The Study Quran

Added: 2026-06-01

[00:00:15]In today's video, we'll be taking a look at a Quran rather than the Bible. This is the study Quran edited by Seed Hussein Nasser, published by Harper 1. My copy is a paperback. I believe there was a hardback copy available at one point.

[00:00:36]Uh, no, I don't intend to convert to Islam. I'm still surprised that Cat Stevens did and I don't understand it.

[00:00:44]Um I've read the Quran several times over the years. This may be the copy that I read when I was in college and u it's a very good translation I think. Um of course I don't know Arabic but it reads really well in English. The problem though is that the translator has rearranged the Quran. It's no longer in its typical order. About 20 years ago, I think I found this copy in a used bookstore. This is the Ahmed Ali trans translation. And I haven't heard uh very much good about it. Um but we will take a look perhaps from time to time and compare these two translations to the translation that's here in the study Quran. Before we get into the details, I just want to point out that if you read Romanet, page Romanet 40 of the general introduction here to the study Quran, he mentions that he was approached by the publisher of the Harper Collins study Bible. And that's how this uh project of a study Quran came about. It was actually uh the idea of Harper San Francisco, which is now Harper 1. I've not um reviewed this Bible on my channel yet, but I intend to. At some point, I will say that it's um approach is rather humanistic.

[00:02:10]Um it does not take the Bible as being a supernatural product. In the introduction to the study Quran, the author or editor says, "I therefore accepted with humility on the condition that this would be a Muslim effort and that although the book would be contemporary in language and based on the highest level of scholarship, it would not be determined or guided by assertions presented in studies by non-Muslim Western scholars and orientalists who have studied the Quran profusely as a historical, linguistic or sociological document which I think this is that he's described the approach that was taken there for the Harper Collins study Bible. I ordered my copy through Amazon and I want to show you what it looked like. Several pages were bent as you see in these photos.

[00:03:08]This has become more and more common with orders from Amazon. I have noticed they seem to not do a very good job of quality control over what they ship.

[00:03:19]Another flaw I want to show you before we get into the review proper is this stain here on page 94. This of course can't be blamed on Amazon. And it looks like it was uh in existence before the printing occurred. There is no stain on the opposite side. You can see it through the paper, but it's not on the side of the page. So, it's very odd. The study Quran is 9 and 1/4 in tall, 6 and 516 in wide, and at the spine, it is 1.41 in thick.

[00:03:55]The text of the Quran is arranged in a single col single column format. The column is 124 mm wide from here to here.

[00:04:08]There are about 77 characters per line.

[00:04:12]And because of the extensive study notes, which you can see here, uh there are only a few lines of text per column.

[00:04:24]The page dimensions are 234 mm by 161 mm. In English units, that's 9 and 1/4 in by 6 and 516 in.

[00:04:40]Margins at the top from the top of the text to the edge of the page 20 to 22 mm. The inner margin can be as much as 17. The outer ranges from 13 to 14 millimeters and at the bottom it's 15 to 20 millimeters. Remember that they are 25.4 mm to an inch. So 20 mm is 4 fths of an inch. Sura titles are in the center top of the page. They appear on the left hand page in an English translation and on the right hand page a transliteration from the original Arabic. I believe these titles are in about a 9point font. Page contents are given in red characters at the outside top of the page. So this leftand page begins with surah 35 13 and 14. Verse 14 begins here on the page.

[00:05:45]And then if we look at the right hand page, it shows that the right hand page ends with surah 35 verse 22. And page numbers are also given at the top of the page but near the gutter. There are no page top or in text headings.

[00:06:05]Cross references and translation notes are given in the extensive study notes at the bottom of the pages. So there are no separate cross references or translation notes. Each uh surah begins on a fresh page. So let's go to the beginning of 33 and show you what that looks like.

[00:06:30]So here's the text beginning 33 which is the parties alab and here's the introduction to it. So you have the 33 in red and you have the title in both English and Arabic. And the text of the introduction is given in a single column with a font of about 9 and 1/2 to 10 points. Uppercase letters look like they're about 10 points.

[00:07:03]Lowerase letters are closer to 9 and 1/2 points. This translation uses God rather than Allah. So here in surah 2 verse 7 it says God has sealed their hearts and their hearing and in verse 10 in their hearts is a disease and god has increased them in the disease. If we look at the Penguin Classics translation by Dwood or Dawood, it says um there is a sickness in their hearts which Allah has increased. They shall be sternly punished for their hypocrisy.

