Atheists in Quran (13) their works = Ashes Blowing in the Wind

The Atheists’ works are like ashes over which the wind blows hard on a tempestuous day, over which none can have power and they shall find no reward for it due to their nonbelief.

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Not all the Atheists are evil doers.

Some if not many of them do righteous works in the life of this world.

The Atheists may do moral works such as:

• Kindness to kin,
• Act of charity,
• Helping the poor and the needy,
• Compassion to the neighbors,
• Etc.

Allah very much encourages these works and He promised to give very good rewards for these honorable works.

Allah’s rewards for such conducts are beyond our dreams because Allah is the best ever Kind.

However, Allah’s rewards are only for the believers.

It is very unwise to expect a reward from the one you do not believe in Him.

The verses 14:18-20 of the Quran give the likeness and the description of the good Atheists’ works and their grievous loss in the Afterlife.

The parable of the Atheists’ works

The Atheists’ works are like ashes; the ashes are blowing about hither and thither by the wind.

The wind, which blows on them, is not an ordinary wind,

The day on which the wind blows is not an ordinary calm day.

A furious windstorm is blowing, for such is the Wrath of Allah.

They have neither internal peace nor external gain.

In the scattering of the ashes, they lose control even of such things as they might have earned but for their misbelief.

All their wishes to get rewarded go astray.

They are carried far away, from what was in their minds. What did they aim at, and what did they achieve?

No power have they over aught that they have earned:

That is the straying far, far from the goal.

Their works are just as one will not find ashes when the wind blows hard on it in the way that no rewards are resulting from such works.

“The works of those who disbelieve in their Lord are like ashes which the wind blows about fiercely on a stormy day. They cannot achieve any benefit from all that they might have earned. This [disbelief] is indeed going very far astray.”

Again, Atheists’ works are as ashes over which the wind blows hard on a tempestuous day, one in which the winds blow violently, making them as scattered dust, over which none can have power and they shall find no reward for it.

• That is the extreme error, which is far remote from the Truth or guidance.
• That is the extreme failure
• That is the extreme loss

Then have a look on how Allah, the Merciful, talk to them before it is too late for them.

Have not the Atheists seen that Allah created the heavens and the earth in truth?

If He will, He can take you away, O humankind, and bring [about] a new creation, in your place.

O Atheists If Allah will, He can

• remove you, or
• destroy you, or
• make you die,

In addition, He can bring in some new creation and will create other beings who are better than you are and more obedient to Allah.

That is no great matter for Allah

That is not very difficult for Allah;

Allah says:

It is not very difficult for Allah to terminate you and create different beings.

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The perfect harmony of Quranic style

The image of Ashes Blowing about on a stormy day adds action to the concept that the Atheists’ workswill come to nothing.

People cannot hold on to any part of their actions, or make use of them. This image gives a far more profound effect than any expression of the same meaning of total loss in intellectual terms.

This scene expresses a basic truth about what the Atheists do.

Then the verses talk about the creation of Heavens and Earth before threatening the Atheists with Allah’s ability to replace them with a new creation.

This switch from the loss of the good Atheists’ work due to lack of faith and disbelief to a picture of the heavens and the earth is very natural in the Quran.

It is also natural in human feelings and perceptions.

This is a further indication of the divine source of the Quran.

There is a secret but intelligible discourse between man and the universe.

Human nature responds instinctively to this secret communication once it tunes in to it and receives its signals.

Those who do not notice these signals and indicators must examine their receptive abilities.

Such people are described in the Quran as blind. It is not possible for human life to prosper under a system, doctrine or philosophy promoted by someone who is blind.

The fact that the heavens and the earth have been created with the truth gives the impression of limitless ability and solid stability.

The truth is solid and stable even in the sound the word ‘truth’ makes.

This contrasts completely with the ashes blown about fiercely on a stormy day, dispersed far and wide, as it contrasts with people going astray.

In light of the fate suffered by dictators who stubbornly took the wrong side in the battle between truth and falsehood, a strong warning is issued:

“If He so wills, He can do away with you and bring into being a new creation.”

Allah who is able to create the heavens and the earth can easily replace the human race with a different one, or bring about a new community of humans in place of the present one.

Again the connotations of taking a community away to replace it with another fits properly with the image of ashes blown far away.

