves: Do you ever elevate your servants or subordinates to the level where they rival you, and to the point that you pay them as much allegiance as is being paid to you?
We thus explain the revelations for people who understand"
This here verse stopped me in my tracks.... I went click!! click!! click!!!. lets look at it in the light of "God plus mohammed" and "God plus Jesus" debacle. From my earlier notes, I have stood that it is God alone, and not God plus anybody... (
" God be Glorified far above having any partners or allies" )
Mohammed and Jesus and anyone else for that matter are Gods servants, messengers, whatever term you want to look at it...
Now first apply the statement on the verse you yourself... and then look at it in the lines of the "God alone" and "God plus" palaver??
ha ha ha ha ha ha ha
this one made me laugh... here we are trying to tell people about God alone, where the Quran specifically states God alone, Where i feel it is clear God alone, and here it in black and white in "allegory terms" for us to ponder.
because Yes, what is our community doing .... we are upholding these messengers, these servants to the level of our creator... and it should not be... should it... whereby that we cannot say a prayer to our creator without
"paying allegiance to a prophet/saint/whatever" in hope that our prayers may be answered... which should not be should it...
Does the Quran not state that there is no intercession unless it coincides with the will of the Almighty... how can there be anyways... logic here please. these people that we want to intercede for us don't even know us, haven't smelt us, haven't dealt with us... so how can
they know if our heart is pure or not... I state again God holds all authority in this life and here after Forever, let us be clear it is all about God alone...
You have God and you have servant... but we praise servant and love servant much more than we love God... and i defy anyone who realises within himself to tell me that what i am saying is wrong!!! because that is what we are doing both Christians who feel
Jesus is their saviour and light and the Muslims who feel Mohammed will save them and intercede for them...
Verse 29-32
Self explanatory and is indicative of what is happening in our community today...
"Devote yourself to strict monotheism" - God alone??? has it sunk in yet...
"Do not ever fall into idol worship" - Anything beside God is idol worship... is it still sinking in...
"like those who divide religion into sects, each party rejoicing in what they had" - is that not what we have now... Christian _ Anglican,. Baptist Pentecostal, Jews, orthodox, unorthodox, Muslims shia, Sunni, Zoroastrians etc... laughing my head out loud..
Verse 33-37
thought provoking stuff here... but self explanatory
Verse 38
talks about charity and giving, relatives, poor and the travelling alien.... for me this makes me think... how do i give relatives share of charity... except those that probably ask for it... ( which is a hard fete because i purposely run away from family members and
their wahala you know... will have to stop doing that...) how easy is it to just go up there and say here take this money... wouldn't they be offended? probably easier for the children because as is with our culture, you generally give young children stuff... hmmm i have
to ponder this one still.. God help me... also same applied to where i live in terms of poor... other than those visible people looking for alms, its is not as prevalent as in for instance Nigeria.... other than maybe the charity organisations that collect for
poor like Oxfam or something like that....
and where does one find a travelling alien/wayfarer: expect for by the grace of God obviously... hmmm. travelling alien.... hmmm ponder for thought
Verse 39-51
Self explanatory
Verse 52-57
interesting aint it....
Verse 58
All proof that worship is about God is in the Quran, yet people don't want to accept... when even in the quran itself there is no phenomenon like "God plus" but they still will not accept it..
they choose to look outside the word of God to find their additions, which takes us from the path of God... hmmm. in itself this is a big pondering...
When God alone is not enuff that you seek to take guidance from man... when Gods scripture is not enough that we seek to take guidance from people,
When we don't trust that God can inspire you to the meaning of His words that you seek inspiration from people and when we don't trust that God can guide us to his path that we seek guidance from our fellow man, when we don't believe that to God belongs all
control that we fear our other man, that we deify man as saviour as guardian...
Verse 59-60
for me a perfect ending will be, My Lord, allow me to be appreciative of the blessing that you have bestowed upon me., inspire me by thy will to remember thee always, to praise thee and glorify thee.
Grant me from thee your support and help, that evermore i be tied to thee with bonds so strong, that wherever whatever, regardless of the situation the only thing from my lips be " Praise be to the lord of the universe"