[00:07:41]That maps here. The uh Ahmed Ali translation of verse 7 has God just like our uh study Quran. God has sealed their hearts and ears and veiled their eyes.

[00:07:54]For them is great deprivation. And then verse 10, sick are their hearts and God adds to their malady. For them is suffering, for they lie. In this translation, pronouns for deity are capitalized, as we see here in verse 20 of the second sura. He would have taken away their hearing. The other two translations I have also capitalized pronouns for deity. But um the study Quran does something unique at least among these three and that it uses the archaic forms for the second person singular pronoun. So we have thou here in verse 32. I've checked and it also uses thou and thy when u humans are being addressed not just deity. Although in that case of course the thou is uh begun with a lowercase t. So in verse 34 here in the second surah we have and when we said so we is capitalized because God is the one who's speaking.

[00:08:59]Uh I wonder whether this is a plural of majesty.

[00:09:03]I think it must be. Then in verse 35 it begins, "We said, oh Adam, dwell thou and thy wife in the garden and eat freely thereof."

[00:09:16]Then it says, "Weresoever you will, but approach not this tree, lest you be among the wrongdoers." So my guess is that in the Arabic this you here and you there are plural referring to Adam and Eve together. But the thou and thy are singular but of course not capitalized because Adam is not deity. And of course since Muslims don't believe that Jesus was God uh you wouldn't expect to see a capitalized pronoun for Jesus. So here we are in uh surah 5 verse 110. Then God will say, "Oh Jesus, son of Mary, remember my blessing upon thee." So my the M is capitalized, but thee, although they're using the archaic singular second person pronoun here, uh it is not capitalized upon thee and upon thy mother. Similarly here in surah 3 verse 45 when the angel said, "Oh Mary, truly God gives thee glad tidings of a word from him whose name is the Messiah him."

[00:10:27]The H is capitalized but thee is lowercase referring to Mary who of course everyone agrees is a created being. And here in surah 79 we have God telling Moses to go unto Pharaoh. Truly he has rebelled and say, "Dust thou wish to be purified and that I guide thee to thy lord that thou mightest have fear?"

[00:10:51]Notice not only do we have the archaic thou, but we have this form of due dust thou. It should be clear here that the text in the study Quran is not line matched. So you can see the print on the opposite side of this sheet and it is not lined up with the text on this side.

[00:11:11]The font in the text is about 12 points for uppercase. When I compare to Times New Roman, lowercase letters are closer to 11 point. The distance from baseline to baseline here is 6.35 mm or about 18 points. So these lines as they appear to your eye are widely spaced. I think the print non-uniformity is fairly common.

[00:11:39]Uh here to the naked eye you can see that the right hand page is a shade or two darker than the one on the left.

[00:11:47]I'll show you a more severe example. Now here I've brought page 1207 over the top of page 1209 and you can tell I think readily even even in the video that page 1209 is quite a lot darker than 1207.

[00:12:04]The paper has a sheet thickness of 32.3 micrometers. I estimate the paper weight at 29 gsm. This is lightweight paper.

[00:12:15]It's somewhat difficult to turn the pages if you want to move from one specific location to another. It's easy to flip from one location to another like this. But, uh, turning pages from one page to the next is more of a challenge because the paper is so thin.

[00:12:33]I said the estimated paper weight was 29 gsm. The surface is somewhat waxy. I don't know if you can tell that, but there's a bit of sheen to it. It is white paper with a grayish tinge.

[00:12:49]And uh there is significant ghosting.

[00:12:52]The opacity I would characterize as somewhat moderate.

[00:12:57]So to give you a sense for paper opacity, we're looking now at the second title page. Keep your eyes on Quran here. And I'm going to pull the first title page over the top and then press it down. You can still read Quran quite easily here. Now, um the print is fairly light here. So, this thin paper with low opacity doesn't create that much trouble reading, at least to my eyes. the page bottom notes. The font size here is about nine points for capitals, about 8 and 12 points for lowercase. The line height here is 3.87 mm or 11 points. At the end of surro 114, we come to a section of essays. Um, these essays span 269 pages. They're in a 10 and a half uh uppercase 10 lowerase point font and um the highlights from them are actually covered fairly well in the introduction but I have um read a few of these essays and I think they're largely worthwhile.

[00:14:10]We start with how to read the Quran.

