Christian
Churches of God
No. Q051
Commentary on the Koran: Surah 51 “The Winnowing Winds”
(Edition 1.5
20180310-20201222)
The text refers to Winnowing
Winds or also to Angels in their winnowing of mankind.
Christian
Churches of God
E-mail: secretary@ccg.org
(Copyright
© 2018, 2020 Wade Cox and Alan Brach)
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Commentary on the Koran: Surah 51 “The Winnowing
Winds” (that Scatter)
Pickthall Translation; Bible
Quotes are from the English Standard Version unless otherwise noted.
Introduction
Adh- Dhariyat takes its name from the word in verse 1. The first four verses are usually taken to
refer to winds or to Angels in their sifting of mankind. Their symbolic meanings also come out in
verse 50 where the “warner” from Allah to the church was a revealing angel,
which was assumed to be Gabriel in the mission to the church at Becca. Verse 36 is the Arabic Muslimin meaning those who surrendered
to Allah. Thus Lot was regarded as a Muslimin as was Abraham and then Moses and
the prophets and the Churches of God were all Muslimin; meaning those who had
surrendered to God.
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51.1. By those that winnow with a
winnowing
51.2. And those that bear the
burden (of the rain)
51.3.
And those that glide with ease (upon the sea)
51.4. And those who distribute (blessings)
by command,
Winds move the rain-bearing clouds to bring about the distribution of
blessings. The seed (truth) watered by the Holy Spirit leads to the calling of
the elect that willingly spread the blessing of truth to others. These verses
are understood also to refer to the Angelic Host under direction of God and the
Messiah as we see from the texts below.
Matthew 3:12 His winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will clear his threshing
floor and gather his wheat into the barn, but the chaff he will burn with
unquenchable fire.
Isaiah 41:16 you shall winnow them, and the wind shall carry them away, and the
tempest shall scatter them. And you shall rejoice in the LORD; in the Holy One
of Israel you shall glory.
Psalm 103:21 Bless the LORD, all his hosts, his ministers, who do his will!
Psalm 104:4 he makes his messengers winds, his ministers a flaming fire.
The truth will spread to all the earth as the waters cover the seas. Evil is
destined to fail. All of His creation is designed to do His bidding. No one has
prospered when they have defied Him.
51.5. Lo! that wherewith ye are threatened is indeed
true,
51.6. And lo! the judgment will
indeed befall.
Refer to 2Corinthians
5:10 in Commentary on the
Koran: Surah 17 (No. Q017) at ayat 36.
Hebrews 9:27 And just as it is appointed for man to die once, and after
that comes judgment,
Psalm 145:13 For your kingdom is an everlasting
kingdom. You rule throughout all generations. The LORD always keeps his
promises; he is gracious in all he does. (NLT)
Joshua 21:45 Not one word of all the good promises that the LORD had made to the house of Israel had failed; all came to pass.
The
promised judgment will come to pass for none of his promises have failed. He is
able to accomplish all that He plans to do. So has it been from the Exodus and
in all ages from the prophets to this day.
51.7. By the heaven full of paths,
Psalm 19:6 Its rising is from the end of the heavens, and its circuit to the
end of them, and there is nothing hidden from its heat.
Ecclesiastes 1:5-6 The sun rises, and the sun
goes down, and hastens to the place where it rises. 6The wind blows
to the south and goes around to the north; around and around goes the wind, and
on its circuits the wind returns.
Different orbits for all planets, all going along in the pathways set out for
them. Each moves in its own orbit.
51.8. Lo!
ye, forsooth, are of various opinion (concerning the truth).
51.9. He is made to turn away from it
who is (himself) averse.
1Corinthians 11:19 for there must be factions among you in order that those who
are genuine among you may be recognized.
John 6:44 No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him. And I
will raise him up on the last day.
Romans 9:15, 18 15For he says to Moses, “I will have mercy on whom I
have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.”
