What is the Recitation

When we read the Recitation we can clearly see that it is not, like the Bible, addressing us. Rather, it answers specific questions and gives Muhammad commandments for specific situations that happened 14 centuries ago.

This doesn't mean that we shouldn't read it or that it doesn't contain commandments and teachings for us. Rather, understanding enables us to differentiate between mere anecdotes (many with important teachings and warnings concerning all mankind) and Universal Moral teachings.

In this essay I will show why I think when the Recitation addresses "Muminun" (those who accept), God is not referring to everyone who accepts Truth but to a specific community, that of Muhammad and his followers, that existed in 7th century Arabia and doesn't exist anymore, God willing.

A blessed community

You are the best Nation raised from mankind, enjoying what is right and forbidding what is wrong and accepting God. And had the people of the Book accepted, surely would have been good for them. Among them are acceptors, but most of them are defiantly disobedient.

- Recitation 3:110

Here God is talking to the Nation of Muhammad very positively. Obviously, what is said in this verse does not apply to the set of all "Muslims" as they committed many atrocities (killings, massive slave trade, religious discrimination, civil war, etc). Rather, this is talking about the community of Muhammad at his time.

A miracle on itself

The norm across all times and places is that every single community has the exact same proportion of righteous and wicked people. However, in very specific times, this was not true.

One of these times is 7th century Arabia. A prophet, Muhammad, arrived with words from God. They knew Muhammad personally, they understood the exact dialect the Recitation was revealed in, they observed the context in which they were revealed and the expression of the messenger's face with their own eyes.

Even with all that obvious clues, there were still righteous people among the Jews and Christians as their theologies were much more logical and their practices were much more reasonable than that of the polytheists.

Thus, the polytheists communities were voided from their good people and just the deniers (in Arabic, kafirun) remained.

Many pious Jews and Christians joined Muhammad as well, but some of the submitters among them kept their faith.

Even in this incredible time, the Nation of Muhammad was not free from bad people. God threatens hypocrites and those who remain neutral in times of Moral conflict often. This destroys trust, the foundation of any community, so the idea of the Recitation being composed by Muhammad in order to create unity between the Arabs is weakened by these verses.

This state of affairs lead to the Nation of Muhammad having a much higher concentration of just people than a normal community and their rivals had a much lower concentration of good people. Thus, the wars and conflicts that Muhammad and his Nation faced were more "black and white" than usual.

Similar situations that come to my mind are: The first stages of the Protestant reformation, US civil war, WWII and the ongoing culture war (2023).

God put nicknames to the factions of 7th century Arabia: Muhammad and his followers were the Muminun (those who accept), Jews and Christians were the Ahlu Al-Kitabi (people of the Book), the polytheists were the Mushrikeen (those who associate) and the coalitions that formed against the Muminun were called Kafirun (deniers).

The terms "mumin", "mushrik" and "kafir" are not use exclusively for these communities as these nicknames have very important meanings: acceptor, associator and denier respectively.

Marriage

And do not marry associator women until they accept and an accepting slave is better than an associator woman even if she pleases you. And do not marry your women to associator men until they accept, an acceptor slave is better than an associator man even if he pleases you. They invite to the Fire and God invites to the Garden and forgiveness by His permission. And He makes clear His verses for the people so that they may take heed.

- Recitation 2:221

Today are made lawful for you the good things; and the food of those who were given the Book is lawful for you, and your food is lawful for them. And the chaste women from the acceptors and the chaste women from those who were given the Book from before you, when you have given them their payment. Be chaste and not promiscuous and not one who takes friends. And whoever denies acceptance, then surely his deeds are wasted, and he in the Hereafter will be among the losers.

- Recitation 5:5

With the information of the previous section, these two verses make so much sense!

The Muminun were forbidden from inter-marrying with Mushrikeen because they were all evil. Marriage with Kitabis was permissible because there were still good people there.

Now we don't need to answer the question "who counts as Kitabi?". Are Mormons Kitabis? And Catholics? And Sunnis?

None of them are! We can marry with all faiths, including Atheists. Today it is not so clear which faith is right and which faith is wrong. Everyone can be wrong so don't worry about their faith, worry about their heart!

Today Jews don't receive the Book before Muslims, they receive it at the same time, the first time they are introduced to their scripture.

This commandments is just a clear example, many rules in the Recitation just applied to the Muminun and not to us while others are for all mankind.

Death of communities

Or do you say that Abraham and Ishmael and Isaac and Iaacob and the descendants were Jewish or Christian? Say: "Are you better knowing or is God?" And who is more unjust than who concealed a testimony that he has from God? And God is not unaware of what you do.

This was a Nation which has passed away, for it what it earned and for you what you have earned. And you will not be asked about what they used to do.

- Recitation 2:140-141

As we can see in these verses, God indicates that Abraham and his family were members of a community that died. They were neither Jewish, Christian or Muminun.

Similarly, when Muhammad died, the Muminun lost direct Divine leadership over their community. By the time of the Ummyads, we can't talk about a the Mumin Nation anymore. The best Nation of the world had died.

