Saturday, August 6, 2011

Allah and Amun-Ra: Slave Gods?

By Dr Wesley Muhammad (c) 2011

            
                                                                             

              Chancellor Williams and Yusef Ben Jochannan, among other Africentrist scholars, have insisted in the past that Islam is, viz-a- viz African Peoples, a slave religion. The claim is generally that African peoples are Muslims today primarily because Arab Muslims were deeply involved in the African slave-trade. While the latter point is certainly true and of great significance, it is not the case that Islam was first encountered by African peoples through the Arab slave-trade. First, as was demonstrated, African peoples originated Islam in Arabia and brought it back to Africa in the 7th century. Secondly, there was relatively minimal forced conversion to Islam of Africans on the mainland before the 19th century.  Before then the religion - apart from the empire – spread throughout Africa rather peacefully.  

The institution of slavery is found throughout the ancient world and existed in traditional African society from antiquity to the modern world. It thus comes as no surprise that it is found in North East Africa, i.e. Arabia, at the time of Muhammad. The Qur’an assumes its existence and does not ban it outright.  Apparently like Ma'at of ancient Egypt, Islam was not deemed incompatible with the institution. Instead, like the Egyptian ‘Negative Confessions’ which stipulated proper 'Maatic' behavior with regard to (among other things) slaves, the Qur’an does "enunciate precepts and injunctions aimed at mitigating the condition and encouraging manumission."  The early Muslims therefore did, like other Africans, participate in the institution. But there is something very important regarding this early Muslim practice of slavery which often goes unnoticed: the preferred slaves for these African (Black Muslims) were whites. As Dana Marniche explains:

¼people that were fair-skinned were recognized by Arabs as descendants of subject peoples and slaves¼ the idea of blacks in Africa being the predominant slaves of the Arabs comes from not knowing the history of the peninsula or in fact not being able to read Arabic, otherwise it would have been recognized that the Arabs were usually designated as "black" and "dark brown"¼ We know the Arabs were so predominantly black in color that even the term "white" in earlier days, according to Arabic linguistic specialists ¼ meant a black man with a clear skin¼ On the other hand many black Africans have been brought into Arabia as slaves more recently in the last several centuries. Many of the people that were taking black slaves from Africa were in fact not Arabs in the strict sense of the word but rather Muslim Iranians, Iraqis, [Turks], "white" Syrians and other "Arabized" settlers or inhabitants in the Near East, Arabia and North Africa¼Most slaves¼before the fall of Constantinople (Istanbul) in the 15th century were "whites" coming from the north and mixing with the very dark-skinned black and near black groups of people known as "Arabs" in Spain, North Africa and the Near East. ¼thus, many Arabic speaking historians asserted up until the 14th century that the Arabs equated slave origins with fair skin or vice versa.”

The Muslim slave trade from Africa, to the extent that it happened in the early period, "involved a steady but relatively small flow over a millennium." The more the Islamic world was Aryanized, however, the more the newly introduced anti-black sentiments shaped the institution of slavery in the Muslim world, until eventually (by the seventeenth century) the term 'slave', ‘abid, came to mean 'Black person'. The horrible 'East African Holocaust,' as the East African Slave Trade in the hands of Muslims has been called, was dominated by those 'Arabized' whites noted by Marniche, such as the notorious Omani ruler Sayyid Said b. Sultan (d. 1856) who controlled the East African trade from Zanzibar in the 19th century. The East African Holocaust, therefore, was not the result of the Islamization of Africa, but of the Aryanization of Islam.

While some pro-Black ‘Black Arabs’ were involved in the enslavement of other Africans, I have in the past noted that this should be seen in the context of the broader phenomenon of the indigenous African institution of slavery that goes as far back as ancient Kemet. I have documented that ancient Black Egyptians (Kemetians) enslaved other Africans (e.g. Nubians) in the name of Amun-Ra (see http://www.theblackgod.com/Kemet%20Reality%20vs%20Romanticism.pdf ). My point is not to apologize for the institution of slavery, either Muslim or Yoruba or Kemetic. My point is to highlight the double standard and self-contradiction of a pillar of the Afrocentrist critique of Islam.   

