The Lion Ring

Roaring Lion
Bronze Statue

...it's a matter of Pride.

Lion Ring Seal With Imprint

Note: perspective is off, since She is no Artist

The Lion is a Symbol of both the Tribes Judah and Dan. Legend has it that King Solomon wore a Signet Ring that conferred magic powers to Him s.t.n. He may control the Wind, Demons and Jinn and understand the language of the animal kingdom. As King He used such a ring to Set His Seal on official documents and coduct other courtly business.

In General, a seal-making device is also referred to as the seal matrix or die; the imprint it creates is the seal impression (or, more rarely, the sealing). If the impression is made purely as a relief resulting from the greater pressure where the high parts of the matrix touch, the seal is known as a dry seal. (wikipedia)

Today, setting a seal or  'sealing' has to do with protecting from public view court documents in order to guard State Secrets or in Witness Protection programs.

No One other than King Solomon has ever seen His Ring and if they had, they would not have 'lived' to tell about it (get it, they 'die' first). Some guess that it had 4 jewels, some think it was embossed with the Star of David and inscribed with the Ineffable Name(s) of God.

Some bear the Seal (stigmata as a white scar from a heat impression) since it is never appropriate to welcome such High Heads of State (Emissaries) with the Universal One Finger Salute.

Lately I've been 'hearing' "Beautiful! Beautiful!"   -- something that my friend Paul (the 'glazier') is known to say, where most people suffice to say, "Wow!", or "Oh, My God!" or simply,  "O, Gee!"

Since that can't be a comment on Her Artistic Endeavors (that's Michael's Forte), if She is sooo beautiful and You took the Time (Out) to imprint Her with Your Stamp of Approval, why is it that You Know her name(s), address(es) and phone number(s), and yet She doesn't know the first thing about You? (Aside: I know, it's because she is a blabber mouth and is likely to post your Identity on this ProScribed blog of hers that NoBody reads, once she runs your license plates for the world wide web users to see--I really wouldn't).

Unless, it isn't a stamp of approval at all and more of a 'damned Yankee' tag--which is just as likely given what She registers as Your disappointment every time You spot Her and She 'hears' You 'say,' "...and here She is--again!"

(Another Aside: Her poor Spelling and Your obscure Stamping is a sure recipe for disaster, it's a good thing the Gramma(r) is holding up).

Addendum 06_19_2012: Okay, Mr. 'It's you!'-- What exactly are You accusing me of other than failure to pull a comb through my hair and a predilection toward weird science? 

O, and don't keep summoning me and then act like you don't know why it's me that keeps showing up!
{No bragging rights! He Says, "She's a Loaner--just until He figures out what to do with this **ing mess, doesn't give any of ewes guys a right to abuse the previledge} Who else saw Him on the Santa Monica Pedestrian bridge crossing on June 18, 2012?

Is The Sky A Hologram?

Melancholia by Albrecht Durer

Who Wants To Know?

{Query on or about June 22, 2011, Hermosa Beach, CA}

Dr. Seuss's Horton Hears A Who

Perhaps a more apt way to phrase the question is, 'What is the nature of the Sky?'

Truncated Octahedron
Not Quite the Melancholia Truncated Solid In the Image Above
Schreiber (1999) identifies it(the Melancholy Octahedron) as a cube, first distorted to give rhombus faces with angles of 108° and then truncated so that its vertices lie on a sphere.
More on That Later...

here it is , later (wikipedia)

DimensionsMutually orthogonal golden rectangles drawn into the original icosahedron (before cut off)

If the edge length of a truncated icosahedron is a, the radius of a circumscribed sphere (one that touches the truncated icosahedron at all vertices) is:

where φ is the golden ratio.

The dual polyhedron of an icosahedron with unit edge lengths is the dodecahedron with edge lengths 1/ φ, where  φ is the golden ratio.

Icosahedral Graph

The centers of the faces of an icosahedron form a dodecahedron, and vice versa.

There are 43,380 distinct nets for the icosahedron, the same number as for the dodecahedron (Bouzette and Vandamme, Hippenmeyer 1979, Buekenhout and Parker 1998).

This result is easy to get by using one of the three orthogonal golden rectangles drawn into the original icosahedron (before cut off) as the starting point for our considerations. 

The angle between the segments joining the center and the vertices connected by shared edge (calculated on the basis of this construction) is approx. 23.281446° (about the tilt of the Earth's axis to its orbital plane (.993 x 23.45)). 

Area and volume: 

The area A and the volume V of the truncated icosahedron of edge length a are:
 

Geometric relations: 

The truncated icosahedron easily verifies the Euler characteristic: 

32 + 60 − 90 = 2. 

With unit edges, the surface area is (rounded) 21 for the pentagons and 52 for the hexagons, together 73 (see areas of regular polygons). 

Applications...

}

The frequency of the word 'Sky' or 'Skies', sometimes understood to mean 'Heaven'/'Heavens' is 123 times in 117 Signs. They are tabulated below with comments included for the first 19 occurrences.

{As an aside, Wow! I mean, WOW!! You fellas look more and more gorgeous--yet, somehow incredibly destitute. What gives? You lose your luggage & wallets & rich girlfriends on the way in? --16.07.2011 Sources tell me that it's nowhere near as interesting as that and that it's probably something like Roulette, Craps, or 21. Sources say it is only fair to mention that they had to tip me off because I really Am that clueless, but so is ewes guys because you don't realize that U.F.know.whO is a rare breed of gambler--He actually Likes Losing to the House! That way they send the car around.

If it's any consolation, I am just as broke and nowhere near as good looking, but I have access to a bathroom and a washer/dryer for which I endure a tremendous amount of disrespect bordering on abuse just to continue using them until You all feel that I have been punished enough for something someOne has yet to tell me what exactly it is I did to warrant 'earning' this kind of mega-havoc in my so-called Life--somebody please tell me. Telling my Father gets you nowhere, because all He'll say is 'She must have had a Good Reason!"}

There are several concepts worth developing when plumbing for the exact nature of the Sky as described in the first 19 references to it in the Quran. In 2:19 we get storms from the Sky--metaphorically, the Sky is a source of stormclouds which represent a steady, plentiful outpouring of gloominess, tyranny, and injustice.

In 2:22 the Sky is described as a 'canopy' but the precise meaning of the word bina' is associated with construction, building, masonary, and the masons themselves. That rainwater or simply water (Ma') descends from the Sky is mentioned, the concept of Ma having been developed elsewhere in Apageinthelife, including but not limited to 'negative space' and physical parameters such as mass*acceleration.


{It is noteworthy that the Japanese concept Ma for 'negative space' or 'interval,' 'gap' is expressed using the Chinese character (間) which is pronounced 'djin'. There is no mistaking that the word in Arabic for 'the unseen' or basically 'dark matter', 'things imperceptible with our human faculties' جِنَّ Jinn both sounds the same and has closely associated meanings as the Oriental variants.}

The manner of having designed the Sky as 7 (multiple) 'heavens' is suggested in 2:29 and the word 'sawa' is elaborated elsewhere (Smoke 41:11) as to how God 'corresponds' or 'levels' with the Sky. The terms 'squares', 'equalizes', 'normalizes', 'compounds,' 'patches,' 'flattens', and such, in addition to being mathematical operations, are also steps involving actual 'workmaship'. The understanding is that God literally 'fashions' or 'makes' the Sky that we perceive over our heads. The number 7 may be the actual count of how many eschelons of Sky there are, but idiomatically it means 'a multiple of things' or ' unspecified number' {I miss Capt. Bennett (& not with a weapon like You did me the other day) as much as Tommy (who can ever forget the fella who bought them their first pair of steel-toe workboots?) as much as gimpy U-Boat Al (technically not a Nazi, since he was underwater the whole time, who warned me time and again 'never let them see you cry,' or what Al-- huh, what?}.In 2:59 it is mentioned that from the Sky is revealed as well as sent or manifested God's Wrath on those who have incurred it, where 'wrath' is also understood to mean 'plague', and not necessarily always a disease, but any type of punishment that is in direct consequence to and the same kind as the transgressors' own 'debauchery' (there is no contradiction in the Sky being both a source of blessings and punishment, the understanding is that it provides a reciprocation, alluded to in how the Sky Echoes or Reverberates or provides the feedback for what People do on Earth).

Chapter 2, Verse 144, Word Number 6 is the 7th occurrence mentioning the Sky, turning the Prophet's Qibla direction 'to one that would please him'. The Qibla marks the direction of prayer, but also connotes 'kissing,' 'osculation,' that while alluding to things of an intimate nature also have to do with planar curves (discussion about curvature and osculating circles mentioned in the post 'If It Walks Like A Duck...'). {Is this where the phrase 'at six's and seven's' comes from? Does it mean being torn between making an emotional vs. cerebral decision? --other than that there is nice math symmetry in 2:144:6}.

And if You are into math, and symmetry, (2:164:3) al-samawati , (2:164:21) l-samāi, (2:164:39) l-samāi, offer all that in a neat package, including the 'mechanism' that is the Sky. Sign 2:164 offers not 1, or 2, but 3--count them 3, mentions of the Sky at word locations 3, 21, and 39 in the verse. At position 3, the Skies are mentioned as a Sign of God having Created them (Creates them); at position 21 Ma' comes from the Sky to Revive the Earth and is responsible for sustaining everything on it, including the streaming winds and the clouds that are 'harnassed' (الْمُسَخِّرِ musaghara) between the earth and the Sky (mentioned at position 39). The word for harnassed also has to do with 'gears' and we understand gears to trasmit motion from one body to another as in toothed gears, they serve to 'engage' an activity/equipment like when putting something into gear, and gears also transmit power and/or direction (like in a vehicle transmission)--a term closely related to equipment and machines.



Sign 3:5:11 marks the location of the word Sky as the 11th and last word in this Verse which reminds us that nothing can be kept secret/veiled/incognito/surreptitious from God, whether it be in Heaven or on Earth. At which point, I pause to Reflect, like any sentient being and ask myself, "Self," I said, "what vantage point affords such a global perspective of such a large scale object as the Universe when I, myself, am merely a spec on its surface, 'not even a drop of rain in an endless ocean'?"


For me, crazy me, I see 3:5 and wax poetic about the Fibonacci sequence, the 11th term for someone else to calculate; and The Golden Section, Phi, 1.618--the shorter is to the longer as the longer is to the whole 3:5 : : 5:8.



As a set, [3, 5, 11] are markers for 'squaring the circle'--given a square with side 11, and right triangle inscribed with one leg=3, and hypotenuse=5 (some believe inscribing such circles approximates the size of the Earth to the Moon). As a vector, well, just look up in the Sky... According to Verse 4:153 the People of prior Revelation (People of Scripture, People of the Book) asked Muhammedpbuh for a Book from the Sky, well, it seems they got one, has anyone bothered reading it?



