Question: Good News About Painful Torture?
Sura 84:20-24 states (in the translation by Arthur J. Arberry) :
Then what ails them, that they believe not,and when the Koran is recited to them they do not bow?Nay, but the unbelievers are crying lies,and God knows very well what they are secreting.So give them good tidings of a painful chastisement.
The translations by Muhammad Sarwar and by Hilali & Khan render the last term more correctly as "a painful torment". A transliteration of the Arabic of Verse 24 is:
Fa-bashshirhum bi-‘Adhaabin ’aliimin
The meaning of "adhab" is "torture". The infinitive verb "adhaba" is translated in the Arabic / English dictionary as follows and in order: to torment, to torture, to put in extreme pain ... "'Aliim" means painful, "bash'shirhum" is from the verb "bashshara" and means to give or announce good or cheerful news.
The announcement of torture is certainly not good news. It is not cheerful news but a horrible threat.
This wrong use of the word bashir in the context of suffering is a semantic contradiction in the Qur'an.
That this is indeed a very inappropriate term to use can be seen from the following fact: Most Muslims seem to be so embarrassed by it that they hide the exact meaning in their English translations.
Answer: The question is: Quran from God or not. If not from God I agree with the inquiry. If he is the God who created the whole universe and people are making fun of his prophet and his people we have to rethink hundrads of times. He is the God who feels and has the right to feel of all his glory and power. He is the one who drowned the earth at time of Noah and drowned Pharoah and his people. The Quran very strongly attest to the golry of his maker and no human can make it up. The people whom God mocked them are the ones who tortured his prophet and his people for long years. In America we love the underdog. In this case they were the good and righteous and were mocked by the strong and oppressors. Would n't you feel for the underdog. They were the people of God at that time like the Israelites at time of Pharoah. Do not they desreve the sarcastic warning from God that they deserve. And know what when any of them convert to Islam God forgive for them everything. Even Muslims who suffered from them do not revange for previous injustices.