Recently a good brother who does, as far as I can tell, very responsible Afrocentric scholarship, offered the following challenge to my argument. His challenge was actually to the case I made in the following video clips:


http://youtu.be/asLdCWWTrJA

I post my Brother’s challenge here and my response:


Challenge:

“there is a definite critique that could be laid in the original lecture which I think many understand intuitively, but cannot articulate intellectually.  The primary critique that many African-Centered individuals have against the Abrahamic faiths is that slavery is promoted and sanctioned by the Creator (God) or the primary prophets of those traditions. Given the quote in the lecture in the first link by Pharoah Thutmose III, one couldn't argue, given the data presented at the lecture, that Amen-Ra sanctions or approves such activities. The dialogue in the text is given by Thutmose, not Amen-Ra. So the response would be, well that's Thutmose speaking; who said that he was "the" representative of Amen-Ra (Amandla in many African languages)? In other words, this could be argued to be the speech of an individual (not of a spiritual tradition) who invokes the name of God during a time of war.  Thutmose III is not presented as a priest, but an Army general and political leader. This is expected language from a leader of a military during a time of war. So for the equation to be balanced, one would have to find primary Egyptian texts in which God (imn-ra, Hrw-Wr, Wsr/jsr, mA'a.t, etc.) sanctions or commands such actions. 

So while there was definitely Black African on Black African war and atrocities, one can't argue that the promotion of one's religion was the reason for the actions. This is at the heart of the debate. Because if people feel compelled to murder, war, loot, pillage, etc., because "God" said so, what recourse do you have against God? How do you make God responsible for giving the order?  It's different to charge an individual up like Hitler. We understand that Hitler acted alone, although he invoked God often. However, one would be hard pressed to argue God commanded Hitler to commit genocide. That's not the case Biblically speaking, for example, and it is this which is the issue; not whether Blacks kill other Blacks.”

My Response:

Peace Brother. I appreciate your comments. I absolutely agree with you when you admit that “untrained methods such as (Shaka Ndugu Kemet’s) gives Afrocentricity a bad name.” Afrocentric scholarship – and I like to think that I am a contributor to this – must be more sound and critical in its methodologies. Even some conclusions of such luminaries as Dr Clarke and Dr Ben must be reconsidered and revised in as much as they were founded on quite unsound methodological principles. What the likes of such E-scholars like Shaka and others do makes a mockery of what those men (i.e. Dr Ben, Dr Clarke, etc.) have done and contributed. But true Afrocentric scholars need to speak up (as you have) and disown these people and their ‘scholarship’. As a Muslim scholar (as well), I make a point to disclaim the dogmatic Muslim ‘scholarship’ that is out there – both Black Muslim and so-called Orthodox scholarship. It too is more often than not completely lacking in sound methodology.

While I understand your critique of the points I made in my lecture and appreciate you addressing what I actually said rather than a twisted sound-bite, I respectfully disagree with your critique. I believe it inadequately and unfairly represents both the so-called ‘Abrahamic traditions’, in particular the Qur’an’s and Muhammad’s position, as well as the ‘Ma’atic’ tradition.       

You say Beloved:

“The primary critique that many African-Centered individuals have against the Abrahamic faiths is that slavery is promoted and sanctioned by the Creator (God) or the primary prophets of those traditions. Given the quote in the lecture in the first link by Pharoah Thutmose III, one couldn't argue, given the data presented at the lecture, that Amen-Ra sanctions or approves such activities. The dialogue in the text is given by Thutmose, not Amen-Ra. So the response would be, well that's Thutmose speaking; who said that he was "the" representative of Amen-Ra (Amandla in many African languages)? In other words, this could be argued to be the speech of an individual (not of a spiritual tradition) who invokes the name of God during a time of war.”

There are a number of problems with this critique.

1.] It unjustly insinuates that the Qur’an and Muhammad promote and sanction the enslavement of Black people, which was the point of my talk. Nowhere in the Qur’an is the enslavement of Black people “promoted and sanctioned”. Yes, it tacitly approves the general institution of slavery by stipulating well-treatment of slaves; but so does Ma’at. In the Papyrus of Nu, one who enters the Hall of Ma’at must declare his innocence of a number of sins, including confessing: “I have not vilified a slave to his master”. Here, like in the Qur’an, the legitimate existence of the institution is assumed, and only improper treatment of slaves is proscribed. But nowhere in the Qur’an is there the slightest advocacy of the enslavement of Black people. Regarding statements put in the mouth of Muhammad via hadith, both positions are attributed to him: there are those racist statements advocating enslaving Blacks attributed to him by slave making Muslims of the medieval period. There are also anti-racist, pro-black statements attribute to him. Each statement must be critically analyzed on its own terms to trace its origin and determine its authenticity. But the conflicting positions and ambivalence precludes our making the claim that Muhammad “promoted and sanctioned” the enslavement of African people. The Qur’an never did.