[00:14:17]That is followed by the Quran in translation.

[00:14:24]Then the Islamic view of the Quran.

[00:14:32]There is an essay on Quranic Arabic followed by one on Quranic commentaries.

[00:14:45]So here Quranic commentaries an essay entitled traditions of esoteric and sapiential Quranic commentary scientific commentary on the Quran. The Quran as a source or actually it reads the Quran as source of Islamic law. The Quran and schools of Islamic theology and philosophy. The Quran and Sufism.

[00:15:16]The Quran and Islamic art. The Quranic view of sacred history and other religions. Quranic ethics, human rights and society, conquest and conversion, war and peace in the Quran and death, dying and the afterlife in the Quran. Then we come to a section of essay author biographies.

[00:15:42]So these are the authors we just saw.

[00:15:46]Appendix A is hadith citations.

[00:15:50]This goes on for 55 pages.

[00:15:55]And this is useful if you uh have access to the hadiths and you're reading the extensive study notes, biography of hadith sources, also entitled hadith citations.

[00:16:21]Next, we have appendix B, the timeline of major events related to the Quran.

[00:16:25]And you see that it's given in both AD and AH. Uh, AH is the year of the Hijra.

[00:16:33]I'm probably mispronouncing that, but you see the numbers start in the second column after the slash in 622.

[00:16:43]Migration of the prophet from Mecca to Medina. It's interesting that they pron they spell Mecca M a K k ah. So perhaps it should be pronounced Mecca instead of Mecca.

[00:16:58]We then come to biographies of the commentators.

[00:17:03]Commentators are mentioned in the various notes and after that we have an index.

[00:17:13]Index is 58 pages. It's in three columns. The font size here is about 8 1/2 points. The translation itself is indexed in a red font. So perhaps you can see that better here now that I've zoomed in. So you have the index, you have a uh Aaron is the first citation and these are locations where uh Aaron is mentioned in the text. Citations in the commentary are in black ink and they're followed by a C. So you have here 253 C. After the index, you have six blank sheets of this thin paper, 12 pages in all.

[00:17:57]Those are followed by a map section.

[00:17:59]There are color maps here. There are 10 of them. They're somewhat glossy.

[00:18:05]um they span eight pages.

[00:18:12]So map two is the Middle East in the 6th century. Map three developments in the broader region. Map four on the left. 5 A and 5B on the right.

[00:18:26]Map six, 7 A and 7B. The focus here is rather different from that that we normally see. and I a biblical map section. The page edges are plain, no guilting.

[00:18:43]There are no head or tail bands. There are no ribbon markers.

[00:18:49]The binding is um glued.

[00:18:53]So you see no signatures there. I found no thread. It's a blue illustrated paperback. It's a handsome paperback.

[00:19:03]But the uh boards the cover seem as rather flimsy to me, fragile.

[00:19:09]So uh I wasn't able to find a book cover for 9 and 1/4 in tall paperback. So what I did is I went to an arts and crafts store. Actually, I've had this for some time. Um plastic sheets and I cut one for use here. So, I'm going to put it back in the plastic cover before we continue with the video. So, now it's covered in plastic, and I think it's a bit safer. I feel like I can handle it uh a bit more roughly without worrying about the cover coming off. The Quran opens flat here at the very beginning.

[00:19:49]The first title page, second title page at the uh first sura, the opening can be made to be fairly flat. Entering the volume from the front, we do have one heavy sheet of paper. Then the two title pages, copyright page. Here on the left, contents there on the right.

[00:20:25]We have the Quran by Sura, a list of essays in the back that we've seen and the material in the back that we've already discussed.

[00:20:39]Here are brief notices about the members of the editorial board for the volume.

[00:20:47]A note explaining who did what in terms of the commentaries acknowledgements abbreviations. Here's our ah again.

[00:21:02]Perhaps you can pronounce ano gyri.

[00:21:08]I'm not sure I can pronounce it correctly yet. Arabic transliteration and pronunciation, which I think would be helpful if one were really interested in knowing how to do that correctly.

[00:21:23]The general introduction, which I mentioned, really does touch upon a number of the points that are mentioned in the essays.

[00:21:34]The general introduction is uh formatted rather like the essays in the back. So the same column width, same uh font size.

[00:21:46]It's rather lengthy.

[00:21:50]It's 30 pages and um 10 and a half points uppercase, 10 point lowerase.

