Unlike surahs 1-5, surah Al-Anam ("The Cattle") stays more or less on the same topic: the Signs of Allah. The Qurans word for "signs" is the same word used to designate verses of the Quran "Ayat" (singular form = Ayah). An "Ayah" is anything which reveals divine truth, whether naturally or supernaturally. (The Hilali-Khan translations definition: "proofs, evidences, verses, lessons, signs, Revelations, etc.") The Day of Judgment is a sub-topic. Near the end of the surah, some verses focus on Islamic food-laws, and some Arabian pagan customs regarding sacred cattle. That reference to cattle, in verses 136-139, is the basis for the surahs name, but the surah is mainly about message-vindicating signs.
Al-Anam is a Meccan surah, and like many of the Meccan surahs, it spends many words re-stating the legitimacy of Muhammad as a prophet. Rodwell placed it 69th when he arranged the surahs chronologically.
Verses 1-3 describe Allah as the Creator and Knower of all things. Verse 3 could pass as a paraphrase of Jeremiah 23:24.
Verse 4-5 sum up the theme of the entire surah: there is no lack of signs which confirm Allahs message. Disbelievers chronically refuse to pay attention to them. But those who reject and mock the truth will eventually realize its validity (on Judgment Day).
Verses 6-10 list some signs and non-signs. These are the signs (and explanations of the lack of more impressive signs) which were, it seems, supposed to convince the Meccans that Muhammad was a genuine prophet:
Sign: Allah has raised up disbelieving nations, and then destroyed them.
Sign: Allah has blessed unbelievers with rain and rivers, and then destroyed them.
Non-sign: Allah did not send a tangible book to Muhammad, because people would reject such a book as being the result of sorcery.
Non-sign: Allah did not send an angel, because if Allah sent an angel in his full power, the angel would have ushered in immediate judgment upon the people, and if Allah sent an angel in the form of a man, the people would not agree about his nature.
Sign: prophets before Muhammad were mocked, and the nations of the mockers were destroyed.
It is not difficult to see why most of the Meccans were not persuaded. Everything he attributed to Allah, they could attribute just as easily to their deities, and they could similarly explain their deities failure to hand down a book, or to send an angel in glory. Then he appeals to witnesses to give testimonials about the veracity of his message. His first witness, introduced in verses 12-19, is Allah Himself. His second witness, in v. 20, are the People of the Book - except for those among them who reject Allahs Ayat. And in verses 22-24, the third witness is the opponents themselves - eventually, that is, on Judgment Day.
In the course of the passage just reviewed, several features merit special comment:
Verse 9 seems to deny that Gabriel appeared in a form visible to others besides Muhammad. Yet in the Hadith (in a selection at www.sabawoon.com/library/Hadith/bukhari/061_sbt.html ) there is a recollection of an incident in which Omm Salma - one of Muhammads wives - was present when someone whom she thought was Dihya Al-Kalbi (a handsome Muslim) was talking to Muhammad. She states in the hadith that she thought it was Dihya Al-Kalbi, until she heard Muhammads sermon in which he informed his listeners about the news from Gabriel. (This is from Sahih-Bukhari, Vol. 6, Book 61, #503.) Its a strange incident. Omm Salma evidently thought, when she made this statement, that the individual who was talking with Muhammad was actually Gabriel, even though at the time she had been sure it was Dihya Al-Kalbi.
Verse 12a echoes First Kings 8:23 somewhat.
Verse 14 describes Allah as "He who feeds but is not fed." (Or, "He who feeds but needs no food.") The idea that Allah/God does not need to eat is one of the premises that Muslims sometimes use as a basis for denying the divinity of Christ. However, Philippians 2:5-7 pre-answers this objection: the Logos laid aside, to some extent, some divine abilities when He became incarnate.
Verse 14 (and v. 163) states that Muhammad was told to say that he is the first of those who submit themselves to Allah. The question, "Who was the first Muslim?" is problematic. Here the text plainly says that Muhammad was the first to submit to Allah. But in 5:111, the apostles of Jesus stated that they are Muslims. And in 2:131-132, Abraham is described as a Muslim, and Jacob is pictured telling his sons, "Die not except in the faith of Islam." And in 7:143, Moses says, "I am the first of the believers." If the prophets described in 4:163 Noah, Abraham, Ishmael, Isaac, Jacob, Jacobs sons, Jesus, Job, Jonah, Aaron, Solomon, and David were not Muslims, what were they? If any of them were Muslims, then how can Muhammad be the first Muslim? Furthermore, if Muhammad was the first Muslim then why did he say in 46:9, "I am not a new thing among the Messengers"? (This difficulty is surmounted in different ways: some Muslims are content to say that the text just means that Muhammad was the first Muslim /from his society/. Others, adopting a highly mystical approach, go to the extent of saying that Muhammads soul pre-existed before other prophets.)
Verse 15 (especially when combined with 46:9) indicates that at the time when this surah was delivered, Muhammad viewed two things as pre-requisites for salvation: (1) the individual avoids disobeying Allah, and (2) Allah has mercy upon the individual. This formula is applied to Muhammad and thus no Muslim can justly think of himself as exempt from it. Psalm 130 contains the same sentiment. (Also, its mildly interesting to compare 6:15 with Pauls statement in First Corinthians 9:16.)
