At-Tawbah

 Already this book has taken an ominous tone by the omission of the invocation of the compassion and mercy of the divine بَسْمَلَة.  

1-2: And no wonder: it is identified immediately as an ultimatum to the polytheists or, as Hulusi names them, the dualists.

3-5: It is not until after their death sentence has been given that the possibility of commutation is offered and the compassion and mercy of Allah is invoked.

6-12: This is justified with the explanation that these dualists would do the same if the roles were reversed--a rather petty argument.

13-15: And furthermore, they always have the option to reverse course.  In this respect, at least, the god of the Quran is more merciful than the god of the Hebrew scriptures.

16-18: There is some disagreement among the translators how to render مَساجِدَ.  The word itself invokes the act of worship, though it seems to be inextricably tied with the non-translation "mosque".  For my part, I prefer Hulusi's rendering "place of prostration" for it's thematic consistency.

19: There is a theological principle here that could bear comparison with similar concepts in other religions: the interplay between faith and works, with clear preference here being given to the former.

20-22: The admonition that the particular place of worship is not of utmost importance seems to be lost on modern Muslims.

23-27: A nice moment of thematic consistency here: the reality of things is not connected to their physical form.  Attachment to physical things, including particular holy sites, is not to be confused with actual faith.

28: Which makes this command inexplicable

29: Likewise the command in one breath to fight the unbelievers, and to fulfill the duty to protect them implied in the collection of  الجِزيَةَ .

30-32: Hulusi makes a rather uncharacteristic point of transliterating the entire phrase لا إِلٰهَ إِلّا هُوَ, which he usually does only for words he considers holy in their very pronunciation.  One wonders if there is a connection to the very peculiar orthographic features of the character لا, the only one in Arabic that might be considered syllabic rather than alphabetic.

32-33: I don't know if this is an accurate characterization of the Jews and Christians of the time.  It is rather the Muslims who are interested in abolishing other religions, in this very same breath.

34-35: This, at least, is fair--even poetic.

36-37: Rather a difficult sentence to parse, as reflected in four very different translations.  Hulusi renders it in a way that indicates a one-year period for the creation.

38-39: The call to battle is altogether incompatible with a detachment from earthly concerns.

40: The intersection of muddy pronoun reference and shifting listener require a level of dialectic mastery I will never attain.

41-47: A rare rebuke of The Prophet here, and a bit inexplicable.  In 40, the assurance is that those who stayed behind were not necessary, and in 47 that they would even have been a hindrance.  Why is The Prophet scolded for allowing it?

48-50: It certainly sounds like leaving these individuals to their own devices was the right choice.

51-55: A nice parallel with 19-22 here, and a reversal of the corresponding concept in James 2:26.

56-59: If these verses were followed today, the result would be world--or at least regional--peace.

60: The only thing that stands out about this seemingly apostrophic verse is the inclusion of those who collect the charity in the list of recipients.  I can see how that would go south very quickly.

61-66: The Surah that these chatterers feared is this very one.

67-68: I suppose it is the behavior in 62 that qualifies them as hypocrites, rather than just disobedient or greedy.

69-70: The stories of عادٍ and ثَمودَ were seemingly as familiar to the audience as those of Noah and Lot, but I find very little specific narrative of those stories, here or elsewhere.  Maybe in a future surah we will get details.

71-72: The fact that the promised rivers flow under paradise, rather than through it as in Judeo-Christian texts, is no doubt a regional accommodation.

73-79: The list of charges here draws attention to something that is not present (so far) in the Quran.  The defendants here are guilty of muttering, conspiring, and withholding charity.  The god of the Israelites would have rained death upon them for even one of these charges, but this version of the divine is content to punish them in the hereafter.  

80: A contrast with Abraham's experience of mercy.  Despite caveats in 66 and elsewhere, forgiveness does not seem to be an option for these hypocrites.  The plea deal has been withdrawn, so to speak.

81-93: And Allah has not forgotten that they stayed behind during the battle either, though his instructions to The Prophet regarding them are contradictory.  The fact that Allah has "sealed their hearts" remains troubling theologically.

94-96: The sudden change in tense here is difficult to integrate.  Indeed, the book retains traces of its character as a surah that has been pieced together after the fact.

97-99: The mention of a still existing specific ethnic group here would seem to have modern implications.  I wonder how modern Bedouins feel about these verses.

110-104: Even the Prophet does not know the heart, and this book returns to the position that it is best to mind one's own work and not worry about others . . . lovely, but in contrast to the rest of this book.

105: One of my favorite verses in the entire Quran so far.  

106-110: A fascinating side tale, but one wonders about a few things: since the details of the episode are not mentioned here, how were they retained?  Is there some adjunct book that gives the narrative?  The earliest surviving account seems to have been written 200 years after the fact.  Also, the directions in 108 are seemingly a rare moment of direct and specific revelation to The Prophet alone.

111: I don't know if it is accurate to say that the directive to kill and be killed is also in the Gospel.

112-114: This is not the story of Abraham I was thinking of in 80, but I look forward to learning more about it in future surahs.

115-117: There might be some resolution to the tension between mercy, repentance, and free will here.  It seems that the principles operate differently in groups than in individuals--something akin to the statistics being useless in individual cases.

118-119: It is assumed that these are Ka’b ibn Mâlik, Murarah ibn Rabi’, and Hilâl ibn Umaiyah, mentioned in 106.  More evidence for the gradual revelation of this surah, and possibly a key to unraveling confusing passages in other surahs.

120-122: A distinct minority report exists in the interpretation of these verses, and for once it is not Hulusi who is the dissenter.  Of the four translations I am referencing, three interpret this to refer to the fight at Tabuk, but https://al-quran.info/#9 interprets those who "march forth" to be going to Medinah.

123-125: I can certainly imagine that some grew suspicious or weary of the timing of these revelations.  The writing of this text even as it was happening gives it a unique structure and character among holy books.

126-129: I don't recall another instance of the Prophet himself being given the descriptor رَحيمٌ, elsewhere used almost ritually to describe Allah, and especially in the invocation that begins every surah but this one.