The name of this surah (Al-Araf, the High Wall) is based on verse 46's description of a high wall separating heaven and hell (more on that later). This surah is from the same period as surah 6, probably coming either right before it or right after it, when Muhammads departure from Mecca was not far away. Verse 158 hints that Muhammad had been called "the prophet who can neither read nor write," and this feature, combined with the likelihood that that description was given to Muhammad by Jews in the vicinity of Medina, has resulted in the view that a few verses (158-160, and maybe a few more) were added as supplements in Medina.
The initials which form the first verse of this surah (Alif, Lam, Mim, Sad) are regarded by most Muslims as perpetual mysteries, along with their appearances at other surahs. However, Rodwell mentions an explanation: these letters may be abbreviations for the phrase "Amara Li Muhammad Sandiq" "Thus spake to me Muhammad the righteous/truthful." It would be very natural for an experienced secretary to develop a habit of prefixing such a phrase to his dictation-work.
After a word of self-endorsement in which the text assures Muhammad that it is truthful the idolaters of Mecca are instructed, as in 6:153, to follow Allahs way exclusively. Then the main subject of the surah is undertaken: the guarantee of punishment upon those who disobey Allah and His messengers. As verses 4-10 imply, Muhammad is going to elaborate on this theme by telling stories about previous messengers and the terrible punishments they received when they rejected Allahs messengers.
The first example of punishment for disobedience is Iblis, a.k.a. Satan (though the term "Satan" is not exclusively applied to the capital-D devil in the Quran). Verses 11-18 zoom in on the events that are summed up in 2:34 ~ the fall of Iblis/Satan. This material probably looks fairly original to most readers, but it isnt. At wesley.nnu.edu/noncanon/gospels/gosbart.htm and at www.pseudepigrapha.com/LostBooks/bartholomew.htm one can access an English translation of the pseudepigraphical book "The Questions of Bartholomew," also known as "The Gospel of Bartholomew," of which the Coptic manuscripts are assigned dates in the 400s and 500s. In the "Gospel of Bartholomew," Part IV, Bartholomew and the devil who appears as a huge dragon-creature have a conversation, and the devil tells Bartholomew about how he was formed in verse 28: "When God made the heavens, he took a handful of fire and formed me first." After a long list of angels and their duties, the text describes how Satan fell; in verses 53-56 the "Gospel of Bartholomew" says the following:
(53) "I [the devil] was going to and fro in the world [cf. Job 1:7], and God said unto Michael, "Bring me a clod from the four corners of the earth, and water out of the four rivers of paradise." And when Michael brought them, God formed Adam in the regions of the east, and shaped the clod which was shapeless, and stretched sinews and veins upon it and established it with joints. And he worshipped him, himself for his own sake first, because he was the image of God, therefore he worshipped him.
(54) And when I came from the ends of the earth, Michael said, "Worship thou the image of God, which he hath made according to his likeness." But I said, "I am fire of fire; I was the first angel formed, and shall I worship clay and matter?"
(55) And Michael said to me, "Worship, lest God be angry with thee." But I said to him, "God will not be angry with me; but I will set my throne over against his throne, and I will be as he is." Then God was angry with me and cast me down, having commanded the windows of heaven to be opened.
(56) And when I was cast down, he asked also the six hundred that were under me, if they would worship. But they said: "Like as we have seen the first angel do, neither will we worship him that is less than ourselves." Then were the six hundred also cast down by him with me."
The parallels between 7:11-13 and the "Gospel of Bartholomew" are glaring. One would think that this is devastating evidence that on this occasion, Muhammad did not get his material from any angel, but from secondhand contact with Christian literature.
The conversation between Iblis and Allah described in verses 14-18 is somewhat interesting. It almost seems to present Allah as being tricked into allowing Satan to tempt mankind.
Theres something else interesting here: Iblis is apparently included among the angels in v. 11 (as in the "Gospel of Bartholomew") but he is sometimes classified as a jinni (on the grounds that angels cant sin, so he can't have been an angel).
Satan is depicted, in v. 17, as promising to oppose man from his front and from behind, and from his right and left. A saying linked to this verse is practically rabbinical: it is said that when the angels heard Satan say this, they asked their Lord, "How shall man endure?" And the answer was, "When man raises his hands toward heaven in supplication, or lowers his head down to the earth in prayer, he shall find help."
The focus turns from Satan to Adam and Eve in v. 19 (which is congruent to 2:35). The story of the fall of man is related more or less according to the account in Genesis 3, up to the end of v. 23. One slight difference is that the Quran implies in v. 20 that prior to the fall, Adam and Eves private parts were covered up somehow, whereas Genesis 2:25 says that the man and his wife were naked. (There's a reason why Muhammad wanted to avoid presenting nakedness as a good thing: the men of Mecca customarily paraded around the Kaaba stark naked from time to time, and he wanted to discourage that.) Despite the texts plain description of Adam's disobedience, many Muslims insist that Adam did not sin (on the grounds that Adam was a prophet, and prophets are sinless, so Adam must not have sinned).
