Moses, Pharaoh, praying at night, more abrogation, and the assembling of the Qur’an

 

In the 3rd Sura of the Qur'an, we are again sent to the Old Testament to understand the background of these verses. This time - Moses and Pharaoh. There is also an interesting command to pray at night. Finally, we see 6 verses stricken and replaced by others.  Once more, the stricken verses seem to replace forgiveness towards unbelievers with harsh penalties.  There is a pattern developing - even in these first three Suras.  To understand this pattern, we'll also look at how the Qur'an came to be a written document.

 Below is Sura 73 - as originally revealed.  (More or less.  I say this, because there are disagreements as to whether all of the verses were part of the original revelation.  Some feel [73:20] was actually a later revelation, but was included as part of this Sura.)

Sura 73, Cloaked

-- part 1a - praying at night

[73:0] In the name of God, Most Gracious, Most Merciful

[73:1] O you cloaked one.

[73:2] Meditate during the night, except rarely.

[73:3] Half of it, or a little less.

[73:4] Or a little more. And read the Quran from cover to cover.

[73:5] We will give you a heavy message.

[73:6] The meditation at night is more effective, and more righteous.

[73:7] You have a lot of time during the day for other matters.

[73:8] You shall commemorate the name of your Lord, to come ever closer and closer to Him.

[73:9] Lord of the east and the west; there is no other god besides Him. You should choose Him as your advocate.

-- part 2 - God can take care of Himself

[73:10] And remain steadfast in the face of their utterances, and disregard them in a nice manner.

[73:11] And let Me deal with the rejectors, who have been generously blessed; just give them a little time.

[73:12] We have severe punishments, and Hell.

[73:13] Food that can hardly be swallowed, and painful retribution.

[73:14] The day will come when the earth and the mountains will quake, and the mountains will turn into a weightless pile.

-- part 3 - Moses and Pharaoh

[73:15] We have sent to you a messenger, just as we sent to Pharaoh a messenger.

[73:16] Pharaoh disobeyed the messenger and, consequently, we punished him severely.

[73:17] If you disbelieve, how can you evade a day so terrible that it makes the infants gray-haired?

[73:18] The heaven will shatter therefrom. His promise is true.

[73:19] This is a reminder; whoever wills, let him choose the path to his Lord.

-- part 1b - praying at night 

[73:20] Your Lord knows that you meditate during two-thirds of the night, or half of it, or one-third of it, and so do some of those who believed with you. GOD has designed the night and the day, and He knows that you cannot always do this. He has pardoned you. Instead, you shall read what you can of the Quran. He knows that some of you may be ill, others may be traveling in pursuit of GOD's provisions, and others may be striving in the cause of GOD. You shall read what you can of it, and observe the contact prayers (Salat), give the obligatory charity (Zakat), and lend GOD a loan of righteousness. Whatever good you send ahead on behalf of your souls, you will find it at GOD far better and generously rewarded. And implore GOD for forgiveness. GOD is Forgiver, Most Merciful.

How The Qur'an was "assembled"

First - note the use of the word assembled.  Muhammad did not write down each Sura as it was revealed to him.  In fact, as far as I can tell, he never wrote down any of it.  Initially, it was all transmitted by word of mouth.  Later, different parts of it came to be written down by various people.  It was during the time of the third Khalifa that the Qur'an was assembled.  This was somewhere between the years 642 and 656, so not that long after the death of Muhammad.  However - much had changed during those few years.  In fact, much changed even before his death.

While in Mecca, there was an assassination plot against Muhammad - bur he was able to escape.  

We read about what happened in Mecca from Destiny Disrupted, by Tamin Ansary.  This is a really good book if you want to understand more about this period of time and a history of Islam from the eyes of an Afghan Muslim.

Mecca’s business leaders came to feel threatened by Mohammed because they were making good money from religious tourism; if this only-one-god idea took hold, they feared, the devotees of all the other gods would stop coming to Mecca and they’d be ruined. (Today, ironically, over a million people come to Mecca each year to perform the rites of pilgrimage at the Ka’ba, making this the biggest annual gathering on earth!)