Sura 6 or 'Cattle', an excerpt from 'The Critical Quran' by Robert Spencer.

Sura 6 or ‘Cattle’ refers to the last year in Mecca before Muhammad was driven out of the city to Medina.  Cattle is mentioned in the Sura but is not a particularly important theme.  This Sura is translated into English here (Translated by Yusuf Ali, a fanatical Muslim apologist, so there is no ‘mistranslations’ which so bemuse Muslimophiles when discussing problematic texts). Excerpts from Robert Spencer’s book are below and explanations on key verses within this Sura provided by Spencer.  This link can be used (or the link above) to read the translation of the verses which are not copied out in their entirety.  The commentary is against that specific verse (italics).

Sura 6 or ‘Cattle’ does not refer to the brain-dead masses following the Corona diktats and fake data and modelling.  That Sura would be named Sheep.  According to Islamic tradition, this Sura is from Muhammad’s last year in Mecca, before the Hijra, or Flight, to Medina during the twelfth year of his Jihadic career. According to a tradition attributed to Ibn Abbas, “All of Surat Al-An‘am was revealed in Makkah at night, accompanied by seventy thousand angels, raising their voices in glorification of Allah.”  Muhammad was unwelcome in his home city of Mecca.  For years he had been a preacher of an uncompromising monotheism in an atmosphere of increasing antagonism with his own tribe, the Quraysh, who were pagans and polytheists.  Sura 6 is preoccupied with that antagonism with Al-Lah issuing many imprecations against the unbelievers.

Verse 4: Al Lah leads polytheists astray on purpose and destroys them

Ibn Kathir states: “Allah states that the rebellious, stubborn polytheists will turn away from every Ayah, meaning, sign, miracle and proof that is evidence of Allah’s Uniqueness and the truth of His honorable Messengers. They will not contemplate about these Ayat or care about them. Allah said.” The anomaly of Allah leading the unbelievers astray and then punishing them for their stubborn rejection of his messengers is not explained or even mentioned.

Yet we destroyed them for their sins, and created after them another generation. For their unbelief, Allah destroys the unbelievers. The ruins of their destroyed civilizations bear witness to his power and judgment (see 3:137).

Verse 7: Al Lah will mock the Infidel disbelievers

If we had sent down to you writing upon parchment, so that they could feel it with their hands, those who disbelieve would have said, This is nothing other but mere sorcery…. Allah mocks the unbelievers’ unbelief, saying that if he had sent the messenger a “writing upon parchment,” the unbelievers would nevertheless have dismissed it as “mere sorcery.” In this passage, as in many others, the onus for unbelief is entirely upon the unbelievers, but see 2:7.

Sura 18: Al Lah rules his Muslim slaves (with Muhammad as his intercessor)

He is the omnipotent over his slaves, and he is the wise one, the knower. Say, What carries the most weight in testimony? Say, Allah is the witness between me and you. And this Qur’an has been inspired in me so that with it I may warn you and whomever it may reach. Do you actually bear witness that there are gods besides Allah? Say, I bear no such witness. Say, He is only one God. Indeed, I am innocent of what you associate.

Sura 21: Ascribing partners to Al Lah (Christians) is the worst offence (called Shirk)

Who does greater wrong than he who invents a lie against Allah or denies his signs? Indeed, the wrongdoers will not be successful. “Signs” here again is ayat, the term used for the verses of the Qur’an: they’re signs of the truth of Allah. The Tafsir al-Jalalayn states that the “lie against Allah” involves “ascribing a partner to him.” In Islam, there is no greater evil. One modern-day Muslim writer wrote: Murder, rape, child molesting and genocide. These are all some of the appalling crimes which occur in our world today. Many would think that these are the worst possible offences which could be committed. But there is something which outweighs all of these crimes put together: It is the crime of shirk.

Sura 22: Christians will not be helped by their Trinity

And on the day we gather them together, we will say to those who ascribed partners, Where are those you claimed to be partners?

