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Challenging question: What does 74:31 really mean?
Below is the translation of 74:31 by Muhammad Marmaduke Picthall. Let's see what it really means. Surah/Chapter 074 - Al-Muddaththir. Verse 31.
English Translation (The Noble Qur'an)"WE have appointed only angels to be wardens of the fire, and their number have We made to be a stumbling block for those who disbelieve; that those to whom the scripture hath been given may have certainty, and that believers may increase in faith; and that those to whom the Scripture hath been given and believers may not doubt; and that those in whose hearts there is disease, and disbelievers, may say: What meaneth Allah by this similitude? Thus Allah sendeth astray whom He will, and whom He will He guideth. None knoweth the hosts of thy Lord save Him. This is naught else than a Reminder unto mortals. "
*This verse is in connection with the verses 74:30 which means "above it are nineteen" verse 74:30 is about the Angels being the wardens of hell. NOTHING else.
*74:31 states;
a)OnlyAngels are wardens of fire and their number (19) was fixed to be an obstacle for those who disbelieve
b)the number was fixed to 19 so that the believers may increase in FAITH, and that the people to whom the scripture has been given may have certainty
c)that those to whom the scripture and had been given and the believers may not doubt,
d)that Those with disease in there hearts would say: "What does Allah mean by this similtitue?"(fixation of *19* as the number of angels),
e)In such ways GOD sends astray whom we will and whomever He wills will be guided.
f)Only Allah knows his hosts,
g)This is a reminder for the mortals (of what is to come)
Now let us analyze point by point what this verse means.
a)This point tells us that Only Angels are wardens of the fire and that there number was fixed to 19 to be made into an obstacle to the disbelievers. Let's see. Why would 19 be an obstacle? Had the number been fixed only to scare the disbelievers it would have been more than millions, not merely 19. There has to be another reason.That reason obviously must be that the disbelievers would have to go through the obstacle faced by 19 whatever it may be.
So, the the purpose of assigning specifically 19 angels to be guardians of Hell according to this person is to:"1) Divert the disbelievers, as they will attribute importance to this number beyond being a description of the number of angels assigned to Hell."
The question I guess any intelligent person has to ask him or herself is, "What is the purpose of diverting someone when they are already facing the angels at the gates of Hell?"
Or, is the conclusion that God made the number 19 prevail in the Quran to expose people who would follow the Quran?!
In the same sura, 4 verses down, God says:
[74:35] This is one of the great miracles.
What miracle do you think God is reffering to here?
Is it God composing the Quran based on the first and last number 1 and 9, representing the Alpha and the Omega, The Innermost and the Outermost, the One Almighty God encompassing all things, only to test and see who would be faithful enough to REJECT it?!
Is there even one precedent of a miracle that God commands the believers to reject? Keep in mind that God says that His system never changes.
God says in 74:49 that those who take the news of this miracle the wrong way are averse to this reminder:
[74:49] Why are they so averse to this reminder?
What reminder is that exactly? Who is giving this reminder? Who have you seen step forward to say "I've been sent to give you this reminder" except Rashad Khalifa?
God's miracles and signs are POSITIVE, bringing more people to the faith, not the other way around. As we learn in the Quran, the miracle of 19 is not a new phenomena. The first time it was actually witnessed was about 900 years ago by a Jewish Rabbi called Rabbi Judah the Pious.
[46:10] Say, "What if it is from GOD and you disbelieved in it? A witness from the Children of Israel has borne witness to a similar phenomenon, and he has believed, while you have turned arrogant. Surely, GOD does not guide the wicked people."
