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Does Allah like the Arabs? He cannot make up his mind as usual

Reader comment on item: Dante, Chaucer, Shakespeare – and Me
in response to reader comment: Historicism = Histrionics

Submitted by dhimmi no more (United States), Jul 26, 2015 at 07:03

PP you wrote

(3:110) which brazenly declares: "You (the Arabs) are the Greatest of people and were put on this Earth as an exemplary model for the rest of Mankind." (my translation)

I really disagree with your translation the verse is as follows

كنتم خيرامة اخرجت للناس

Or You were the best nation that was produced for the peoples

Who are the "you"? The Qur'an does not tell us so we have to turn to al-Tabari who quotes Abi Hurayra and here is the quote from al-Tabari

أَبِي هُرَيْرَة " كُنْتُمْ خَيْر أُمَّة أُخْرِجَتْ لِلنَّاسِ " قَالَ : تَجُرُّونَ النَّاس بِالسَّلَاسِلِ إِلَى الْإِسْلَام

Or Abi Hurayra (is quoted as) saying that "You were the best nation that was produced for the people" means: You drag people into Islam

So the subject here is not really the Arabs in the 3rd century of Islam when al-Tabari was writing his exgesis and it was Muslims but if you account for Q14:4 then the suject of the verse could very well be the Arabs

Now if we turn to Q9"97 it says

The Arabs are the worst in unbelief and hypocrisy and the ones that cannot learn the limits of what Allah sent to his messenger

It seems that Allah cannot make up his mind as usual

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Reader comments (10) on this item

Title Commenter Date Thread
1The Dinosaurs, Michael S, and the Wicked Witch of the West [117 words]Michael SJul 30, 2015 16:15224497
3All Those White Guys Are All Alike [132 words]DaveJul 23, 2015 17:19224391
1working in call centers [33 words]SevaAug 11, 2015 19:56224391
3Historicism = Histrionics [189 words]Pied PiperJul 23, 2015 11:56224386
2Does Allah like the Arabs? He cannot make up his mind as usual [214 words]dhimmi no moreJul 26, 2015 07:03224386
Anti-Eurocentrism and African nationalism [88 words]Peter C.Jul 23, 2015 11:46224385
2Mazel Tov [104 words]Daniel L RemlerJul 23, 2015 10:02224383
The company you keep ... [20 words]David KoralJul 23, 2015 09:39224382
3eurocentric a contradiction and the oriental Descartes [115 words]mythJul 23, 2015 07:18224381
1Imperialism& Imperialism. Short memories? [18 words]steven LJul 22, 2015 20:22224376

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