2022-07-11T09:35:00-08:00
Did the Samaritan see something real or was he imagining it?
The story of the Samaritan in the heritage says that the Samaritan saw Jebril, so he took a fistful of Jebril’s impact and placed it in a pot containing molten metal. With this movement, he was able to shape the metal into the shape of a calf that produces a sound. The sound coming from the statue of the calf is a result of Jebril’s impact, so Jebril’s impact has an effect. Magical, gives materials magical behavior.
The truth is that the story of the Samaritan mentioned in heritage books used to cause me confusion and strangeness when I heard it when I was young, and I used to find it somewhat difficult to accept it, because it imposed questions on me according to the logic of that age.
I was asking myself:
Why did that miracle happen to that person and the Messenger Musa did not accompany that miracle? Because it is supposed that Musa is the one who performs miracles and not the Samaritan?
Why did Musa, the Messenger of Allah, not see Jebril, sent by Allah, while the evil Samaritan saw Jebril? Musa was supposed to be more deserving of seeing Jebril than the Samaritan.
Isn’t Jebril a king from Allah?
Isn’t Musa a messenger from Allah?
So why is a messenger from Allah not seeing an angel from Allah?
Didn’t Allah speak to Musa? So why didn’t he make him see Jebril?
Then what is this ungrateful mind that sees one of the signs of Allah Jebril, and then commits something criminal? .. Whoever sees Jebril will believe and submit to Allah?
How did the Samaritan know that it was Jebril so that he could take the relic, and how did he know that the relic would contain a magical substance?
Many questions accompanied me and caused me distress in believing in that story, and yet I did not think that there could be another story other than it.
But with time, we realized that there was a project to distort the meanings and stories of the Qur’an, so we decided to get rid of everything in the heritage books, and we began searching for a new approach while contemplating the discourse of the Qur’an, and when we started using that approach, we found another different story for the Samaritan.
What is the story of the Samaritan?
{He said, “What is the matter with you, O Samaritan?” (95) He said, “I saw what they did not see, so I caught a handful of the traces of the Messenger, so I rejected it, and likewise my soul begged me.” (96) He said, “Go, for in life you have the right to say, ‘There is no harm,’ and you have an appointment that you will not break. And look to your Allah who It remained devoted to it. We will certainly burn it, then We will destroy it in the sea with a blast.}
The basis of the story of Musa revolves around the book, and (a word) that preceded from Allah to the messenged servants of Allah, and the basis of the story of the Samaritan revolves around that word. For this reason, the name of the Samaritan was linked to the word (messas), for which many who studied the Qur’an went to many interpretations in search of a meaning. To her, and they did not realize the true dimension of that word (message).
If the basis of the story was (a book) and a (word) that preceded from Allah to the messengers, then it is natural that the Samaritan had a role in distorting a word in the Book of Allah and changing it to (messing).
Why ?
– A word preceded by Allah to the messengers
{And if they were to say (167) If only We had a remembrance of the ancients (168) We would have been sincere servants of Allah (169) Then disbelieve in him – they will know (170) And indeed Our word preceded to Our servants the messengers}
– The word is found in the traces of Musa
{And what hastened you on from your people, O Musa (83) He said: They are loyal to follow me, and I hastened to you, Allah, that you may be satisfied.}
The Samaritan rejected the word written in the wake of the Messenger and replaced it with another word
{He said, “What is the matter with you, O Samaritan?” (95) He said, “I saw what they did not see, so I caught a handful of the Messenger’s trace, so I rejected it, and so my soul begged me.” (96) He said, “Go, for in life you have the right to say, ‘There is no harm,’ and you have an appointment that you will not break. And look to your Allah who It remained devoted to it. We will certainly burn it, then We will destroy it in the sea with a blast.}
– The word in the Book of Musa was differed and changed
{And We gave Musa the Book, but they disagreed about it, and had it not been for a word that had preceded from Your Allah, it would have been decided between them, and they are in doubt about it, doubtful.}
What is the meaning of (He said, I saw what they did not see)?
Many believe that by saying this, the Samaritan saw something real and material that no one, including Musa, had seen. However, this is not the truth.
How is it possible that the Samaritan would see a truth greater than the truth that Musa brought? If he had seen a truth, he would have been a messenger, and what is after the truth from Allah and His signs is nothing but desire.
{And among the people is he who disputes about Allah without knowledge, guidance, or an enlightening Book. (The second of his kindness is to stray from the path of Allah. For him in this world is disgrace, and on the Day of Resurrection We will make him taste the torment of burning.)
Therefore… the Samaritan’s saying (I saw) refers to the moral vision and not the sensory vision. The Samaritan says: I saw an idea but no one else saw it.
