When Jesus told his followers to sit at the feet of the scribes and Pharisees, to observe everything they taught but not to follow their example (Matthew 23:2–3), he was issuing an instruction of remarkable subtlety. He was not critiquing the content of Jewish law, nor was he calling for its reform or abolition. He … Continue reading Jesus’ Universal Operating System for Living Under Any Legal System
Your god is what you ultimately orient yourself toward
In a previous article, we said that God gave the traveler two instruments. He gave a map—the revelation, a true representation of the terrain and of where the destination lies. And He gave a compass—the moral orientation written into the soul and refined by knowing who God is. We said that both are needed, that … Continue reading Your god is what you ultimately orient yourself toward
The Map and the Compass
Imagine you are handed the task of crossing unfamiliar terrain to reach a destination you have never seen. What do you need to arrive? Two things, and both are indispensable. You need an accurate map: a true representation of the land, its paths, its hazards, and where the destination actually lies. And you need to … Continue reading The Map and the Compass
The Loan God Asks For
There is something peculiar about the way the Quran describes charity. It calls it a loan, and it makes God the borrower. [2:245] Who would lend GOD a loan of righteousness, to have it repaid to them multiplied manifold? GOD is the One who provides and withholds, and to Him you will be returned. مَّن … Continue reading The Loan God Asks For
Woe to the Cheaters (Candace Owens vs Andrew Wilson Debate)
Sura 83 does not open with advice. It opens with a curse. "Woe to the cheaters. Who demand full measure when receiving from the people. But when giving them the measures or weights, they cheat" (83:1-3). The figure the sura condemns—the mutaffif—is not a thief in the ordinary sense. He does not empty your pockets. … Continue reading Woe to the Cheaters (Candace Owens vs Andrew Wilson Debate)
Warning and Mercy: The Four Times the Quran Says “Himself”
There is a word the Quran almost never lets God turn upon His own being. Nafs—self, soul—runs through the scripture in its hundreds, but nearly always of the human being: the soul that tastes death, the soul held in pledge for what it has earned, the soul that will find every deed waiting for it … Continue reading Warning and Mercy: The Four Times the Quran Says “Himself”
The Rest Is Commentary: Love of God, Love of Neighbor, and the Core Every Scripture Names
A convert once came to the sage Hillel, the Talmud reports, and asked to be taught the whole Torah while standing on one foot. Hillel answered: what is hateful to you, do not do to your neighbor—that is the whole Torah; the rest is commentary. Go and learn it. Centuries later, a lawyer asked Jesus … Continue reading The Rest Is Commentary: Love of God, Love of Neighbor, and the Core Every Scripture Names
The Verse in the Middle: Quran 2:143 and Aristotle’s Golden Mean
There is a detail about Sura 2 that is easy to pass over and difficult to forget once it has been noticed. The chapter runs to 286 verses, the longest in the Quran. Divide that number in half, and the result is 143. The first hundred and forty-three verses form one half of the sura; … Continue reading The Verse in the Middle: Quran 2:143 and Aristotle’s Golden Mean
The Due & the Overflow: What We Owe God and What We Owe Each Other
The Quran often connects our devotion to God to our treatment of others—parents, neighbors, orphans, the stranger passing through town. Worship opens the sentence, and the doorstep closes it. The pattern is easy to document. When the command to worship arrives in Sura 4, it does not stand alone for even a full line: [4:36] … Continue reading The Due & the Overflow: What We Owe God and What We Owe Each Other
Two Kinds of Law
Not every law in the Quran is the same. Some are universal—meant for all people, in every place, for all time. Be just and never biased. Do not commit murder. Do not steal. You could drop these commands into any century and any country, and they would hold without a word of adjustment. Others are … Continue reading Two Kinds of Law
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