Sura 54: Christians and Jews will fill up Hell

And when those who believe in our signs come to you, say, Peace be upon you. Your Lord has prescribed mercy for himself, so that whoever among you does evil through ignorance and repents of it afterward and does right, indeed, he is forgiving, merciful.  This makes clear that the unbelievers do not do evil through ignorance, for if they had, Allah would have allowed them to repent. Instead, he will fill hell with them (32:13), suggesting once again that those who reject Islam do so while knowing very well that it is true.

Sura 77-78: Al Lah is greater than the Moon God of Mecca (Baal)

And when he saw the moon rising, he exclaimed, This is my Lord. But when it set, he said, Unless my Lord guides me, I surely will become one of the people who are astray. …And when he saw the sun rising, he cried, This is my Lord. This is greater. And when it set, he exclaimed, O my people, indeed, I am free from all that you associate.

Note:  What Muhammad or the Koran is saying here is that Baal the moon deity worshipped for millennia by the Arabs, and the Sun his consort or wife, are products of the greater power of Al-Lah, in other words, the polytheistic rituals believed in by pagan Arabs are no longer of importance since they are really manifestations of Al-Lah.  The significance of this verse is that Muhammad is effacing all pagan worship, though the ‘Al Lah’ of Mecca was originally Baal the moon deity (who had a wife and daughters, namely Mars and Venus), it is now promoted to the creator of all celestial beings and associated worship, consuming all previous pagan beliefs. 

Sura 88-89:  Al Lah controls the wills of his Muslim slaves (no free will)

That is the guidance of Allah, with which he guides those whom he wills of his slaves. But if they had set up anything besides him, what they did would have been in vain. …Those are the people to whom we gave the book and command and prophethood. But if these people disbelieve in it, then indeed we will entrust it to a people who will not be unbelievers in it.

Sura 92:  Mecca was not an important city in the 7^th century

“And this is a blessed book that we have revealed, confirming what was before it, so that you may warn the mother of towns and those around her. Those who believe in the hereafter believe in it, and they are mindful of their prayer.” The “mother of towns” is traditionally identified as Mecca, but the Qur’an never says this. Dan Gibson states of Mecca that “from the life of Muhammad we understand that camel caravans went out from this city, and that Muhammad himself travelled with a caravan to Syria and back. One would expect that a major city, involved with trade across the Middle East, would be well known to the nations around it, especially if it was a merchant city. However, the city of Mecca was not well known. Despite what Islamic literature tells us, there is not a single piece of non-Muslim evidence that points to and corroborates this claim for such prominence during the seventh century. In fact, the earliest substantiated reference to Mecca is in the Continuatio Byzantia Arabica - a source from early in the reign of the Caliph Hisham who ruled between 724 and 743–100 years after the life of Muhammad.

Sura 94: Christians will have no help from their intercessors (angels, saints)

Now you have come to us alone, as we created you at the beginning, and you have left behind all that we bestowed upon you, and we do not see you with your intercessors, whom you claimed were associated with you. Now the bond between you is severed, and what you presumed has failed you. Everyone will stand alone before Allah; no intercession from others will be accepted (2:48, 2:123, 23:101, 39:43, 42:46). However, the Qur’an elsewhere accepts intercession with Allah’s permission (10:3, 20:109, 21:28, 34:23, 53:26).

Sura 100: Angels and Jinns are not Al Lah’s partners

Yet they ascribe the jinn as partners to him, although he created them, and impute, falsely, without knowledge, sons and daughters to him. May he be glorified and highly exalted above what they ascribe.

The jinn are spirit beings that Allah created from “smokeless fire” (55:15). The twentieth-century Islamic scholar Muhammad ibn al-Uthaymeen states a standard Muslim view when he asserts that while human beings cannot see jinn, “undoubtedly the jinn can have a harmful effect on humans, and they could even kill them. They may harm a person by throwing stones at him, or by trying to terrify him, and other things that are proven in the sunnah (prophetic teachings)

Sura 101-102:  Al Lah does not have a son, Christ is not divine

The originator of the heavens and the earth. How can he have a son, when he has no wife, when he created all things and is aware of all things?