Chapter 5, Al-Ma'ida, mentions the Disciples having asked Jesus for 'a table from Heaven' (earlier post at Table, Tablet, Fields and Grains ). That God Send it down to them so that it would be an ever recurring feast/celebration for the first and last of us (Signs 5:112 and 5:114, specifically).




Ma'ida مَآئِدَةً can mean table (board, bench) and can be used to mean a repast/supper. Given that they were all gainfully employed and not in want of food, the question remained, 'what exactly were they asking for when they asked that God Send/Reveal a Table from the Sky if they were not asking for supper?'



A table can mean all of the following (aramaic root): a schedule, a lead, a guidance, something of benefit, a jump-start, a fresh start/start anew/spring; the root 'med' means 'extend'.





With all that in mind, what the Disciples were asking of Jesus is to ask God to Provide an 'extension', or 'spread', something that would 'expand', 'reinforce', 'stretch', 'impact', 'increase'; an idiom for 'work at full power'; the verb form means: to 'provide', 'furnish', 'lengthen', 'distend', 'dilate', 'supply', 'protract', and finally to offer a 'respite'.






Any one of these 'table' connotations would make more sense in context since they would be more likely to be of benefit (especially if it would furnish something like an agenda for new concepts, a new beginning, a re-awakening) to those who follow (later generations) compared to simply consuming a meal.




And the request was that this 'tabular' Revelation be repeated and not just handed down once, so that later generations may benefit from it, and that it be a cause for celebration (Recall Abraham having asked God for the Message to be Verified/Renewed for later generations in 'A Wave of Oblivious People', so not exactly 'The Last Supper'--I predict more bad cooking on the horizon--either that or a live-in master chef).




The word for celebration is '3eid' the root derives from '3d' which has to do with counting, repetition. A cause for celebration/ festival/holiday is typically associated with happy occassions, frequented by large crowds of people, kept solemn, well-attended/famous; it is interesting that a colloquialism in some parts of England for attendants to such large happy gatherings are known as 'ants'//emmett=="holiday tourist".



Considering the passage about Solomon and what He over hears one Ant say to another in 27:18 when He and His forces approach the Valley of the Ants (Naml)--does that mean Solomon made it all the way to Cornwall, England, or were 'We' just messing with the English on this one? {Having read over that particular post, it may be worth defining what it means to be a Jew, or Jewish, since one was given for what it is to be a Christian; Jewish is a Job, not some sort of couture DNA or birthright, the job description being 'To Preserve Holy Scripture' (as in keep it sacrosanct, not just keep it to yourself or solely for your own benefit). According to that definition, I only know of 1 (apparently the job doesn't pay well), but I don't get out much and the real Jews are probably hiding like thrips for fear of what the Poser Jews might do to them if they find them (ahh, the quiet, protracted respite of missing mass.}



Ayeh 6:6 from Surah Al-An'am (Cattle) is fascinating in its description of the Sky for at least 2 reasons. The first is that nothing is being Sent/Revealed or made to come down from the Sky, but it is the Sky itself that is being Revealed/Sent , وَأَرْسَلْنَا السَّمَاء عَلَيْهِم مِّدْرَارًا, wa arsalna al.Sama' 3liyhim mdraran, means 'and We Sent/Revealed the Sky to them/over them/generating a wheel/director/pouring out.' The second reason is the word mdraran, that can mean pouring, outpouring, has as a root 'mmdr' which means 'director' or 'something that goes around' or 'a wheel.'



Typically, Sign 6:6 is translated to mean an abundant shower of rain is coming from the Sky to make the rivers run, but if understood without injecting the word 'from,' which is not there to begin with, makes it clear that the Sky over our heads is itself some type of 'director', 'wheel', 'revolving' in order to make the Rivers run 'anhar' الأَنْهَارَ تَجْرِي مِن تَحْتِهِمْ underneath them in a manner which exhausted them from their own sins and thereby caused later generations to replace them.





Clearly, these are not the types of Rivers we understand to flow for irregation and to go fish, so the implication is that these are Rivers of Time since 'inhar' can be taken to mean 'days' or 'mornings' flowing by, and 'under their feet' means that those being punished grew old/tired/exhausted by it (the Sky turning) without realizing it was a consequence to their own bad behaviour (thinking it nothing of value, right under their feet, beneath them). Or, in such a conspicuous/obvious manner 'they're tripping over it' and yet somehow remain oblivious to what's going on. (I think now they're saying I have a 'medical condition'--great!, who gave it to me?--because I certainly wasn't born this way! I never heard of a medical condition that makes my 'team' members go berserker over it and do a very convincing job of 'staging' (I have to believe it was just staged, no matter how believable) their own deaths just to free up the reins and go take care of 'business'--they're even calling me 'the cosa nostra'-- and all I think I Am is Where those that did this to me are Not--everytime I see one of them or even hear their names so much as mentioned I get ill beyond description.)




This is probably a better understanding of 6:6 especially since in 6:66 the indication is 'and yet, to all this your peoples have given the lie, although it is the Truth. Say : "I am not responsible for your conduct.' {These people who poisoned me and each others' children are 'my people' ? What is Your return policy?! What's it for Spaceships which You have commandeered (see, my not wanting anything to do with these peoples (Ikhlas), I was outbound when You ran interference)? This is a fitting place for a lecture on Mercy}.




The 'director' aspect of the Sky in Sign 6:6 is that it serves to guide/give direction, as evidenced by earlier civilizations' realiance on it (preserved in everything from pyramids to cave paintings), but for my single-minded pursuit I think it has to do with a Sky Movie.




Sign 6:35 Indeed their spurning you distresses you, yet if you could create/seek a tunnel in the ground/earth or a ladder to/in the sky and bring them a sign,- If it were God's Will, He could gather them all together to true guidance: so do not be as those who are childish (ignorant/impatient)!
(Lemmesee 2011-1996= 15 years by their estimation; considering actual time and not just from the time of discovery, 2011-1992= 19 years--still not patient enough for Ya?)

"فَإِنِ اسْتَطَعْتَ أَن تَبْتَغِيَ نَفَقًا فِي الأَرْضِ أَوْ سُلَّمًا فِي السَّمَاء " means "seeking to tunnel" through the earth or "ladder to/in the sky" in order to fetch a sign", where the term 'sillam' means "ladder" ==lean, slope, heirarchical arrangement based on rank/ability, also from 'climax' ; usually it is transportable and comprised of rungs/steps at increasingly higher/forward levels or eschelons, where echelon is lit. 'rungs of a ladder' or 'levels, subdivisions'; lit. from a Greek word for climax meaning a 'series of propositions rising in effectiveness' or 'escalating steps'.


A ladder is typically used to scale 'walls'==valus =wall, rampart, row or line of stakes as fortification, often used for defense; latin 'maceria' for "wall"; other roots for which relate to make/mason/machine/Freemason (see 2:22 above). A ladder can be used to breach a defensive barrier like when scaling a fortress wall, or when used horizontally, a ladder can be used to bridge gaps. And a ladder can be traversed up or down, and for the acrobats in the group, the same ways on the flip side.





Its been said that wormholes might be intergallactic gateways and that there are microscopic black holes that exist on Earth that lead to other dimensions (The Bermuda Triangle comes up in this respect every so often). According to Sign 6:6, we don't need to get so crazy as all that (just one crazy will do).





It can be argued, and very effectively so, that the Earth and Sky permeate each other, quantum mechanically speaking. In layman's terms the question "at what level does Sky start and Earth stop?" is a valid question. The Earth is more than bedrock and water, atmosphere and electromagnetic field or its Gravity--it extends into the Sky and the Sky penetrates the Earth in a similar fashion.




On a quantum mechanical level, there is nothing that says a negatively charged electron cannot ever pass through a positively charged nucleus, however fleetingly. So, even the electrons 'orbiting' a nucleus are in fact 'touching'. When we think about it, 'touching' is nothing more than the feedback our brains are wired to receive (perception) from the interplay of these electromagnetic particles, whether they are repelling, attracting, or otherwise entangled with each other.






Since electrons are all negatively charged and form the 'shell' of atoms, on the subatomic level, when our hands touch it is the surface 'electrons repulsion' that we interpret as 'contact'. But this barrier is illusory, since quantum mechanically speaking, these very same electrons can swap places, and permeate each other's nuclei--'an electron, is an electron, is an electron.'




The same can be said of the Earth and Sky--we really don't know or can't clearly define where one starts and the other begins (there are Sky particles that penetrate deeply into the Earth and as mentioned previously, the Earth extends out into the Sky). And that's why 6:6 is making an analogy of tunneling through the Earth or putting a ladder to the Sky--on some very basic level, it is essentially the same thing.




As for those transportable hierarchical arrangements that scale walls --the ladders; or passages that go under or around obstructions--the tunnels; they are typicallly implemented by the people walking around. We would never know it--encapsulated, self-aware, interdimensional travellers--God-Created Organic Time Machines--Interdimensional Beings (Angels, Jinn, Humans)--UFO ETs. (Am I boring You?).
Pearls Before Swine, November 2, 2011, Los Angeles Times Comics



Sign 6:99 sets off by establishing that it is at God's behest that Ma' (water/rain) comes down/is sent/revealed from the Sky and in turn produces every living thing.
Sign 6:99 is about as close as we can get to understanding how God brings about Something from Nothing, the concept of ma' for water is directly accessible, we understand how life depends on it. Taken to mean Ma' for 'negative space' or 'missing mass' then is what we understand to be 'no thing' from which, according to 6:99, springs forth everything (a resource to jump start, renew, everything--what the Disciples were praying for in 5:112 and 5:114, see above). {Maybe those Rainmen were onto something afterall}.

'And He it is who has caused waters to come down from the sky; and by
this means have We brought forth all living growth, verdure, close-growing
grain, the spathe of the palm tree, dates in thick clusters; and gardens of
vines, and the olive tree, and the pomegranate--all alike, yet so
different!' (6:99 paraphrased)

Sign 6:125 describes in some detail how it feels to ascend Skyward... وَمَن يُرِدْ أَن يُضِلَّهُ يَجْعَلْ صَدْرَهُ ضَيِّقًا حَرَجًا كَأَنَّمَا يَصَّعَّدُ فِي السَّمَاء كَذَلِكَ يَجْعَلُ اللّهُ الرِّجْسَ عَلَى الَّذِينَ لاَ يُؤْمِنُونَ ..'and whomever He allows to stray He makes his chest tight/narrow/constricted severely/critically as if he is ascending/rising into the sky...in this manner God works His outrage/manifests extreme moral degredation/squalor onto those who will not believe.


