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Quran Talk BlogRivers of Wine in ParadiseWhy does God describe rivers of wine in Paradise when intoxicants are prohibited? Verse 47:15 opens with the word for allegory, so all descriptions of Paradise and Hell are allegorical. The Arabic word means wine rather than intoxicant, and its sweetness, as Cato's account of preserving sweet wine shows, signals little or no alcohol, while 56:18, 37:45 and 52:23 call Paradise's drinks pure and never sinful.November 24, 2020

Quran Talk BlogProper Translation of 47:35Verse 47:35 of the Quran is often rendered as forbidding believers to invite to peace while they are the victors. Arguing that such a reading contradicts verses against aggression such as 2:190 and 8:61, the article compares the Arabic grammar with 3:139 to show the verse holds separate statements: do not waver, and invite to peace. It also offers a rule for resolving apparent contradictions, drawn from 3:7.November 20, 2020

Quran Talk BlogThe Tyranny of Idol WorshipTyranny as the opposite of the cause of God, drawn from 4:76, where the Arabic word for tyranny also means idols. The article contrasts Submission, a religion of peace, with the rage and violence of hypocrites who claim God while worshiping idols. It responds to the 2020 attacks in France, Vienna and Mozambique and to honor killings, setting them against the Quran's rules on fighting only aggressors.November 20, 2020

Quran Talk BlogTrump As An IdolThe intense anguish and celebration surrounding President Trump and the 2020 election serve as a case study in idol worship, defined as believing anything besides God can harm or benefit us. Drawing on the Quran, the article urges submitters to support God rather than people, judge equitably without bias, accept alternating victory and defeat as a test, and recognize that God alone controls life and death, including Coronavirus deaths.November 11, 2020

Quran Talk BlogThe Purpose of The UniverseThe Quran's account of creation, read alongside the Big Bang and the expanding universe, leads to the question of whether humans are a byproduct of the universe or its purpose. The article argues for an anthropocentric universe from the properties of water, oxygen, fire, the atmosphere, and photosynthesis. It concludes that God put everything in the heavens and the earth at our service to test us.November 5, 2020

Quran Talk BlogFollowing Truth In Face of BiasFollowing the truth despite bias and prejudice is a test every soul faces, shown through Satan before Adam, Pharaoh before Moses, Saul, Muhammad and the blind man, and the change of the Qibla. The Quran names jealousy, baghyan, as the root of rejecting the message. Overcoming bias is approached through cognitive dissonance, Abraham and the idols, falsification, and motivation to seek the truth.October 29, 2020

Quran Talk BlogFollow The Quran, Not The UlamaA response to the claim that ordinary Muslims cannot understand the Quran without the Ulama, listing scholarly rulings the Quran contradicts, such as stoning, killing apostates, and banning music. Following religious leaders blindly is idol worship, as with the Jews and Christians, and followers will have no excuse on the Day of Judgment. God teaches the Quran, sincerity is the only requirement, and consultation still has its place.October 22, 2020

Quran Talk BlogHate Crimes and The Cobra EffectFalse witness is among the gravest sins in the Quran, illustrated by the governor's wife's accusations against Joseph. Hoax hate crime reports, including the Jussie Smollett and Althea Bernstein cases, are read as false accusations against a whole nation, and the cobra effect explains why a culture rewarding victimhood breeds them. The Quran calls instead for verifying news and competing in righteousness.October 16, 2020

Quran Talk BlogCorruption in Institutions: The Corporate MediaThe corporate media's slide from journalism into propaganda serves as a case study in how institutions decay when members exploit inherited credibility for personal or political gain. Drawing on Malcolm X, Enron, and Quran verses on the self and the hypocrites, the article urges readers to verify information before accepting or sharing it, a lesson it extends to academia and religious establishments.October 1, 2020

Quran Talk BlogCorruption In SocietyCorruption spreads through a society the way one rotten apple spoils the barrel, traced through the Arabic root of fasad and its uses in the Quran. People in a free society get the society they deserve through their votes, dollars, and attention. Widespread chaos, such as disasters and unrest in America, signals corruption, and God sends these trials so people may uphold His commandments and reform.October 1, 2020