“This is no difficult thing for God.”

The creation of the heavens and the earth testify that it is indeed easy for Allah.

The fate of earlier unbelieving communities also testifies to it, and so do the ashes scattered hither and thither.

It is indeed a remarkable feature of the Quranic style that imagery and connotations slot together in perfect harmony.

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The verses 14:18-19 in different translations:

QARIB:

18-As for the likeness of those who disbelieve in their Lord, their works are like ashes which a strong wind scatters on a stormy day; they are powerless over that they have earned; that is the far error.

19-Do you not see that Allah has created the heavens and the earth with truth? he can put you away if he will and bring into being a new creation;

20-Indeed, that is no great thing for Allah.

SHAKIR:

18-The parable of those who disbelieve in their Lord: their actions are like ashes on which the wind blows hard on a stormy day; they shall not have power over anything out of what they have earned; this is the great error

19-Do you not see that Allah created the heavens and the earth with truth? if he please he will take you off and bring a new creation,

20-And this is not difficult for Allah

PICKTHAL:

18-A similitude of those who disbelieve in their Lord: their works are as ashes which the wind bloweth hard upon a stormy day. they have no control of aught that they have earned. that is the extreme failure.

19-Hast thou not seen that Allah hath created the heavens and the earth with truth? if he will, he can remove you and bring (in) some new creation;

20-And that is no great matter for Allah.

YUSUFALI:

18-The parable of those who reject their Lord is that their works are as ashes, on which the wind blows furiously on a tempestuous day: no power have they over aught that they have earned: that is the straying far, far (from the goal).

19-Seest thou not that Allah created the heavens and the earth in truth? if he so will, he can remove you and put (in your place) a new creation?

20-Nor is that for Allah any great matter.

The Cow in Bible vs. Quran

In the Bible, God says: 1) the lion will eat straw like the ox; 2) you will bake your bread over cow manure instead of human excrement, etc. In addition, The Lord God will use a razor hired from beyond the River.

On the other hand, the Quran talks about the Story of the cow and the revival of the killed Israelite etc.

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The Cow is mentioned 34 in the Bible and four times in the Quran.

The Bible talks about 11 issues related to the cows; they are:

1) The lion will eat straw like the ox.

2) God will let you bake your bread over cow manure

3) God will use a hired razor

4) Do not slaughter a cow and its young on the same day.

5) Jacob’s gift to his brother was 40 cows

6) The Pharaoh’s dream of fat and lean cows.

7) The decoration of the Tent of Meeting and the Alter by Sea cows

8) Cheese from cows’ milk for David

9) Their cows calve and do not miscarry

10) The two cows did a good favor but they burnt them

11) The cows of Bashan is a symbol of Israel.

 

On the other hand, the Quran talks about three issues related to the cows; they are:

1) The Story of the cow and the revival of the killed Israelite

2) What is forbidden to eat, the male, the female, or the newborn cow?

3) Joseph interpreted the Egyptian\s King’s dream of the fat cows and the seven lean cows

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The Cow in the Bible

 

1) The lion will eat straw like the ox.

Isaiah 11:7

The cow will feed with the bear, their young will lie down together, and the lion will eat straw like the ox.

 

2) The Lord God will let you bake your bread over cow manure instead of human excrement.”

Ezekiel 4:15

“Very well,” he said, “I will let you bake your bread over cow manure instead of human excrement.”

 

3) The Lord God will use a razor hired from beyond the River

I wonder why the Lord uses a razor hired from beyond the River. Why He does not have a razor?

Isaiah 7:20 & 21

20- In that day the Lord will use a razor hired from beyond the River the king of Assyria to shave your head and the hair of your legs, and to take off your beards also.

21- In that day, a man will keep alive a young cow and two goats.

 

4) Do not slaughter a cow or a sheep and its young on the same day.

Leviticus 22:28

Do not slaughter a cow or a sheep and its young on the same day.

 

5) A part of Jacob’s gift to his brother was 40 cows

Genesis 32:15

Thirty female camels with their young, forty cows and ten bulls, and twenty female donkeys and ten male donkeys.

If they (the cows) are driven hard just one day, all the animals will die.

