YHWH v. Allah

It�s good that I placed it in quotation marks because the King James translates it as �back parts,� not �back side,� though, to me, the difference between these two is insignificant.

What does the statement mean?  That�s a good question and I don�t know whom to ask.  I think that this is clearly one of those scriptures which, because it contains anthropomorphisms, e.g., references to God�s hand, face, back parts, etc., is potentially problematic at best.  Please recall, again, that Maimonides, after familiarizing himself with the ahadith and Quran, wherein he found comparatively few anthropomorphic conceptions of God (as has the author of the above table, it seems), evidently found it necessary to both address the issue and to explain to his Jewish co-religionists that such (�Old Testament�) scriptures are to be understood allegorically.

Now back to the question.  What does the statement mean?  A Google search shows that there are people at present discussing whether this verse means what it might, to the vulgar, or at least the literalist and materialist, exactly suggest.  I won�t spell it out because, beyond a certain point, I am not interested in approaching blasphemy.  On the other hand, and in marked contrast, there are the rather profound explanations that �the Rabbis� give this verse and these can be read, for example, in the Stone Edition of the (artscroll) Tanakh.  I, personally, go with these explanations, or insights, for the most part.  And the commentators, largely following Maimonides� lead, I would think, tend toward allegory.

That said, I do wish, at times, that non-Muslims, such as (I presume) the author of the opening table, would read the Quran as, for lack of a better word, forgivingly, or at least openly, as they do their own books.  But it wouldn�t give us as much to talk and argue about in Interfaith.

Serv