The narrowing/constriction/tightness one feels when the air gets thinner or the air pressure decreases at higher elevation describes the actual physical sensation of rising through the upper atmosphere, but is also an apt description of the discomfort one feels from the discontent/regret/problems that ensue from making bad choices (or asthma). These are the sensations one is made to feel when God Works or Makes Known His Displeasure toward any one of us, the word al.rijsa الرِّجْسَ means 'abomonations', severe moral depravity, disgrace, dislike, outrage, scandal, hatred, etc.


Those whose will is aligned with God's Will (aka the definition of Muslim) by contrast feel no such physical discomfort/limitation since it is said that God 'opens their breasts wide' (they willingly yield) to the acceptance of self-surrender to His Will. Simply stated, since they have a clear conscience they have no reason to feel uptight.



That the two cases are compared and contrasted in the same verse 6:125 indicates the following:

• The Sky is 'built' in a manner to act as a physical barrier against those
  considered not aligned with God's Will in that they feel limited/constricted
  when attempting to ascend Skyward









• Those meeting with God's Approval should be able to 'ascend' into the Sky
  (make the Ascension) without feeling a physical limitation/discomfort








• There is no guarantee that some Big Bully won't get a hold of your Ride,
  keeping you from staying up in the Sky for any reasonable amount of Time

(He Says: "We Bulls Wobble But We Don't Fall Down!" I Say: "I seem to remember landing, not falling down." )

Which makes for the following story arc: The Sky is a 'Construct', Created by God, for the Sole Purpose of keeping the 'rifraff' out; in the same way a Wall acts as a defensive obstacle/barrier that requires a (portable) instrument of escalating steps/rungs/effective arguments to scale it, or, much like a tunnel functions to make a channel or passageway under or around such an obstruction.


Wanna See me jump to conclusions and forego the increasingly more effective arguments? Sign 8:11 that makes mention of the Sky was discussed in some detail in an earlier post 'O, Ewes Guys!'
The 19th Sign 8:32 wherein the Sky is mentioned is the guantlet thrown at the Prophet pbuh where the faithless say, ".. if this is the Truth from you make it Rain Stones from the Sky or show us that severe punishment."

'Just think what all that money$$ we've spent on 'not
getting anywhere but one way there' wars could have done to improve our own
country's infrastructure over the course of the last decade---we would
have conceivably Built Heaven on Earth--but, alas, that Table Is Not Set For
Me. Probably meant for some other lucky vixen who goes in for playing
Chutes-n-Ladders with her charges--but that's not my speed, either. Since We're not keeping any secrets, You Know, I've come to regret whatever good I ever did there...I regret having done what little good I attempted and wish I would have tried my hand at the more titillating stuff.'

Sign 7:40 Reiterates the fact that those who shun/reject Our Signs will not have access to Heaven (the gateways/passages/doors to heaven/the sky will not be open to them) until such a time as a Large Twisted Rope/or Camel can be made to pass through the Eye of the Needle (double entendre?).
Verse 7:96 meshes quite smoothly with the concepts about the Sky in Chapter 6. Simply stating that had the people accepted Our Signs and believed and 'reinforced' our Messages, "We would have opened for them Blessings from the Sky and Earth..." لَفَتَحْنَا عَلَيْهِم بَرَكَاتٍ مِّنَ السَّمَاء وَالأَرْضِ the word lafatahna can also mean 'make available' and not just simply 'open' like one would a door and 'barakatin' means 'blessings'.



In order for the explicit meaning of the word 'open' to make sense in conjunction with 'blessings' , the root of the word 'barakat' has to be scutinized.






Taking the root 'bara' gives the following connotations: noun (Arabic and Icelandic/Swedish): 1. floor 2. fold 3. layer 4. coat 5. ply 6. storey 7. story 8. flat 9. coating 10. deck 11. multiple 12. stair 13. pile 14. fall 15. lap; suffix: 1. -fold noun 1.fold 2. pleat 3. tuck 4. queue 5. destination 6. plait 7. plica 8. lappet 9. lap 10. wrap 11. recess 12. gather 13. flexure;
1. just 2. solely 3. merely 4. simply 5. nothing else 6. no more; conjunction 1. only





That the terms 'fold', 'layer', 'pleat', 'wrap', 'multiple', 'stair', 'story' are associated with the root of the word for 'blessings' is intriguing, in light of just such notions being the subject here at A Page In The Life including: 'Tay-al-Ard', space/time 'folds', the 'Multiverse,' wrapping and unwrapping curves, and the Mystical Math and Phunny Physics we find in the Quran.







The concepts alluded to in Sign 7:96 are all the more riveting considering that the root 'bara' also gives us: 'simply' , 'merely'.






Essentially, this indicates that transcending or traversing the physical barriers we perceive on Earth or in the Sky would have been fascilited for people and it would be akin to nothing more than 'climbing a stair or ladder,' or simply 'walking through a door,' to bridge the dimensions or distances; or merely be ’transported in telling a story,’ metaphorically speaking, is all that it would take for these barriers/obstacles to unfold like 'pleats' (umbrellas?).






But, because there is so much Injustice in the World, the only way those who seek the Final Solution from Their Lord, find it in the solace that those responsible for such Evil 'while they were alive' can never Ever be able to come anywhere near them or to harm them in any way ever again since these barriers have been so firmly set in the wrong-doers' own minds.




The rest of the commentary will be annotated as time permits, but there are some passages beyond the first 19 expounded on here that call for more detailed explanation, specifically those that include mentioning 'doors' along with the 'sky'. (i.e., 7:40:11; 7:96:11; 78:19:2 -- Only since You asked ...I've all but given up on the idea that You are ever going to make this right; I mean, I watched 'The Adjustment Bureau' last night and that scene when Damon walks through the office and everyone is frozen in spacetime because he arrived somewhere he didn't belong is how I shopped the groceries and ran errands all over town, for several days/weeks/months/years...but unlike Damon in that Movie I didn't need anybody to ask me to pretend like it never happened--like whatamI, Nuts?!)

07/07/2011 Notes:50:6 The Sky is described as having no furujin from فرجة crack crevice, interstice, gap, fissure ( specifically فرجه private parts, specifically the female genetalia/vulva/from the lat.' to turn, revolve, spiral, helix, wrap ; idiomtically, 'to turn over in the mind'; latin 'volvere,' earlier usage==womb)






51:7 describes the Sky is being made of weaving/knitted (paths/stories) some take the root of the word al.hubki as hoob==Love.
51:47 "We Built (the word bina as in 2:22 above) the Sky and We are (ever) expanding it biaydina," metaphorically means 'with our hands' but the real meaning of aydin== 1.support 2.favor 3.second 4.side 5.advocate 6.subscribe 7.uphold 8.stick up 9.plunk 10.validate 11.further 12.affirm 13.countenance 14.look with favor on 15.side with 16.stand up for 17.stand for 18.reason 19.go in for 20.sustain 21.underpin 22.stick up for 23.subserve 24.champion






55:7 God Raised the Sky and Set the Scale ('wada3 al-mizan' can mean anything from establishing the balance of Justice to actually affixing/situating Libra as a Constellation)

69:16 The Sky has properties wherein it can be 'compromised' like tearing
'And the Sky split and it is stretched/extended and weak/flimsy'

70:8 It may appear that things move slow or as if one reaches a limit 'A Day the Sky Becomes/Seems like 'the limit/end-of-the-line/slowed down' from the word 'almuhl' which means slowing down; classical interpretation 'molten alloy'; this actually may mean possibly breaking the speed of light limit, how else would everything seem to slow down?

71:11 He Reveals/Sends the Sky over you//to you outpouring, mudrarin==may mean a downpour, the root mdr means director/goes around/wheel, more at 6:6 above

72:8 The Jinn are talking and they say,
"Truly we (merely, gently, softly, momentarily touched) caressed the Sky and Found her full of Guards (Guardians)Severe (extreme/dense/stern/violent/vicious/tempestous/brusque/intense/terrible) and Meteoric (shooting stars, falling stars)" , which makes it sound like they encountered some difficulty getting through the asteroid belt

73:18 This characterizes something about the nature of how the Sky 'grows' or 'expands' or how those (jacked) UFOs get through-- "The Sky Breaks out rapidly (mushrooms); His Will Is Done." mf3oola==rt. 'f3l' 1.act 2.doing 3.performance; verb 1.do 2.make 3.activate 4.work w3d===1.promise 2.pledge 3.word 4.troth 5.plight; verb 1.engender 2.assure. Applying the Principle 'As Above, So Below' a wikipedia article on mushroom morphology pegs all of the buzzwords found in the Quran description of the Sky (including vulva, veil, mushroom, expand (rapidly), etc.) an excerpt follows:

A mushroom develops from a nodule, or pinhead, less than two millimeters in diameter, called a primordium, which is typically found on or near the surface of the substrate. It is formed within the mycelium, the mass of threadlike hyphae that make up the fungus. The primordium enlarges into a roundish structure of interwoven hyphae roughly resembling an egg, called a "button". The button has a cottony roll of mycelium, the universal veil, that surrounds the developing fruit body. As the egg expands, the universal veil ruptures and may remain as a
cup, or volva, at the base of the stalk, or as warts or volval patches
on the cap. Many mushrooms lack a universal veil and therefore do not have either a volva or volval patches. Often there is a second layer of tissue, the partial
veil, covering the bladelike gills that bear spores. As the cap expands, the veil
breaks, and remnants of the partial veil may remain as a ring, or annulus,
around the middle of the stalk or as fragments hanging from the margin of the
cap. The ring may be skirt-like as in some species of Amanita, collar-like as in many species of Lepiota, or merely the faint remnants of a cortina (a partial veil composed of filaments resembling a spiderweb), which is typical of the genus Cortinarius.
Mushrooms that lack a partial veil do not form an annulus. (more at Mushroom at wikipedia)

73:18 "If/When the Sky Furijat' (Spaced/ stretches/ root furj==vulva, fold, release) more at 50:6 ; فرجه private parts, specifically the female genetalia/vulva/from the lat. ' to turn, revolve, spiral, helix, wrap , '; idiomtically, 'to turn over in the mind'; latin. 'volvere' {This may be the difference between being 'born' and being 'borne'---for which I Sincerely Thank You for Your Generous Consideration. Since this establishes once and for all that We are Friends, may I now please get my (whispered) U.F.knOw what back?}






The following comments added September 19, 2011:







There is an association between the Sky and Space; and Space (i.e., 'no thing/djin/Ma', dark matter/energy or missing mass) is conceptualized as a 'fabric' that 'warps' by the presence of matter (heavy objects). Signs that incorporate similes between the Sky and 'fabric' include, but are not limited to 51:7; 77:9, and 91:5 in the Table above.