In fact, this is not true from the scientific point of view

Genesis 33:13

But Jacob said to him, “My lord knows that the children are tender and that I must care for the ewes and cows that are nursing their young. If they are driven hard just one day, all the animals will die.

 

6) The Pharaoh’s dream of the fat cows and the seven lean cows.

Genesis 41:2-4, 18-20, 26 and 27

2-When out of the river there came up seven cows, sleek and fat, and they grazed among the reeds.

3-After them, seven other cows, ugly and gaunt, came up out of the Nile and stood beside those on the riverbank.

4-And the cows that were ugly and gaunt ate up the seven sleek, fat cows. Then Pharaoh woke up.

18-When out of the river there came up seven cows, fat and sleek, and they grazed among the reeds.

19-After them, seven other cows came up—scrawny and very ugly and lean. I had never seen such ugly cows in all the land of Egypt.

20-The lean, ugly cows ate up the seven fat cows that came up first.

26-The seven good cows are seven years, and the seven good heads of grain are seven years; it is one and the same dream.

27-The seven lean, ugly cows that came up afterward are seven years, and so are the seven worthless heads of grain scorched by the east wind: They are seven years of famine.

 

7) The decoration of the Tent of Meeting by Sea cows, acacia wood, shielding curtain, scarlet cloth, ram skins, the tent, goat hair, scarlet yarn and linen.

Exodus 25:5

Ram skins dyed red and hides of sea cows ; acacia wood;

Exodus 26:14

Make for the tent a covering of ram skins dyed red, and over that a covering of hides of sea cows.

Exodus 35:7

Ram skins dyed red and hides of sea cows ; acacia wood;

Exodus 35:23

Everyone who had blue, purple or scarlet yarn or fine linen, or goat hair, ram skins dyed red or hides of sea cows brought them.

Exodus 36:19

Then they made for the tent a covering of ram skins dyed red, and over that a covering of hides of sea cows.

Exodus 39:34

The covering of ram skins dyed red, the covering of hides of sea cows and the shielding curtain;

Numbers 4:6

Then they are to cover this with hides of sea cows, spread a cloth of solid blue over that and put the poles in place.

Numbers 4:8

Over these they are to spread a scarlet cloth, cover that with hides of sea cows and put its poles in place.

Numbers 4:10

Then they are to wrap it and all its accessories in a covering of hides of sea cows and put it on a carrying frame.

Numbers 4:11

Over the gold altar, they are to spread a blue cloth and cover that with hides of sea cows and put its poles in place.

Numbers 4:12, 14 and 25

12-They are to take all the articles used for ministering in the sanctuary, wrap them in a blue cloth, cover that with hides of sea cows and put them on a carrying frame.

14-Then they are to place on it all the utensils used for ministering at the altar, including the firepans, meat forks, shovels and sprinkling bowls. Over it they are to spread a covering of hides of sea cows and put its poles in place.

25-They are to carry the curtains of the tabernacle, the Tent of Meeting, its covering and the outer covering of hides of sea cows, the curtains for the entrance to the Tent of Meeting,

 

8) Cheese from cows’ milk for David and his people to eat.

2 Samuel 17:29

honey and curds, sheep, and cheese from cows’ milk for David and his people to eat. For they said, “The people have become hungry and tired and thirsty in the desert.”

 

9) Their cows calve and do not miscarry

Job 21:10

Their bulls never fail to breed; their cows calve and do not miscarry.

 

10) The two cows did a good favor but the people sacrificed the cows as a burnt offering to the LORD.

1 Samuel 6:7, 10, 12 and 14

7-“Now then, get a new cart ready, with two cows that have calved and have never been yoked. Hitch the cows to the cart, but take their calves away and pen them up.

10-So they did this. They took two such cows and hitched them to the cart and penned up their calves.

12-Then the cows went straight up toward Beth Shemesh, keeping on the road and lowing all the way; they did not turn to the right or to the left. The rulers of the Philistines followed them as far as the border of Beth Shemesh.

14-The cart came to the field of Joshua of Beth Shemesh, and there it stopped beside a large rock. The people chopped up the wood of the cart and sacrificed the cows as a burnt offering to the LORD.

 

11) The cows of Bashan on Mount Samaria, you women who oppress the poor and crush the needy and say to your husbands” is a symbol of Israel?