2.] The distinction you draw between the alleged position of “the Creator (God) or the primary prophets” on the one hand and the actions and statements of the Egyptian Pharoah on the other, is methodologically flawed. Firstly, from a strictly historical-critical perspective, the Qur’an and the Ma’atic texts of Kemet are of the same nature: they are the both alleged ‘Divine Words’ written by men (and women?) who believe in the God(s). Thus, critically speaking, the Qur’an as we have it cannot be said to be the articulated position of “the Creator (God),” only the position attributed to God by recorders and transmitters of the messages Muhammad believed he received from God. This, again, narrows the differential gap between the Qur’an and, for example, the Pyramid Texts. Both are, ultimately, the words of men in the name of the gods.

Second, the pharaoh is not less but more of a representative of Ma’at and the Gods, e.g. Ra/Heru, than Muhammad is a representative of Allah. The Pharoah, as the very House of God and God incarnate, is a representative of the will of the gods in a way Muhammad is only claimed to be much later in the development of Islam when, under the influence of mystical hagiographies, he becomes an exaggerated saint. Thus, what the Phoroahs do in the name of the Gods is much more indicative – from the Ma’atic perspective – of the will of the Gods than what you suggest Beloved. Statements and activities of Tuthmose III in the name of Amen-Ra is even more relevant to the discussion I initiated than is the statements and activities of later Muslims, mainly (though not exclusively) white converts to the religion. Now, as you correctly pointed out in a footnote to your comment, in my lecture I quote the statement of Djhty, one of Thutmose III’s generals, rather than the words of the Pharoah himself. In this case your words here may have some force: “In other words, this could be argued to be the speech of an individual (not of a spiritual tradition) who invokes the name of God during a time of war.” 

However, this ideology of Amun-Ra as the real conqueror and enslaver of Nubia was very poetically articulated by the pharaoh himself on the walls of the Great Temple of Amun-Ra at Karnack. The Poetic Stela of Thutmose III, a black granite stela now in the Cairo Museum, celebrates and gives context to Thutmose III’s conquests. The god Amun-Ra is presented affirming to the king that his military successes are all the work of the God, including the brutal slaying of the conquered peoples. The Pharoah (God incarnate) declares:   

This ideology of Amun-Ra as the real conqueror and enslaver of Nubia was very poetically laid out on the walls of the Great Temple of Amun-Ra at Karnack. The Poetic Stela of Thutmose III, a black granite stela now in the Cairo Museum, celebrates and gives context to Thutmose III’s conquests. The god Amun-Ra is presented affirming to the king that his military successes are all the work of the god, including the brutal slaying of the conquered peoples:

“Thus speaks Amun-Ra, Lord of the Thrones of the Two Lands…
“My son, my defender, Men-Kheper-Ra (prenomen of Thutmose III)…
I shall establish your power and the awe of you in all the nations…
The nobles of every foreign land will be united in your fist…
I shall shackle the Nubian archers by ten thousands of thousands.
And the men of the North by hundreds of thousands of captives…
I have come to empower you to crush the eastern lands:
You will tread down those who dwell in the regions of God’s Land (Ta-Neter)…
I have come to empower you to crush the bowmen (of Nubia); Nubia as far as Shat in your possession.”

Here, the words of the God himself are inscribed in his holy temple, and he is empowering the Pharoah Tuthmose to crush and enslave Nubians. Where are there similar words of Allah? Not in the Qur’an. In what Masjid will we find Allah’s words inscribed empowering a caliph to crush and enslave the Sudan? Nowhere.  

Not only do we have these inscribed divine words of the God Amun-Ra, we have pictorial depictions of the God receiving slaves. In a XII Dynasty mural from Medinet Habu, Thebes, Pharoah Ramesses III is depicted presenting to Amun-Ra Libyan and Levantine prisoners of war to be used a slaves on temple grounds and elsewhere (See photo). It must be emphasized that these were mainly Black captives, as the Levant was still a Black land at this time. Where is there a similar depiction of Allah receiving black slaves from a caliph or sultan?

