The Baha'i Studies Listserv
I am not interested in knowing what you do when/if you accidentally bump
into an atheist. I couldn't care less.
I am just reading what the text says. Nothing more and nothing less. And
it's not the kind of thing that looks like it will be the last word of God.
Your spin is good for you. And what 9:125 says does not take away anything
from a plain reading of "najas", nor does it add to it or modify it.
On Fri, Dec 31, 2010 at 12:34 AM, Gilberto Simpson <
gilberto.simp...@gmail.com> wrote:
> The Baha'i Studies Listserv
> On Fri, Dec 31, 2010 at 12:22 AM, Iskandar Hai, M.D.
> <iskandar....@gmail.com> wrote:
> > The Baha'i Studies Listserv
> >
> > يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا إِنَّمَا الْمُشْرِكُونَ نَجَسٌ فَلَا
> > يَقْرَبُوا الْمَسْجِدَ الْحَرَامَ بَعْدَ عَامِهِمْ هَٰذَا ۚ وَإِنْ
> خِفْتُمْ
> > عَيْلَةً فَسَوْفَ يُغْنِيكُمُ اللَّهُ مِنْ فَضْلِهِ إِنْ شَاءَ ۚ إِنَّ
> > اللَّهَ عَلِيمٌ حَكِيمٌ {28}
> > [Shakir 9:28] O you who believe! the idolaters are nothing but unclean,
> so
> > they shall not approach the Sacred Mosque after this year; and if you
> fear
> > poverty then Allah will enrich you out of His grace if He please; surely
> > Allah is Knowing Wise.
> > [Pickthal 9:28] O ye who believe! The idolaters only are unclean. So let
> > them not come near the Inviolable Place of Worship after this their year.
> If
> > ye fear poverty (from the loss of their merchandise) Allah shall preserve
> > you of His bounty if He will. Lo! Allah is Knower, Wise.
> > [Yusufali 9:28] O ye who believe! Truly the Pagans are unclean; so let
> them
> > not, after this year of theirs, approach the Sacred Mosque. And if ye
> fear
> > poverty, soon will Allah enrich you, if He wills, out of His bounty, for
> > Allah is All-knowing, All-wise.
> >
> >
>
> Assuming you are trying to restart our earlier conversation about
> whether or not Islam/Bahai Faith has a concept of people being
> unclean... here is the last e-mail which was sent out but never got a
> response:
>
> On Tue, Jun 29, 2010 at 3:43 PM, Iskandar Hai, M.D.
> <iskandar....@gmail.com> wrote:
> > The Baha'i Studies Listserv
>
> I do welcome and appreciate a spiritual and metaphorical
> > reading of that verse in Surah of Towbeh. I disagree that at the time of
> its
> > revelation it was meant to be understood spiritually exclusively and not
> > literally. Immediately afterwards, it advises the believer Muslims that
> they
> > should not have any concern about loss of trade, business, or income from
> > literally observing the law and not allowing the najas unbelievers in
> Mecca.
> > It is obvious that a literal reading was required back then.
>
> I wouln't use the word "literal" in the context but I think I
> understand your argument. And there are definitely Muslims who read it
> in the way you suggest. What I would suggest is that you connect this
> to the the later verse
>
> >> [9.125] And as for those in whose hearts is a disease, it adds
> >> uncleanness to their uncleanness and they die while they are
> >> unbelievers.
>
> And compare it to the treatment of those with spiritual diseases
> according to the Bahai Faith. In the Bahai faith covenant breakers are
> said to have contagious spiritual diseases and are shunned. In Islam
> in the early generation, the polytheists were kept out of Mecca. But
> just as shunning covenat breakers doesn't mean you have to do extra
> ablutions if you accidentally bump into a covenant breaker, the
> Muslims don't have to renew their ablutions if they bump into a
> polytheist because the polytheist isn't ritually unclean. But their
> spiritual influence was to be decisively excluded from Mecca. In other
> words, in both cases there is a spiritual condition, which doesn't
> affect ritual purity, but it does imply a different treatment in the
> world. (which explains why economic factors could be mentioned). Do
> you understand?
>
> [end quote]
>
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