A reply to Judeanoncapta,
the genies are of good and bad disposition, as shown in the same chapter as the one you've cited:
Say, "I was inspired that a group of spirits who listened, then said, `We have heard a wonderful reading. It guides to righteousness, and we have believed in it; we will never set up any idols beside our Lord. `The Most High is our only Lord. He never had a mate, nor a son. `It is the foolish among us who used to utter such nonsense about God. `We thought that neither the humans, nor the genies, could possibly utter lies about God. `Human beings used to seek power through spirit beings, but they only afflicted them with a lot of adversity. `They thought, just like you thought, that God would not send another messenger. `We touched the heaven and found it filled with formidable guards and missiles. `We used to sit there in order to spy. Anyone who listens is pursued by a powerful missile. `We have no idea if something bad is intended for the inhabitants of earth, or if their Lord wills to redeem them.
Here's the line: `Some of us are righteous, and some are less than righteous; we follow various paths.
The chapter continues:
`We knew full well that we can never run away from God on earth; we can never run away and escape.
`When we heard the guidance, we believed therein. Anyone who believes in his Lord will never fear any injustice, nor any affliction. `Among us are the submitters, and among us are the compromisers.' As for those who submitted, they are on the right path. As for the compromisers, they will be fuel for hell. If they remain on the right path, we will bless them with abundant water. We will surely test them all. As for him who disregards the message of his Lord, He will direct him to ever increasing retribution. The places of worship belong to God; do not call on anyone else beside God. When God's servant advocated Him alone, almost all of them banded together to oppose him.
Say, "I worship only my Lord; I never set up any idols beside Him." Say, "I possess no power to harm you, nor to guide you." Say, "No one can protect me from God, nor can I find any other refuge beside Him. "I deliver God's proclamations and messages." Those who disobey God and his messenger incur the fire of hell, wherein they abide forever. Once they see what is awaiting them, they will find out who is really weaker in power, and fewer in number. Say, "I do not know if what is promised to you will happen soon, or if my Lord will delay it for awhile." He is the knower of the future; He does not reveal the future to anyone. Only to a messenger that He chooses, does He reveal from the past and the future, specific news. This is to ascertain that they have delivered their Lord's messages. He is fully aware of what they have. He has counted the numbers of all things.
Glory be to God, who knows which scriptures contain error and which do not. I didn't see the Qur'an revealed before my eyes. I bought it in a bookshop. It is by my failure to refute it that I came to believe it was true. It was by my getting sick of fighting against it that I found life was easier to accept it than fight it. It was by calling on God for guidance that I saw the parts I couldn't see.
Only God will ever guide me. If I'm lost, He made me lost. If I'm in the right, He made me in the right. So, if Moses foretold of Mohammad's mission, why is it a strange thing to you that the mission came to bear? Read Deuteronomy, all of it, on a day of fasting, and prostrate much, and beg God for guidance, and tell me if your conscience still has resistance to the scriptures of Mohammad.
Don't tell me about your resistance to the actions of the last Muslims to join the flock, the Indonesians, the Pakistanis, their errors are but a test of God to see which of them will joined the family of the book, and which of them will adopt the faith of Abraham. Those nations are still removing their statues and their voodoo dolls, they are not in your league. So, friends, have no doubt of the mercy of God.
He wants to remove from you the burdens of the past, ease the path for you. He repealed the law of kill for kill, he replaced it will the option of kill for kill, where mercy is preferred to killing, and forgiveness is preferred. So kill one for one if you must, but forgive if you can, for it is better in the sight of God. Qur'an chapter 5:40-50.
This is the mercy of your Lord. He also made laws of marriage and divorce as mercies, in touch with man's growth and the events of civilisation. He knows. He's written all this in advance. Look at Isaiah's vision of it all: the islands will put faith in the law of the gentiles' prophet. What is sharia? Faith in his law.
Glory be to God
One of the comments in this thread was along these lines: "Don't tell us to ask God for guidance, that's what the Mormons do".
Friends, if you can ask God for guidance, who will guide you? If you can't be lead by Him, who will lead you. This was a faithless comment. Ask God. Ask God. He will guide you and He will forgive you for every error.
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Please, don't reply to me about end times prophecies. They are not my focus, and they are for the people who need MTV or coffee. The essence of our religion, yours and mine, from the Muslim viewpoint, is discussed in chapter 17 of the Quran. This is the chapter which shows how Mohammad was educated in religion by God.
He went on a night journey. God showed him things.
It mentions here the essence, the core, of his religion post-Abraham, and it stands good for the Mosaic and the Mohammadan equally if I'm not mistaken.
You shall not set up any other god beside God, lest you end up despised and disgraced. Your Lord has decreed that you shall not worship except Him, and your parents shall be honored. As long as one or both of them live, you shall never say to them, 'Uff', nor shall you shout at them; you shall treat them amicably. And lower for them the wings of humility, and kindness, and say, 'My Lord, have mercy on them, for they have raised me from infancy'. Your Lord is fully aware of your innermost thoughts. If you maintain righteousness, He is forgiver of those who repent. You shall give the due alms to the relatives, the needy, the poor, and the traveling alien, but do not be excessive, extravagant.
The extravagant are brethren of the devils, and the devil is unappreciative of his Lord. Even if you have to turn away from them, as you pursue the mercy of your Lord, you shall treat them in the nicest manner. You shall not keep your hand stingily tied to your neck, nor shall you foolishly open it up, lest you end up blamed and sorry.
For your Lord increases the provision for anyone He chooses, and reduces it. He is fully cognizant of his creatures, He is the all-seeing. You shall not kill your children due to fear of poverty. We provide for them, as well as for you. Killing them is a gross offense. You shall not commit adultery; it is a gross sin, and an evil behavior.
You shall not kill any person - for God has made life sacred - except in the course of justice. If one is killed unjustly, then we give his heir authority to enforce justice. Thus, he shall not exceed the limits in avenging the murder; he will be helped. You shall not touch the orphans' money except for their own good, until they reach maturity. You shall fulfill your covenants, for a covenant is a great responsibility.
You shall give full measure when you trade, and weigh equitably. This is better and more righteous. You shall not accept any information, unless you verify it for yourself. I have given you the hearing, the eyesight, and the brain, and you are responsible for using them.
You shall not walk proudly on earth - you cannot bore through the earth, nor can you be as tall as the mountains. All bad behavior is condemned by your Lord. This is some of the wisdom inspired to you by your Lord. You shall not set up another god beside God, lest you end up in hellfire, blamed and defeated.