Just to refresh, fabrics are often manufactured by weaving threads or 'knitting' together strings or yarn to make cloth. Weaving and knitting are two methods that in effect produce a 2-D cloth from a 1-Dimensional 'strings' (these techniques serve as accessible similitudes to going from a lower dimensional object to a higher dimension).






In weaving, threads are always straight, running parallel either lengthwise (warp threads) or crosswise (weft threads). By contrast, yarn follows a meandering path (a course), forming symmetric loops (also called bights) above and below the mean path of the yarn in knits (like unfolded orbits). The looping enables ‘stretching’ in different directions and can give knits as much as 5 times more elasticity than woven fabrics—a way to accommodate a greater range of motion (read as movement into Higher Dimensions, more directions) , whereas woven garments stretch mainly along one direction (the bias) and are not very elastic (unless more stretchable thread/yarn is used in the weaving).






Weaving involves drawing the weft (or woof) yarns/threads through the warp. The warp (longitudinal threads) are held in tension lengthwise on a frame/loom to facilitate the interweaving of the weft threads, and the word warp derives from something like 'that which is thrown across'. (There are very interesting connotations to the the word for warp in Arabic which include; anchor, 'that which drags the composition', 'slimy silt deposit?', stamen, web, color, deface, harm, assasinate, distort, twist, torture, falsify, skew, etc. One synonym that stands out in particular is سداة في النسيج which literally means 'in the texture', in that it is associated strongly with Tesla: according to The Online Etymology Dictionary: Texture derives from early 15c., "network, structure," from M.Fr., from L. textura "web, texture, structure," from stem of texere "to weave," from PIE base *tek- "to make" (cf. Skt. taksati "he fashions, constructs," taksan "carpenter;" Avestan taša "ax, hatchet," thwaxš- "be busy;" O.Pers. taxš- "be active;" Gk. tekton "carpenter," tekhne "art;" O.C.S. tesla "ax, hatchet;" Lith. tasau "to carve;" O.Ir. tal "cooper's ax;" O.H.G. dahs, Ger. Dachs "badger," lit. "builder;" Hittite taksh- "to join, unite, build"). Meaning "structural character" is recorded from 1650s. )






The weft, or 'that which is woven,' are the threads/yarns which transverse (go through/slanting/crosswise/oblique/sloping to) the warp. (Interesting connotations to the word weft from the Arabic include; wobble, wiggle, love, drawing, branch, sway, weave, etc. and a synonym in Arabic for weft نسيج actually means texture, affording another interesting synchronous parallel between 'weaving', 'space/fabric' , 'stepping up/down in dimensions,' 'constructing the sky,' and TESLA.)






Knitting is a weaving technique which involves 'knots' (math; closed circular braid, i.e., series of circles that cross over & under each other's strands, same centers, no backtracks & no extra loops; braids described by braid components and how the ends are joined (finished/link))






Curvature becomes a factor in that the elasticity inherent in knits allows them to follow the body's curvature closely (not surprising, since the knit & purl stitches look like unfolded conic curves); whereas, curvature is introduced into most woven garments only with special seams sewn in such as darts, flares, gussets and gores (wovens start with rectilinear weft/warp threads, so that in order to introduce curvature they must be cut and resewn; the seams join or bind the edges of the fabric with thread by sewing; another way to bind loose threads is by knotting, which is the method used in knitting).






While the same types of seams can also lend extra elasticity to knits, curvature can be introduced into knit fabrics without seams by using short rows , or increasing or decreasing the number of stitches.






The basic stiches used in knitting are the knit stitch and the purl (often denoted by k and p, respectively, when described in stitch patterns). The purl is the obverse of the knit stitch; when the fabric is turned over to the back side the purl looks like the knit stitch and the knit stitch when viewed from the back looks like a purl.






When the number of knit and purl stitches are not the same, (ie, k <>p), the fabric tends to curl. One example is in the 'stockinette stitch' where a row of knit stiches is followed by a row of purl stiches, producing a smooth fabric (read surface) that on the front (knit side) has columns (or wales) which look like a series of V's and when the fabric (surface) is turned over (obverse) the pattern looks like Dashes, the top and bottom edges tend to curl in toward the knit side of the fabric (or the front side, where the stiches holding rows together, produce a V pattern, are all on the front) , and the left/right sides tend to roll/curl in toward the back side of the fabric (where the yarn/thread holding side-by-side stitches together is all on the back side) .






When the knit and purl stitches are symmetric the fabric lies flat.





(wales v steps/discontinuities)





A sequence of stitches in which each stitch is suspended from the next is called a wale.
Casting on is the method used to secure the initial stitches of a knitted fabric, the method used to secure the final stitches in a wale is called binding off.






Wales of purl stitches tend to recede, and knit stitches tend to come forward. Purl wales flanked by knit wales (such as in ribbing/vertical lines) tend to be invisible, since the neighboring knit wales come forward. The dual case, is that rows of purl stitches form an embossed ridge relative to a row of knit stitches. This forms the basis of shadow knitting, in which the appearance of a knitted fabric changes when viewed from different directions. (See also distortion, deliberate distortion, representing a 3 dimensional object in a 2-Dimensional realm (like painting) and the Golden Mean discussion at A Tree, An Apple, A Wineskin).

Knits are generally more bulky than woven fabrics since they tend to use heavier gauge yarns, finer gauge threads produce better drape. (I could say something about the shopping but wouldn't want to rub it in--I heard someone running out for more cash earlier this evening).


Having said this, with help from wikipedia.org and knittinghelp.com (I knit a wristlet!--dropped stiches, frayed yarn & all), we look to see what more Signs 51:7, 77:9, and 91:5 have to say about the Sky/Space Fabric.





وَالسَّمَاء ذَاتِ الْحُبُكِ 51:7







51:7 By the Sky Full of "al.hubuk.i"






وَإِذَا السَّمَاء فُرِجَتْ 77:9





77: 9 And if/when the Sky 'furjit'
{The idea here in 77:9 is that should the sky effectively 'slope' away from the horizontal, the word 'furjet' means to gap or get 'spaced' like separated by an interval of 'time' or 'matter' } --am I understanding You right?--No More Editing? so add no more?




وَالسَّمَاء وَمَا بَنَاهَا 91:5






91:5 By the Sky and Ma (Whatsoever) 'bana.ha' (Built it)






Starting with the last Sign mentioned first, (91:5) clearly intimates that the nature of the Sky is such that it is 'constructed or built' ('bana'.ha (Built It)), derived from the word 'bana' that includes not only the meaning that it is 'built' (ar. v build, structure, construct, make, put up, erect, rear, mason--some very closely associations with the etymology for Tesla), but also from considering the similar sounding/meaning Hindi word 'baana' which refers to the weft, and derives from another Hindi word "bun na" or "bunai" which means 'making with threads or strings', as is done in primitive weaving techniques (wikipedia.org).






And the exact nature of the Sky/Space and its ''construction" is reinforced in Sign 51:7, in that the Sky/Heaven/Space is rife with الْحُبُكِ (al. hubuki), the most rudimentary root for which is حب 'hhub' gives us 'love', 'passion', 'seed', 'to lose one's heart', 'to like' and 'to attach'. And from the latter verb form derives the greater root حبك hubuk, meaning, 'your love', 'knitting', 'crochet', and 'to weave.' (Ooh, look! Yet another opportunity to be obtuse!--What are You getting at?-- That I Love Tesla? Or perhaps that I get to be Madame deFarge from a Tale of Two Cities?).






And since the Sky described in 51:7 is said to be rife or full of 'weaving' the understanding is that it is made up of or comprises 'interwoven paths', (the word 'tthata' gives us 'some thing' or 'some one', so if it is something woven, it would be a 'thread/string' or a 'path', or any other logical construct, and if it is a 'someone' it pretty much says I am sooo out of luck...).

A Wave Of Oblivious People

“Suddenly, madness was everywhere, and I was determined to learn about the impact it had on the way society evolves. I've always believed society to be a fundamentally rational thing, but what if it isn't? What if it is built on insanity?”
― Jon Ronson, The Psychopath Test: A Journey Through the Madness Industry

Beetles comprise the largest group of insects, with an estimated 5-8 million species, or 25% of all known life forms on Earth; yet, Humans with but one species make the bigger impact by far. It can be argued that God must really love beetles since He made so many of them, but it seems that People demand more of His attention.

Beetles and People are just 2 of the host of Communities (masses) found of Earth. The word for Community or Folk is the noun ناس ‘nass’ (v. , ‘wave’ ; adj., ‘oblivious’ or ‘forgetful’) and Surah 114 Nass, the last Chapter in the Quran, deals with all the inhabitants or Communities God created, not just people per se (i.e., Jinn, Angels, Cactus, Fish, Peonies, Orcas, etc.).

114 Surah An-Nass (Communities/Masses, Waves, Oblivious)
114:1 قُلْ أَعُوذُ بِرَبِّ النَّاسِ
114:1 Say: I Seek Refuge in the Lord of the Masses
114:2 مَلِكِ النَّاسِ 114:2 King of the Masses
114:3 إِلَهِ النَّاسِ
114:3 God of the Masses
114:4 مِن شَرِّ الْوَسْوَاسِ الْخَنَّاسِ
114:4 From the Evil of the 'Weakening Whisperer' (one who causes weakening/ineffectiveness via regrets/hesitation)
114:5 الَّذِي يُوَسْوِسُ فِي صُدُورِ النَّاسِ
114:5 That 'Whispers in the Masses' Breasts' (causes unrest/unsettles by what is being released/published or emanated by or into the midst of a community)
114:6 مِنَ الْجِنَّةِ وَ النَّاسِ
114:6 From the Committees (or flora, fauna, spirits, etc. or segregated organizations such as alphabet agencies, etc.) and the Masses (People, Jinn, animals, etc.) {The Source of the unrest in 114:5 is caused by factions from the midst of the created communities.}

In terms of genetics People as a species are remarkably homogeneous. And while small variations in the human genome cause distinguishable hereditary traits, none are significant enough to form subspecies in the Human Populace.

Instead, it is more effective to group people in other terms, such as by belief (for example; Sabaen, Christian, Muslim, Jew); regional or ethnic attributes (i.e., tribe, nation, culture; like Romans or Egyptians); by occupation or affiliation (as in Prophets, Poets, Confederates); and by circumstance/condition or unifying characteristic (such as aptitude, disposition, or shared activity).

