A1L30M40S90. These letters/numbers play an important role in the mathematical system of the Quran based on code 19. See 74:1; 1:1; 2:1; 13:38; 27:82; 38:1; 40:28; 46:10; 72:28.

Our personality weakens by not following the instruction of its creator.

It is interesting that God does not kick out the Perverse from His presence as soon as he disobeys the divine order; by directing him to defend his action, God wants to inform us about the source of his disobedience. Perverse demonstrated an unjustified pride in something that was not his own work. Racism finds its roots in such a diabolic false pride. See 15:28.

The so-called "problem of evil" has created a great challenge for theologians and philosophers who accept a Benevolent and Omnipotent God. The Christian medieval philosopher St. Augustine, in Enchiridion, has an interesting argument regarding the existence of Satan: "He used the very will of the creature which was working in opposition to the Creator's will as an instrument for carrying out his will…"

Perverse (Satan) is a convicted liar; his followers too (7:20; 6:22).

The Quran describes the tree as the tree of eternity. Perverse tempted Adam and his mate with the false promise of eternity. The Old Testament, in Genesis 2:1-25 and 3:1, narrates the same event with some differences. According to Genesis, the tree is about the knowledge of evil and good, and the one who was first tempted is Eve. The Biblical accusation of Eve for the failure of Adam in this major event, would later be exploited fully by misogynistic clergymen. St. Paul justifies his male chauvinist teaching based on women's serpentine-like role in the original sin. The other major difference in the account of this event is the depiction of the tree. The Bible describes the tree as the tree of knowledge. This depiction might be one of the causes of dogmatic and anti-scientific attitude developed by the Church. Sunni and Shiite mushriks imported and adopted this Judeo-Christian distortion regarding creation and the role of man and woman in our failure, through hadith narrations. These misogynistic ideas later were sneaked into the commentaries of the Quran that relied on hadiths. See 2:36; 20:115.

Our creation on earth with material bodies starts with our failure of a divine test. We believed in Satan's promise and we ended up with a temporal body rather than an eternal one. We are given a second chance in this temporal body, which is designed to fail in a short time. The temptation of attaining eternity, shame, body, and covering the body all imply that the temptation was sexual intercourse between man and woman. In this second test, however, sexual attraction and intercourse per se is not prohibited; to the contrary, it is considered a divine blessing (30:21; 33:52). Nevertheless, the purpose of the test is the same: we should peacefully surrender ourselves to God alone, lead a righteous life to redeem ourselves, and expect that there will be a Day after death in which God alone will judge our intentions, attitude and actions, which will determine our eternal salvation or damnation. See 7:26 and 15:29.

Some translators and commentators render the word sawa as "sin" or "ugly parts" or "genitals." Though the word is etymologically related to "sin" or "shame," we prefer translating it as "body," which appeared to us after our sinful and shameful failure of the first test. For the other usages of the same word, see 5:31; 7:20; 20:121.

There is no contradiction between 7:27 and 7:30. While the Quran states that every event happens in accordance to God's design and permission (8:17; 57:22), the Quran also informs us regarding our freedom to choose our path (6:110; 13:11; 18:29 42:13; 46:15).

In Euthyphro, Plato narrates a conversation between Socrates and a pious priest on the meaning of virtue and the baffling question, "is it right because God says so or does God says so because it is right?" We know from the Quran that Truth or Justice are among God's attributes and thus their existence is the essence of God's self. In other words, the answer to the Socratic question should be "both are true: it is right because God says so and God says so because it is right." See 37:105.

See 2:139; 39:2; 40:14; 98:5.

This verse implicitly criticizes the clerics who prohibited gold and silk for men.

The last word could also be read la ya'lamun (they do not know). See 6:31; 16:25. For examples of different readings, see 2:54.

If the word jamal is read as jummal (rope), then it changes the meaning of the phrase to "until the rope passes through the eye of a needle." The Bible uses the same metaphor. "And again I say unto you, It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God." (Matthew 19:24 ; Mark 10:25 ; Luke 18:25 ). Ironically, despite these Biblical verses, many modern evangelical Christians, who worship the fictional Jesus, have become avid proponents of wild capitalism and big corporations.

The word araf is a plural noun derived from the verb ARaFa (recognize, discern, know, identify). The usage of both of these forms in this very verse clarifies the meaning of araf as identification station, where people are separated according to their failure and success in their test during their lives on the planet earth. Traditional translations render it as "purgatory, limbo" or an elevated third place between paradise and hell. We translated the word rijal as "people" rather than "man," since the verse is not in the context of relations between men and women. Unlike zakar (male), rijal (men, walkers on feet; humans) does not necessarily exclude women (See, 9:108; 16:43; 17:64; 21:7; 38:62; 64:6; 72:6). At the identification station, people are recognized and separated based on certain marks recognized by detectors commissioned by God. See 2:26; 13:35; 47:15. Also, see 12:109; 33:4; 39:29; 72:5.

