20 years and still going strong

Submitted by dhimmi no more (United States), Jan 25, 2014 at 16:45

Dr. Pipes

I want to congratulate you on a job well done and all the best in the future

PS: I wish you can forward the following to Robert Spencer who is having a little chat with an annoying and non Arabic speaker Muslim from Pakistan about the meaning of the word Anfal which is the title of Sura 8 in the Qur'an and here is what al-Tabari says about it that NO ONE HAS A CLUE what the word really means and here is what he comes up with

اِخْتَلَفَ أَهْل التَّأْوِيل فِي مَعْنَى الْأَنْفَال الَّتِي ذَكَرَهَا اللَّه فِي هَذَا الْمَوْضِع , فَقَالَ بَعْضهمْ : هِيَ الْغَنَائِم , وَقَالُوا : مَعْنَى الْكَلَام : يَسْأَلك أَصْحَابك يَا مُحَمَّد عَنْ الْغَنَائِم الَّتِي غَنِمْتهَا أَنْتَ وَأَصْحَابك يَوْم بَدْر لِمَنْ هِيَ , فَقُلْ هِيَ لِلَّهِ وَلِرَسُولِهِ

He says that the word means Loot also spoils and that Allah and Muhammad get a share of the loot/spoils

Then he provides other meanings for the word but in the end he tells us it really means غَنِيمَة

Which really means loot also spoils

And here is the meaning from elmaany http://www.almaany.com/home.php?language=arabic&lang_name=%D8%B9%D8%B1%D8%A8%D9%8A&word=%D8%A3%D9%86%D9%81%D8%A7%D9%84

And here is the meaning of the word

. الأنفال آية 1 يَسْأَلونَكَ عَنِ الأنْفالِ ، قُلِ الأنْفالُ لِلَّهِ وَالرَّسُولِ ( قرآن ) : الغَنائِمُ ، جمع غَنيمَةٍ .

Or al-Anfal aya 1 They ask you about al-Anfal say al-anfal are for Allah and his messenger Qur'an al-Ghana'em means the loot/spoils plural of ghanima

And this is what one finds in Ibn Kathir

وَقَالَ الْكَلْبِيّ عَنْ أَبِي صَالِح عَنْ اِبْن عَبَّاس أَنَّهُ قَالَ : الْأَنْفَال الْغَنَائِم

Or al-Anfal are al-Ghana'em or the loot/spoils and notice that the source here is no other than Ibn Abbas one of Muhammad's Sahaba

And if you turn to Q8:41 it says that Allah and his messenger get 1/5 of the spoils/loot

This means that Robert Spencer is 100% correct

It is the islamic sources that tell us that the word al-Anfal means the loot/spoils

If I can be of any help please let me know

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