There were times when the Temple of Amun  became the seat of oppression in Nubia. A decree of the Pepy I (c. 2325 BCE), the third pharaoh of the VI Dynasty, prohibited Nubians from entering the temples. On the Shrine Stella of Ineny (c. 1350), mayor of Thebes under the XVIII Dynasty king Thutmose I, Ineny mentions seeing Nubian captives given “to the endowment of Amun at the time when wretched Kush was overthrown.”

Also informative is the Semna Inscription of the viceroy Merimose of the XVIII Dynasty, under Amenhotep III (1402-1364 BCE), speaking of a campaign into Nubia that resulted in slaughter and enslavement, all in the name of Amun and Heru:

“The might of Nibmatre took them in one day, in one hour, making a great slaughter … not one of them escaped; each one of them was brought … The might of Amenhotep took them; the barbarians among them, male as well as female, were not separated; by the plan of Horus, Lord of the Two Lands, King Nibmatre, mighty bull, strong in might. Ibhet had been haughty, great things were in their hearts, (but) the fierce-eyed lion, this ruler, he slew them by command of Amun-Atum, his august father; it was he who led him in might and victory.”

There is then listed an inventory of spoils from this military campaign COMMANDED by Amun-Atum and planed by Heru, Lord of the Two Lands:


“List of the captivity which his majesty took in the land of Ibhet, the wretched:

Living Kushites 150 heads
Archers 110 heads
Kushite women 250 heads
Servants of the Kushites 55 heads
Their children 175 heads
Total 740 living heads
Hands thereof 312
United with the living heads 105242”


You say Brother:

“So while there was definitely Black African on Black African war and atrocities, one can't argue that the promotion of one's religion was the reason for the actions. This is at the heart of the debate. Because if people feel compelled to murder, war, loot, pillage, etc., because "God" said so, what recourse do you have against God? How do you make God responsible for giving the order?”

Nowhere in the Qur’an does God (or the human speakers for him) gives such an order. We do find, however, Persian Muslim literature of the 10-11th centuries that claims that Allah wants Blacks dead, for they/we are the enemies of God and Islam. But we cannot say on this basis that “Creator (God) and primary prophets” of Islam “promotes and sanctions” the enslavement of Black Africans. We have much more authoritative Kemetic sources explicitly depicting Amun-Ra “compelling murder, war, loot, pillage, etc,” than we have in Islam. So, a much stronger case can be made for Amun-Ra as a slave God, than can be made for Allah. However, I don’t make either claim. This is the claim I made:

Just as the Church in the American South and the Masjid in Zanzibar were centers of African slavery and seats of oppression, so too were the Temples of Amun both in Nubia and in Kemet. In these texts and images the god Amun-Ra is directly linked to the enslavement and slaughter of African peoples (Nubians), in much the same way Christ Jesus will be in the hands of the European traffickers in enslaved Africans and justifiers of the practice. If anyone can be called a ‘slave-god,’ it is certainly this god! Yet, that would be a very irresponsible position to hold. Because murderers invoked the god does not mean the god himself is a murderer! This logic will no doubt immediately resonate with most people. However, when it comes to Islam and Allah, the logic is inoperative with much of these same people. Allah is held responsible for all of the evil deeds of those that say they believe in him. This is a double standard that must be exposed and done away with. If Ma’at and Amun-Ra should not be judged on the basis of the anti-African, murderous and enslaving policies of Tutankhamun, then Allah and Islam should not be judged on the basis of the slaving practices of Sayyid Said b. Sultan, the notorious Omani Arab who controlled the “East African Holocaust,” i.e 19th century CE slave trade based in Zanzibar.”
      









11 comments:

  1. Wow.. Great discourse and analysis

    Peace 7

    ReplyDelete
  2. Chapter 1:
    Al-Fatihah- The Opening:
    Revealed at Makkah: 7 verses

    In the (Beautiful) Majesty of Allah,
    The Infinite Good (of unbounded Love & Generosity),
    The Most Beautiful-(Loving).

    1:1 All the (Beautiful) Perfect Majestic Qualities, All the
    (beautiful-gifts) & (talents) and All the (thanks) & (gratitude) belongs to Allah,
    the Loving-Nurturer, the Beautifier, the Cherisher, the Sustainer and the
    Nourisher unto perfection of all the Universes and all the Systems of (Wisdom), (Intelligence) & (Knowledge),

    1:2 The Infinite Good (of unbounded Love & Generosity)
    Who out of His nurturing-love continuously initiates and
    (showers) His unbounded (blissful-love), (nourishments) &
    (beautiful-gifts) to all His creatures without their asking or deserving,
    The Most Beautiful-(Loving)
    Who out of His nurturing-love gives a great manifold reward to any
    (good) action done by His creatures,

    1:3 Supreme Master of the Period of Reward & Requital and Accountability,

    1:4 Thee do we serve in devotional-love and Thee do we seek for Divine help.