[00:22:02]approaching the study Quran. So this is a how-to guide understanding the citations in the commentary and then the commentator key. So when they talk about a particular commentator, rather than write out his full name, they will give you these twoletter codes, sometimes one letter code, so you'll know who the commentator that they're referring to was. And then we begin to the get to the Quran itself.

[00:22:37]You're at surah one, the opening, and it has an introduction as we saw earlier.

[00:22:44]And then you get to the actual text of Surah 1, which is quite short. It's only seven verses. But then look at the extensive commentary on those seven verses.

[00:22:58]Page upon page before you get to surah to the cow.

[00:23:05]Before we move on and look more closely at some of the essays and study notes and sur introductions, I wanted to draw your attention to this section in the general introduction entitled audience where the editor points out that they wanted to make a volume accessible to the general English reading public not just scholars whether Muslim or non-Muslim but they wanted it also to be of use to scholars and serious students of the Quran.

[00:23:35]um they want this uh volume uh to be a resource both for those who wish to study the Quran in its entirety and those who are interested in particular subjects or topics and to that end they provided the indexes and internal uh citations in the essay entitled the Quranic view of sacred history and other religions we find this paragraph which I find very interesting. It reads, "The notion that previous scriptures have been abregated in the sense of being nullified or excessively distorted to such an extent that their message no longer reflects the particularity of the original teachings, as some Muslims maintain, would seem to be contradicted by verses such as 543 and 568."

[00:24:27]In the same vein, 547 says of Christians, "Let the people of the gospel judge by that which God has sent down therein." The author says, "It would be contradictory for the Quran to speak of the efficacy of judging by the Torah and the Gospel if it were to also maintain that these scriptures have been abregated or excessively distorted."

[00:24:52]In the same essay, we read that uh the belief in the incarnation of God and Jesus is repudiated in two Quranic verses and it gives them here. But it says despite this emphasis upon his human nature, Jesus is recognized as holding an exalted position in relation to other prophets and gives a quote.

[00:25:15]Then the author adds, "The best example of Jesus's particular distinction among the prophets is the miracle of the virgin birth to which the Quran attests." And then we have another quotation. That quotation is followed by this statement. The prophet Muhammad is said to have confirmed that of all human beings, only Jesus and the Virgin Mary were born without the stain of sin. In the essay entitled Conquest and Conversion or in Peace in the Quran, you'll find this sentence. The vast majority of the scholars of Quranic Exesus and Islamic law have always held that the command to preach peacefully and to never coers anyone in their choice of religion. A message found throughout the Quran was never changed and continued to hold sway through the end of the prophet's life and after and still holds true today. Toward the bottom of the same page, you read questions also arise in connection with the so-called sword verse 95. When the sacred months have passed, slay the idolattors, wheresoever you find them, capture them, besiege them, and lie and wait for them at every place of ambush.

[00:26:34]But if they repent and perform the prayer and give the alms, then let them go their way. Truly, God is forgiving, merciful. The following verse reads, "And if any of the idolattors seek asylum with thee, grant him asylum until he hears the word of God, then convey him to his place of safety." That is because they are a people who know not.

[00:26:59]The second verse commands Muslims to receive idolatries if they seek asylum, to preach the truth to them, and then to let them go safely. It sets no condition that they repent and accept Islam. Some have posited without much support in the principles of exugesus that the second verse is abregated by the first meaning that the legally binding nature of 95 overturns that of 96. However, a straightforward reading shows that becoming Muslims is not a condition for the asylum seeker's safe return. Rather, these two verses present not one but two possibilities for non-Muslims to escape armed conflict with the Muslim community. The first is to accept Islam as mentioned in the first verse and the second is to seek asylum with Muslims as mentioned in the second. Another interesting sentence in the same essay.

[00:27:55]Although it's true that some authorities throughout Islam's long history have interpreted the Islamic law of war as giving Muslims unqualified permission to conquer and expand into territory controlled by non-Muslims or in extreme cases to bring the entire world under their dominion. This has remained a minority view. Toward the end of the essay, the author points out that Islamic law does regulate war, but by doing so, it does not espouse belligerance any more than regulating sexuality encourages lentiousness.