Analysts invariably translate Sign 114:6 to mean 'Of the Jinn and Mankind,' but the words expressly mentioning Jinn in the Quran are either جِنِّ 'Jinn' or جَآنَّ 'Jan,' the latter being the singular form whereas the plural or generic (like Men or Mankind) is the former rendering.

However, the word الْجِنَّةِ 'al-jinati' in Ayeh 114:6 is not a common contextual occurrence for Jinn, and it is used elsewhere in the Quran to mean either 'spirits' or 'madness/bliss' or even mistaken for the plural form of the word 'garden' or the definitive 'Paradise' due to subtle pronunciation differences between the words 'jinati' and 'janati.'

And there is a secondary meaning to the word Ljinat or jinata meaning 'committee.' So the understanding that the Source of the unrest is not from among Jinn (the Unseen) and Mankind but rather from ill-spirited (quite possibly mad) subgroups or committees (either elected or appointed) that act or function on behalf of the larger group or host community (the 'nass' in this case); and the mechanism by which they spread conflict is by controlling information.

I had a friend in college that whenever he was given any kind of information or asked to give information would qualify what he heard or what he said with, 'Yes, but consider the Source!'

Whether he may have been alluding to something out of a DC Comic or seriously vetting information one could never be sure, but in retrospect he must have held the Wisdom of the Ages to bring 'The Source' of any and all information to everyone-he-came-into-contact-with's attention.

Since, it seems much of the perceived distress and unrest prevalent within Communities is likely rooted in 'bad information' propagated by 'mad' (read: 'private agenda') subgroups or Committees (read: 'self-interest' or 'special interest', not for the 'greater good' or simply 'incompetent') founded by the very Communities they are expected to serve.

The Quran mentions several ancient communities including 'Ad, Thamud, Pharoah's community, b'Nai Israel, Gog and Magog among others; and there are some chapters titled after specific Nations including: 15 Hijjr, 27 Naml, 30 Romans, 34 Saba, 105 Fil, and 106 Quraysh.

________________________(Rock-Hewn Dwellings-- Al-Hijr)

The lesson pertaining to the demise of some of these civilizations is that no matter how highly developed and thriving they once were, they were all eventually brought down and in some cases completely annihilated due to some intolerable failing on their part. Surat Al-Hijr recaps doing away with Lot's community and that of Madayin and mentions that while Al-Hijr were technically advanced for their time and felt themselves secure, dwelling in hewn limestone mountain sides, they were not immune to God's reproach.
  :

The Hijr had succeeded the Thamud and were at the crossroads of regional trade, yet just as the Thamud were overtaken by an earthquake, the Hijr were lost to what appears to be lightening strikes; this is probably derived from the words الصَّيْحَةُ مُصْبِحِينَ 'al-sayihatu musbihin' which translates to 'screaming flame/by the next morning'.

The latter interpretation for musbihin deriving from both the root 'sabah' for morning conjugated as 'musbihin' meaning 'by the morning' or 'waking up to' and 'm.sbah' for flame or light.

15 Surah Al-Hijr (Stone Dwellings at Madina Saleh)
وَلَقَدْ كَذَّبَ أَصْحَابُ الحِجْرِ الْمُرْسَلِينَ 15:80

15:80 And likewise the People of al-Hijr denied the Messengers
15:81 وَآتَيْنَاهُمْ آيَاتِنَا فَكَانُواْ عَنْهَا مُعْرِضِينَ

15:81 We gave them our Revelation and they were Opposed/Exposed to it
 وَكَانُواْ يَنْحِتُونَ مِنَ الْجِبَالِ بُيُوتًا آمِنِين15:82 
15:82 They would sculpt secure dwellings in the Mountains
فَأَخَذَتْهُمُ الصَّيْحَةُ مُصْبِحِينَ 15:83
15:83 Yet the Sayihatu had taken them by the next morning
فَمَا أَغْنَى عَنْهُم مَّا كَانُواْ يَكْسِبُونَ 15:84

15:84 And they were none the richer for what they earned

Further supporting that the 'nass' in Surah 114 refers to all Communities and not just Humanity may be inferred from Solomon's gifts that are mentioned in Chapter 27 The Ants (Naml):

Surah 27 Naml (Ants)

وَلَقَدْ آتَيْنَا دَاوُودَ وَسُلَيْمَانَ عِلْمًا وَقَالَا الْحَمْدُ لِلَّهِ الَّذِي فَضَّلَنَا عَلَى كَثِيرٍ مِّنْ عِبَادِهِ الْمُؤْمِنِينَ 27:15

27:15 And likewise we bestowed onto David and Solomon Knowledge and they said, 'Thank God who has favored us much among His Faithful Servants.'

وَوَرِثَ سُلَيْمَانُ دَاوُودَ وَقَالَ يَا أَيُّهَا النَّاسُ عُلِّمْنَا مَنطِقَ الطَّيْرِ وَأُوتِينَا مِن كُلِّ شَيْءٍ إِنَّ هَذَا لَهُوَ الْفَضْلُ الْمُبِينُ 27:16

27:16 And Solomon succeeded David, and he said, 'O, all you Communities! I have learned the language of 'all that flies' and have been given insight to everything; truly, this is an obvious favor (apparent preference).'

وَحُشِرَ لِسُلَيْمَانَ جُنُودُهُ مِنَ الْجِنِّ وَالْإِنسِ وَالطَّيْرِ فَهُمْ يُوزَعُونَ 27:17

27:17 And (there) gathered onto Solomon Forces from the Jinn and the Communities and 'That which Flies' for they were dispersed (distributed).

حَتَّى إِذَا أَتَوْا عَلَى وَادِي النَّمْلِ قَالَتْ نَمْلَةٌ يَا أَيُّهَا النَّمْلُ ادْخُلُوا مَسَاكِنَكُمْ لَا يَحْطِمَنَّكُمْ سُلَيْمَانُ وَجُنُودُهُ وَهُمْ لَا يَشْعُرُونَ 27:1

27:18 Until they reached the Valley of the Ants (Naml), (she) the Ant said, 'O, you Ants! Get inside your dwellings lest Solomon and his Forces trample you unintentionally!'

And I bet Solomon got a kick out of that because he went on to express his gratitude for being privy to all the dialogue going on around him; including the News one hudhud (a little bird) shared with him about the Queen of Sheba (Saba'). And while it is easy to dispute that Solomon could indeed understand the language of all Communities and had mastery over the unseen forces such as the Jinn, this disbelief is founded on lack of awareness rather than any credible evidence; and I suppose that's why the existence of UFOs ('that which flies') is a hotly debated topic, even today.

:

Surah 34 Saba (Sheba)

أَفَلَمْ يَرَوْا إِلَى مَا بَيْنَ أَيْدِيهِمْ وَمَا خَلْفَهُم مِّنَ السَّمَاء وَالْأَرْضِ

إِن نَّشَأْ نَخْسِفْ بِهِمُ الْأَرْضَ أَوْ نُسْقِطْ عَلَيْهِمْ كِسَفًا مِّنَ السَّمَاء

إِنَّ فِي ذَلِكَ لَآيَةً لِّكُلِّ عَبْدٍ مُّنِيبٍ 34:9

34:9 Do they not see how much lies (open) between their hands and how much is (lies) hidden in the Heavens and Earth...(in other words, how little they see of what lies open and hidden in Heaven and Earth?)

And it would appear that no Community is ever brought down without it first proving itself truly ungrateful as indicated in Surah 34 Saba' (Sheba):

34 Surah Saba' (Sheba)

لَقَدْ كَانَ لِسَبَإٍ فِي مَسْكَنِهِمْ آيَةٌ جَنَّتَانِ عَن يَمِينٍ وَشِمَالٍ كُلُوا مِن رِّزْقِ رَبِّكُمْ وَاشْكُرُوا لَهُ بَلْدَةٌ طَيِّبَةٌ وَرَبٌّ غَفُورٌ 34:15

34:15 Likewise there was for the Sheba (Saba') dwelling among gardens to their right and their left; 'Partake of your Sustainer's Gifts and be thankful to Him'; they had a goodly existence and a Forgiving Lord.

فَأَعْرَضُوا فَأَرْسَلْنَا عَلَيْهِمْ سَيْلَ الْعَرِمِ وَبَدَّلْنَاهُم بِجَنَّتَيْهِمْ جَنَّتَيْنِ ذَوَاتَى أُكُلٍ خَمْطٍ وَأَثْلٍ وَشَيْءٍ مِّن سِدْرٍ قَلِيلٍ 34:16

34:16 Yet, they opposed, so We sent them the 'arim flood (broken dam) and We exchanged their gardens for two gardens that yielded bitter fruit, the tamarisk and a few lote trees. ذَلِكَ جَزَيْنَاهُم بِمَا كَفَرُوا وَهَلْ نُجَازِي إِلَّا الْكَفُورَ 34:17
34:17 So We Recompensed them for their ingratitude and thus do We Reward the Ungrateful.
وَجَعَلْنَا بَيْنَهُمْ وَبَيْنَ الْقُرَى الَّتِي بَارَكْنَا فِيهَا قُرًى ظَاهِرَةً وَقَدَّرْنَا فِيهَا السَّيْرَ سِيرُوا فِيهَا لَيَالِيَ وَأَيَّامًا آمِنِينَ 34:18
34:18 And there was between them villages blessed by their visible proximity; and We enabled easy travel between them during the day and security by night

فَقَالُوا رَبَّنَا بَاعِدْ بَيْنَ أَسْفَارِنَا وَظَلَمُوا أَنفُسَهُمْ فَجَعَلْنَاهُمْ أَحَادِيثَ 
وَمَزَّقْنَاهُمْ كُلَّ مُمَزَّقٍ إِنَّ فِي ذَلِكَ لَآيَاتٍ لِّكُلِّ صَبَّارٍ شَكُورٍ34:19
34:19But they said, 'Our Lord, this is a far distance to travel,' and wronged themselves, so We made them into fables and scattered them; in these are Signs for everyone who is patient, grateful.

The many Communities in situ with Humanity, our Awareness or our Oblivion, reacting to questionable information from self-serving Sources, and the downfall or success of a given group of people is summed up rather eloquently in the first 6 Signs of Chapter 30 Romans.

