Qur'an 7:39 "The first will say to the last: 'See there! No advantage have you over us; so taste the torment you have earned.' To those who reject Our signs and deny Our revelations, treating them with arrogance, no opening will there be of the gates of the Garden of Bliss, until the camel can pass through the eye of the needle. Such is our reward for the guilty. They shall have a bed on the floor of Hell and coverings of fire; this is how We reward them."
The Quran uses this phrase to express the idea of something that is unlikely to happen - Namely, if you do not believe in Mohammad, then you will go to hell, and will have a "bed on the floor of Hell and coverings of fire"
As such, Mohammad uses the analogy of whether a "camel can pass through the eye of a needle" in strict literal interpretation to show the "doom" of not following Mohammad.
Matthew 19:23-24:
23Then Jesus said to his disciples, "I tell you the truth, it is hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven. 24Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God."
In the above passage, Jesus uses a metaphor used in his time to analogize a rich man entering heaven. Namely, Jesus referred to a certain gate in Jerusalem called Needle's Eye. This entry-point was built like the eye of a needle and so low that a camel could pass only if it entered kneeling and unencumbered with baggage.
The point of this parable is that an eternal inheritance awaits those who unburden themselves of sin, and in particular, the things of this world. Also, kneeling represents submission and humility, which are required to enter into heaven.
It should be kept in mind that most (if not all) of Jesus' teachings were metaphors, and as such, the above example is consistent with how Jesus taught his message.
COMPARISON:
As can be clearly seen - Mohammad used the "eye of the needle" analogy in a literal interpretation, to bring about doom - Jesus used it in an analogy to talk about the difficulties of a rich person - namely, being humble before God.
Ultimately, the question that comes to mind is that if Allah is the same God of Jesus, then why would Allah bastardize Jesus' analogy by providing two contrasting two different ways of interpreting a metaphor concerning "the eye of the needle"?
The more likely scenario is that Mohammad heard this parable of the eye of the needle, and clearly bastardized it by switching the Jesus' message so that the analogy clearly focuses on people following Mohammad, otherwise meeting the hell fire, (whereas Jesus' focus of this parable was that the more wealth you have, the more honest you must strive to be).
1) So then, why did Mohammad need to use this parable?
a) Was it to give his message the religious foundation it was clearly lacking?
b) Was it is hope to confuse dessert Arabs, who slightly knew of Christianity, to deliver a supposed message of holiness by couching his message in Christian symbols?
c) Was it because Mohammad's message would be void of any type of religiousity or morality without him stealing and buttressing his message with any Christian symbolism?
i) i.e. Bukhari Volume 1, Book 8, Number 429: -
3. The booty has been made Halal (lawful) for me [Mohammad] (and was not made so for anyone else).
Excellent blog. Keep up the great work!
ReplyDelete