67 Moses said to his people, “Allah wants you to sacrifice a cow.”
68 The people said, "Ask him what kind of cow we should sacrifice." Moses said, "The cow must neither be pregnant nor immature, but somewhere between."
69 They said, "And what color should she be?" Moses said, "Bright yellow."
70 The people said, "Ask God to be more specific. All cows look alike to us." Moses said, "The cow must have never plowed and be unmarked." The people said, "OK. We'll find one like that." So they sacrificed a cow, though they almost didn't.
72 Remember when a man was murdered, but you disagreed about who did it? 73 We said, "Smite the dead man with a piece of the dead cow that you sacrificed." And the dead man came back to life and showed you who murdered him.
74 But even after you saw that miracle, your hearts were hardened and became rocks -- or even worse than rocks, they were so hard. There are good rocks and bad rocks. There are rocks that fall down from the fear of Allah.
81 Whoever does evil or sins will burn forever in the Fire.
82 Those who believe and do good works will live in the Garden.
83 Be good to parents, relatives, orphans, and the needy. Speak kindly and help the poor.
91 The Jews say they believe in what we have revealed to them, but not in what came after. 96 They are the greediest people. They'd like to live 1000 years. But even if they lived that long, they'd still go to hell after they died.
97 With Allah's permission, Gabriel revealed this Scripture to Muhammad's heart.
98 Allah (himself) is an enemy to the disbelievers. 99 We have revealed clear tokens. Only evil people disbelieve in them. (And most people don't believe in them.) 104 For disbelievers, Allah has prepared a painful doom.
106 Nothing in the Quran, not a single verse, do we (Allah) abrogate or cause to be forgotten -- except for the verses that we replace later with better verses.
108 Don't question anything Muhammed says or choose disbelief over faith. The people of the Scriptures (the Jews and Christians) know that the Muslims are correct in their beliefs, so they try to make Muslims disbelievers because they envy the truth that they know the Muslims have. Be nice to them until Allah gives you the signal (to not be nice anymore).
110 Pay your taxes to help poor people.
111 When they (the Christians and Jews) say, "No one enters paradise unless they are a Christian or a Jew." Say to them, "Prove that your beliefs are true."
113 The Jews say the Christians are wrong, and the Christians say the Jews are wrong. Yet both read the scriptures. 114 Allah will make their lives miserable in this world and torture them forever after they die.
118 Pay no attention to those who say, "Why doesn't Allah speak to us, or give us a sign?" Our revelations are clear to those that already believe that our revelations are clear. 119 We sent Muhammad with the truth. 121 We gave you the scriptures. Those who disbelieve in them are losers.
122-3 To the Jews I say, “Remember how I preferred you to everyone else? A day is coming when no one will help anyone, including Allah.
126 I'll take care of the disbelievers later (by burning them forever in the Fire).
127 Abraham and Ishmael built the House.
130 Those who forsake the religion of Abraham befool themselves. Abraham said to his sons, “Allah has chosen your religion for you. Don't die without surrendering to him.”
138 We take our color from Allah. And who is better at coloring than Allah?
142 Foolish people will say: Why has the qiblah changed?" Say to them: Allah can do whatever he likes." 143 So we changed it. 144 Now we're going to make you face a different direction when you pray. (And this revelation is true.) 149 So when you pray, Muhammad, turn your face in the proper direction.
Here's how it goes: A man was murdered about the same time that the yellow cow was killed. Nobody knew who the murderer was. So Allah told the people to smite the dead man with a piece of the dead cow. When they did that, the dead man came to life and told everyone who had murdered him. You can read all about it here.
There is some disagreement among Muslims about this abrogation thing. Did Allah fix earlier messed up verses in the Quran with better ones later on? Or is every verse in the Quran correct as is?
They all seem to agree, though, that when it comes to the Quran, later is better. Allah may have made some mistakes when he revealed the Quran to Muhammad, but if so, he corrected them as he went along. Allah is wise, all-knowing, careful.
"The House" is the Kaaba, which the Quran here claims was built by Abraham and Ishmael. This is the cubical building in Mecca that Muslims are supposed to make a pilgrimage to at least once in their lifetime. (Wikipedia: The Hajj)
The qibla is the holy direction -- the direction toward which Muslims pray. It is also the direction that the faces of dead Muslims point towards when they are buried, the direction that the head of an animal is supposed to be aligned with when slaughtered, and the direction you are *not* supposed to face when doing your business in the bathroom.
Originally the qibla was toward Jerusalem, but in these verses, Muhammad changes it to point towards the Kaaba in Mecca.
The Kaaba, according to Islamic tradition, was the first building on earth. Built by Adam and re-built later by Abraham and Ishmael.
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