Surah 30 Ar-Rum (The Romans)

الم 30:1

30:1 Alif. Lam. Miim غُلِبَتِ الرُّومُ 30:2 30:2 The Romans are Defeated

30:3 فِي أَدْنَى الْأَرْضِ وَهُم مِّن بَعْدِ غَلَبِهِمْ سَيَغْلِبُونَ

30:3 In the Lower Land, but they will after their defeat be Victorious
فِي بِضْعِ سِنِينَ لِلَّهِ الْأَمْرُ مِن قَبْلُ وَمِن بَعْدُ وَيَوْمَئِذٍ يَفْرَحُ الْمُؤْمِنُونَ 30:4

30:4 In a few years, God's Command from Before and After, and then the Believers will Rejoice.

بِنَصْرِ اللَّهِ يَنصُرُ مَن يَشَاء وَهُوَ الْعَزِيزُ الرَّحِيمُ 30:5

30:5 God Makes Victorious whomever He Wills, and He is the Mighty, the Merciful.

وَعْدَ اللَّهِ لَا يُخْلِفُ اللَّهُ وَعْدَهُ وَلَكِنَّ أَكْثَرَ النَّاسِ لَا يَعْلَمُونَ 30:6

30:6 God's Promise; God does not rescind His Promise, yet most People (Communities) are not Aware.

The defeat of the Romans followed by their victory were events that could not have been readily foretold at the time of the Revelation, just as in Surah 105 Fil (The Elephant), the Companions of the Elephant could not anticipate the unexpected outcome of their war campaign.

In the Year of the Elephant (about 568 AD), tradition holds that a mighty contingent using war elephants, led by Abraha, marched on Mecca in order to divert worshippers from the Ka'ba to Abraha's house of worship.

Indigenous to Mecca were the Quraysh, and it is said that Abraha's troops defeated several tribes on the way during their march to Mecca. Tradition also holds that just outside of the city, the war elephants knelt and refused to march on Mecca and it was at this point that Abraha and his army were pelted by 'birds carrying clay stones.'

It is said that only the army and Abraha were injured or killed during the onslaught and that the animals were all spared.

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As usual, the word 'tayrin' is translated to mean 'birds' when in reality it is a more general form meaning anything that is airborne or flies.

There seems to also be a consensus that the invaders were pelted with 'clay tablets' or 'stones of clay' but the literal translation of 'hijrn min sijil' appears to be 'stones of inscription'.

This would mean that the Companions of the Elephant were defeated by an airborne presence 'as written,' which would mean that their demise was pre-ordained.

That the animals were spared points to the invaders having possibly succumbed to an airborne agent that targeted only the humans, such as a viral infection (or in a contemporary context, 'airfreshener'--God forbid!).

105 Surah Al-Fil (The Elephant)

وَأَرْسَلَ عَلَيْهِمْ طَيْرًا أَبَابِيل َ 105:3

105:3 And Sent to them 'tayrin ababil'

تَرْمِيهِم بِحِجَارَةٍ مِّن سِجِّيلٍ 105:4

105:4 To pelt them with 'hijrin min sijil'

Chapters 105 The Elephant and 106 Quraysh were often read together; but its worth mentioning that while Quraysh prevailed against the Companions of the Elephant they had at one time been antagonistic toward the early Muslim community and had themselves been defeated by the Muslims.

This lends credence to the claim that favoring one community over another is not forever fixed and is in fact pliant; depending on what each community happens to be doing or not doing at any given point in time.

In fact, Quraysh were openly admonished for their disbelief in Surah 54 Al-Qamar (The Moon):

أَكُفَّارُكُمْ خَيْرٌ مِّنْ أُوْلَئِكُمْ أَمْ لَكُم بَرَاءةٌ فِي الزُّبُرِ 54:43

54:43 Are your Unbelievers (addressing Quraysh) better than your predecessors or have you an assurance in the Holy Scriptures?

But having mended their errant ways and for preserving the Ka'ba the Quraysh did win favor eventually:

106 Surah Al-Quraysh

لِإِيلَافِ قُرَيْشٍ 106:1

106:1 By the Covenent with Quraysh

إِيلَافِهِمْ رِحْلَةَ الشِّتَاء وَالصَّيْفِ 106:2

106:2 Having Secured for them the Winter and Summer Travels

فَلْيَعْبُدُوا رَبَّ هَذَا الْبَيْتِ 106:3

106:3 So Worship the Lord of this House

الَّذِي أَطْعَمَهُم مِّن جُوعٍ وَآمَنَهُم مِّنْ خَوْفٍ 106:4

106:4 Who has Fed you from Hunger and Secured you from Threats (Fear).

In a similar way that Chapters titled after specific Nations record significant events pertaining to those communities, Chapters are also titled after communities grouped according to affiliations and include: 21 Prophets, 23 Believers, 26 Poets, 33 Ahzab (Confederates), and 109 Kafirun (Unfaithful).

Having expressed that there is a multifaceted creation comprised of many communities, the emphasis in Surah 21 The Prophets is the the Unity of the Community of Prophets and by extension that of the Believers.

While the Chapter addresses the Prophet directly, the others among his community mentioned by name or by reference are Abraham, Moses, Aaron, Lot, Isma'il, Isaac, Jacob, Noah, David, Solomon, Job, Idris/Ezekiel, Zul-kifl, Zaccharia, John, Mary and Jesus.

21 Al-Anbya (The Prophets)

إِنَّ هَذِهِ أُمَّتُكُمْ أُمَّةً وَاحِدَةً وَأَنَا رَبُّكُمْ فَاعْبُدُونِ 21:92 21:92 Truly, this your Community is but One community and I am Your God (Sustainer, Keeper), so Worship Me.

Whenever the first person pronoun is used in the Quran there was never any mistaking that the 'Me' refers to God and not the person speaking or delivering the message, that is why it is clear that while many honor the Prophet, none have ever worshipped him. In a like manner, whenever the royal 'We' is used, it is understood to mean a Singular God and not a whole bunch.

There probably was a great deal of soul searching on the part of anyone granted Revelation as to what purpose it all serves and on a more personal level the inevitable 'why me?' and 'what does that make me?' So it is not surprising to find insight as to what it's all about in this chapter.

Signs 21:7-21:8 assure us that the Prophet and the entire Community of Prophets that preceded him were all mortals regardless of the Gifts they were proffered. Sign 21:25 emphasises the fact that the Message was being Reiterated one last time, reinforced by describing the common experience of each and every Prophet or Messenger that preceded the Seal of the Prophets, in that they were all thoroughly convinced, either by direct contact or some mode of Inspiration, that there was a Singular Diety, their God, Sourcing the Revelation.

That each one was compelled to carry the Message, having come to know this, is also in the subtext. By extention there was to be no subsequent Sanctioned Revelation thereafter, the Final Truth is really nothing more than this Final Message, possibly in a different language or format, but basically Quran.:

The Finality of the Quran meant that the 'ship had gone off course' for the very last time; so if things seem to be off keel in your neck of the woods, you simply have not gotten the Message, yet.

وَمَا أَرْسَلْنَا قَبْلَكَ إِلاَّ رِجَالاً نُّوحِي إِلَيْهِمْ فَاسْأَلُواْ أَهْلَ الذِّكْرِ إِن كُنتُمْ لاَ تَعْلَمُونَ 21:7

21:7 And We never Sent before you any but men, that We Inspired, so ask 'the people of Remembrance' if you do not know

وَمَا جَعَلْنَاهُمْ جَسَدًا لَّا يَأْكُلُونَ الطَّعَامَ وَمَا كَانُوا خَالِدِينَ 21:8

21:8 and We did not make their bodies without need of food, nor were they immortals...

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وَمَا أَرْسَلْنَا مِن قَبْلِكَ مِن رَّسُولٍ إِلَّا نُوحِي إِلَيْهِ أَنَّهُ لَا إِلَهَ إِلَّا أَنَا فَاعْبُدُونِ 21:25

21:25 And We never Sent before you a Messenger but We Inspired (Convinced) him that there is no God except Me; so Worship Me (they only worshipped Me; they are My Servants).

And the impetus as to why Revelation is manifest to the Communities is also included in Chapter 21 such that the Messengers' mission is clearly detailed as to what the Outcome will be.

وَكَمْ قَصَمْنَا مِن قَرْيَةٍ كَانَتْ ظَالِمَةً وَأَنشَأْنَا بَعْدَهَا قَوْمًا آخَرِينَ 21:11

21:11 And how many Unjust villages (towns) have We Exterminated and Established after them latter Folk.
21:12 فَلَمَّا أَحَسُّوا بَأْسَنَا إِذَا هُم مِّنْهَا يَرْكُضُونَ

21:12 Once they felt Our Might they would Flee from it لَا تَرْكُضُوا وَارْجِعُوا إِلَى مَا أُتْرِفْتُمْ فِيهِ وَمَسَاكِنِكُمْ لَعَلَّكُمْ تُسْأَلُونَ 21:13
21:13 "Do not Run Away, and Return to your temptations and your dwellings; to be held Accountable.":

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وَمَا خَلَقْنَا السَّمَاء وَالْأَرْضَ وَمَا بَيْنَهُمَا لَاعِبِينَ 21:16
21:16 And We did not Create the Heavens and the Earth and all that is between them for play (amusement)
لَوْ أَرَدْنَا أَن نَّتَّخِذَ لَهْوًا لَّاتَّخَذْنَاهُ مِن لَّدُنَّا إِن كُنَّا فَاعِلِينَ 21:17
21:17 Had We willed to have a diversion, We would have Created it within Ourselves.

The Believers (Chapter 23) continues the theme of Unity among the Messengers and those who truly heed the Message. It reminds everyone of the humble matter from which they derive (a drop of sperm) and contrasts that with God's Might.

While there was a passing reference to 'the people of Remembrance' in Chapter 21 Sign 21:7, that is expounded in Sign 23:95:

23 Surah Al-Mu'minin (The Believers)
وَإِنَّا عَلَى أَن نُّرِيَكَ مَا نَعِدُهُمْ لَقَادِرُونَ 23:95
23:95 And indeed We are Able to Show you (make you Witness) all that We Promise them.

In this we see that God preserves Witnesses from among the Believers for the Purpose of relating that they have come to See, Know, or Witness what is being related in these Signs is True and they serve as a core group by which to Verify all that's been Related.

They are also the manner by which God preserves His Teachings.

And I would be remiss if I neglect to mention that the acid test for what does or does not qualify someone as a Messenger is that at some time during their Mission they are all accused of being down right Crazy:

أَمْ يَقُولُونَ بِهِ جِنَّةٌ بَلْ جَاءهُم بِالْحَقِّ وَأَكْثَرُهُمْ لِلْحَقِّ كَارِهُونَ 23:70
23:70 Except that they say (about the Prophet, or Messenger) ‘he’s crazy!’ ('there is madness in him') although he came to them in Truth and the majority of them detest the Truth (abhor what’s Right)

{As an aside, you won't catch me saying that; although being accused of lunacy puts me in good company, I can only say 'Thanks for lending me a quarter when I was a nickle short, and for being the Front Man in all of this'--but I still don't appreciate the 'antenna on her head' wisecrack!}

Insight into what 21:11-21:17 imply is Riveting.

