"O you who believe! Reverence God and speak justly."
Quran 33:70
And here's another passage from the 33rd surah, al-Ahzab, here rendered as "The Parties." As I've made clear many times, there's no logic to this year's challenge of discussing faith every day for a year. So, if you're looking for a progressive argument that will lead us to an extraordinary finish I'm afraid you're going to be disappointed. I've been rereading al-Ahzab lately, and so you're getting several blog posts related to that specific surah. Growing up, as I did, in the country I guess it would make sense that I would be drawn to an admonition to speak justly, as we are simple folks in the Hoosier hinterlands. Although, to be fair I just drove through Indiana and Ohio on the way back home to see family and friends it's painfully obvious that the state has unapologetically turned into Trumpistan - so clearly truth of justice don't matter much any more. In commenting upon this verse Nasr tells us, "Speak justly enjoins testifying truthfully, speaking in a manner that is upright and free from any corruption, and speaking so the outward locution corresponds to the inward meaning." (Nasr, p. 1040) Keeping in mind that this verse was revealed at a time of widespread illiteracy, and in an area without a centralized law code or much of a structured central government, it's easy to see why saying what you mean and meaning what you say was important. However, I think that this is an universal concept. It's only when we fail individually that the need for greater authority to "make" us do what is right becomes more necessary.
Quran 33:70
And here's another passage from the 33rd surah, al-Ahzab, here rendered as "The Parties." As I've made clear many times, there's no logic to this year's challenge of discussing faith every day for a year. So, if you're looking for a progressive argument that will lead us to an extraordinary finish I'm afraid you're going to be disappointed. I've been rereading al-Ahzab lately, and so you're getting several blog posts related to that specific surah. Growing up, as I did, in the country I guess it would make sense that I would be drawn to an admonition to speak justly, as we are simple folks in the Hoosier hinterlands. Although, to be fair I just drove through Indiana and Ohio on the way back home to see family and friends it's painfully obvious that the state has unapologetically turned into Trumpistan - so clearly truth of justice don't matter much any more. In commenting upon this verse Nasr tells us, "Speak justly enjoins testifying truthfully, speaking in a manner that is upright and free from any corruption, and speaking so the outward locution corresponds to the inward meaning." (Nasr, p. 1040) Keeping in mind that this verse was revealed at a time of widespread illiteracy, and in an area without a centralized law code or much of a structured central government, it's easy to see why saying what you mean and meaning what you say was important. However, I think that this is an universal concept. It's only when we fail individually that the need for greater authority to "make" us do what is right becomes more necessary.
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