"And with those who say, 'We are Christians,' We made a covenant. Then they forgot part of that whereof they were reminded. So We stirred up enmity and hatred among them, till the Day of Resurrection. God will inform them of what they used to do."
Quran 5:14
We've drawn a lot from the 5th surah, al-Ma'idah, "The Table Spread," and here's another example. Nasr tells us:
"This verse asserts that Christians, like Israelites/Jews, entered into a covenant with God and, like them, forgot a part of the 'reminder' that had been given them. The consequences, however, are different. Whereas the Israelites' failure with regard to the covenant leads to spiritual punishment by God, the Christians' forgetting of the covenant results in enmity and hatred among them, alluding to the factionalism or sectarianism within the Christian community spurred by theological differences or to hatred between Jews and Christians - although the latter is a less likely interpretation in this context, since the verse seems to be addressed exclusively to the Christians." (p. 283)
This seemed like a natural followup to our discussion yesterday of the dangers of factionalism, in this case relating to Christians. That said, I chose it because it plays on one of the central theme of Islam: that they are a continuation of the original monotheistic tradition, building upon and avoiding the mistakes of their Jewish and Christian brothers and sisters.
Quran 5:14
We've drawn a lot from the 5th surah, al-Ma'idah, "The Table Spread," and here's another example. Nasr tells us:
"This verse asserts that Christians, like Israelites/Jews, entered into a covenant with God and, like them, forgot a part of the 'reminder' that had been given them. The consequences, however, are different. Whereas the Israelites' failure with regard to the covenant leads to spiritual punishment by God, the Christians' forgetting of the covenant results in enmity and hatred among them, alluding to the factionalism or sectarianism within the Christian community spurred by theological differences or to hatred between Jews and Christians - although the latter is a less likely interpretation in this context, since the verse seems to be addressed exclusively to the Christians." (p. 283)
This seemed like a natural followup to our discussion yesterday of the dangers of factionalism, in this case relating to Christians. That said, I chose it because it plays on one of the central theme of Islam: that they are a continuation of the original monotheistic tradition, building upon and avoiding the mistakes of their Jewish and Christian brothers and sisters.
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