Quran Talk BlogFive Contact Prayer (Salat) TimesThe five daily Contact Prayers, which originated with Abraham, and the Quranic verses that establish their times. Verses 24:58, 11:114 and 17:78 name the Dawn, Noon, Sunset and Night prayers, and 2:238 points to the middle prayer as the Afternoon prayer. Further verses on glorifying God night and day are presented as additional to the Contact Prayers, not as extra prayer times.September 29, 2020

Quran Talk BlogMary The Daughter of AmramCritics claim the Quran confuses Mary, the mother of Jesus, with Miriam, the sister of Moses, since both are called daughters of Amram. The article answers that two different men named Amram fathered them, pointing to repeated names in the Bible such as the six Marys of the New Testament and the genealogies of Jesus. It also reads 66:12 as Mary, the Amramite.September 29, 2020

Quran Talk BlogMary The Descendant of Aaron (19:28)Mary, the mother of Jesus, is addressed in 19:28 as a descendant of Aaron, not his literal sister, answering the claim that the Quran confuses her timeline with that of Moses and Aaron. Ancestral kinship terms elsewhere in the Quran support the reading, as do Mary's upbringing under Zechariah's guardianship, Luke 1:5, and the Proto-Gospel tradition of her Temple upbringing.September 29, 2020

Quran Talk BlogThe Contact Prayer (Salat) Originated From AbrahamThe contact prayer (Salat) traces back to Abraham, the only prophet the Quran says God taught how to observe it. Verses show Ishmael, Isaac, Moses, Aaron, the Children of Israel, and Jesus keeping the prayer, and the idol worshipers of Mecca still performing it in corrupted form. Since Muhammad was commanded to follow the religion of Abraham, the rituals needed no new instruction.September 29, 2020

Quran Talk Blog19 Angels or 19 MiracleSura 74, The Hidden Secret, and whether its statement Over it is nineteen refers only to the angels guarding Hell or to a mathematical miracle. The article reads the hidden secret as an encryption key in plain sight, weighs the five reasons given in 74:31, and lists multiples of 19 in the Quran's suras, verses, and words, plus the 1974 discovery's timing.September 17, 2020

Quran Talk BlogFollowing Hadith Besides The Quran Is Idol WorshipThe Quran as the only hadith a believer may follow, argued from verses such as 45:6, 7:185 and 77:50. Accepting religious laws or testimonies from sources besides God, such as hadith collected some 200 years after the prophet, is presented as setting up another god and as a sign of disbelief in the Hereafter, since the Quran is complete and fully detailed.September 14, 2020

Quran Talk BlogMu’mens or MuslimsSura 49, The Walls, and its verse 49:14 explain why believers should call themselves submitters (Muslims) rather than believers (Mu'mens). Righteousness joins belief and action, and since belief cannot be seen even in oneself, a community judges its members by their actions. The article also cites verses telling believers not to divide over hypocrites, who may be befriended if they mobilize in the cause of God.September 14, 2020

Quran Talk BlogMuhammad’s Sole Duty As A Messenger Was to Deliver The QuranMuhammad's only mission as a messenger was the clear delivery of the message, and that message was the Quran alone. Citing verses such as 16:82, 5:99, 21:10, 69:40 to 47, and 17:73 to 75, the article argues that God would have punished him for uttering any other teachings. It asks whether he could have mandated the Quran-contradicting laws found in Hadith.September 14, 2020

Quran Talk BlogThe Fly ProblemScience keeps revealing more complexity in life, from the cell once dismissed as simple protoplasm to the Drake Equation's failed optimism about intelligent life. Against that history, the Quran's parable in 22:73 says idols can never create a fly. Even scientists working together cannot revive a dead fly, while God, the only Lord, creates and resurrects the dead.September 14, 2020

