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Once more on that “eagle” and those “lands of Allah”

Once more on that “eagle” and those “lands of Allah”

Last updated on: September 2, 2019 at 6:53 pm by Dan Peterson

Once more on that “eagle” and those “lands of Allah” 2019-09-02T18:53:30-06:00 Dan Peterson

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The real Qur’an 9:11 in Arabic, with an English translation below it.
(Wikimedia Commons public domain image)

An ex-Latter-day Saint critic, having read my blog entry from yesterday entitled “Well? Does Qur’an 9:11 prophesy that “the wrath of the eagle” will cleanse the lands of the Arabs?”, lauds my demolition of the purported Qur’anic prophecy of the eagle that will clean out the Arab lands (or “the lands of Allah”).

In his portrayal of me and my blog entry, I vehemently shout that it isn’t a prophecy.

Well, I don’t know about the “shouting.” Look at the blog entry and see for yourself whether I’m screaming in it. (Hint: I virtually never “scream,” neither literally nor metaphorically.)

Anyway, he faults me for operating on a double standard. I insist that Joseph Smith’s prophecies are true while denying those given to Muhammad. According to him, I should recognize that Joseph’s prophecies are just as silly, just as phony, as Muhammad’s prophecy in Qur’an 9:11 about the eagle and the lands of the Arabs.

I’m capable of being rational, he allows, and my dismantling of the Qur’an’s absurd prophecy about the eagle and the Arab lands demonstrates my capacity for logical thought. Now, though, I should apply my rationality to all religious claims, including those of my own faith.

Umm, well . . . Perhaps he, umm, should have, like, read what I posted with more care?

My argument isn’t — and wasn’t — that the Qur’an’s prophecy that the lands of the Arabs will be cleansed by “the wrath of the eagle” is a false prophecy or an absurd or silly prophecy. My argument is that no such prophecy exists in the Qur’an — neither at 9:11 nor anywhere else in the book.

Allusions to such a prophecy are bogus. Fraudulent. They’re anti-Muslim fake news. They’re demagogic — and, at some point, deeply dishonest.

And they’re easily demonstrated to be false.

If you can read Arabic, check out the image above. No Arabic equivalent of the English word eagle appears there, nor anywhere else in the Qur’an.

Even if you can’t read Arabic, note the translation of the verse given above.

Now, I’ll give you my own rough and ready translation of Qur’an 9:11:

“But if they repent and perform the salat prayers and pay alms, they are your brothers in religion. And we explain the revelations in detail to a people who know.”

But perhaps you don’t trust me. So here, just for the fun of it, are a couple of other translations:

“But if they repent, establish prayer, and give zakah, then they are your brothers in religion; and We detail the verses for a people who know.” (Sahih International)

“Bereuen sie aber und verrichten sie das Gebet und entrichten sie die Zakah, so sind sie eure Brüder im Glauben. Und Wir machen die Zeichen klar für die wissenden Leute.” (islam.DE)

“If they repent, keep up the prayer, and pay the prescribed alms, then they are your brothers in faith: We make the messages clear for people who understand.” (M.A.S. Abdel Haleem, The Qur’an, Oxford World’s Classics)

Absolutely nothing about an “eagle.” Nothing about Arab lands.

The problem here isn’t in the Qur’an. It’s in manifestly false claims about the Qur’an.

In my previous post on this topic, I provided a link to an article on Snopes.com that, had he read it, would have been enough for this fellow to understand. Here, though, is another. I offer it as a bonus:

http://www.wright-house.com/religions/islam/fearsome-eagle.html

My guess is that he was so eager to criticize me that he didn’t bother to read what I’d actually written. (He’s done that many times before.)

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