Indeed...
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[SIZE=-1][Pickthal 21:1] Their reckoning draweth nigh for mankind, while they turn away in heedlessness.[/SIZE][/FONT]
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[SIZE=-1][Pickthal 21:2] Never cometh there unto them a new reminder from their Lord but they listen to it while they play,[/SIZE][/FONT]
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[SIZE=-1][Pickthal 21:3] With hearts preoccupied. And they confer in secret. The wrong-doers say: Is this other than a mortal like you? Will ye then succumb to magic when ye see (it)?[/SIZE][/FONT]
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[SIZE=-1][Pickthal 21:4] He saith: My Lord knoweth what is spoken in the heaven and the earth. He is the Hearer, the Knower.[/SIZE][/FONT]
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[SIZE=-1][Pickthal 21:5] Nay, say they, (these are but) muddled dreams; nay, he hath but invented it; nay, he is but a poet. Let him bring us a portent even as those of old (who were Allah's messengers) were sent (with portents).[/SIZE][/FONT]
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[SIZE=-1][Pickthal 21:6] Not a township believed of those which We destroyed before them (though We sent them portents): would they then believe?[/SIZE][/FONT]
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[SIZE=-1][Pickthal 21:7] And We sent not (as Our messengers) before thee other than men, whom We inspired. Ask the followers of the Reminder if ye know not?[/SIZE][/FONT]
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[SIZE=-1][Pickthal 21:8] We gave them not bodies that would not eat food, nor were they immortals.[/SIZE][/FONT]
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[SIZE=-1][Pickthal 21:9] Then we fulfilled the promise unto them. So we delivered them and whom We would, and We destroyed the prodigals.[/SIZE][/FONT]
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[SIZE=-1][Pickthal 21:10] Now We have revealed unto you a Scripture wherein is your Reminder. Have ye then no sense?[/SIZE][/FONT]
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[SIZE=-1][Pickthal 21:11] How many a community that dealt unjustly have We shattered, and raised up after them another folk![/SIZE][/FONT]
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[SIZE=-1][Pickthal 21:12] And, when they felt Our might, behold them fleeing from it![/SIZE][/FONT]
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[SIZE=-1][Pickthal 21:13] (But it was said unto them): Flee not, but return to that (existence) which emasculated you and to your dwellings, that ye may be questioned.[/SIZE][/FONT]
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[SIZE=-1][Pickthal 21:14] They cried: Alas for us! we were wrong-doers.[/SIZE][/FONT]
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[SIZE=-1][Pickthal 21:15] And this their crying ceased not till We made them as reaped corn, extinct.[/SIZE][/FONT]
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[SIZE=-1][Pickthal 21:16] We created not the heaven and the earth and all that is between them in play.[/SIZE][/FONT]
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[SIZE=-1][Pickthal 21:17] If We had wished to find a pastime, We could have found it in Our presence - if We ever did.[/SIZE][/FONT]
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[SIZE=-1][Pickthal 21:18] Nay, but We hurl the true against the false, and it doth break its head and lo! it vanisheth. And yours will be woe for that which ye ascribe (unto Him).[/SIZE][/FONT]
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[SIZE=-1][Pickthal 21:19] Unto Him belongeth whosoever is in the heavens and the earth. And those who dwell in His presence are not too proud to worship Him, nor do they weary;[/SIZE][/FONT]
[Media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kKduRsd6Zd0[/Media]
Your take home message from the above verses, is that EVERY MESSENGER was persecuted, not simple Jesus or Mohammed (PBUT)
The whole purpose of Islam is to submit ones will to Allah swt-- I am yet to find the purpose of Christianity-- nonetheless, if I did, I'd have to do it through Jesus as he is allegedly God and thus there is NO harmony between Islam and Christianity!
2. Mohammed was sent to execute God’s judgement on the surrounding nations, and he provided instructions to his followers on how to behave during this period.
not just for that period, but for all periods!
3. After Mohammed’s death, the Qur’an was compiled in a non-chronological order which mixed these two separate and distinct messages.
That is nonsense, the Quran is compiled exactly as it should, if it were compiled as it was revealed then it would make no sense, verses in various suras are revealed 23 yrs apart, which is actually part of the inimitability of the Quran, if someone were simply jotting down some poetry of today, they wouldn't have the same fluency in style, rhyme, meaning, context twenty three yrs later, all while managing everything politically, economically, socially, and as alleged plagiarizing from other scriptures as well Greek scientific journals .. I don't think many people contemplate or realize the weight of this factoid! so I'll have to disagree, it is compiled by divine decree not out of whim!
4. The Qur’an as compiled has a very useful purpose. You must be disciplined to get through the long initial chapters, and there is a certain beauty about the ordering according to length. I appreciate the beautiful picture that results. However, as beautiful as it is, that was not the intended picture, for the revelation came in a chronological order.
see above reply
5. Therefore, the Qur’an as compiled can be likened to a jigsaw puzzle whose pieces have been placed according to their size. This results in a beautiful artistic work. However, if you could order the pieces as intended, chronologically, then a different picture is revealed.
Again, not in accordance to size at all, but in accordance with what intended!