Amos 4:1

[Israel Has Not Returned to God] Hear this word, you cows of Bashan on Mount Samaria, you women who oppress the poor and crush the needy and say to your husbands, “Bring us some drinks!”

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The Cow in the Quran

1) The Story of the cow and the revival of the killed Israelite:

One Israelite was found killed. All the Israelites gathered around Moses asking him to find out who killed the man. Moses asked Allah. Allah commanded the Israelites to slaughter a cow, any cow. The Israelites yelled at Moses: are you fooling! Moses said this is Allah’s command. Then they ask about the cow age, color, marital status and they made it difficult to find out such a cow. Finally they did. Allah commanded Moses to lightly knock the killed man with a part of the slaughtered cow. The killed man woke up and told them who killed him.

This story has some deep theological significance; Allah showed up to the Israelites that

• The cow is a sign for Allah the Creator,
• The cow is by no means a god and
• Allah is able to woke-up the dead.

This is because the Israelites worshiped the cow and the ox and considered the cow a god.

Also, the Israelites deny the afterlife.

In addition, this story is not found in the Bible.

Surah 2: 67-73

67- and when Moses said to his people: surely Allah commands you that you should sacrifice a cow; they said: do you ridicule us? He said: I seek the protection of Allah from being one of the ignorant (fool)!”

68- They said: call on your Lord for our sake to make it plain to us what she (the cow) is. Moses said: he says, surely she is a cow neither advanced in age nor too young, of middle age between that (and this); do therefore what you are commanded

69- They said: call on your lord for our sake to make it plain to us what her color is. Moses said: he says, surely she is a yellow cow; her color is intensely yellow, giving delight to the beholders

70- they said: call on your lord for our sake to make it plain to us what she is, for surely to us the cows are all alike, and if Allah please we shall surely be guided aright

71- Moses said: he says, surely she is a cow not made submissive that she should plough the land, nor does she irrigate the tilth; sound, without a blemish in her. they said: now you have brought the truth; so they sacrificed her, though they had not the mind to do (it)

72- And when you killed a man, then you disagreed with respect to that, and Allah was to bring forth that which you were going to hide

73- so we said: strike the (dead body) with part of the (sacrificed cow), thus Allah brings the dead to life, and he shows you his signs so that you may understand

 

2) What is forbidden to eat, the male, the female, or the newborn cow?

The idolater Ignorant Arabs before Islam had some diverse religious traditions about the cows.

Some believed that it is eating the male cow (bull) is forbidden

Others believed that eating the female cow is forbidden.

Another Ignorant idolater Arabs believed that eating the first newborn cow is forbidden.

The Quran warns anyone who is saying that; the Quran says:

• Is this Allah’s commandments or a forged invented lie?
• Were you witnesses when Allah enjoined you this?

This issue is not found in the Bible.

Surah 6:144

And of camels a pair, and cows a pair cows. Say: has he forbidden the two males or the two females or that which the wombs of the two females contain? Or were you witnesses when Allah enjoined you this? Who, then, is more unjust than he who forges a lie against Allah that he should lead astray men without knowledge? Surely, Allah does not guide the unjust people

 

3) Joseph interpreted the Egyptian\s King’s dream of the fat cows and the seven lean cows

The Bible says that the lean cows were ugly.

The Quran does not say that.

In order to know the difference between the story of Joseph and Pharaoh in Bible vs. Quran, I recommend you smart reader to read the Story of the Prophet Joseph, the son of the Prophet Jacob it in both books.

Surah 12:43 and 46

43- The king (of Egypt) said: “i do see (in a vision) seven fat kine (cows), whom seven lean ones devour, and seven green ears of corn, and seven (others) withered. o ye chiefs! Expound to me my vision if it be that ye can interpret visions.”

46- The chief cupbearer said “O Joseph! O man of truth! Expound to us (the dream) of seven fat kine (cows) whom seven lean ones devour, and of seven green ears of corn and (seven) others withered: that i may return to the people, and that they may understand.”

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Back to the main issue of my series of articles (1-39); this is my question to you smart readers: “Is the Quran quoted from the Bible “?

Professor Dr. Ibrahim Khalil wrote this article

http://www.articlesbase.com/science-articles/the-cow-in-bible-and-quran-128385.html