ABDULBADI on Blogger

The Ten Commandments that appear in this week’s parsha have long held a special place not only in Judaism but also within the broader configuration of values we call the Judeo-Christian ethic. In the United States they were often to be found adorning American law courts, though their presence has been challenged, in some states successfully, on the grounds that they breach the first amendment and the separation of church and state. They remain the supreme expression of the higher law to which all human law is bound. Within Judaism too they held a special place. In Second Temple times they were recited in the daily prayers as part of the Shema, which then had four paragraphs rather than three. [1]  It was only when sectarians began to claim that only these and not the other 603 commands came directly from God that the recitation was brought to an end. [2] The text retained its hold on the Jewish mind none the less. Even though it was removed from daily communal prayers, it was...

The Ten Commandments Confirmed In The Quran Christians and Jews affirm that the Ten Commandments were given by God, the Almighty, to Prophet Moses (peace be on him). The Quran, Islam's Holy Book, talks about the tablets given to Prophet Moses: Allâh said: "O Mûsa (Moses) I have chosen you above men by My Messages, and by My speaking (to you). So hold that which I have given you and be of the grateful." And We wrote for him on the Tablets the lesson to be drawn from all things and the explanation of all things (and said): Hold unto these with firmness, and enjoin your people to take the better therein. I shall show you the home of Al-Fâsiqûn (the rebellious, disobedient to Allâh). (Al-A'raf 7:144-145) However, the Holy Quran does not explicitly speak about the Ten Commandments given to Moses. There is no record of the original words of those tablets. Yet we do find agreement in the Quran with the essence of the Ten Commandments and share the correlating verses with yo...