"When Jesus brought clear proofs, he said, 'I have come unto you with wisdom and to make clear to you some of that wherein you differ. So reverence God and obey me. Truly God is my Lord and your Lord; so worship Him. This is a straight path."
Quran 43:63-64
This passage is drawn from the 43rd surah, al-Zuhkruf, here rendered as "Gold Ornaments," and I think this is the first time I've drawn anything from this particular chapter. At least I think it is. Today is the 230th blog post in this year-long discussion of personal faith and I could certainly be much more structured in my record-keeping. I chose it for a couple of reasons, one of them being that it references Jesus and like all Muslims I revere his teachings, but also because it's important for non-Muslims, especially Christians, to be reminded how central Jesus's teachings are to the faith. Also this brings up the notion of "clear proofs," which is a phrase often associated with the efforts of the prophets. As Nasr tells us, "All messengers are said to bring clear proofs, which are understood by some to be evidentiary miracles and the prescriptions of the Divine Law. In the case of Jesus, some also understand clear proofs to mean the Gospel and its injunctions. For the evidentiary miracles with which Jesus came, such as speaking in the cradle, healing lepers, raising the dead, and breathing life into a bird, see commentary on 3:49; 5:110; 19-29-34; also see 2:87c; 2:253." Essentially, the notion is that every so often God sends messengers when there is a need, and that these messengers bring with them clear proofs of God's existence and intentions, but every time it happens the majority of people don't recognize the clear proofs as clear or even proofs. Why? Well, I guess the obvious answer would be that if they were able to recognize the clear proofs then there would have been no need to send the messenger in the first place.
Quran 43:63-64
This passage is drawn from the 43rd surah, al-Zuhkruf, here rendered as "Gold Ornaments," and I think this is the first time I've drawn anything from this particular chapter. At least I think it is. Today is the 230th blog post in this year-long discussion of personal faith and I could certainly be much more structured in my record-keeping. I chose it for a couple of reasons, one of them being that it references Jesus and like all Muslims I revere his teachings, but also because it's important for non-Muslims, especially Christians, to be reminded how central Jesus's teachings are to the faith. Also this brings up the notion of "clear proofs," which is a phrase often associated with the efforts of the prophets. As Nasr tells us, "All messengers are said to bring clear proofs, which are understood by some to be evidentiary miracles and the prescriptions of the Divine Law. In the case of Jesus, some also understand clear proofs to mean the Gospel and its injunctions. For the evidentiary miracles with which Jesus came, such as speaking in the cradle, healing lepers, raising the dead, and breathing life into a bird, see commentary on 3:49; 5:110; 19-29-34; also see 2:87c; 2:253." Essentially, the notion is that every so often God sends messengers when there is a need, and that these messengers bring with them clear proofs of God's existence and intentions, but every time it happens the majority of people don't recognize the clear proofs as clear or even proofs. Why? Well, I guess the obvious answer would be that if they were able to recognize the clear proofs then there would have been no need to send the messenger in the first place.
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