Coming soon

This post explains a foundational view I have that changes a lot my interpretations of the Recitation. I'm planning to cover why the orientation (qibla) and the timing of connection (salat) do not apply to us and what benefits brought to the Muminun.

See you there, God willing!

 Who are "those your right hand posses"?

(All the translations of this entry were made by me)

Except from their spouses or who they control rightfully. Indeed they are not blameworthy.

- Recitation 23:6

Except from their spouses or who they control rightfully. Indeed they are not blameworthy.

- Recitation 70:30

These two almost identical verses talk about a set of women which can be "controlled rightfully". What does that mean? Are they slaves? Let's see...

And whoever is not able to afford to marry among the modest female acceptors then from the young/unmarried women you, the acceptors, control rightfully. And God knows best about your acceptance. You are from one another, so marry them with the permission of their family and give them their dowry honourably. Be chaste and do not be promiscuous and do not make friends. Then when they are married and if they commit immorality then for them is half of the punishment that is on the modest women. That is from whoever among you fear committing sin and that of you who is patient is better for you. And God is Forgiving, Merciful.

- Recitation 4:25

This gives us an advice, we cannot have sex with rightfully controlled women before we marry them. And they are mentioned separately from the spouses because the contract of marriage is different.

It is not of a prophet that there should be for him captives until he has defeated them in the land. You desire commodities of this world but God desires for you the Hereafter. And God is Mighty, Wise.

- Recitation 8:67

So when you meet those who reject strike them until you defeat them, then tide them up, then either favour them afterwards or ransom them until the war lays down its burdens. That and if God had willed surely He could have taken retribution from them but to test some of you with others and those who are killed in the way of God, He will never cause their deeds to be lost.

 - Quran 47:4

8:67 tells us that no prophet had captives except prisoners of war. 47:4 says that prisoners of war were liberated after the war ended.

This is very intuitive, slavery is prohibited, prisoners of war may be taken but they must be freed after the war ends. Taking prisoners of war is important for an army to negotiate.

 Who can be these women then?

My best answer is the following:

When the Mumin Army (Muhammad's Army) waged war, they captured lots of territory. When the enemy surrendered before they were completely destroyed they demanded tribute (this is "yizia", not a religiously discriminatory tax but a demand for peace treaties).

When the enemy did not surrender (typically the mushrikeen as they hated the Muminun a lot) they destroyed their army and captured the territory.

In this case, non-fighting people (kids, old men, women, injured, ill, etc) were then under Mumin rule.

Thus, the verse instructed the Muminun to try to marry modest women, but if they couldn't they could marry anyone, including the (sometimes) immoral women that lived in conquered lands.

These women received half the punishment because many of them were slaves in the past and none of them voluntarly joined the Muminun nor received education on the Mumin values.

They are referred as "those who you control rightfully" because they were conquered by the Muminun in a just war.

 Translating "hanif"

The triliteral root "ح-ن-ف" (H-N-F)

The triliteral root of the Arabic word "Hanif" (حنيف) is "H-N-F" (ح-ن-ف). In Arabic, triliteral roots consist of three consonant letters that form the foundation of words and convey a basic meaning from which various derived words are formed.

The root "H-N-F" has a basic meaning of "inclining" or "leaning." From this root, several words are derived, each with its own specific meaning. Here are a few examples:

Hanif (حنيف): This is the noun form derived from the root. It's usually translated as "monotheist".

Ihtinaf (احتناف): This is a derived verb that means "to incline towards" or "to lean towards."

Nahf (نحف): This is a derived noun that means "inclination" or "leaning."

Unhuf (أنحوف): This is another derived noun that means "bent" or "inclined."

Another way of understanding this term

It is clear to me that the term "hanif" has nothing to do with monotheism, rather it refers to someone who follows their natural inclinations.

This resonates me with intuition, intuition is a natural inclination that is not bounded to our appetites. It is intuitive that stealing is bad while our appetites can tell us that it is exciting or that we really wanted that object or money.

Thus, I'll translate the term "hanif" as "intuitive", referring to those who turn into their intuition as their chief source of knowledge and guidance.

This is a powerful message for us to not rely too much on our reason, which is susceptible to the phenomena of rationalisation (in which untrue propositions are forced to make sense because we find ways to justify them), indoctrination and just miscalculations.

Reason and logic are incredibly capable tools of giving us knowledge and solutions but God instruct us to imitate Abraham in his intuitiveness (note that Abraham used reason and logic flawlessly, he still preferred his intuition as a guide).

Mentions of the term in The Recitation

First, I translated all the verses in this entry. Let's check if my idea works... The term "hanifan" is mentioned 12 times in The Recitation:

Abraham was not Jewish nor Christian. Rather, he was an intuitive submitter and he was not from the associators.

- Recitation 3:67

Say: Indeed my Lord has guided me to a streight path, an established judgement; the religion of Abraham, intuitive, and he was not from the polytheists.

 - Recitation 6:161

Then We revealed to you that you follow the religion of Abraham, intuitive, he was not of the associators.