    1:5 Guide us with kindness on the harmonic balance path

    1:6 The path of those upon whom Thou hast bestowed Your bliss and gracious gifts,

    1:7 Not those upon whom wrath is brought down, nor those who go astray.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Chapter 2:
    Al-baqarah: The Cow
    (Revealed at Madinah: 40 sections 286 verses)

    In the (Beautiful) Majesty of Allah,
    The Infinite Good (of unbounded Love & Generosity),
    The Most Beautiful-(Loving).

    2:1 I, Allah, am the Best Knower.
    2:2 This Book, there is no doubt in it, is a guide to those who fulfill their duty of
    (guarding) against evil and doing (virtuous-loving) deeds to keep their innate good
    (pure) innocent virtuous nature clean,
    2:3 Who are devoted (with gratitude) to the Great Unseen (Who is beyond the imaginations) and keep up devotional meditation and spend virtuously out of the provisions and gifts We have given them,
    2:4 And who are devoted (with gratitude) to that which has been revealed to thee and that which was revealed before thee, and of the Hereafter they are sure.
    2:5 These are on a correct course from their Loving-Nurturer, Beautifier, Cherisher and Nourisher unto perfection and these it is that are successful of attaining to the happy state of bliss for achieving full (perfect) development.

    ReplyDelete
  4. 7:26 O children of black (intelligent) virtuous mortal, We have indeed sent down to you clothing to cover your shame (of the abilities to incline towards degradation), and (clothing) to beauty (your souls); and clothing that keeps your innate (good) pure innocent virtuous nature clean — that is the (superior) beautiful (goodness). This is of the (beautiful) wonderful symbols and messages of Allah that they may be mindful.
    7:27 O children of black (intelligent) virtuous mortal, let not the devil seduce you, as he expelled your parents from the (beautiful) garden, pulling off from them their clothing that he might show them their shame (of the abilities to incline towards degradation). He surely sees you, he as well as his host, from whence you see them not. Surely We have made the devils to be the friends of those who are not devoted (with gratitude).
    7:28 And when they commit an indecency they say: We found our fathers doing this, and Allah has enjoined it on us. Say: Surely Allah enjoins not indecency. Do you say of Allah what you know not?
    7:29 Say: My Loving-Nurturer, Beautifier, Cherisher and Nourisher unto perfection enjoins equity and fair-dealing with harmonic-balance. And set upright your faces at every time of devotional meditation and call on Him, being sincere to Him in obedience. As He brought you into being, so shall you return.
    7:30 A party has He guided, and another party — perdition is justly their due. Surely they took the devils for allies and (protectors) instead of Allah, and they think that they are correctly guided.
    7:31 O children of the black (intelligent) virtuous mortal, attend to your (beautiful) adornment at every time of devotional meditation, and eat and drink and be not rebellious; surely He has no special warmth love and affection for the rebellious.
    7:32 Say: Who has forbidden the (beautiful) gifts of adornment and elegance of Allah, which He has produced for His servants, and the (beautiful), (goodly), (delightful), (delicious), (sweet) clean things which He has provided for provisions? Say: They are in the life of this world, for the devoted (grateful) ones, and purely for them in the Period of the Resurrection. Thus do We explain the (beautiful) wonderful symbols and messages in detail for those who uses their intellect and reasoning to understand.
    7:33 Say: My Loving-Nurturer, Beautifier, Cherisher and Nourisher unto perfection forbids only indecencies and shameful deeds such of them as are apparent and such as are concealed, and sin and unjust rebellion against truth, logic and reasoning; and that you associate partners with Allah that for which He has sent down no authority, and that you say of Allah what you know not.
    7:34 And every nation has a term; so when its term comes, they cannot remain behind the least while, nor can they precede (it).

    Arabic Word Adam: means Black, intelligent, virtuous!

    Rabb: Loving-Nurturer, Beautifier, Cherisher, Sustainer and Nourisher unto perfection!

    Semitic root r-b of Arab and Rabb:

    Arab means blackness!

    Rabb from the same root means the Black God or the Black Creator!

