Weighing in at 286 verses, this is the longest chapter in the Quran, and that is why, after The Opening (surah 1), it comes first (but, as usually arranged, the text of the Quran begins at the back of the book). The title Al-Baqarah means The Cow referring to the yellow cow that is mentioned in verses 67-73.
Parts of this surah were probably first given at Medina, and other parts were first given at Mecca. Rodwell deduces that the reference to O men at the start of v. 20 was Muhammads way of referring to the people of Mecca, as opposed to O ye who believe, his standard way of referring to the people of Medina. At least there is some shift, at that point, regarding the intended audience.
There are some Arabic letters at the beginning of this surah, and some other surahs. Their significance is not known. Possibly, before the Quran was collected together as a single written composition, these letters were jotted on some of the individual source-materials to denote, in some way, who had written down this or that portion of the text as it had been given.
Then comes a sort of introductory self-endorsement: "This certainly is the Book to guide the righteous."
And who are the righteous? The definition is given: he who believes in that which is not seen (Al-Ghaib the unseen realm of Allah and his angels, as well as unverifiable statements of Allah), performs the five daily prayers (Salat), pays the charity-tax (Zakat), and who believes in what Allah has revealed through Muhammad and the prophets who preceded him, and in the hereafter.
(Salat, by the way, is not just any prayer. Islamic men are to pray at a mosque, and prayer should be done in conformity with Muhammads example. Similarly Zakat is not just any offering; it is obligatory.)
Then come some descriptions of bad people unbelievers, hypocrites, and those who consider it foolish to believe Muhammads message. They are in for a great torment (v. 7). Bad people remain bad because Allah has set a seal on their hearts and on their hearing and In their hearts is a disease, and Allah has increased their disease.
The idea of fatalism (Al-Qadar, or predestination) comes across pretty strongly here. On one hand, this is not entirely foreign to the Biblical concept of Gods sovereignty, and the notion that the same message that draws some people near to God can also provoke some people to reject God even more than before. Second Thessalonians 1:11-12 is in sync with this idea on a surface-level. But what that passage (and some other Biblical passages) refer to is the concept of reprobation -- the idea that a person can fall so far into depravity in this life that he may go beyond a point of no return; at that point God gives up on that soul. Biblically, God would prefer for the person (like all other people) to repent, but God knows that the person will not repent, and God will not coerce him. In Islam, its more fatalistic. (If you thought Calvinism was objectionable, youre probably not going to like Al-Qadar.)
The statement in 2:7 (Allah has set a seal on their hearts and on their hearing and on their eyes is a covering) is very similar to Isaiah 6:10, where Isaiahs message is said to have the result of making the peoples heart dull, and their ears heavy, and their eyes shut (a passage applied by Jesus Christ in Mark 4:12).
The statement in 2:10 that their heart is diseased echoes Jeremiah 17:9.
Psalm 1 is vaguely similar to the comparison of the righteous and the wicked in Al-Baqarah.
Yours in Christ,
Waterrock
Parts of this surah were probably first given at Medina, and other parts were first given at Mecca. Rodwell deduces that the reference to O men at the start of v. 20 was Muhammads way of referring to the people of Mecca, as opposed to O ye who believe, his standard way of referring to the people of Medina. At least there is some shift, at that point, regarding the intended audience.
There are some Arabic letters at the beginning of this surah, and some other surahs. Their significance is not known. Possibly, before the Quran was collected together as a single written composition, these letters were jotted on some of the individual source-materials to denote, in some way, who had written down this or that portion of the text as it had been given.
Then comes a sort of introductory self-endorsement: "This certainly is the Book to guide the righteous."
And who are the righteous? The definition is given: he who believes in that which is not seen (Al-Ghaib the unseen realm of Allah and his angels, as well as unverifiable statements of Allah), performs the five daily prayers (Salat), pays the charity-tax (Zakat), and who believes in what Allah has revealed through Muhammad and the prophets who preceded him, and in the hereafter.
(Salat, by the way, is not just any prayer. Islamic men are to pray at a mosque, and prayer should be done in conformity with Muhammads example. Similarly Zakat is not just any offering; it is obligatory.)
Then come some descriptions of bad people unbelievers, hypocrites, and those who consider it foolish to believe Muhammads message. They are in for a great torment (v. 7). Bad people remain bad because Allah has set a seal on their hearts and on their hearing and In their hearts is a disease, and Allah has increased their disease.
The idea of fatalism (Al-Qadar, or predestination) comes across pretty strongly here. On one hand, this is not entirely foreign to the Biblical concept of Gods sovereignty, and the notion that the same message that draws some people near to God can also provoke some people to reject God even more than before. Second Thessalonians 1:11-12 is in sync with this idea on a surface-level. But what that passage (and some other Biblical passages) refer to is the concept of reprobation -- the idea that a person can fall so far into depravity in this life that he may go beyond a point of no return; at that point God gives up on that soul. Biblically, God would prefer for the person (like all other people) to repent, but God knows that the person will not repent, and God will not coerce him. In Islam, its more fatalistic. (If you thought Calvinism was objectionable, youre probably not going to like Al-Qadar.)
The statement in 2:7 (Allah has set a seal on their hearts and on their hearing and on their eyes is a covering) is very similar to Isaiah 6:10, where Isaiahs message is said to have the result of making the peoples heart dull, and their ears heavy, and their eyes shut (a passage applied by Jesus Christ in Mark 4:12).
The statement in 2:10 that their heart is diseased echoes Jeremiah 17:9.
Psalm 1 is vaguely similar to the comparison of the righteous and the wicked in Al-Baqarah.
Yours in Christ,
Waterrock