Quran Talk BlogTwo Lessons About Hadith From The QuranWhether a highly trustworthy hadith attributed to the prophet should still be rejected is answered from two Quranic episodes. In Sura 66, a statement the prophet entrusted to his wives was spread, showing such sayings must not be repeated even when genuine. In Sura 24, a big lie about adultery teaches believers to reject unverified rumors, a lesson applied to hadith compiled two centuries later.September 14, 2020

Quran Talk BlogMeaning of Hurun In The QuranThe Arabic word ḥūrun, the companions promised in Paradise, is traced through its four occurrences in the Quran and its root, read as white, wide eyes that show both beauty and mutual attraction. All descriptions of Paradise are treated as allegorical. The article contrasts the mates of the Lower and High Heaven, who restrain the glance, and finds no Quranic indication that the companions are male or female.September 11, 2020

Quran Talk BlogQuran: The Only Legitimate HadithThe Quran's own use of the word Hadith, which it applies to itself as the best Hadith and the only one to uphold. The article answers the claim that obeying the messenger requires following narrations attributed to the prophet, citing their late, unverifiable collection and their contradictions with the Quran on ablution, adultery, and diet. It argues that following them sets up intermediaries and doubts God's complete, fully detailed scripture.September 4, 2020

Quran Talk BlogDisagreeing on Value to Agree on PriceTrade happens when two parties disagree on value yet agree on price, and God permits mutually acceptable transactions under 4:29. The article argues that central planning, minimum wage, drug price controls, and rent control leave people worse off in the name of fairness. It closes on God raising some above others in this life as a test, the story of Qaroon, and choosing the Hereafter as one's priority.August 28, 2020

Quran Talk BlogHow God Preserved The Authenticity of The QuranSpelling variations and scribal errors in early Quran manuscripts such as the Paris Manuscript, acknowledged by Dr. Shabir Ally, raise the question of whether God kept His promise in 15:9 to preserve the Quran. Memorization preserved its general content, but God authenticates every letter through the mathematical code based on the number 19, likened to public key cryptography.August 27, 2020

Quran Talk BlogBigotry is Not A VirtueIntolerance among submitters often comes from confusing God's words in the Quran with one's own understanding of them. Drawing on verses such as 3:7, 6:52, and 49:9, the article argues that knowledge brings humility, that core beliefs deserve more certainty than minor ones, and that congregations must restore peaceful behavior before settling disputes. It warns that sectarianism repels people from the message.August 26, 2020

Quran Talk BlogSome of The Lessons Learned From Muhammad And Zeid’s Divorced Wife (33:37)God's command in 33:37 for Muhammad to marry the divorced wife of his adopted son Zeid, answering critics who say his revelations favored his wishes. The article draws timeless lessons: Muhammad the man was bound by God's commands, feared the people, and was corrected in the Quran. Its central principle is that no one may prohibit what God did not prohibit, since that attributes lies to God.August 26, 2020

Quran Talk BlogChina And The Three Gorges Dam (Perception of Nature vs. Reality of Nature)Humanity's command over nature is a blessing from God that turns into a curse when people grow unappreciative. The Quran's account of Sheba and the flood of the Ma'rib dam serves as the lesson, set beside the record flooding of the Yangtze basin and the feared collapse of China's Three Gorges Dam as a warning to leaders who think they are in control.August 25, 2020

Quran Talk BlogLaylat Al Qadr: 27th night of RamadanThe Night of Destiny described in Sura 97, when the Quran was revealed during Ramadan, is read as a holy night that recurs every year because the sura speaks of it in the present tense. Counts of letters and words and gematrical values, including multiples of 19 and the value of the name Rashad Khalifa, are offered as evidence that it falls on the 27th night of Ramadan.August 21, 2020

Quran Talk BlogRashad Khalifa’s Lam Counts in the QuranRashad Khalifa's counts of the letter Lam in the 13 Lam initialed suras give multiples of 19, yet his figures for suras 11 and 30 run one Lam short of common manuscripts. The article argues God guarded his totals, citing the computer's correct count of the word God, and shows how spellings of al-layl and allātī with fewer lams preserve the mathematical structure of the Quran.August 21, 2020