The idea of limbo has been much more important among Catholics. However, in 2006, after a week-long deliberation, the Theological Commission recommended to Pope Benedict XVI that he abolish limbus infantium which has been in existence for the last 700 years. Below is an excerpt from the Internationalist Humanist News authored by Babu Gogineni about this "radical restructuring of the heavens":

"Since early days, Christians have wrestled with the thorny question of the fate of unbaptised prophets, as well as the fate of children who die before they are baptized. Catholics believe that all human beings, with the exception of Mary and Jesus, are born in original sin and that only the ritual of baptism will cleanse their sins and will redeem them. Without baptism, there can be no union of the believer with Christ in His death, burial and resurrection, and there can be no holy communion with God, either in this life or in the next. Such a person cannot go to heaven even if he or she has never committed sin.

"To help solve the problem, St. Gregory of Nazianzus (329-390 AD) proposed that the unbaptised should neither be punished nor could they access the full glory of God. However, the hardliner St Augustine of Hippo (354-430 AD) rejected this idea, insisting that baptism was necessary for salvation, and that even babies would be consigned to hell if they were not baptized. Though St. Augustine made the generous concession that their torment would be the mildest of all of hell's residents, this torture of the innocent was unacceptable to St Thomas Aquinas (1226-1274 AD), the first major theologian to speculate about the existence of a place called limbo where these souls would be lodged for ever. Limbo is now a part of Canon Law. …

"This safe passage to heaven that the Catholic Church now assures children who are dying young is a significant step in the right direction. One should now hope and pray that in the Catholic heaven the children will also receive adequate protection from sexual abuse by Catholic priests. Since the Church did not deem sexual abuse by its clergy a matter worthy of punishment in this world, they will all no doubt now be going to heaven too. The Church needs to take immediate steps to ensure that the millions of little children who are now being admitted to heaven are adequately protected in line with the Holy See's international obligations as an early ratifier of the 1990 Convention on the Rights of the Child."

On the other hand, a Lutheran theologian Martin E Marty, in an article published at Christian Post, criticized the timing of this papal amendment and its ramification:

"The post-limbo announcement awakens all kinds of responses, many of them easily accessible on the internet or in the press. Taunters who have heard that Catholicism does not change now taunt, "Here's a change." Catholic pastors who have always found the reference to limbo, a place of non-descriptness and non-happening, to be more chilling than comforting to parents of unbaptized children can be relieved of the charge to pass on word about it. Catholics who lean toward a most expansive Catholic view of salvation and tend toward universalism cheer, for this proclamation that unbaptized infants can go straight to heaven might open the door for Catholic witness that some non-infants could have the same experience. "Pro-choice" Catholics are coming on record as seeing that this can fortify their cause: If fetuses are babies, and they no longer go to limbo but can go to heaven, then abortion may not be as dire a fate as it is often pictured to be. Abort and send them prematurely to heaven. Catholic traditionalists – you'll find plenty of them – rage at Pope Benedict and others involved in this announcement, seeing them as traitors to the Catholic cause: If this can change, can't other things? Relativism, which the pope abhors, will take over.

"Pope Benedict made clear in his announcement that limbo was never an infallible teaching and was not even a formal doctrine of the church. We wonder whether generations of parents who suffered endlessly as they imagined their infants endlessly denied the vision of God or much of any other kind of vision knew of that nuance. Those of us who are not Catholic, and who care about Catholic teaching and Catholic parents, but cannot appreciate all the niceties of gradation of authority among "infallible" and "not quite infallible" and "traditional" and "easy to change" teachings, will look for clarification.

"So will Catholics of many stripes, including some who had not thought about limbo for a long time, but in response to press coverage now find themselves in an intellectual limbo."

See 11:1.

This verse, like many other verses informs us that God is employing evolution and stages in His creation (41:9; 7:69; 15:28; 24:45; 29:18; 32:7; 71:14). Furthermore, creation in six days provides a yardstick regarding the times allocated for the creation of the earth and the universe. According the Quran the creation of earth took four out of six days. If universe started 13.7 billion years ago, ignoring the possibility of early inflation, then 4/6th of this, would be approximately 9 billion years, which is about 4 billion years more than currently estimated age.

According to the Bible, God created the universe for a special purpose (Psalms 135:6), and creation shows the power of God (Isaiah 40:26,28 ), His glory and handiwork (Psalms 19:1), and the wisdom of God (Psalms 104:24; 136:5). In six days. Exodus 20:11 ; 31:17). First day, making light and dividing it from darkness (Genesis 1:3-5 ; 2Co 4:6). Second day, making the firmament or atmosphere, and separating the waters (Genesis 1:6-8 ). Third day, separating the land from the water, and making it fruitful (Genesis 1:9-13 ). Fourth day, placing the sun, moon, and stars to give light (Genesis 1:14-19 ). Fifth day, making birds, insects, and fish (Genesis 1:20-23 ). Sixth day, making beasts of the earth, and man (Genesis 1:24,28 ). God rested on the seventh day (Genesis 2:2-3 ). Those who distorted the revelation in the Bible misunderstood the meaning of the phrase "six days" as "six 24-hour days." According to the Bible, the earth is only 5700-plus years old.

The Quran rejects the assertion of God "resting" on the seventh day (50:38).