[00:28:30]Islam's ideal of peace does not make it pacifist, and thus a proper understanding depends on avoiding the extremes of viewing Islam as an inherently warlike religion or of trying to portray it as a quietest one. In this essay uh death, dying in the afterlife in the Quran, I found a number of points to be quite confusing. I need to go back and read it again. But I suppose someone coming to Christianity without any background in it and hearing about the various views about the timing of events at Christ's second coming or the millennial views would be confused as well. But I did want to draw your attention to this paragraph. uh this has to do with the perpetuity of hell and uh on that point scholars fell into three camps. The author says the first believed that although hell did not end its punishments and torments did and then he describes that a bit farther giving the proof text. The second camp comprised the annihilationists who argued that hell is extinguished entirely.

[00:29:40]Finally, the last group comprised the majority of scholars who adhereed to the notion of perpetual punishment understood literally. So most Muslim scholars believe that hell is unending.

[00:29:55]To give you a sense for the extent, the scope and detail in the surah introductions, I'm just going to pan down section by section through this one. This is surah 2 the cow.

[00:30:10]And uh let you pause and read read the introduction here. We're a little farther down the page.

[00:30:19]And now down to the end of the page, the top of the second page of the introduction to the cow and the end of the introduction.

[00:30:34]Now, we'll take a look at a few of these study notes. I just wanted to observe before we begin doing that in any detail that there are places here where the ratio of words in the commentary to the words in the text to the Quran is really closer to the ratio that one sees in a single book Bible commentary rather than in a study Bible. This is an extreme case here but uh this is somewhat staggering number of commentary words to words in the text ratio is very high. It's uh lower here in the second sura but still quite high.

[00:31:25]All these are commentary words here going to what we saw on the previous page. Just three lines of Quran text here and then all this verbiage of commentary associated with it. I mentioned earlier that text and translation notes are found in the study notes at the bottom of the page. There's no separate section for them. Um there's one I found here associated with Surah 2 verse 83. And remember when we made a covenant with the children of Israel, worship none but God, be virtuous towards parents, kinfolk, orphans, and the indigent.

[00:32:05]Speak to people in a goodly way and perform the prayer and give the alms. So we'll look at the footnote, and I'll show you the alternate reading. So the associated footnote to 283 is here, and it does mention an alternate reading, which has the pronoun in the third person. So that it might be rendered we made a covenant with the children of Israel. They worship none but God. So the difference is here we have they worship rather than our translation in the text which says worship which would have been second person. Here we have third person. Translation notes are much easier to find than text notes. Here's one example. Our hearts are uncircumcised. This is surah 2 verse 888. So the study note associated with 288 points out that the word rendered as uncircumcised means covered and can mean sheathed.

[00:33:05]So another possible rendering is our hearts are vessels meaning their hearts contain all knowledge and stand in no need of any other or they are empty vessels in the sense that nothing of what others say resonates with them as being true. The text of 296 is another example. You will find them the most covetous of people for life even more than those who are idolattors. each one of them would wish to live a thousand years. And so we'll look at the study note. So here is the associated study note and it points out that each one of them could grammatically refer to either the Jews who were described in the beginning beginning of the verse or the polytheists.

[00:33:52]Meaning that the Jews are more covetous even than people who wish to live a thousand years because they have no belief in a hereafter.

[00:34:01]Another possible understanding of the grammar of this verse yields the translation, you will find them the most covetous of people for life. And among the polytheists are those who would like to live a thousand years. Although the note points out this latter reading is considered unlikely. As a final example of a translation note, I'll point to surahu verse 133 where the text reads, "We shall worship thy God and the God of thy fathers, Abraham, Ishmael, and Isaac, one God, and unto him we submit."

[00:34:39]The study note points out in this verse, the God translates Allah, which is the general noun for God, not the proper name Allah.

[00:34:52]Now we'll shift gears and move away from text and translation notes and then just try to give you a flavor for some of the study notes themselves.

[00:35:02]Um this verse 757 has interesting statement in it uh that they find the prophet inscribed in the Torah and the gospel. those who follow the messenger, the unlettered prophet whom they find inscribed in the Torah and gospel that is with them. So what does that mean? The study note says the prophet is also said here to be inscribed in the Torah and the gospel.

[00:35:32]So you see quotations from the text are in italic font meaning for most commentators that the qualities that identify and describe him as a prophet are mentioned in the Torah and the gospel. And please pause to read the rest of the paragraph and I will move over to the top of the next page.