In v. 23, Adam and Eve ask for forgiveness; as a result they are allowed to live on the earth for a while. It should be understood that in v. 24, when Allah is depicted saying "One of you is an enemy to the other," this is a reference to humankind vs. Satan, not to Adam vs. Eve. The reference to being "brought out" of the earth in v. 25 alludes to the idea of future bodily resurrection from the earth.
Yours in Christ,
Waterrock
The initials which form the first verse of this surah (Alif, Lam, Mim, Sad) are regarded by most Muslims as perpetual mysteries, along with their appearances at other surahs. However, Rodwell mentions an explanation: these letters may be abbreviations for the phrase "Amara Li Muhammad Sandiq" "Thus spake to me Muhammad the righteous/truthful." It would be very natural for an experienced secretary to develop a habit of prefixing such a phrase to his dictation-work.
After a word of self-endorsement in which the text assures Muhammad that it is truthful the idolaters of Mecca are instructed, as in 6:153, to follow Allahs way exclusively. Then the main subject of the surah is undertaken: the guarantee of punishment upon those who disobey Allah and His messengers. As verses 4-10 imply, Muhammad is going to elaborate on this theme by telling stories about previous messengers and the terrible punishments they received when they rejected Allahs messengers.
The first example of punishment for disobedience is Iblis, a.k.a. Satan (though the term "Satan" is not exclusively applied to the capital-D devil in the Quran). Verses 11-18 zoom in on the events that are summed up in 2:34 ~ the fall of Iblis/Satan. This material probably looks fairly original to most readers, but it isnt. At wesley.nnu.edu/noncanon/gospels/gosbart.htm and at www.pseudepigrapha.com/LostBooks/bartholomew.htm one can access an English translation of the pseudepigraphical book "The Questions of Bartholomew," also known as "The Gospel of Bartholomew," of which the Coptic manuscripts are assigned dates in the 400s and 500s. In the "Gospel of Bartholomew," Part IV, Bartholomew and the devil who appears as a huge dragon-creature have a conversation, and the devil tells Bartholomew about how he was formed in verse 28: "When God made the heavens, he took a handful of fire and formed me first." After a long list of angels and their duties, the text describes how Satan fell; in verses 53-56 the "Gospel of Bartholomew" says the following:
(53) "I [the devil] was going to and fro in the world [cf. Job 1:7], and God said unto Michael, "Bring me a clod from the four corners of the earth, and water out of the four rivers of paradise." And when Michael brought them, God formed Adam in the regions of the east, and shaped the clod which was shapeless, and stretched sinews and veins upon it and established it with joints. And he worshipped him, himself for his own sake first, because he was the image of God, therefore he worshipped him.
(54) And when I came from the ends of the earth, Michael said, "Worship thou the image of God, which he hath made according to his likeness." But I said, "I am fire of fire; I was the first angel formed, and shall I worship clay and matter?"
(55) And Michael said to me, "Worship, lest God be angry with thee." But I said to him, "God will not be angry with me; but I will set my throne over against his throne, and I will be as he is." Then God was angry with me and cast me down, having commanded the windows of heaven to be opened.
(56) And when I was cast down, he asked also the six hundred that were under me, if they would worship. But they said: "Like as we have seen the first angel do, neither will we worship him that is less than ourselves." Then were the six hundred also cast down by him with me."
The parallels between 7:11-13 and the "Gospel of Bartholomew" are glaring. One would think that this is devastating evidence that on this occasion, Muhammad did not get his material from any angel, but from secondhand contact with Christian literature.
The conversation between Iblis and Allah described in verses 14-18 is somewhat interesting. It almost seems to present Allah as being tricked into allowing Satan to tempt mankind.
Theres something else interesting here: Iblis is apparently included among the angels in v. 11 (as in the "Gospel of Bartholomew") but he is sometimes classified as a jinni (on the grounds that angels cant sin, so he can't have been an angel).
Satan is depicted, in v. 17, as promising to oppose man from his front and from behind, and from his right and left. A saying linked to this verse is practically rabbinical: it is said that when the angels heard Satan say this, they asked their Lord, "How shall man endure?" And the answer was, "When man raises his hands toward heaven in supplication, or lowers his head down to the earth in prayer, he shall find help."
The focus turns from Satan to Adam and Eve in v. 19 (which is congruent to 2:35). The story of the fall of man is related more or less according to the account in Genesis 3, up to the end of v. 23. One slight difference is that the Quran implies in v. 20 that prior to the fall, Adam and Eves private parts were covered up somehow, whereas Genesis 2:25 says that the man and his wife were naked. (There's a reason why Muhammad wanted to avoid presenting nakedness as a good thing: the men of Mecca customarily paraded around the Kaaba stark naked from time to time, and he wanted to discourage that.) Despite the texts plain description of Adam's disobedience, many Muslims insist that Adam did not sin (on the grounds that Adam was a prophet, and prophets are sinless, so Adam must not have sinned).
In v. 23, Adam and Eve ask for forgiveness; as a result they are allowed to live on the earth for a while. It should be understood that in v. 24, when Allah is depicted saying "One of you is an enemy to the other," this is a reference to humankind vs. Satan, not to Adam vs. Eve. The reference to being "brought out" of the earth in v. 25 alludes to the idea of future bodily resurrection from the earth.
Yours in Christ,
Waterrock