The following quotation is taken from STUDIES IN JEWISH MYSTICIM, (Association for Jewish Studies, Cambridge, Mass., Joseph Dan & Frank Talmage, eds., Page 88, 1982). The quotation refers to the work of Rabbi Judah the Pious (12th Century AD):
The people [Jews] in France made it a custom to add [in the morning prayer] the words: "`Ashrei temimei derekh [blessed are those who walk the righteous way]," and our Rabbi, the Pious, of blessed memory, wrote that they were completely and utterly wrong. It is all gross
falsehood, because there are only nineteen times that the Holy Name is mentioned [in that portion of the morning prayer]... and similarly you find the word `Elohim nineteen times in the pericope of Ve-'elleh shemot.... Similarly, you find that Israel were called "sons" nineteen
times, and there are many other examples. All these sets of nineteenare intricately intertwined, and they contain many secrets and esoteric meanings, which are contained in more than eight large volumes... Furthermore, in this section there are 152 (19x8) words.As it turns out, the number 19 stands for GOD ALONE, or GOD is ONE, as the word for ONE in all scriptural languages, Arabic, Hebrew and Arameic, adds up to 19 when adding the gematrical values of the letters that compose the word ONE in each language.
Hebrew Arabic Value
------ ------ -----
V W 6
A A 1
H H 8
D D 4
----
19b)The submitters show people this verse as some sort of evidence that the 19 theory is divine. So in the view of the submitters THE NUMBER OF *BELIEVERS* INCREASE. But it is not so. As you can see in b) Only the FAITH of the people who already beleive increases. The other point in b) is that people to whom the scripture has been given will have certainty. Christians, Jews and Muslims have been tangled up in this submission. Thereby they all would have certainty of what the truth is, what is expected of them, and what they all will become in the hereafter. Discussions and debates about submissiom have forced more study of the Quran and many issues are highlighted. Before I did not know why i followed the hadhith or wether I should. Now after research i have done because of submitters I know why and my FAITH has increased.
"2) Reduce or leave no impact on the number of believers, only strengthen the faith of those who already believe and inform the followers of the previous scriptures of what they will become (whatever he means by that) in the heareafter."Are you attributing significance to the mathematical code of 19 here inadvertently?
You must admit that claiming that the purpose of 19 would only be to describe the number of angels of Hell, does not explain the rest of the verse, as it makes no sense to say that this fact would increases the faith of the faithful and removes doubts in the hearts of the follower of previous scriptures!
It sounds as if you are suggesting that your faith has increased by Rejecting the code of 19, and that you find purpose in this?! If that is the case, are you suggesting that God sent someone to present facts FROM the Quran to help people increase in faith by Rejecting him?! If so you must immediately drop that thought, as it is clearly NOT supported by the Quran:
[7:28] They commit a gross sin, then say, "We found our parents doing this, and GOD has commanded us to do it." Say, "GOD never advocates sin. Are you saying about GOD what you do not know?"
In the verses that follows the explanation of the purpose of 19, God says that "this is one of the greatest miracles" and then goes on to explain what will happen to those who reject it. As you can see in the verse above, and in the rest of the Quran, this is not God's behaviour towards us. He does not play games with us. Satan does. When God says DO he means DO, not DON'T. When God says YES he means YES, not NO.
By God's grace, for the first time since the revelation of the Quran, through the mathematical miracle of the Quran, we now know the meaning of the previously mysterious Quranic Initials prefixing 29 of the Quranic chapters.
In many of those 29 suras we read "These letters constitue proofs of this scripture." For 1400 years, 1406 to be exact (19x74), the world did not know what this meant. With the revelation of the mathematical miracle in 1974, a direct fulfillment of the prophecy of the number 19 mentioned in Sura 74, the world learned about the true meaning of these initials.
[74:1] O you hidden secret.
[74:2] Come out and warn.
[74:3] Extol your Lord.
[74:4] Purify your garment.
[74:5] Forsake what is wrong.In knowing the purpose of the mathematical miracle of the Quran, there is no doubt as to what these verses refer to. It is meant to be a tool for purifying our religion with the sole purpose of going back to extoling our Lord and no one else.
[74:16] He stubbornly refused to accept these proofs.