18So then he has mercy on whomever he
wills, and he hardens whomever he wills.
God calls each person at the time that is right for them. With the Holy Spirit
the elect can never be unanimous in error.
51.10. Accursed be the conjecturers
51.11. Who
are careless in an abyss!
51.12. They
ask: When is the Day of Judgment?
51.13. (It is) the day when they
will be tormented at the Fire,
51.14. (And it will be said unto
them): Taste your torment (which ye inflicted). This is what ye sought to
hasten.
1Corinthians 3:19-20 For the wisdom of this world is folly with God. For it is written, “He catches the wise in their craftiness,” 20and again, “The Lord knows the thoughts of the wise, that they are futile.”
Refer to Revelation
20:11-15 Commentary on the
Koran: Surah 17 (No. Q017) at ayat 15 and Habakkuk
2:3 Commentary on the
Koran: Surah 18 (No. Q018) at ayat 82.
51.15. Lo! those who keep from evil
will dwell amid gardens and watersprings,
51.16.
Taking that which their Lord giveth them; for lo! aforetime they were doers of
good;
51.17. They used to sleep but little
of the night,
51.18. And ere the dawning of each
day would seek forgiveness,
51.19. And in their wealth the
beggar and the outcast had due share.
51.20. And
in the earth are portents for those whose faith is sure.
51.21. And (also) in yourselves. Can
ye then not see?
51.22. And in the heaven is your
providence and that which ye are promised;
51.23. And
by the Lord of the heavens and the earth, it is the truth, even as (it is true)
that ye speak.
Read also Matthew 25
verses 34 to 40.
Refer to Romans 1:20 in Commentary
on the Koran: Surah 16 (No. Q016) at ayat 3; 2Corinthians 9:8 Commentary on the
Koran: Surah 28 (No. Q028) at ayat 57, and to Revelation 20:6 in Commentary on the Koran:
Surah 30 (No. Q030) at ayat 15.
Galatians 6:9 And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we
will reap, if we do not give up.
Romans 2:7 to those who by patience in well-doing seek for glory and honor and
immortality, he will give eternal life;
Philippians 4:19 And my God will supply every need of yours according to his
riches in glory in Christ Jesus.
Hebrews 11:1 Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of
things not seen.
Psalm 146:6 who made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, who
keeps faith forever;
51.24. Hath
the story of Abraham's honoured guests reached thee (O Muhammad)?
51.25. When they came in unto him
and said: Peace! he answered, Peace! (and thought): Folk unknown (to me).
51.26. Then he went apart unto his
housefolk so that they brought a fatted calf;
51.27. And he set it before them,
saying: Will ye not eat?
51.28. Then he conceived a fear of
them. They said: Fear not! and gave him tidings of (the birth of) a wise son.
51.29. Then
his wife came forward, making moan, and smote her face, and cried: A barren old woman!
51.30. They said: Even so saith thy Lord. Lo! He is
the Wise, the Knower.
Ayats 24 to 30 are a retelling of the biblical account in Genesis 18 verses 1
to 15
1Samuel 2:3 Talk no more so very proudly, let not arrogance come from your mouth; for the LORD is a God of knowledge, and by him actions are weighed.
Job 12:13 With God are wisdom and might; he has counsel and understanding.
Refer to Job
42:2 in Commentary on the
Koran: Surah 17 (No. Q017) at ayat 59.
51.31. (Abraham) said: And (afterward) what is your
errand, O ye sent (from Allah)?
51.32. They said: Lo! we are sent unto a guilty folk,
51.33. That we may send upon them stones of clay,
51.34. Marked by thy Lord for (the destruction of) the
wanton.
51.35. Then we brought forth such believers as were
there.
51.36. But We found there but one house of those
surrendered (to Allah).
51.37. And We left behind therein a portent for those
who fear a painful doom.
Ayats 32 to 37 are a very brief summary of Genesis 18 verses 16 to 33 and
Genesis 19 verses 1 to 29.
