{"collection":"Texts of Islam","full_text_available":false,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/sacred_texts_v1_isl_pick_002_htm/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/sacred_texts_v1_isl_pick_002_htm","id":"sacred_texts_v1_isl_pick_002_htm","license":"unknown_pending_legal_review","rights_basis":"sacred_texts_v1_preview_gate_primary_text_only; acquisition-method/ToS and compilation-copyright questions still open, not resolved by this gate","source":"sacred_texts_v1","source_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/browse/isl/pick/002.htm","summary":"This is an excerpt from Surah Al-Baqarah (\"The Cow\"), the second and longest chapter of the Quran, presented here in M.M. Pickthall's classical English translation (first published 1930), which aims for reverent, archaic diction rather than colloquial accessibility. The passage opens by categorizing humanity into three groups \u2014 believers, disbelievers, and hypocrites \u2014 describing each with vivid metaphors (sealed hearts, a fire snuffed out, a storm that blinds) to convey the spiritual consequences of rejecting divine guidance. It then pivots to a lengthy address to the Children of Israel, recounting their covenant with God and a series of episodes from Mosaic history: the Exodus, the golden calf, the Sinai theophany, the manna and quails, and the commanded sacrifice of a cow that gives the surah its name, each story framed as evidence of divine mercy repeatedly met with ingratitude and disobedience. A notably inclusive verse (62) asserts that Jews, Christians, Sabaeans, and Muslims alike may earn divine reward provided they believe in God and the Last Day and act righteously. The passage is distinctive for weaving legal, narrative, and eschatological material together as a single theological argument: that prophetic revelation is authoritative, that resistance to it has historical precedents with known consequences, and that the Quran itself issues a direct challenge to produce anything comparable. A reader should expect dense scriptural allusion, a second-person rhetorical address to both the Prophet and his audience, and a tone that oscillates between warning and reassurance.","tags":[],"text":null,"title":"The Meaning of the Glorious Qur'\u00e2n,: 2. al-Baqarah:...","tradition":"Texts of Islam","translated_text":null,"word_count":12469}