RE: Allah messed up with calculations.. again..
February 7, 2011 at 4:16 am
(This post was last modified: February 7, 2011 at 4:29 am by Rayaan.)
You do have the ratios correct but you're missing a point here.
The thing is that the verses are not saying that the Muslims "can" or "will" defeat such-and-such number of enemies. Rather, this is a rule or a law that Allah gave to Muhammad (pbuh) so that he follows this method whenever decides to set up an army against an opposing side. It's not a prediction, but only a commandment, which is telling the Prophet how to determine the number of Muslims he should prepare in relation to the number of non-Muslims. I'll break it down and see if it becomes a little clearer to you.
Verse 8:65 says:
- Twenty Muslims shall overtake two hundred of the opposition.
- A hundred Muslims shall overtake a thousand of the opposition.
This means that for every Muslim there has to be 10 non-Muslims (a ratio of 1 to 10).
Verse 8:66 says:
- A hundred Muslims shall overtake two hundred of the opposition.
- A thousand Muslims shall overtake two thousand of the opposition.
This means that for every Muslim there has to be 2 non-Muslims (a ratio of 1 to 2).
As you already know, the ratio in verse 65 is much lower than the ratio in verse 66. Why? Because Allah said that he lowered their burden:
"Now hath Allah lightened your burden, for He knows that there is weakness in you." (8:66).
So, it clearly shows that Allah lightened the burden upon the Muslims due to their weakness. Thus, instead of one hundred Muslims having to take on a thousand (verse 65) they can now take on two hundred only (verse 66). It is a change of decree from Allah to show his mercy toward the Muslims.
Here's an analogy to make it even simpler:
Let's say that a science teacher assigned 2 projects throughout the whole semester. For each project, there has to be 4 students working on it. But later, the teacher wanted to make the workload a little bit easier for them, and that's why, he said that now there has to 5 people working on it instead of 4.
So before, the ratio of the number of projects to the number of students was 2 to 4 (or 4 students per project), and later the ratio became 2 to 5 (or 5 students per project). This means that the amount of work for each of the students is less of a burden than before. Each student has less work to do for a project in the same way that Allah reduced the number of enemies for the Muslims during a battle (as I already explained above). In both cases, the burden was reduced by simply changing the value of the ratios.
The thing is that the verses are not saying that the Muslims "can" or "will" defeat such-and-such number of enemies. Rather, this is a rule or a law that Allah gave to Muhammad (pbuh) so that he follows this method whenever decides to set up an army against an opposing side. It's not a prediction, but only a commandment, which is telling the Prophet how to determine the number of Muslims he should prepare in relation to the number of non-Muslims. I'll break it down and see if it becomes a little clearer to you.
Verse 8:65 says:
- Twenty Muslims shall overtake two hundred of the opposition.
- A hundred Muslims shall overtake a thousand of the opposition.
This means that for every Muslim there has to be 10 non-Muslims (a ratio of 1 to 10).
Verse 8:66 says:
- A hundred Muslims shall overtake two hundred of the opposition.
- A thousand Muslims shall overtake two thousand of the opposition.
This means that for every Muslim there has to be 2 non-Muslims (a ratio of 1 to 2).
As you already know, the ratio in verse 65 is much lower than the ratio in verse 66. Why? Because Allah said that he lowered their burden:
"Now hath Allah lightened your burden, for He knows that there is weakness in you." (8:66).
So, it clearly shows that Allah lightened the burden upon the Muslims due to their weakness. Thus, instead of one hundred Muslims having to take on a thousand (verse 65) they can now take on two hundred only (verse 66). It is a change of decree from Allah to show his mercy toward the Muslims.
Here's an analogy to make it even simpler:
Let's say that a science teacher assigned 2 projects throughout the whole semester. For each project, there has to be 4 students working on it. But later, the teacher wanted to make the workload a little bit easier for them, and that's why, he said that now there has to 5 people working on it instead of 4.
So before, the ratio of the number of projects to the number of students was 2 to 4 (or 4 students per project), and later the ratio became 2 to 5 (or 5 students per project). This means that the amount of work for each of the students is less of a burden than before. Each student has less work to do for a project in the same way that Allah reduced the number of enemies for the Muslims during a battle (as I already explained above). In both cases, the burden was reduced by simply changing the value of the ratios.
