Tuesday, December 16, 2008

Qur'an: Palm Fibre

Replying to an uncle who opposed and insulted the Prophet:

May his hands be ruined! Neither wealth or gains will help him, he will burn in the Flaming Fire, and so will his wife, with a rope around her neck.

Not too different from an imprecatory Psalm!

2 comments:

brd said...

Perhaps this is like an imprecatory Psalm, but perhaps not. What are the differences? Look again.

The Crabby Hiker said...

I don't know, brd . . . I'm not sure I see the major differences immediately. Here's a comparable psalmic passage:

9 May his children be fatherless
and his wife a widow.
10 May his children be wandering beggars; may they be driven [d] from their ruined homes.
11 May a creditor seize all he has; may strangers plunder the fruits of his labor.
12 May no one extend kindness to him or take pity on his fatherless children.
13 May his descendants be cut off, their names blotted out from the next generation.

Maybe the difference is that the Qu'ran punishes the wife for crimes not her own, and the psalm primarily punishes children for crimes not their own, reserving only indirect punishment for the wife.

I'd be interested to know if the "flaming fire" reference here points to broader views about damnation, or if fire is meant in a more earthly sense.