- Recitation 16:123

Being inclined to God, not associating with Him. And whoever associates with God then it is as though he had fallen from the sky and the birds snatched him or the wind blew him to a place far off.

- Recitation 22:32

Note that in the last verse I translated as "inclined" rather than "intuitive" because of the grammatical context. It is representing the same thing, both terms talk about the same thing.

Conclusion

This is the end of my insight on this term, I hope you found it interesting, reflected and increase in wisdom.

Please comment anything so I may grow too.

See you, God willing!

Just wars

First of all, I hate he terms "Jihad" (which just means "struggle") and "Holy war" (as no war is holy). I'll use the term "Just war" for those armed conflicts that God commands us or encourege us to fight.

These are the only verses of holy war that apply to all mankind I found so far. (I'll make an entry about why I think that many verces of The Recitation doesn't apply to us soon, God willing).

2:190) Everyone can wage just wars defensively.

2:191) Reconquest is lawful

2:192) When waging just war, sign peace.

2:194) Retaliate aggression

2:195) When you volunteer for an army for a just war, don't ruin yourself economically.

2:216) Warfare is mandatory (could mean that God is talking just about just wars or that all men should conscript for the army of their county if they can, I think the first interpratation makes much more sense)

2:217) Fighting in holy months is ok, don't abandon your faith even if you are defeated.

VERY IMPORTANT! Note that just war doesn't care about the religion of the soldiers nor the enemy. As you can see, not expelling people from their homes is a universal value so a just war can perfectly have people of all religions. Also, we know that there were opresors of all religions too.

Examples of just wars throw history:

War	Time	Place	Just	Agressor
Persian conquest of Mesopotamia	Antiquety	Mesopotamia	Persia	Babylon and Assyria
Macabbean revolt	Classical period	Roman Judea	The Jews	Romans
Muhammad's wars	7th century	Arabia	Muminun	Mushrikin
3rd Crusade	Middle ages	The Levant	Saladin	The Crusaders
Spanish conquest of Mexico	Age of exploration	Mexico	Cortez and the rebels	The Mexica (Aztecs)
French wars of religion	Age of exploration	France	Hugonets	Catholics
WWII	Industrial age	Europe and Pacific ocean	The Allies	Germany and Japan

As you see, holy wars are not holy, in nearly all of these examples the good side made immoral things too. Cortez was a criminal, Macabbeans killed eachother, the allies innocent raped german and japanese girls and women, etc.

What "just war" means is that all affected men have the Moral obligation to join the army of the good side if they can.

 

Neutrality, in a moment of moral conflict, is the same as approving injustice

- Niccolò Machiavelli

 Submission

Let's speak English

First of all, we are speaking English, not Arabic, so there is no "shirk" but "association", there is no "kufr" but "rejection", there is no " 'ibada" but "servitude" and there are no "taghut" but "villain". Arabic is not a sacred language, it's just the language Muhammad and his audience spoke.

 I translated "taghut"  as "villian" because the triliteral root ṭa ghayn ya (ط غ ي) is associated with evil and wrongdoing. Villans are wrongdoers and many times they try to control, oppress or manipulate people. In the context of The Recitation, a villain is someone who demands other people to serve him.

By servitude ('ibada) I mean a state of total submission in which the person does whatever the villain says without measure. We should serve in this manner God alone.

A villain could be a dictator, a priest, a teacher or even a mother!

Ok, let's continue.

 

Submission is not a religion!

What is your religion? 

Islam.

This answer is absolute non-sense and I'll show you why.

"Islam" is the Arabic word for "submission". The Islamic Republic of Iran becomes "The Submissive Republic of Iran". It doesn't sound so cool, right?

What is your religion? 

Submission.

 

Now let's see where this mess comes from...

And whoever follows other than submission as a religion, it will not be accepted from him, and in the Hereafter he is of the losers.

- Recitation 3:85

Using "Islam" as the name of a religion, combined with this verse, fits the religiously discriminatory agenda of the caliphs and scholars. However, we know that God said...

It is not piety that you turn your faces towards the east or the west, but pious is who accepts God, and the Last Day, and the controllers, and the Book, and the prophets and gives the wealth in spite of love to the relatives, and the orphans, and the needy, and the wayfarer, and the beggars, and in freeing the necks; and who establishes contact, and gives the purification, and fulfils their covenant when they make it; and those who are patient in suffering and hardship, and the time of stress. Those are the ones who are true and those are the pious.

- Recitation 2:177

This is NOT a contradiction because submission is not a religion but a trait of character that is beloved by God.

In 3:85 God demands that whatever religion or spiritual path you follow reflects your submission to Him and not your love for your partner or culture, for example.

 

The evil of killing the apostates

We all know that killing people is horrible but killing apostates is somehow even worse. To kill the apostates is to pressure people who were born into the religion to follow it out of submission to the State or the community (which represents association) instead of submission to God. Essencially, it is to prohibit the very same thing they claim to protect, submission (Islam), and it makes compulsory the very same thing they claim to forbid, association (shirk).