While these Signs re-inforce that the main drive behind Revelation is a Final Justice, it is Justice served on Multiple Levels.

At first glance, it is an Unjust Community that is held accountable and done away with to be supplanted by more deserving people; but on finer inspection, it is not only communal punishment, but the Accounting is to take place on a Personal level.

Moreover, the Accounting is taking place contemporaneous to and not in lieu of Life going on as usual. It is clear that those meted out Punishment are actually expected to continue to frequent their 'temptations' and their 'dwellings' while they are at the same time Accounting or taking stock of what they are doing. 'Do not Run Away,' or 'do not leave', would indicate that they are held in place.

This is quite ominous, since it would seem that even the Grave is not an escape hatch from what one does in Life.

Where is Heaven? Where is Hell?

It would appear one need not look any farther than at their next-door neighbor or their own backyard!

This Realization brings to the fore the pressing nature of Revelation, and why it is important to be aware that this is what is going on.

It could be that not only do we not know what Time it is, but many of us are completely Oblivious to our own demise since it all might look the same to the Uninformed. (To get the picture, consider earlier postings on Multiple Dimensions and Escher's work 'Relativity')

Surah 26 The Poets continues the narrative about some of the Prophets mentioned in Surah 21 The Prophets, and adds lesser known ones such as Saleh and Hud.

And while each Prophet's speaking part, either addressing God or their respective communities, is captured in the narrative the message centers around the need to delineate the differences between the manner in which Prophets speak versus what Poets have to say.

It is indicated that while Prophets say what appears to be the most astonishing things, they are coming from a place of Knowing exactly what it is they are saying, compared to Poets who may be saying more acceptable things but for the most part they are just hitting on the right elements by chance (in their wandering/creative process).

It is hard to pick any one quote over another of the Prophets' in this Surah, but in Abraham's appeal, the ultimate goal that each is striving for is summed up rather nicely. So I selected a sound bite of his, given that he is arguably the Father of all the Prophets, and it connects very well with the discourse here about the Message and why it is propagated:

26 Al-Anbya (The Prophets)

وَاجْعَل لِّي لِسَانَ صِدْقٍ فِي الْآخِرِينَ 26:84

26:84 (and Abraham prayed) "And grant me the language (tongue) of verity (genuienness, ratification) among those who come later (progeny)."

So for Abraham it was of paramount importance that the Message find its way into all languages and be carried on to the next generations without distortion (Ratified); and that over time the Truth of the Message would prevail and in so doing it would be Authenticated as it propagates.

One can appreciate what a daunting task this must have been before the advent of computers and telephony; but then, it is also understandable why things got lost in the translation.

While some Prophets promoted it 'by the Sword', and others 'by the Pen', it is not by chance that Mary is mentioned in Surah 21 The Prophets. Mary established her unique place in the Prophethood in that how she 'carried the Message' can never be replicated; Kudos to Mary (pbuh) for scoring the highest points in all categories, including Creativity, Difficulty, and Delivery.

And if anyone is of the opinion that God would in any way harm her endevours by 'Sacrificing' what sprung out of her, go back and read about multiple dimensions.

The Quran is adamant that Jesus was not Crucified and that it only 'appeared so to them'.

They saw some effigy of what they passed on as history and while those who followed from that lost community go around having 'Elvis sightings'*** nowadays, the rest of us who know better get Jesus to walk us home after a three-day trip to a tech convention (he is forever young and still a redhead and he obviously never sat for a portrait!). :

If the categorical refutation that the Crucifixion took place, as related many centuries after Jesus, seems like pulling the rug out from under what is understood to be Christianity--it is not at all, since the fundamental definition of a Christian is 'one who recognizes the Christ'; it has nothing to do with vicarious redemption by the Crucifixion, believing Jesus is God in the flesh, being born to suffer and atone based on the concept of 'an Original Sin' (they've all been tried by now) or any other doctrine that came at the heels of having learned about Jesus (pbuh).

While it is convenient to sort or categorize people by their beliefs or culture, their occupation or affiliation, it may be that the way to differentiate among people most clearly is in the way they act or their mannerisms. To this end there are Chapters that mention groups of people according to a characteristic or condition, including: 37 Saffat, 59 Tahashur, 62 Jum’a, 77 Mursilat, 83 Mutaffafin, and 107 Ma’un.

In 37 As-Saffat, the roots صاف 'saaf' meaning 'unclouded/clear' or 'puristic' , صف 'suf' meaning 'row' or 'queue', and صافي 'safi' meaning 'net', are all just as valid in the understanding of the text in the preamble, but it is very clear that the meanings 'ranked' or 'ranged' are the primary sense of the words when those speaking in Signs 37:164-37:165 make it perfectly clear that there is not one of them that does not know that they each have a known denominator or 'common characteristic' and that 'they are indeed the ones arrayed or ranged according to rank.' Although 37:164 is often interpreted to mean 'there is not one of us who does not have a known place,' the word مَقَامٌ 'maqam' primarily means 'denominator' and I think the misunderstanding has to do with confusing it with another similar word, 'makaan', which means 'location' or 'place.'

And while, historically, it has been understood that those speaking in 37:164-37:165 are in fact the Angels, there is nothing to keep this arrangement from being the accepted structure of how everything else is organized and propagating in similar fashion throughout Creation.

37 Surah As-Saffat (Ranged, Clear, Perfected)

37:1 وَالصَّافَّاتِ صَفًّا

37:1 By those Ranged In Ranks (And this Clear Ordered Description)
فَالزَّاجِرَاتِ زَجْرً 37:2

37:2 Thus the Injunctions are Enjoined (By it the Injunctions are Imposed)

فَالتَّالِيَاتِ ذِكْرًا 37:3

37:3 Such that Subsequently there is Remembrance (In that those that next follow are Men)

إِنَّ إِلَهَكُمْ لَوَاحِدٌ 37:4

37:4 Indeed your God is One (Singular) (You have Only One God)

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وَمَا مِنَّا إِلَّا لَهُ مَقَامٌ مَّعْلُومٌ 37:164

37:164 And there is not one of us but has a known 'denominator' (known common characteristic; degree or level of quality; average standard)

وَإِنَّا لَنَحْنُ الصَّافُّونَ 37:165

37:165 And indeed it is we that are arranged in ranks (orderly arrayed, but also 'networked', 'making things clear')

And just as Surah 37 is referring to both Messages or Injunctions and Ranged 'Nass', Surah 77 Mursilat seems to be talking about the Weather (Clouds or the Winds as Emissaries) while simultaneously informing us of the activities of الْمُرْسَلَاتِ the 'Mursilat' as 'trasmitters, despatchers, dispatchers, senders, shippers'.

Surah 77 Al-Mursilat (Winds, Transmitters...)

وَالْمُرْسَلَاتِ عُرْفًا 77:1

77:1 By the Customary Emmissaries (Usually taken to mean the Clouds or Prevailing Winds; alternatively--'By the Known Transmitters' or 'And the Transmitters Know'; 'By what the Posters Impart'; 'And the Senders Realize'...)

فَالْعَاصِفَاتِ عَصْفًا 77:2

77:2 Thereby the Stormiest Winds (Thereby Devestating the Unruly)

وَالنَّاشِرَاتِ نَشْرًا 77:3

77:3 And the Publishers Publish (And the Diffusers (those charged with softening or spreading the Light) Broadcast or Widely Make it Public)

فَالْفَارِقَاتِ فَرْقًا 77:4

77:4 Such that by Differences Team (So that those with Differences are Differentiated or are grouped by differences)

فَالْمُلْقِيَاتِ ذِكْرًا 77:5

77:5 And those Lying are Admonished (What Lies Open is Remembered; alternatively-- 'Those Fired are Men')

عُذْرًا أَوْ نُذْرًا 77:6

77:6 Apologies or Vows (Excuses or Promises)

إِنَّمَا تُوعَدُونَ لَوَاقِعٌ 77:7

77:7 Indeed, what We Promise Is Reality (What We have Appointed for you has Befallen)

فَإِذَا النُّجُومُ طُمِسَتْ 77:8

77:8 So when the Stars Blur (are Effaced, Obliterated)

وَإِذَا السَّمَاء فُرِجَتْ 77:9

77:9 And when the Sky Gaps

وَإِذَا الْجِبَالُ نُسِفَتْ 77:10

77:10 And when the Mountains Blow Up (Sinking, Blasted...)

وَإِذَا الرُّسُلُ أُقِّتَتْ 77:11

77:11 And when the Messengers are Received (Arrive at their Appointed Time; alternatively 'the GNU kernel is completed'--sounds like you have some work to do)

لِأَيِّ يَوْمٍ أُجِّلَتْ 77:12

77:12 Any Day Postponed (Any day may be Postponed)

لِيَوْمِ الْفَصْلِ 77:13

77:13 For the Day of Distinction (الْفَصْلِ 'al-fasl' used here to mean 'Distinction' has synonyms with equal weight including: Separation, Disjunction, Detail, Elaboration, Disentanglement, Segregation, Differentiation, Dissociation from, Judgment...)

Astute followers of this blog may remember why Disentanglement is a valuable activity; given the earlier description of how the 'the firmament is interwoven.' And like we have come to expect, the Quran teaches by presenting dichotomies or dualities for consideration; so just as there are those performing beneficial deeds, there are those whose deeds only serve to make things worse. They are mentioned in Surah 83 Al-Mutaffifin.

Surah 83 Al-Mutaffifin (Defrauders, or Those Who Short The Measure)

وَيْلٌ لِّلْمُطَفِّفِينَ 83:1

83:1 Woe betides the Defrauders (those who Short the Measure, Cheat the Balance)

الَّذِينَ إِذَا اكْتَالُواْ عَلَى النَّاسِ يَسْتَوْفُونَ 83:2

83:2 Those that when they gather (amass, collect) from the 'nass' (others) want payment in full (others to meet their obligations in full)

وَإِذَا كَالُوهُمْ أَو وَّزَنُوهُمْ يُخْسِرُونَ 83:3

83:3 And when they have to pay they diminish their scales (short the measure, lessen their balance)

أَلَا يَظُنُّ أُولَئِكَ أَنَّهُم مَّبْعُوثُونَ 83:4

83:4 Not thinking those are Envoys (it would appear those noticing the shortage are official representatives or emissaries)

لِيَوْمٍ عَظِيمٍ 83:5

83:5 To a Great Day (Important Day)

A cursory glance at the first 5 Signs of Surah 83 makes us think 'Well, it's business as usual!', but the deeper meaning is that the 'Cheaters' are those that want great things for themselves while depriving others of the very same (Think 'Mid-East Crisis', and see why it's funny--how many of you saw the large UFO over Israel in August 1996? If it was not Mir in its orbit over the course of those 3 nights then it was 'just Jerusalem landing'--again, this time on camera. I still can't figure out if they spat on me or sprinkled me with Holy Water for that trick--I thought I was being Creative.)