Luke 17:29 but on the day when Lot went out from Sodom, fire and sulfur rained from heaven and destroyed them all.
Jude 1:7 just as Sodom and Gomorrah and the surrounding cities, which likewise indulged in sexual immorality and pursued unnatural desire, serve as an example by undergoing a punishment of eternal fire.
Psalm 37:28 For the LORD loves justice; he
will not forsake his saints. They are preserved forever, but the children of
the wicked shall be cut off.
51.38. And in Moses (too, there is a portent) when We
sent him unto Pharaoh with clear warrant,
51.39. But he withdrew (confiding) in his might, and
said: A wizard or a madman.
51.40. So We seized him and his hosts and flung them in
the sea, for he was reprobate.
Hosea 9:7 The days of punishment have come; the days of
recompense have come; Israel shall know it. The prophet is a fool; the man of
the spirit is mad, because of your great iniquity and great hatred.
Jeremiah 9:23 Thus says the LORD: “Let not the wise man boast in his wisdom, let not the mighty man boast in his might, let not the rich man boast in his riches,
Exodus 15:4 Pharaoh’s chariots and his host he cast into the sea, and
his chosen officers were sunk in the Red Sea.
1Corinthians 10:11 Now these things happened
to them as an example, but they were written down for our instruction, on whom
the end of the ages has come.
51.41. And in (the tribe of) A'ad (there is a portent)
when we sent the fatal wind against them.
51.42. It spared naught that it reached, but made it
(all) as dust.
Surah 69 verses 6-8 in Pickthall’s
translation state:
“And as for A'ad, they were destroyed by a
fierce roaring wind, Which He imposed on them for seven long nights and eight
long days so that thou mightest have seen men lying overthrown, as they were
hollow trunks of palm-trees. Canst thou (O Muhammad) see any remnant of them?”
51.43. And in (the tribe of) Thamud (there is a portent)
when it was told them: Take your ease awhile.
51.44. But they rebelled against their Lord's decree, and
so the thunderbolt overtook them even while they gazed;
51.45. And they were unable to rise up, nor could
they help themselves.
Surah 7 verse 78 states:
“So the earthquake seized them, and morning found them prostrate in their dwelling-place.”
The thunderbolt mentioned
was followed by a massive earthquake that levelled their dwellings.
51.46. And the folk of Noah aforetime. Lo! they were
licentious folk.
Genesis 7:23 He blotted out every living thing that was on the face of the ground, man and animals and creeping things and birds of the heavens. They were blotted out from the earth. Only Noah was left, and those who were with him in the ark.
2Peter 2:5 if he did not spare the ancient
world, but preserved Noah, a herald of righteousness, with seven others, when
he brought a flood upon the world of the ungodly;
Ayats 41 to 46 tell of
communities to whom messengers were sent to warn them of dreadful consequences
if they refused to amend their ways and return to the worship of the One True
God. They defied the warnings delivered to them by the messengers of the
Almighty Allah and paid with their lives when destruction visited them. Will
the communities extant today learn from the past or will they be destroyed like
their lawless ancestors of old?
51.47. We have built the heaven with might, and We it is
Who make the vast extent (thereof).
51.48. And the earth have We laid out, how gracious
is the Spreader (thereof)!
See Psalm 146:6 at ayat 23 above.
Isaiah 42:5 Thus says God, the LORD, who created the
heavens and stretched them out, who spread out the earth and what comes from
it, who gives breath to the people on it and spirit to those who walk in it:
Isaiah 44:24 Thus says the LORD, your
Redeemer, who formed you from the womb: “I am the LORD, who made all things,
who alone stretched out the heavens, who spread out the earth by myself,
Jeremiah 51:15 It is he who made the earth by his power, who established the
world by his wisdom, and by his understanding stretched out the heavens.
51.49. And all things We have created by pairs, that haply
ye may reflect.
