Using this Qur’an search engine:
http://www.hti.umich.edu/k/koran/simple.html
Faith = 70 verses
Believe = 714 verses
Unbelievers = 120 verses
Believers = 144
Unbelief = 28
Disbelief = 5
Doubt = 53
Belief = 6
Total = 1140
The resulting verses may be read at:
http://toosmallforsupernova.org/quranicfaithanddoubt.htm
Using this Bible search engine:
http://www.hti.umich.edu/k/kjv/simple.html
Doubt = 40
Faith, Faithful = 402
Believe = Unbelievers = Believers = 340
Total = 782
http://toosmallforsupernova.org/biblicalfaithanddoubt.htm
It is very instructive to read though all these verses isolated from the Qur'an and then read though all the verses isolated from the Bible using the same search criteria.
The Qur'an is much less than half the size of the Bible, and yet the stress upon belief and doubt in the Qur'an is almost double the stress in the Bible.
I'd like to learn more about what the words for belief, doubt, faith, etc., mean in their original contexts in Aramaic, Arabic, etc. Too often evangelists come up with a list of points to agree with or simple steps toward salvation; that just seems way too simple to me. I suspect "belief" and "doubt" and such can have deeper implications than either/or Jesus or Muhammad, Heaven or Hell, Catholic or Protestant, you know what I'm saying.
hakim
kafr fakhr
Hakim, words are 3D, with infinite sides.
Words like "belief" are often translated as such sometimes as a convinience. not the same Arabic word, but same translation. Arabic words lend themselves to wonderous depths. Look 'em up!
Each word carries its various conotations/inferences along with it like luggage. It's wonderful.
:)
Well, yeah, that's why I want to know more. Maybe I'll give Khalila a homework assignment--look up the etymologies of these Qur'anic Arabic words and their Aramaic equivalents from the Synoptic Gospels.
But after she learns to read better.
Someone going by "Sheikh Majnoon" wrote somewhere online that "shariah" once upon a time meant "to enter into a body of water and drink from it." But I take that with a grain of salt.
hakim
Oh you wanted me to look them up for you?
:)
That's part of the whole adventure! We'd spoil it for you.
"The Hans Wehr Dictionary of Modern Written Arabic" by Hans Wehr
This was always the one people pointed me towards. Not sure if others have had success with another dictionary. This leans a bit towards Qur'anic speak.
The Evolution from Hebrew Faithfulness to Greek Faith
the full post is here:
http://literarydiscussions.myfreeforum.org/ftopic1068.php
(To the best of my knowledge, I am the first person to develop this
analysis and cast a shadow of doubt upon Martin Luther's Sola Fides
theology)
Here is a fascinating example of the vast difference in meaning between a Hebrew word for faith in the Old Testament in Deut. 32:20, Strong’s Concordance # 529 "aymoon" meaning "faithful, true, trustworthy", and the Greek New Testament word for faith, "Pistis" Strong’s Concordance #4102, which can mean “persuasionâ€Â, “conviction†or reliance upon someone or something. If I tell you to fall backwards, and I will catch you, then, if you believe me, and trust me, and have faith in me, then you will fall in a relaxed manner, and not try to catch yourself, because you are relying upon me to catch you.
If we look at Deut. 32:19-22 we will see that it is the first occurrence of the word “faith†in the Old testament, as well as the first mention of “sheol†(hell), and also mentions fire. But there is no connection between the fire and the hell. And the mention of faith is in the NEGATIVE, that the people are NOT faithful.
Jehovah saw it, and abhorred them,
Because of the provocation of his sons and his daughters.
20And he said, I will hide my face from them,
I will see what their end shall be:
For they are a very perverse generation,
Children in whom is no faithfulness.
21They have moved me to jealousy with that which is not God;
They have provoked me to anger with their vanities:
And I will move them to jealousy with those that are not a people;
I will provoke them to anger with a foolish nation.
22For a fire is kindled in mine anger,
And burneth unto the lowest Sheol,
And devoureth the earth with its increase,
And setteth on fire the foundations of the mountains.
The Hebrew "aymoon" really means trustworthiness or faithfulness with regard to some promise or contractual agreement (testament). This word appears only twice in all of the Old Testament. The first appearance is in Deuteronomy 32:20, and again in Habakkuk, in the famous verse which Martin Luther of the 16th century Reformation bases his doctrine of salvation by faith alone (sola fides).
Martin Luther, who started the Protestant Reformation, based his entire theology of Salvation by Faith Alone (Sola Fides) on the second and final appearance of the word “aymoon†in Habakkuk Ch.3 “For the just man shall be saved by faithâ€Â. If faith were really so important, one would expect more mention of Faith in the Old Testament. There are 29 verses in the Gospels with the word “faithâ€Â. The Epistles have an astounding 214 verses with the Greek word “Pistisâ€Â. The Hebrew word for “faithâ€Â, “aymoon†does not mean the same as the New Testament Greek word for Faith, “Pistisâ€Â. The most famous Christian definition of Pistis-Faith is in Paul's Epistle Hebrews 11:1 "Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen." We see an enormous difference between the Hebrew aymoon (trustworthiness in contractual agreements) and pistis as trusting or believing in the unseen. The modern day Christian concept of Faith seems to be something that slowly evolved from ancient times and was hammered into its present shape and meaning as a rhetorical device by St. Paul in the Epistles. There is still, in the Epistles, in the Epistle of St. James, a glaring conflict between faith and works which annoyed Martin Luther. James wrote, “Show my your faith without works, and I will show you my faith through my works†and “faith without works (deeds) is dead.â€Â
(see link above for full post)
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