[00:35:53]And here we learn that some commentators mention particular statements in the Torah and Gospel that were interpreted by Muslims as references to the coming of the prophet Muhammad. And those include um Genesis 16-17 about the descendants of Ishmael and Jesus's reference to a spiritual comforter, the pariclete, who would come after him and speak whatever he hears.

[00:36:20]And it points to John. John's Gospel 6 chapter 16 verses 7-14 as the next example. Let's look at um surah 4 verse 157. We slew the Messiah Jesus son of Mary the messenger of God.

[00:36:38]So they're quoting some Jewish people here. Though they did not slay him nor did they crucify him but it appeared so unto them. So let's focus on that aspect of a apparition. The associated footnote 4157 begins, although the Quran addresses the and criticizes the Christian belief in the Trinity and the divinity of Jesus.

[00:37:04]This is the only passage that addresses the belief in Christ's crucifixion and death. It does not come in the context of a critique of Christian belief, however, but rather as a part of a lengthy passage criticizing historical instance of Jew Jewish unfaithfulness to their covenant. It is important to note that here the critique is not aimed directly at the belief in Christ's crucifixion and death, but rather at the Jews claim to have killed him. Their claim seen as a way of mocking and dismissing Jesus's prophethood is understood in the context of Quranic assertion that the Israelites were Jews rejected some of the prophets that had been sent to them.

[00:37:48]Although the verse only directly criticizes a Jewish claim to have killed and crucified Jesus, it is widely understood in the Islamic tradition as meaning that Jesus was not crucified or killed at all. It only appeared so unto them. That is to the Jews as well as to most of Jesus's followers. And then what I think I'll do here is just pan down so that you can read the rest of this section.

[00:38:20]And here we're looking at the continuation of that previous paragraph and we're on the next page. This sentence is interesting. The idea that someone was killed in Jesus'sstead after having assumed his likeness voluntarily or otherwise is found widely throughout the commentary tradition. And this section continues down to here, which I think is still on the screen.

[00:38:46]This is surah 2 vers 116. And they say, God has taken a child. Glory be to him.

[00:38:53]Rather, unto him belongs whatsoever is in the heavens and on the earth. All are devoutly obedient to him. The associated study note reads in part, commentators do not restrict this verse to Christian theology. It can also refer to the Arab pagan belief that the angels were the daughters of God. Similar disavowels of divine sunship in the connection with Jesus are found in these other surah verses. The Islamic arguments against God's having a child stem directly from the fundamental Islamic conception of divine oneness, transcendence, absoluteness, and uniqueness and are based on the principle that God is unlike anything in creation. God is beyond need of all things and his perfection can never be implicated in the limitations inherent in having a son. Since Islam emphasizes God as the absolute, it denies all possibility of relativizing him through a relationship such as fatherhood. And to me, this is very interesting. Um, God is unlike anything in creation. Wouldn't that also imply that God is not compassionate or merciful as we understand compassion or mercy? Although the study notes seem quite um comprehensive and detailed, sometimes I find them confusing. There's one here the on surah 9 verse 29 that I find so it reads fight those who believe not in God and in the last day and who do not forbid what God and his messenger have forbidden and who follow not the religion of truth among those who were given the book till they pay the ja with a willing hand being humbled believe humbled is on the next page here yes so I'd like to look at a portion of the extensive footnote here. It begins with al-Razi among the major commentators. He devotes the most attention to this vers's description of the people of the book, especially as being those who do not believe in God and in the last day, noting that both Jews and Christians claim to affirm belief in both God and the hereafter. And the Quran itself seems to back that up. Also with regard to the Christians, the Quran states in 582 um that is because among them are priests and monks and because they are not arrogant. Now we get to the part that I'm confused about. It says, "However, in Alrazi's view, those people of the book who can truthfully be said to believe in God and in the last day still fall under the legal status set out by this verse, namely being fought until they enter into a treaty and pay an indemnity."

[00:41:54]He sees no leg legal reason to distinguish between them. Noting those who believe in God do not fall under the description of this verse. And I think we agree with that. But the requirement of the indemnity holds for them since it is said that when an indemnity is required for some of them, one says the same for all of them.

[00:42:20]since no one that is no jurist holds the view that there is a separation.

[00:42:25]That is to say, he relies on the absence of any legal opinion to the contrary while acknowledging that some people of the book are not those defined by this verse. This interpretation characterizes much of the mainstream Islamic legal opinion on the matter. And I have to say I'm baffled. I do not understand what he's saying.