    ReplyDelete
  5. 3:57 And as to those who are devoted (with gratitude) and do good deeds (for) their (beautification) & excellence, He will pay them fully their rewards. And Allah has no warmth love and affection for the unjust.
    3:58 This We read to thee of the (beautiful) wonderful symbols and messages and the (glorious) Reminder full of wisdom.
    3:59 The image of Jesus is as the image of the black (intelligent) virtuous mortal in the sight of Allah. He created him in various-stages with new additions out of (organic matter) soil minerals, then He said to him, Be, and he came to be.
    3:60 (This is) the truth from thy Loving-Nurturer, Beautifier, Sustainer and
    Nourisher unto perfection, so be not of the disputers.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Dr. Wesley Muhammad is doing an excellent job! Keep up the excellent work!

    Chapter 96:
    Al-'Alaq — The Love:
    Revealed at Makkah: 19 verses

    In the (Beautiful) Majesty of Allah,
    The Infinite Good (of unbounded Love & Generosity),
    The Most Beautiful-(Loving).

    96:1 Read and study in the (Beautiful) Majesty of the Loving-Nurturer, the Beautifier, the Evolutioner and the Nourisher unto perfection Who creates things in various-stages with new additions,
    96:2 He created the human-being in various-stages with new additions out of (love), a (beautiful) living-cell (Zygote), a leech-like substance which clings,
    96:3 Read and study that your Loving-Nurturer, Beautifier, Evolutioner and
    Nourisher unto perfection is full of (majesty) and very (loving) & (generous) in
    (giving)-gifts,
    96:4 Who taught by the pen for development of (reading), (studying), (researching), (science) & (wisdom),
    96:5 Taught the human-being (various-subjects) which he knew not.
    96:6 Nay, the human-being is surely rebellious,
    96:7 Because he looks upon himself as self-sufficient.
    96:8 Surely to thy Loving-Nurturer, Beautifier, Evolutioner and Nourisher unto perfection
    is the (true) goal of destiny.
    96:9 Hast thou seen him who forbids
    96:10 A servant when he prays?
    96:11 See thou if he is on the correct way,
    96:12 Or enjoins observance of duty of guarding against evil and doing (virtuous-loving) deeds to keep his innate (good) pure innocent virtuous nature clean?
    96:13 See thou if he denies and turns away?
    96:14 Knows he not that Allah sees?
    96:15 Nay, if he desist not, We will seize him by the forelock —
    96:16 A lying, sinful forelock!
    96:17 Then let him summon his council,
    96:18 We will summon the braves of the army.
    96:19 Nay! Obey him not, but prostrate thyself, and draw nigh (to Allah).

    ReplyDelete
  7. Dr. Wesley Muhammad: I dedicate my (Beautiful) Translation of the Majestic Qur'an to You. You are doing a beautiful job. You explain about the Black Arabs history very well. Your Book Black Arabia & the African origin of Islam is an excellent Book and your Book God's Blacks Prophets!

    Surah:2

    2:29 He it is Who created for you in various-stages with new additions all that is in the physical world of matter. And He directed Himself to the Universe so He made them into seven (perfectly) harmonic Universes; and He is Best Knower of all things.
    2:30 And when thy Loving-Nurturer, Beautifier, Cherisher and Nourisher unto perfection said to the cosmic-forces, I am going to place a ruler in the physical world, they said: Wilt Thou place in it such as make mischief in it and shed blood? And we celebrate Thy (Beautiful) Perfect Majestic Qualities and extol Thy Holiness of unbounded Goodness. He said: Surely I know what you know not.
    2:31 And He taught the black (intelligent) virtuous mortal all the natures and qualities, then presented them to the cosmic-forces; He said: Tell Me the natures and qualities of those if you are right.
    2:32 They said: Supreme Majesty belongs to You Whose Infinite (Beauty), (Goodness) & (Perfection) is free from any defects! we have no knowledge but that which Thou hast taught us. Surely Thou art the All-Knowing, the Infinite Wise.
    2:33 He said: O black (intelligent) virtuous mortal, inform them of their natures and qualities. So when he informed them of their natures and qualities, He said: Did I not say to you that I know what is unseen in the Universes and in the physical world of matter? And I know what you manifest and what you hide.
    2:34 And when We said to the cosmic-forces, Be submissive to the black (intelligent) virtuous mortal in (beautiful-harmony), they submitted in (beautiful-harmony), but Iblis (did not). He refused and was proud, and he was one of the undevoted (ungrateful) ones.
    2:35 And We said: O black (intelligent) virtuous mortal, dwell thou and thy wife in the (beautiful) garden, and eat from it a plenteous (nourishment) wherever you wish, and approach not this tree, lest you be of the unjust.
    2:36 But the devil made them slip from it, and caused them to depart from the state in which they were. And We said: Go forth, some of you are the enemies of others. And there is for you in the physical world an abode and a provision for a time.
    2:37 Then the black (intelligent) virtuous mortal received (revealed) words from his Loving-Nurturer, Beautifier, Cherisher and Nourisher unto perfection, and He turned to him in (beautiful-nurturing love). Surely He is Oft-returning to (beautiful-nurturing love) & (goodness), The Most Beautiful-(Loving) Who out of His nurturing-love rewards all your good actions in manifolds.
    2:38 We said: Go forth from this (state) all. Surely there will come to you a guidance from Me, then whoever follows My guidance, no fear shall come upon them, nor shall they grieve.