And just like the Defrauders make it bad for others while making things worse for themselves, the Liars, Hypocrites and the Dispossessors are duly mentioned in Surah 107 Al-Ma'un.

Surah 107 Al-Ma'un (Basic Necessities, Small Kindness)

أَرَأَيْتَ الَّذِي يُكَذِّبُ بِالدِّينِ 107:1

107:1 Are you Aware of those who deny The Faith (personal beliefs and values, moral law)?

فَذَلِكَ الَّذِي يَدُعُّ الْيَتِيمَ 107:2

107:2 And they Repulse the Orphan

وَلَا يَحُضُّ عَلَى طَعَامِ الْمِسْكِينِ 107:3

107:3 And they Do Not Provide for the Feeding of the Poor (Indigent)

فَوَيْلٌ لِّلْمُصَلِّينَ 107:4

107:4 Woe betide the Hypocrites!

الَّذِينَ هُمْ عَن صَلَاتِهِمْ سَاهُونَ107:5
107:5 Those who are Heedless of their Prayers (Feign to Pray)
الَّذِينَ هُمْ يُرَاؤُونَ 107:6 

107:6 They who Show Off (make a prentese at prayer for appearances sake)

وَيَمْنَعُونَ الْمَاعُونَ 107:7

107:7 And Disallow the Least Kindness (do not allow others what is considered lit. 'acceptable' (like showing one's face in public, getting an education, or an opportunity on par with others); basic necessities, a small kindness)

Well, you might wonder, where does that leave the rest of us? It appears in order to get a ringside seat we should avoid doing what the sorts in Chapters 83 and 107 are discovered doing by the Emissaries (aliens that we cannot readily discern from the rest of the crowd); and to answer the call along with others who Congregate when we hear it, as outlined in Surah 62 Jum'ah; and in light of the catastrophic earthquake in Haiti recently, Sign 63:10 serves as an appropriate reminder to be Charitable.

Surah 62 Jum'ah (Congregation; Gathering)

62:9 يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا إِذَا نُودِي لِلصَّلَاةِ مِن يَوْمِ الْجُمُعَةِ فَاسْعَوْا إِلَى ذِكْرِ اللَّهِ وَذَرُوا الْبَيْعَ ذَلِكُمْ خَيْرٌ لَّكُمْ إِن كُنتُمْ تَعْلَمُونَ

62:9 All You Believers! When You are called to Prayer on the Day of Congregation it is more Virtuous to Remember Your God and forego trade, it is Better for You if You but only knew.

Surah 63 Al-Munafiqun

وَأَنفِقُوا مِن مَّا رَزَقْنَاكُم مِّن قَبْلِ أَن يَأْتِيَ أَحَدَكُمُ الْمَوْتُ
 فَيَقُولَ رَبِّ لَوْلَا أَخَّرْتَنِي إِلَى أَجَلٍ قَرِيبٍ فَأَصَّدَّقَ وَأَكُن مِّنَ الصَّالِحِينَ 63:10

63:10 And spend something from what We have provided you before Death approaches you and you say, 'My Lord, please allow me a Respite so that I may spend in Charity and thereby be among the Righteous." (Note: 'spending something' does not necessarily mean money, it can be anything you feel you have been given, including your time).

I can just hear the chorus of the trite refrain 'If there is a God why are there Earthquakes?'

The short answer is that when People behave Peacefully, the Earth will settle down, too--bizarre, but True.

The Good News is that the 'Haitian Recruits' are much more lively and chipper than the ones coming out of the Middle East right now, who tend to be crotchety at best. So, the real issue is what will this Test demonstrate about all the rest of us still left 'alive' (behind)?

In trying times we may choose to remain Oblivious or be best served to consider this Reminder::

59 Surah Al-Hashr (Al-Tahashur, The Gathering)

يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا اتَّقُوا اللَّهَ وَلْتَنظُرْ نَفْسٌ مَّا قَدَّمَتْ لِغَدٍ وَاتَّقُوا اللَّهَ إِنَّ اللَّهَ خَبِيرٌ بِمَا تَعْمَلُونَ 59:18

59:18 All you Believers! Observe your duty to God. And have each Soul consider what it has sent forth on the morrow. (And again) Observe your duty to God for He is Aware of all that you do.
وَلَا تَكُونُوا كَالَّذِينَ نَسُوا اللَّهَ فَأَنسَاهُمْ أَنفُسَهُمْ أُوْلَئِكَ هُمُ الْفَاسِقُونَ 59:19

59:19 And do not be among those who are Oblivious to God (those who Forget God) so God has made them Oblivious to their own selves; those (who) are (now) Reprobates.

And if somehow this all seems like a tall order for us to fill, it is a pittance when we all stop to consider Who is asking us to Evolve.

Maybe the reason we get so easily tangled up in our little lives and lose our Perspective is because we are at times Oblivious to our own Origins (where we are in the Field) or maybe we have never truly learned how Expansive our Maker is:

59:22 هُوَ اللَّهُ الَّذِي لَا إِلَهَ إِلَّا هُوَ عَالِمُ الْغَيْبِ وَالشَّهَادَةِ هُوَ الرَّحْمَنُ الرَّحِيمُ 59:23 هُوَ اللَّهُ الَّذِي لَا إِلَهَ إِلَّا هُوَ الْمَلِكُ الْقُدُّوسُ السَّلَامُ الْمُؤْمِنُ الْمُهَيْمِنُ الْعَزِيزُ الْجَبَّارُ الْمُتَكَبِّرُ سُبْحَانَ اللَّهِ عَمَّا يُشْرِكُونَ 59:24 هُوَ اللَّهُ الْخَالِقُ الْبَارِئُ الْمُصَوِّرُ لَهُ الْأَسْمَاء الْحُسْنَى يُسَبِّحُ لَهُ مَا فِي السَّمَاوَاتِ وَالْأَرْضِ وَهُوَ الْعَزِيزُ الْحَكِيمُ

59:22 He is God, Whom there is no other Deity except Him. He Knows The Hidden and (what is) Witnessed. He is The Merciful, The Beneficent (Dispenser of Grace).

59:23 He is God, Whom there is no other Deity except Him; The Sovereign (King), The Holy, the Source of Peace (and Perfection), the Guardian of Faith, the Preserver of Safety, the Exalted in Might, the Irresistible, the Supreme (Perceptible). All Praise is due to God (for He is) above (having any of) the partners they attribute to Him.

59:24 He is God; The Creator, The Evolver, The Bestower of Forms (The Depicter).

To Him belong the Most Beautiful Names:

whatever is in the Heavens and on Earth, extols His Praises and Glory:

and He is The Exalted in Might, The Wise.

If you've made it to this point, you may be thinking I meandered too far from the main topic about the 'Nass', or the 'waves of communities' that God makes provisions for, whether they are Aware or Oblivious to His Care.

Apparently He Cares enough to keep them informed so that they may all Evolve while maintaining some focus as to what could be causing so much discord among them.

A main cause of the dissonance is Reacting to information from uncertain sources--rather than Responding based on their own Reason to what is Learned from a Reliable Source.

As mentioned in Signs 59:22-59:24 above there is a God worthy of our obeisance and judging by the description it is not in the Nature of such a God to have ever been incubated.

He can make His point in a less mundane manner. But it could be that no matter how hard one tries, there are those who choose to remain unconvinced that there even is such as thing as God or perhaps cannot come to terms with a God that is above having the need to assume a tangible form.

I suppose if I ever feel the need to worship some guy there is always my Husband, because at some level he, too, provides for me and is capable of making my life a Heaven or Hell--but I'd rather not.

For all the others that prefer to deny this Truth by defining or depicting God any other way the Quran has this to say:

109 Surah Al-Kafirun (The Nonbelievers, Deniers)
قُلْ يَا أَيُّهَا الْكَافِرُونَ109:1
109:1 Say: O you Disbelievers
لَا أَعْبُدُ مَا تَعْبُدُونَ  109:2
109:2 I do not worship what you worship
وَلَا أَنتُمْ عَابِدُونَ مَا أَعْبُدُ 109:3
109:3 Nor do you worhsip what I worship
وَلَا أَنَا عَابِدٌ مَّا عَبَدتُّمْ109:4
109:4 I do not serve what you worship
وَلَا أَنتُمْ عَابِدُونَ مَا أَعْبُدُ 109:5
109:5 Nor do you serve what I worship
لَكُمْ دِينُكُمْ وَلِيَ دِينِ 109:6
109:6 You have your Religion and I have (my) Religion (Way, Moral Law)

The most interesting thing Surah 109 illustrates is that even when there is a major divide keeping people ('nass') from seeing eye-to-eye on an issue, even one as hotly contested as Religion, at the heart of the Message is concluding Sign 109:6 espousing Tolerance; basically, 'You go your Way and I go Mine'.

I suppose believing in my God can make one feel like they can have bullets bounce off of them, but we are reminded daily that we are mortal here (and accident prone).

I s'pose that's how Depth of Faith gets tested.

While I do not recommend that you take a flying leap off a tall building to prove me Right (the landing will hurt even though you will 'survive on some level') the moral of this treatise is that you should always 'Consider the Source' before acting on any information, second to that you might want to think about the Motivation.

Around the face of the Globe, 'bad information' manipulates the populace into marginal lifestyles and often can lead to all out warfare.

In the United States the general, apparently well-founded, distrust of information and its sources translates into a plethora of conspiracy theories. : Have you heard the one about how the 'government' has a psychotronic warfare weapon that projects images against the sky that fill the horizon?

It goes by names like HAARP or BlueBeam but I like to call it 'As of 2009 they still don't have enough Bandwidth for that' Show (including soundrack).

So, if you think you have seen one (Sky Movie, Sky Holograph), remember to give credit where it's due. _______________________________________________________ ***No sooner had I penned the 'Elvis Sighting' remark (Jan. 13-14, 2010) when the very next day my teenager brings home a friend and when I asked her what her name was she said 'Elvis' and she insisted that it was her given name and not a nick name. I just about fell over backwards!