Quran Talk BlogThe True Location of The Al-Aqsa MosqueThe Masjid Al-Aqsa of verse 17:1 is not the Jerusalem mosque, which was built in 705 CE, decades after Muhammad's night journey. Reading the phrase literally as the farthest place of prostration, the article draws on the Quran's seven layered universes and Sura 53. It places that site in the outermost universe, where the eternal Paradise is and where Muhammad came closest to God and received the Quran.August 20, 2020

Quran Talk BlogGod is PhysicalGod as the only necessary being and therefore the Most Physical, against both the idea of God as formless spirit and of a comprehensible form. Drawing on Moses and the crumbling mountain in 7:143, it argues that God exists outside space-time, beyond our senses and vocabulary. Analogies of two-dimensional worlds, jinns, the Queen of Sheba's palace, and the allegorical descriptions of Paradise support the case.August 12, 2020

Quran Talk BlogReminding: Constructive Criticism vs. BullyingThe Quran's command to remind, and the line between reminding as constructive criticism and bullying someone into righteousness. Since God alone guides, reminding should serve one's own soul, and correction should be welcomed whatever its source, as Moses heeded an enemy's rebuke. The exchange between Moses and Pharaoh contrasts reason and compassion with intimidation, mockery, and arrogance.August 11, 2020

Quran Talk BlogA Tale of Two CommunitiesBelief matters most for the individual, but behavior matters most for a community, which must be equitable, kind, and tolerant whatever its members believe. Drawing on verses such as 4:48, 2:256, 60:8 and 60:4, the article answers two objections: that tolerance means condoning sin, and that freedom of thought corrupts religion. It argues that centralized religious hierarchies are easier for Satan to lead astray.August 5, 2020

Quran Talk BlogCommunity vs. CongregationThe Quran distinguishes a community, which can span a nation of many faiths, from a congregation, defined by shared laws and rites. For submitters the minimum threshold is the Quran alone as the source of law and the rites passed down from Abraham; beyond that, a congregation should weigh behavior over belief. Verses on hypocrites, infighting, and sects warn that division risks idol worship.August 5, 2020

Quran Talk BlogAn Analysis of the Arabic of 9:128 and 9:129Examines the Arabic of 9:128 to add linguistic evidence that 9:128 and 9:129 were inserted into the Quran after the prophet's death. Using the Quran as its own dictionary, it flags five problems: ʿazīz never meaning grievous, ḥarīṣ meaning desire, and raūf and raḥīm, singly and paired, describing God alone, never the prophet.July 29, 2020

Quran Talk BlogA Test of VirtueStanding with God when it goes against the crowd is the true test of faith, illustrated by a Princeton professor's thought experiment about 1860 Alabama and by the messengers who faced their people. Drawing on the Quran, the article explains that the test is mandatory, that forced concealment of faith is excused but cannot be permanent, and that believers should fear God rather than people.July 27, 2020

Quran Talk BlogAfrican American SuccessEconomist Glenn Loury's remark on EconTalk about the prosperity of African Americans prompts a question: why do BLM protests and corporate media portray black Americans as the most disenfranchised people in the world? The article answers through Quran 16:112, where God describes a secure and prosperous community that turned unappreciative of His blessings and tasted starvation and insecurity.July 26, 2020

Quran Talk BlogAllahu Akbar in QuranThe phrase Allahu Akbar and its meaning in Classical Arabic, where akbar is the comparative of kabir and means greater or greatest, as 2:219 shows. The phrase occurs twice in the Quran: 40:10 concerns God's abhorrence of the disbelievers, while 29:45 places it in the context of the contact prayer, where the remembrance of God is the greatest objective.July 26, 2020