    ReplyDelete
  8. This is What the Majestic Qur'an says about what to do about slaves:

    2:176 That is because Allah has revealed the Book with true (perfect) harmonic dimensions of (beauty), (goodness), (equity) & (wisdom). And surely those who disagree about the Book go far in opposition.
    2:177 It is not virtuous that you turn your faces towards the East and the West, but the virtuous is the one who is devoted (with gratitude) to Allah, and the Final-Period, and the cosmic-forces and the Book and the prophets, and gives away wealth out of love for Him to the near of kin and the orphans and the needy and the wayfarer and to those who ask and to set slaves free and keeps up devotional meditation and gives regular charity to nourish their souls and community with (beauty) & (goodness); and the performers of their promise when they make a promise, and the one who is patient, (calm) & (enduring) in a goodly manner while in the situation of distress and affliction and in the time of conflict. These are they who are truthful; and these are they who fulfill their duty of guarding against evil and doing (virtuous-loving) deeds to keep their innate (good) pure innocent virtuous nature clean.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Chapter 87:
    Al-A'la — The Most High:
    Revealed at Makkah: 19 verses

    In the (Beautiful) Majesty of Allah,
    The Infinite Good (of unbounded Love & Generosity),
    The Most Beautiful-(Loving).

    87:1 Glorify the (Beautiful) Majesty of your Loving-Nurturer, Beautifier, Cherisher and Nourisher unto perfection, the Ultimate Bliss, the All-Glorious, the All-Sublime.
    87:2 Who creates things in various-stages with new additions,
    (then) brings them to perfection;
    87:3 And Who makes things according to a divine measure of (dimensions), then guides them to their goal.
    87:4 And Who brings out the (green and luscious) pasture,
    87:5 Then makes it dried up, dust-colored.
    87:6 We shall make thee (read) and (study) so you shall not forget
    87:7 Except things according to the laws and selections of Allah. Surely He knows all that is manifest and all that is hidden.
    87:8 And We shall make thy way smooth to a state of (bliss).
    87:9 So recollect, recollecting indeed profits.
    87:10 He who stands in awe will mind,
    87:11 And the most unfortunate one will avoid it,
    87:12 Who will burn in the great Fire.
    87:13 Then therein he will neither live nor die.
    87:14 He indeed is successful of attaining to the happy state of bliss who (nourishes) his soul with (beauty) & (goodness),
    87:15 And commemorates the (Beautiful) Majesty of His Loving-Nurturer, Beautifier, Cherisher and Nourisher unto perfection, then meditates.
    87:16 But, you prefer the life of this world,
    87:17 While the Hereafter is infinite superior and most lasting.
    87:18 Surely these (teachings) is in the earlier scriptures,
    87:19 The scriptures of Abraham and Moses.

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  10. Chapter 103:
    Al-'Asr — The Time:
    Revealed at Makkah: 3 verses

    In the (Beautiful) Majesty of Allah,
    The Infinite Good (of unbounded Love & Generosity),
    The Most Beautiful-(Loving).

    103:1 By the time! —
    103:2 Surely the human-being is in loss, except
    103:3Those who are devoted (with gratitude) and do good deeds (for) their (beautification) & (excellence), and exhort one another to (live) in true (perfect) harmonic balance of (beauty), (goodness), (equity) & (wisdom), and exhort one another to patience, (calmness) & (endurance) in a goodly manner.
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  11. I am still not on this African centric mess African American Soccer and AfAfrics are to different people

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