This about the Verse 17/107 of the Koran. It is a very short verse but it’s translation to our modern languages is going to demonstrate everything I want to demonstrate. So here is an ordinary translation I found on the Internet. The title of the verse is translated as “charity” or “small charities”:
- So there is nothing here to exaggerate: The Koran is saying that we must not forget to make some charity works while at the same time accomplishing our daily prayers and rituals. That’s what this short Verse says right?
- In my country there is a (much respected) Islamic scholar who wrote a 550 pages book on this verse alone. So let me share his translation. The title is “Supporting the poor” (By the State or the Social State).
[This is not about Atheists. It's about hypocrites who pretend to be Muslims / Individuals who have surrendered to God]
[The idea of a social state appears very early in Islam. So here the emphasis is on corrupt persons who will use even the resources destined to children without parents for their own profit]
[Same idea. This is a universal theme here. It talks about (for instance) far-right politicians who want to reduce taxes on the richest and decrease public spending on health, education, the old, the homeless etc.]
[Christians criticize Muslims for repeating their prayers in Arabic without even knowing the meaning of these verses. This is comparable to pre-Luther Christianity in which the Church almost forbade the reading of the Bible by ordinary people. Here the Koran is telling us that we need to understand what we are reading. And this is a huge theme in the Koran that is repeated in many other places. + In one place: The devil wows to God by telling him “I will make those worthless humans read your books without even understanding them / I will use your own spiritual teachings against those worthless humans” / So this is a subject that can be debated even more further]
[The message here is quite obvious. I am directly thinking of the Catholic Church before the reform movement and/or political Islamists and even the Shah of Iran until 1979 and/or the Ottoman dynasty in the last century of the empire or even the leaders of some “spiritual” movements of our time; Like Scientology for instance. In short: This is about everyone to try to fool intellectually weaker people with spirituality based lies to extract resources and time from them]
[Again: It seems like people with a crazy hair cut and showing up with a chain-saw to cut down all branches who were designed to feed the poor and the homeless is not an novelty of the 21st century]
- So I have been focused on this issue these days. In our century we have much more direct and to the point spiritual teaching like A Course in Miracles. But ancient monotheistic books have been the main focus of spirituality in almost all pre-modern societies. Atheism sees these books as stories designed to hypnotize the masses by some sort of religious/spiritual elite. To this I must answer that both Islam and Judaism tried to do all they could to prohibit this “elite” or “intermediary” to emerge in the first place.
But this is just how the human Ego (the Adversary) works. Even if you record something on paper and find ways preserve these writings in the centuries that will follow, you can omit the translation of one word, distort the meaning of one phrase and even a 7 line long verse ends up becoming something completely different. As you see:
Ex 1: It’s called “Small Kindnesses” and it says “Do your prayer and other religious duties and don’t forget to give money to the poor”
Ex 2: It’s called “The Social State” and it says “Don’t be fooled by these bigots who only think of helping the rich without any care for ordinary people. Don’t let them fool you even if they seem highly spiritual and virtuous in terms of spirituality. Don’t believe in them because they are ego-centric liars”.
A similar misconception in the Bible (that I know of) is Eve being created from the rib of Adam. Someone told me that this was a translation mistake. The Hebrew word “tsela” or “side” meant actually that she was created on the side of Adam / as an equal to Adam. (Correct me if I am wrong).
Quote: “1. Have you seen the one who denies the day of Judgement?
2. For that is the one who drives away the orphan
3. And does not encourage the feeding of the poor.
4. So woe to those who pray
5. [And] who are heedless of their prayer—
6. Those who make show [of their deeds]
7. And withhold [simple] assistance”
- So there is nothing here to exaggerate: The Koran is saying that we must not forget to make some charity works while at the same time accomplishing our daily prayers and rituals. That’s what this short Verse says right?
- In my country there is a (much respected) Islamic scholar who wrote a 550 pages book on this verse alone. So let me share his translation. The title is “Supporting the poor” (By the State or the Social State).
Quote:1. Have you seen those who believe that religion as a lie?
[This is not about Atheists. It's about hypocrites who pretend to be Muslims / Individuals who have surrendered to God]
Quote:2. They are the ones who oppress / try to make profits from even the orphans.
[The idea of a social state appears very early in Islam. So here the emphasis is on corrupt persons who will use even the resources destined to children without parents for their own profit]
Quote:3. They will pursue policies who do not promote the feeding of the poor.
[Same idea. This is a universal theme here. It talks about (for instance) far-right politicians who want to reduce taxes on the richest and decrease public spending on health, education, the old, the homeless etc.]
Quote:4. These are people who despite doing their prayers and other rituals regularly,
5. Are 100% unaware in their spiritual practices.
[Christians criticize Muslims for repeating their prayers in Arabic without even knowing the meaning of these verses. This is comparable to pre-Luther Christianity in which the Church almost forbade the reading of the Bible by ordinary people. Here the Koran is telling us that we need to understand what we are reading. And this is a huge theme in the Koran that is repeated in many other places. + In one place: The devil wows to God by telling him “I will make those worthless humans read your books without even understanding them / I will use your own spiritual teachings against those worthless humans” / So this is a subject that can be debated even more further]
Quote:6. They are the ones who are the hypocrites. They do those prayers and rituals just to show off / to obtain benefits from other people.
[The message here is quite obvious. I am directly thinking of the Catholic Church before the reform movement and/or political Islamists and even the Shah of Iran until 1979 and/or the Ottoman dynasty in the last century of the empire or even the leaders of some “spiritual” movements of our time; Like Scientology for instance. In short: This is about everyone to try to fool intellectually weaker people with spirituality based lies to extract resources and time from them]
Quote:7. And these are people who are categorically opposed to the use of public resources to help, support and sustain people in need.
[Again: It seems like people with a crazy hair cut and showing up with a chain-saw to cut down all branches who were designed to feed the poor and the homeless is not an novelty of the 21st century]
- So I have been focused on this issue these days. In our century we have much more direct and to the point spiritual teaching like A Course in Miracles. But ancient monotheistic books have been the main focus of spirituality in almost all pre-modern societies. Atheism sees these books as stories designed to hypnotize the masses by some sort of religious/spiritual elite. To this I must answer that both Islam and Judaism tried to do all they could to prohibit this “elite” or “intermediary” to emerge in the first place.
But this is just how the human Ego (the Adversary) works. Even if you record something on paper and find ways preserve these writings in the centuries that will follow, you can omit the translation of one word, distort the meaning of one phrase and even a 7 line long verse ends up becoming something completely different. As you see:
Ex 1: It’s called “Small Kindnesses” and it says “Do your prayer and other religious duties and don’t forget to give money to the poor”
Ex 2: It’s called “The Social State” and it says “Don’t be fooled by these bigots who only think of helping the rich without any care for ordinary people. Don’t let them fool you even if they seem highly spiritual and virtuous in terms of spirituality. Don’t believe in them because they are ego-centric liars”.
A similar misconception in the Bible (that I know of) is Eve being created from the rib of Adam. Someone told me that this was a translation mistake. The Hebrew word “tsela” or “side” meant actually that she was created on the side of Adam / as an equal to Adam. (Correct me if I am wrong).
![[Image: 7151bc275de2d3d422106a4008215efe.jpg]](https://i.pinimg.com/originals/71/51/bc/7151bc275de2d3d422106a4008215efe.jpg)