If Shaytan’s logic is: (I am better than the other)
The Samaritan’s logic is: (I have discovered something that no one else has discovered)
This is the logic of arrogance and vanity, and it is the logic through which Shaytan infiltrates man, and what follows the truth from Allah is nothing but desire. So whoever is not guided by Allah, then desire is a Allah and he follows desire and believes that he has insight.
{And provoke whomever you can among them with your voice, and attack them with your horse and your foot, and share with them in wealth and children, and promise them, but Shaytan promises them nothing but delusion.}
You can always find the Samaritan’s logic around us. There are those who come to him with the truth, but he is arrogant and afflicted with arrogance and self-conceit. He believes that he is able to come up with something that no one else has come up with, or he believes that he is the one who should come up with something that no one else has come up with, and it is possible. We can see this logic in a famous line of poetry in Al-Turath by Al-Ma’arri:
(And even if I am the last of his time, I will bring what the first did not bring.)
If Allah chooses whomever He wants from among His servants to convey His message, then the Samaritan becomes arrogant and believes that he is more deserving, and becomes an enemy of the Messenger, and therefore he searches for something else that he sees as the truth, until he becomes the first to find it out of arrogance, and he believes that he possesses great insight, and He does not know that he is following his desires and not the truth, and he believes that he is following Allah, but desires are gods.
The Qur’an describes the character and logic of the Samaritan here:
{These are the signs of Allah that We recite to you in truth. So in what hadith after Allah and His signs will they believe? (6) Woe to every sinful mouth of yours. (7) He hears the verses of Allah recited to him, then he insists in arrogance as if he had not heard them, so give him good tidings of a painful punishment.
{Have you seen him who has taken his own desires as his Allah, and Allah has led him astray with knowledge, and has sealed his hearing and his heart, and placed a veil over his sight – then who will guide him after Allah? Will you not remember?}
{And whoever turns away from My remembrance will have a straitened living, and We will gather him on the Day of Resurrection blind. (124) Allah said, “Why did You gather me blind when I was a seeing man?” (125) He said, “Thus did Our signs come to you, but you forgot them, and thus will you forget them today. (126) And thus will We recompense him who transgresses and does not believe in our signs.” His Allah, and the punishment of the Hereafter is more severe and more lasting. (127) Did He not guide them to how many generations We destroyed before them? They walk in their dwellings. Indeed, in that are signs for those who have prohibition. (128) And had it not been for a word that preceded from Your Allah, it would have been binding and for an appointed term.}
If the Messenger brought the truth that no one before him had brought, then whoever brings something believing that it is the truth and that no one has brought it, then it is not the truth, but rather an illusion (inclination) that came from an arrogant and conceited person who hates and is an enemy of the truth.
{And thus We have made for every prophet an enemy, devils of mankind and jinn, inspiring one to another with embellished words out of deceit. And if Your Allah had willed, they would not have done them, so leave them and what they invent. (112) And that the hearts of those who do not believe in the Hereafter may listen to it and that they may please Him and that they may commit what they are committing. (113) Shall I seek judgment other than Allah, and He is the one who sent down Here is the Book in detail, and those to whom We have given the Book know that it is sent down from Your Allah in truth, so do not be of those who doubt (114).
{Indeed, My verses were being recited to you, but you were turning back on your heels. (66) Are you arrogant about it? Samaritan is abandoning you. (67) Did they not consider the word? Or did it come to them that which had not come to their forefathers? (68) Or did they not recognize their Messenger, so they deny him? (69) Or do they call him a shield? Rather, he brought them the truth. And most of them are averse to the truth. (70) And if the truth had followed their desires, the heavens and the earth and those in them would have been corrupted. Rather, We have given them their remembrance, so they turn away from their remembrance. (71) Or do you ask them for a way out? Your Allah’s return is better, and He is the Best of Providers. (72) And indeed, you invite them to a straight path. (73) And those who do not believe In the Hereafter, we will turn away from the path. (74)}
The Samaritan is the one who receives the word of Allah (we heard) and changes it to (messas).
The Samaritan is the one who receives the word of Allah (we hear) and changes it to (listen to us).
The Samaritan is the one to whom the word of Allah arrives (we hear), and he changes it to (qatna).
So…the Samaritan made the Messenger an enemy, so he became detached from the signs of Allah, searching for something that no one had ever done before, believing that what he had was true and not knowing that he was following his desires and Shaytan had gained control over him and tempted him.
{And recite to them the story of the one to whom We had given Our signs, but he slipped away from them, and Shaytan pursued him, and he was of the misguided. (175) And had We willed, We could have lifted him up therewith, but he settled down to the earth and followed his desires. His likeness is like a dog. If you bear it panting, or leave it panting. That is like the people who disbelieved in Our signs, so tell the stories that they may understand. They think}