Genesis 5:2 Male and female he created them, and he
blessed them and named them Man when they were created.
Genesis 6:19 And of every living thing of all flesh, you shall bring two
of every sort into the ark to keep them alive with you. They shall be male and
female.
Genesis 7:15 They went into the ark with Noah, two and two of all flesh in
which there was the breath of life.
51.50. Therefor flee unto Allah; lo! I am a plain warner
unto you from him.
51.51. And set not any other god along with Allah;
lo! I am a plain warner unto you from Him.
51.52. Even so there came no messenger unto those before
them but they said: A wizard or a madman!
51.53. Have they handed down (the saying) as an
heirloom one unto another? Nay, but they are froward folk.
51.54. So withdraw from them (O Muhammad), for thou
art in no wise blameworthy,
See Hosea 9:7 at ayat 40 above.
Luke 4:8 And Jesus answered him, “It is written, “‘You shall worship the Lord
your God, and him only shall you serve.’”
Luke 16:31 He said to him, ‘If they do not hear Moses and the Prophets, neither
will they be convinced if someone should rise from the dead
Ezekiel 3:19 But if you warn the wicked, and he does not turn from his
wickedness, or from his wicked way, he shall die for his iniquity, but you will
have delivered your soul.
See 2Chronicles 36:16 in Commentary
on the Koran: Surah 10 (No. Q010) at
ayat 39.
51.55. And warn, for warning profiteth believers.
Proverbs 15:32 Whoever ignores instruction despises himself, but he who listens
to reproof gains intelligence.
Mark 16:16 Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned.
John 3:36 Whoever believes in the Son has
eternal life; whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath
of God remains on him.
51.56. I created the jinn and humankind only that they
might worship Me.
Proverbs 16:4 The LORD has made everything for its purpose, even the wicked for the day of trouble.
1Corinthians 8:6 yet for us there is one God, the Father, from whom are all things and for whom we exist, and one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom are all things and through whom we exist.
Revelation 4:11 “Worthy are you, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things, and by your will they existed and were created.”
Psalm 148 encourages
all of creation to sing praises to God Most High. So also mankind and the jinn
were created to worship God and they are to learn through the creation.
51.57. I seek no livelihood from them, nor do I ask that
they should feed Me.
51.58. Lo! Allah! He it is that giveth livelihood, the
Lord of unbreakable might.
Psalm 145:16 You open your hand; you satisfy the desire of every living thing.
Psalm 104:27-28 These all look to you, to give them their food in due season. 28When
you give it to them, they gather it up; when you open your hand, they are
filled with good things.
Psalm 147:5 Great is our Lord, and abundant in power; his understanding is
beyond measure.
Refer to Romans 1:20 in Commentary on the
Koran: Surah 16 (No. Q016) at ayat 3.
51.59. And lo! for those who (now) do wrong there is an
evil day like unto the evil day (which came for) their likes (of old); so let
them not ask Me to hasten on (that day).
51.60. And woe unto those who disbelieve, from (that)
their day which they are promised.
All evildoers will be
punished and all will face judgement and there is no escape for anyone.
Refer to Psalm
28:4 in Commentary on the
Koran: Surah 10 (No. Q010) at
ayat 70;
Revelation
20:12 Commentary on the
Koran: Surah 17 (No. Q017) at
ayat 15 and Habakkuk 2:3 Commentary on the
Koran: Surah 18 (No. Q018) at ayat 82.
Proverbs 11:21 Be assured, an evil person will not go unpunished, but the offspring of the righteous will be delivered.
Lamentations 3:64 You will repay them, O LORD, according to the work of
their hands.
Isaiah 1:28 But rebels and sinners shall be broken together, and those who
forsake the LORD shall be consumed.
We are to await the Resurrection of the Dead and
those of the First will judge those of the Second under the Holy Spirit after
their reeducation and correction in judgment.
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