Thursday, June 18, 2020

Apostate prophet gets mixed up; Quran reflects 7th century superstitions?

In answer to the video "The Jinn Delusion"

For a book that supposedly reflects the superstitious notions of 7th century Arabia, the Quran surprisingly demarcates itself from the belief systems of its contemporaries. It says, in regards to the jinn for instance, that before the times of revelation, they used to sit anywhere they wanted in the sky
72:9"we used to sit in some of the sitting-places thereof to steal a hearing".
But contrary to what the preislamic Arabs thought, these jinn could not hear anything no matter their obstination, as they declared themselves
72:10"we know not whether evil is meant for those who are on earth or whether their Lord means to bring them good".
Had they been able to hear a thing, even prior to revelation descending, they would have been destroyed as happened to those that tried during Revelation. This means the Quran doesnt given any credence to the pre-Islamic belief of jinn with the ability to spy on heavenly affairs or have any glimpse of the unseen and the future
34:14"the jinn came to know plainly that if they had known the unseen, they would not have tarried in abasing torment".
Here the Quran refers to Solomon who passed away but whose dead body was held by a wooden staff for a while until it disintegrated, eaten by a woodworm. It is only when his inanimate body fell to the ground that the jinn, living under his servitude, realized he was dead. The passage not only shows them as subservient to one of Allah's servants, but they are unable to even fathom something superficially hidden from them, yet very close: how then can they gratify people’s appeals to learn the secrets of the unseen?

It is also interesting to note, that when speaking of Iblis himself, the Quran says that his pledge to God that he would doubtlessly lead astray a portion of Adam's descendants, was in fact a conjecture and guess. The archetype of jinn himself has no access to special knowledge, not even of the future. It was just a coincidence that his conjecture and guess became true
34:20"And certainly Iblis found true his conjecture concerning them, so they followed him, except a party of the believers".

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