Those who reject this want to keep exalting their idols and keep the Quran stacked away in some high place in the house, while they turn to their imams and countless books of Hadith for religious guidance, disbelieving in God's assurance that He made the Quran easy to learn for anyone who wishes to learn (54:17) and His command to each and every one of us that we must verify for ourselves, with our own eyes, ears and brain all information we attribute to our religion (17:36).
c)The believers and the people to whom the scripture is given may not doubt about what is expected of them by GOD.
Another attempt to explain the purpose of the number 19?Please understand that what you are suggesting is either that 1) knowing the number of angels guarding Hell will increase your faith, or 2) rejecting the mathematical composition of the Quran based on the number 19 will increase your faith.
Both approaches has no support in the Quran. That should be enough for you to abandon that.
Those who have accepted the miracle based on the number 19 in the Quran have also accepted the Quran as their fully detailed source of information for religious guidance. Isn't this what the Quran tells us to do? Or are you suggesting that people who do that are heading for Hell? Seems you are.
The sad fact is that so-called "Islam" as the world knows it today and most practicing "Muslims" are in such a bad shape when it comes to practicing their religion correctly, i.e. according to the Quran, that when a person recites the Quran he or she is accused of being an enemy of Islam!! And that is no joke.
To read about how the majority of Muslims have gone astray, please click here: http://www.submission.info/books/qhi/qhi.html
d)The people with a disease in there hearts would say: " What does GOD mean by 19?" This is a very important point please read carefully. When ever a submitter is asked is there any Quranic indication that 19 is a divine miracle they would show you verse. 74:30 and 74:31. If they are told "GOD has fixed 19 to be the number of Angel's of hell, That is all" they would say: "Why 19?? Why did GOD put 19?? GOD put 19 because it is a sign etc etc". Now we know who these people with disease in there hearts is. Those people are the submitters.
You yourself have listed at least 5 reasons for "why 19" as you understand it. So, it seems you have certainly asked yourself the question WHY and tried to give explanations at least 5 times!When God says that the disbelievers and those with doubts in their hearts would ask "What did God mean by this allegory?" He means that they will not understand it, will not see it's significance. Believers will refer to it as a miracle, as God does.
[74:35] This is one of the great miracles.
This discussion would be more honest if you would be straightforwad and say that what is really bothering you is not the math in the Quran. It is the fact that this awesome miracle exposes those who refuse to accept that Quran is all we need for salvation, as God says it is.
e)In such ways GOD sends astray whom he wills (submitters) and guides whom he wills. God Had knowledge that a group of people would go to hell by things which they cook up behind this verse. f)Only Allah knows the number of his hosts g)This a reminder of hell, heaven and the hear after.
Are you suggesting that God sent someone to present facts from the Quran to see who would be faithful enough to reject him? Are you saying that "this is one of the great miracles" (74:35) refers to God sending people astray who decide to believe in and only follow the Quran?!
Considering what we know about God's message and signs to us this far, and that He has sent 20 prophets all in all delivering 19 scriptures (Moses & Aron delivered the same scripture), all with the same message, "Worship God Alone", one would think that it would be a wake up call that He chose 19 as the number of guardians of the gates of Hell? This is no coincidence, as 19 represents the call to worship ONE God.
[39:71] Those who disbelieved will be led to Hell in throngs. When they get to it, and its gates are opened, its guards will say, "Did you not receive messengers from among you, who recited to you the revelations of your Lord, and warned you about meeting this day?" They will answer, "Yes indeed. But the word `retribution' was already stamped upon the disbelievers."
[47:19] You shall know that: "There is no other god beside GOD," and ask forgiveness of your sins and the sins of all believing men and women. GOD is fully aware of your decisions and your ultimate destiny.
[6:19] Say, "Whose testimony is the greatest?" Say, "GOD's. He is the witness between me and you that this Quran has been inspired to me, to preach it to you and whomever it reaches. Indeed, you bear witness that there are other gods beside GOD." Say, "I do not testify as you do; there is only one god, and I disown your idolatry."