An attempt at a reductio ad absurdum on the Christian doctrine of the Incarnation: “How can he have a son, when he has no consort?” Ibn Kathir asks: “How can He have a wife from His creation who is suitable for His majesty, when there is none like Him How can He have a child? Then Verily, Allah is Glorified above having a son.” The idea that fatherhood and sonship might not be conceived of in physical terms is not considered. This is Allah, your Lord.

Sura 109: Unbelievers do not understand Al Lah’s ‘signs’

And they swear a solemn oath by Allah that if a sign comes to them, they will believe in it. Say, Signs are with Allah and what will make you realize that if they came to them, they still would not believe? The unbelievers wouldn’t believe even if signs did come to them, a theme returned to at 6:124.

Sura 115: Al Lah’s word can never be changed

The word from your Lord is perfected in truth and justice. There is no one who can change his words. He is the hearer, the knower. No one can change Allah’s word, but at 2:75, the Qur’an states that the Jews did change it, and at 22:52, the possibility is raised that Satan can tamper with it, although Allah abrogates his changes.

Sura 121: Only eat what Al Lah prescribes and which has been blessed in Al Lah’s name

And do not eat what Allah’s name has not been mentioned over, for indeed, it is abomination. Indeed, the satans inspire their minions to argue with you. But if you obey them, you will be indeed idolaters.

The Muslims would be “idolaters” if they obeyed the advice of unbelievers and ate food over which Allah’s name has not been mentioned. According to Ibn Kathir, this means that “when you turn away from Allah’s command and Legislation to the saying of anyone else, preferring other than what Allah has said, then this constitutes Shirk.

Sura 124: Al Lah will punish any who reject his ‘signs’

And when a sign comes to them, they say, We will not believe until we are given what Allah’s messengers are given. Allah knows best with whom to place his message. Humiliation from Allah and heavy punishment will strike the guilty for their scheming. Here again it is asserted, as in 6:109, that the unbelievers wouldn’t believe even if they did receive signs from Allah. The interruption of this theme, and the return to it, may suggest an interpolation. Instead of “his message,” the Warsh Qur’an has “his messages.”

Sura 140: Disbelievers are ‘losers’

They are losers who have foolishly killed their own children without knowledge, and have forbidden what Allah bestowed upon them, inventing a lie against Allah. They indeed have gone astray and are not guided.

Sura 163:  Again, the Trinity is invalid and Al Lah has no partners

He has no partner. This I am commanded, and I am first of the Muslims.

(The first of Muslims would reference Muhammad).

So, in summary, what do we read here in this Sura?  There are some common themes, reiterated and repeated throughout the chapter.

1-The Christian Trinity and the divinity of Christ is denied.

2-Christians will receive no help from their angels, or worship of Mary, Christ or the saints.

3-Arab polytheism is subsumed by Al Lah who is the actor and creator behind the celestial worship of Arab tribes.

4-Christians and Jews are led astray by Al Lah to be punished and destroyed.

5-Muslims have no free will and are Al Lah’s slaves. 

6-Al Lah’s word and commands can never be changed.

7-Muhammad is the first among Muslims.

8-Muslims must follow dietary laws and eat food blessed by Al Lah or offered to Al Lah as an expression of thanks.

These are cult doctrines.  Muhammad is separating his cult from pagan, Jewish and Christian practices and beliefs.  Dietary proscriptions, the demand to follow only what Al Lah says and what Muhammad instructs, along with denying free will and free inquiry into the Koran or cult practices and rather startling, naming followers of Al Lah as ‘slaves’ is an obvious indication not only of intent, but also of culture.  These artefacts are commandments to create a unified, unitary and unthinking devotion to Al Lah and Muhammad.  It is hard to understand how anyone can describe this as liberating, enlightening, or civilised.