The first part of v. 20 is identical to the first part of 2:146. In both passages, the "him" (also translatable as "it") being recognized is apparently assumed by most translators to be Muhammad (the premise being that the Jews and Christians see his description as plain as day in their Scriptures). However I think the context in 6:20 heavily favors the idea that what is being described here is the Jews and Christians recognition of the fact that there is only one God.
Yours in Christ,
Waterrock
Al-Anam is a Meccan surah, and like many of the Meccan surahs, it spends many words re-stating the legitimacy of Muhammad as a prophet. Rodwell placed it 69th when he arranged the surahs chronologically.
Verses 1-3 describe Allah as the Creator and Knower of all things. Verse 3 could pass as a paraphrase of Jeremiah 23:24.
Verse 4-5 sum up the theme of the entire surah: there is no lack of signs which confirm Allahs message. Disbelievers chronically refuse to pay attention to them. But those who reject and mock the truth will eventually realize its validity (on Judgment Day).
Verses 6-10 list some signs and non-signs. These are the signs (and explanations of the lack of more impressive signs) which were, it seems, supposed to convince the Meccans that Muhammad was a genuine prophet:
Sign: Allah has raised up disbelieving nations, and then destroyed them.
Sign: Allah has blessed unbelievers with rain and rivers, and then destroyed them.
Non-sign: Allah did not send a tangible book to Muhammad, because people would reject such a book as being the result of sorcery.
Non-sign: Allah did not send an angel, because if Allah sent an angel in his full power, the angel would have ushered in immediate judgment upon the people, and if Allah sent an angel in the form of a man, the people would not agree about his nature.
Sign: prophets before Muhammad were mocked, and the nations of the mockers were destroyed.
It is not difficult to see why most of the Meccans were not persuaded. Everything he attributed to Allah, they could attribute just as easily to their deities, and they could similarly explain their deities failure to hand down a book, or to send an angel in glory. Then he appeals to witnesses to give testimonials about the veracity of his message. His first witness, introduced in verses 12-19, is Allah Himself. His second witness, in v. 20, are the People of the Book - except for those among them who reject Allahs Ayat. And in verses 22-24, the third witness is the opponents themselves - eventually, that is, on Judgment Day.
In the course of the passage just reviewed, several features merit special comment:
Verse 9 seems to deny that Gabriel appeared in a form visible to others besides Muhammad. Yet in the Hadith (in a selection at www.sabawoon.com/library/Hadith/bukhari/061_sbt.html ) there is a recollection of an incident in which Omm Salma - one of Muhammads wives - was present when someone whom she thought was Dihya Al-Kalbi (a handsome Muslim) was talking to Muhammad. She states in the hadith that she thought it was Dihya Al-Kalbi, until she heard Muhammads sermon in which he informed his listeners about the news from Gabriel. (This is from Sahih-Bukhari, Vol. 6, Book 61, #503.) Its a strange incident. Omm Salma evidently thought, when she made this statement, that the individual who was talking with Muhammad was actually Gabriel, even though at the time she had been sure it was Dihya Al-Kalbi.
Verse 12a echoes First Kings 8:23 somewhat.
Verse 14 describes Allah as "He who feeds but is not fed." (Or, "He who feeds but needs no food.") The idea that Allah/God does not need to eat is one of the premises that Muslims sometimes use as a basis for denying the divinity of Christ. However, Philippians 2:5-7 pre-answers this objection: the Logos laid aside, to some extent, some divine abilities when He became incarnate.
Verse 14 (and v. 163) states that Muhammad was told to say that he is the first of those who submit themselves to Allah. The question, "Who was the first Muslim?" is problematic. Here the text plainly says that Muhammad was the first to submit to Allah. But in 5:111, the apostles of Jesus stated that they are Muslims. And in 2:131-132, Abraham is described as a Muslim, and Jacob is pictured telling his sons, "Die not except in the faith of Islam." And in 7:143, Moses says, "I am the first of the believers." If the prophets described in 4:163 Noah, Abraham, Ishmael, Isaac, Jacob, Jacobs sons, Jesus, Job, Jonah, Aaron, Solomon, and David were not Muslims, what were they? If any of them were Muslims, then how can Muhammad be the first Muslim? Furthermore, if Muhammad was the first Muslim then why did he say in 46:9, "I am not a new thing among the Messengers"? (This difficulty is surmounted in different ways: some Muslims are content to say that the text just means that Muhammad was the first Muslim /from his society/. Others, adopting a highly mystical approach, go to the extent of saying that Muhammads soul pre-existed before other prophets.)
Verse 15 (especially when combined with 46:9) indicates that at the time when this surah was delivered, Muhammad viewed two things as pre-requisites for salvation: (1) the individual avoids disobeying Allah, and (2) Allah has mercy upon the individual. This formula is applied to Muhammad and thus no Muslim can justly think of himself as exempt from it. Psalm 130 contains the same sentiment. (Also, its mildly interesting to compare 6:15 with Pauls statement in First Corinthians 9:16.)
The first part of v. 20 is identical to the first part of 2:146. In both passages, the "him" (also translatable as "it") being recognized is apparently assumed by most translators to be Muhammad (the premise being that the Jews and Christians see his description as plain as day in their Scriptures). However I think the context in 6:20 heavily favors the idea that what is being described here is the Jews and Christians recognition of the fact that there is only one God.
Yours in Christ,
Waterrock
