1/6/09

More Sura 35


The mystery of line eight.
Here's one version,
8 But those who believe and do right, for them is forgiveness and a great hire.
And here's another.
(8) Can he, the evil of whose deed is made to look attractive to him so that he considers it good, (be like him who is guided)? God leads whosoever He please astray and guides whosoever He will. So do not waste away your self with grief for them. God is indeed cognisant of things they do.
WTF? Are these both translating the same sentence??? Wait, look at line seven again;
(7) those who disbelieve, they shall have a severe punishment, and those who believe and do good, they shall have forgiveness and a great reward.
The last half of 7 is line 8 in this version. And in the other one,
7 Those who misbelieve, for them is keen torment.
8 But those who believe and do right, for them is forgiveness and a great hire.
OMFG, there are differences in the Koran!! This is not the first time I've run into different numbering like this. Mostly it's a pain in the ass, but it makes you wonder how you're supposed to cite something if they can't even agree what verse it is. This happens again later in this chapter, so some versions are two lines off. Line 24 in some versions is line 26 in others. And verse 3:40 is verse 3:45. God needs the MLA Style Guide.


Getting back to those unanswered questions...

It says if you believe the devil you go to hell, but if you believe and do right, you get forgiven and rewarded. OK, but believe what? Do right how? Forgiven for what? I need details, dammit!
Also, I'm still waiting to hear what to be on guard against, and what the promise was.

1 comment:

Rhazes said...

I can read the verse in Arabic, I'll see what I can come up with.

ٱلَّذِينَ كَفَرُواْ لَهُمۡ عَذَابٌ۬ شَدِيدٌ۬ۖ وَٱلَّذِينَ ءَامَنُواْ وَعَمِلُواْ ٱلصَّـٰلِحَـٰتِ لَهُم مَّغۡفِرَةٌ۬ وَأَجۡرٌ۬ كَبِيرٌ (٧) أَفَمَن زُيِّنَ لَهُ ۥ سُوٓءُ عَمَلِهِۦ فَرَءَاهُ حَسَنً۬اۖ فَإِنَّ ٱللَّهَ يُضِلُّ مَن يَشَآءُ وَيَہۡدِى مَن يَشَآءُۖ فَلَا تَذۡهَبۡ نَفۡسُكَ عَلَيۡہِمۡ حَسَرَٲتٍۚ إِنَّ ٱللَّهَ عَلِيمُۢ بِمَا يَصۡنَعُونَ (٨)

Those who disbelieve will have harsh torment, those who believe and do good will be forgiven and rewarded (7) Those who perceive their ill deeds as good, so does God lead astray who he wishes and guides who he wishes, do not pity them, God knows best what they do(8)

That is an exact translation, yes verse number 8 has very crappy grammar in Arabic. Yet somehow that's a miracle. It's a tedious book to read in both Arabic and English.