1-3 Allah is the Lord of the Worlds, the master on the day of judgment. 4 We only worship you. We only ask for help from you. 5 Show us the straight path. 6-7 Show us how to live like your favorite people, not like those who have gone astray or those who make you angry.
1 Alif. Lam. Mim.
2 There is no doubt about this scripture. 3-4 It can ward off evil. It helps believers believe in things they can't see, and in things Muhammad has revealed to them. They know where they're going when they die. 5 They are the successful people.
6-7 As for the disbelievers, Allah has covered their ears, eyes, and hearts. Theirs will be an awful doom.
8 Some will pretend to believe in Allah and hope to fool Allah on the last day. 10 But their heart is diseased, and Allah will make their disease worse. They will have a painful doom because they lied. 13 When they are told to believe what others believe, they'll say, "Should we believe what the foolish believe?" But they are the foolish.
14 Allah especially dislikes people who pretend to believe when they're around Muslims and then disbelieve when they hang out with devils. 15-18 Allah mocks and blinds them, leaving them deaf, dumb, and blind. 20 If Allah wanted to, he could destroy their sight and hearing. Allah can do anything.
23 If you doubt that the Quran comes from Allah, then just try to write a surah like it. 24 Go ahead and try. You will fail and Allah will burn you forever in the fire that he has prepared for disbelievers, whose fuel is men and stones.
25 If you believe and do good works, you will have pure companions in heaven.
27 Losers break the covenant with Allah and make mischief on the earth.
29 Allah created the earth first and then the seven heavens.
31 Allah taught Adam all the names (of the plants and animals?), and then said to the angels, "Tell me the names, if you are truthful." 32 But the angels weren't truthful enough to guess correctly. 33 So Allah said to Adam, "Tell them the names." So Adam told them and said, "I know something you guys don't!"
34 Then we (Allah) commanded the angels to prostrate themselves before Adam. And they all did, except for Iblis. That's the moment that Iblis became a disbeliever.
35 We (Allah) said to Adam, “Live in the garden and eat all the fruits, except the fruit from this tree.”
39 Whoever disbelieves and denies our revelations, will live in the Fire.
42 Don't confuse truth with falsehood or knowingly hide the truth.
48 Prepare for the day when no one, including Allah, will help anyone else.
49-50 Remember when we saved you from the Pharaoh by drowning his army in the sea? 51 And when Moses was on the mountain for forty nights, you chose the calf? 52 We forgave you, so you could thank us. 54 Moses said, "Kill those who are guilty." That was best for you.
55 You said you wouldn't believe until you saw Allah. And then you were struck by lightning. 56 After you died from the lightning strike, we revived you, so you could thank us. 57 We sent you manna and quails.
59 And we sent down wrath from heaven on those who changed the words in a saying.
60 When Moses asked for water, we said, "Smite the rock." And water gushed out of twelve springs, one for each tribe.
61 When the people complained about the food, Allah's wrath came down on them.
62 Whoever believes in Allah on the last day and does right will be rewarded, whether they are Jews, Christians, or Sabaeans.
65 And when some of you broke the Sabbath, we turned them into apes, despised and hated! 66 We did that for an example to future generations.
In the name of Marvin, most-merciful, all-compassionate:
Damn both hands of my neighbor Sam; damn him!
His money and children will not save him!
He will be burnt in a blazing flame --
Sam and his dame, who is also to blame.
As she was carrying wood to her home,
She put some thorns in the path where I roam.
So she shall suffer a torment most dire,
Dangling in hell from a noose of palm-fibre.
There are other places in the Quran that challenge skeptics to a surah writing contest.
And this Qur'an is not such as could ever be invented ... Or say they: He hath invented it? Say: Then bring a surah like unto it. Quran 10:37-38
Or they say: He hath invented it. Say: Then bring ten surahs, the like thereof. Quran 11:13
I got the impression from this verse that Iblis is an angel, but I've been told that is incorrect. Iblis is not an angel; he's a jinn. Which is a different thing entirely. (A jinn is a creature made from fire that has free will. Angels are messengers of Allah that have no free will. Elves are small semi-divine beings with pointy ears.)
Still, I'm not convinced. Sometimes Iblis is called an angel in the Quran, and sometimes a jinn. And sometimes he seems to be both angel and jinn. (Is Iblis an angel or a jinn?)
Copyright © 1999-2026
The Skeptic's Annotated Bible
Send comments to Steve Wells
at swwells(at)gmail.com