[00:42:49]With greater clarity, the footnote points out what ja means. It means the rendering of a thing owed and as a legal matter amounts to an indemnity or tribute from non-Muslim communities residing within the Islamic state with whom the Muslims have a treaty. Such treaty holders paid this indemnity but were exempt from paying the alms or contributing to military defense as Muslims were applied obliged to do.

[00:43:20]Further down the page, it explains what those from whom an indemnity is acceptable means. This phrase is often used to describe those peoples who are known as al al dimma or treaty peoples.

[00:43:34]I think you may have heard the uh expression the dimitude as noted in 98 demollexically means treaty or pact and it goes on to say in general there have been two primary ways in which non-Muslim communities have been considered treaty holders. Some non-Muslim groups lived in territory directly under the rule of Muslims paying the indemnity but retaining considerable autonomy as to their own affairs. This was the case for Jews and Christians in Jerusalem under this certain individual and indeed throughout history well into the modern period in the Ottoman Empire and elsewhere.

[00:44:13]In the other main type of arrangement, treaty holders govern their own territory but according to treaty stipulations paid the Jiza and provided no help to any enemy of Muslims. In return, the Muslim community offered protection to the treaty holders.

[00:44:31]Example of this include the prophet's arrangements with the people of Bahrain who were Zoroastrians and with the Christians of Najron.

[00:44:42]In neither arrangement were the treaty holders required to provide military support to Muslim polity but pay only the indemnity. So that last bit would seem to contradict what we learned earlier uh from the definition of Jesa that it's um attribute from non-Muslim communities residing within the Islamic State. So it can also be from without.

[00:45:07]And then I just wanted to point to this paragraph. Jews and Christians are universally accepted to be those from whom the ja is acceptable. And to this group most add zoroastrians.

[00:45:21]Surah 3:es 3 and 4 talk about the Torah and the Gospel. He sent down the book upon thee in truth confirming what was before it. And he sent down the Torah and the Gospel before time as guidance to mankind.

[00:45:38]And he sent down the criterion. Truly those who disbelieve in the signs of God shall have a severe punishment. and God is mighty, possessor of vengeance. The portion of the footnote I'd like to focus on begins here. The Quran confirms what was before it, but does not describe the content of that existing teaching. If both the text and interpretation of the people of the book are true and correct, it would be through their moral shortcomings that they fail in their religion. This seems unlikely since the Quran criticizes some of their doctrines, not only their behavior. If the texts are true, but the interpretation is incorrect, this would support the position of those who accused the people of the book of distorting the meaning but not the text of scripture. For example, in later times, some Muslims argued that the Trinity as described in the Nyine Creed is nowhere to be found in the biblical text, but results from a faulty interpretation.

[00:46:43]And that's followed by this paragraph, which is another one that I find somewhat difficult to understand. I'm not quite sure what the editors are trying to get to here. Um the angel that's spoken of here is defined earlier in the footnote as the gospel unangelion. And then the paragraph ends with this statement. One could thus hold that the Quran when referring to the injil that the Christians have with them includes both the text and the normative tradition around that text in so far as they convey Christ's original message to his apostles which was given to him by God.

[00:47:28]As a final sample, let's look at surah 2:87, which reads, "And indeed, we gave unto Moses the book, and caused a succession of messengers to follow him, and we we gave Jesus, son of Mary, clear proofs and strengthened him with the Holy Spirit." And the footnote informs us that the Holy Spirit in the present verse is usually identified as the Archangel Gabriel. Well, with that, I think I'd like to conclude the video. I hope I've given you enough information here to allow you to make up your mind whether this is a useful resource to you. As a Christian, I think it's useful to know what it is that Muslims say about their faith and about the Christian faith. And this seems to seems to be a very good resource for that.

[00:48:23]Giving you in some detail what it is the Quran means. I've in past when I've read the Quran, I found it somewhat uh difficult to understand it. It seems to jump from topic to topic um very rapidly and just reading the text without commentary. One doesn't have the background needed to understand what the text means. And here, as you can see, we have quite extensive helpful information that will guide us. It perhaps is useful also to Muslims that don't have the benefit of this kind of scholarship uh at fingertips if they don't have this sort of a resource. Well, thanks again for watching. Um, next time we will be back to doing a Bible review, I believe.

[00:49:17]And uh if you like the video, remember to like it. If you're not subscribed to the channel, please consider doing so.