Quran Talk BlogHow Man’s Light Distracts Us From God’s LightArtificial light from cities and screens hides the night sky and pulls attention away from remembering God, as shown by the 2003 Northeast blackout, when New Yorkers saw the Milky Way for the first time. Drawing on 96:6 to 96:7, 17:83 and 59:19, the article warns that wealth and self-sufficiency breed heedlessness, and turns to 24:35 to 24:39 and 57:12 to 57:15 on God's light.July 26, 2020

Quran Talk BlogThe Effects of Corruption in Society (Part 1)The Quranic term for corruption, fasād, whose root occurs fifty times and also means decay or rot. Using the image of one rotten apple spoiling the rest, it shows how corruption spreads through a society, as with tolerated bribery, citing 2:11, 2:30, 2:188 and 30:41. Per 4:85, those who originate corruption bear a share of every sin it causes.July 26, 2020

Quran Talk Blog9:123 And The Meaning of “yalūnakum”The Arabic word yalūnakum in verse 9:123, which most translators render as fighting disbelievers who are near you. The article argues its root is ل و ي, meaning to twist or recoil from a blow, rather than و ل ي, citing the root's other Quranic occurrences, Lane's Lexicon, and the Quran's non-aggression principle in 2:190. It concludes the verse permits fighting only disbelievers who attack.July 24, 2020

Quran Talk BlogWhat Is the Meaning of “Uhilla”?The Arabic word uhilla, found in the four Quranic verses on dietary prohibitions, is traced to its root, which also gives the word for new moon in 2:189. The article concludes that the fourth prohibition covers animals dedicated through slaughter to other than God. Drawing on 5:103 and 6:138, it argues that meat slaughtered without mentioning God or any other entity remains lawful to eat.July 24, 2020

Quran Talk BlogNikah and the meaning of Marriage in QuranThe Arabic root of nikah, the Quran's word for marriage, and what its meanings reveal about marriage. Marriage is a mutually acceptable contract with an agreed dowry, sealed by consummation after a solemn pledge, and meant to be permanent, which rules out temporary marriage as a form of prostitution. Verse 4:6 is read as requiring sexual and mental maturity so each party can contract without a guardian.July 22, 2020

Quran Talk BlogThe Day Before: The Analogy of This WorldThe Arabic word for yesterday, bil-amsi, appears only four times in the Quran: once in the analogy of worldly life at 10:24 and three times in Sura 28, History. The stories of Moses and Qaroon, each losing everything within a day, show how false security leads to downfall. God redeems the righteous through such reversals and uses hardship to purify, while the arrogant are annihilated.July 19, 2020

Quran Talk BlogSupply and Demand Economics of God’s GraceGod's infinite grace is examined through the economics of supply and demand, asking why abundance leads people to take it for granted and feel entitled to it. Drawing on verses such as 42:27 and 14:7, the article explains why God sends provision in measured amounts and teaches that appreciation removes any limit to His grace, while ingratitude restricts it.July 17, 2020

Quran Talk BlogFalse Idols, BLM, & The Religion of WokeismPersecution of believers for refusing false worship, traced through Adam's sons, the people of the canyon, and Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, frames a response to the 2020 Black Lives Matter protests and demands to kneel. The article argues that everyone worships something, that wokeism functions as a religion, and that the Quran excuses coerced disbelief yet calls believers to stand firm and kneel for God alone.July 16, 2020

Quran Talk BlogChild MarriageResponding to a case in Indonesia where foster parents married a 12-year-old girl to a 45-year-old man through Nikah Siri, or secret marriage, the article argues from the Quran that such unions are prohibited. It cites verses against secret conspiracies, forced prostitution, and compulsion, and reads the Arabic root of nikah in 4:6 to show that marriage requires sexual maturity and the capacity to sign a contract.July 15, 2020

Quran Talk BlogHow to Avoid Idol WorshipIdol worship as believing anything independent of God can harm or benefit us, illustrated by taking medicine for a headache. The article explains three expressions from Sura 18, God willing, This is what GOD has given me, and No one possesses power except God, then draws lessons from Joseph's extra years in prison and the owners of the garden, concluding that all provisions come from God alone.July 13, 2020

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