Intention of the Sabbath (Hebrew; Day of Rest)

Is the Sabbath for Remembering God ? Yes, even more so than resting.

The Bible editors humanize God in relation to the Sabbath by saying;

“By the seventh day God had finished the work he had been doing; so on the seventh day he rested from all his work. And God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it he rested from all the work of creating that he had done” (Genesis 2:2).

Bible editors took the idea that God rested farther still when they wrote as follows: “In six days the Lord made heaven and earth, and on the seventh day he rested, and was refreshed” (Exodus 31: 17).

Is God a human that gets tired and needs to rest and refresh ? Of course not;

“GOD IS NOT A MAN, that he should lie ; NEITHER THE SON OF MAN that he should repent…. (Numbers 19:23)

God in the Quran clarified the matter in His own words when He declared:

“And verily we created the heavens and the earth and all that is between them in six periods, and naught of weariness touched us” (Quran 50:38 see also v. 15).

Dispelling any human weaknesses attributed to God and showing the intention of the Sabbath is not to rest, but to remember the beautiful Creation God made.

Even Prophet Jesus emphasizes the misinterpretation of the Sabbath;

Mark 3:1-5: Jesus observed the Sabbath, but criticized the Pharisees’ overly strict rules and regulations concerning the day of rest. He emphasized throughout his ministry a different purpose for the Sabbath: a day to be enjoyed by the believer, and a time when many normal activities were quite permissible.

The idea that God rests like humans and gets refreshed like humans was also criticized by Jesus. According to John, he declared that God never stops working, even on the Sabbath day (see John 5:16).

According to the Holy Quran, the Final Testament, God does not get tired “Neither slumber nor sleep overtakes Him” (Quran 2:255), verifying the focus of the Sabbath is not rest, but remembrance.

What day was the Sabbath ?

Today we know that the creation process can be measured in billions of years.

The Bible editors could not have known this. In their eagerness to enjoin Sabbath observance on others they wrote that God rested on the very first Sabbath day after finishing up his work of creating the heavens and the earth.

The six days of creation in the book of Genesis was believed to be like six days of any seven-day week. They believed that the reason the Sabbath day became holy is that God Himself had rested on that day.

The scientific discovery regarding the actual time period of the creation of earth causes concern as to which day the Sabbath actually is. The Sabbath can not be associated with the earth creation because that would mean we would have a Sabbath once every 6 billion years.

The Holy Quran simply designates the “Day of Assembly” in addition to clarifying God does not rest, Hence completely dispelling the incompatible association between the Sabbath and Day of Creation as made in the Bible.

Was the Sabbath on Friday or Saturday ? Another tension in the Bible Corrected by God through the Holy Quran is knowing the exact day to practice the Sabbath.

When the Julian calendar was replaced by the Gregorian calendar in 1582 CE, ten days were deleted in order to bring the calendar in synchronism with the seasons. Thus, 1582-OCT-4 (a Thursday) was followed by 1582-OCT-15 (a Friday), indicating the Sabbath was originally Friday, rather than Saturday.

There is no record in the Bible showing who did this or when he did it. So, the present Jewish Sabbath observance can be traced back, through the discontinuity of 1582 CE into ancient times to an arbitrary choice of day by person or persons unknown.

There is thus no reason to believe that there was a seventh day of creation or that there was any continuous celebration of the Sabbath until the 10th century BCE. It is probable that some Jewish official made an arbitrary selection of the day for the first Sabbath about 3 millennia ago. As history shows the intended day for the Sabbath is Friday as in Islam.

What time was the Sabbath to take place ? The Bible demonstrates that the intended time is for the afternoon, also as in the Islamic teachings;

The Bible makes the strong distinction between day and night, the word “Night” is mentioned in the Jewish Bible ((233)) times yet it is never mentioned in conjunction with the weekly Sabbath,

The Sabbath is always referred to as “The Sabbath Day”. In fact, a distinction is made between the Weekly Daytime Sabbath and a monthly 24 Hour Sabbath.

“It shall be to you a sabbath of solemn rest, and you shall afflict yourselves; on the ninth day of the month beginning at evening, from evening to evening shall you keep your sabbath.” Leviticus 23:32

Hence clarifying there are different types of Sabbaths for different time periods and that the weekly Day Sabath was not intended for 24 hours, but rather for the Daytime as the clear distinction is made in Leviticus 23:32

Who was to follow the Sabbath ?

Israelites ask Muslims “If Abraham’s way was the right way, why don’t Muslims follow the Saturday Sabbath ?” The Sabbath has nothing to do with Abraham, it was instituted with the Law of Moses.

There is no evidence that Adam and Eve ever celebrated the Sabbath.

The first instruction from God to the Hebrew people to observe the Sabbath appears in Exodus 16:27, when the Hebrew people were wandering in the desert after having escaped from Egyptian captivity and starting to doubt and be disobedient to God. Therefore Hebrews have been worshipping God for centuries without observing the Sabbath.

The second command from God is seen in Exodus 23:12. Both passages were written by Moses circa 1491 BCE. No evidence the Sabbath was observed before then by previous Prophets.

Furthermore, there are 613 laws obligatory for Israelites, yet according to Judaism, not all Israelites have to follow these laws, for example, of those 613 Laws, only certain ones apply to certain tribes of Israelites, the Levi tribe only follows certain parts of the 613 Laws, as well as the Cohen tribe following different sets of the Commandments.

Different laws apply to different types and tribes of Jews. Similarly, Jewish Muslims follow the Quranic Commandments, identical to the Ten commandments of Moses, without the false associations made by Bible editors.

Sabbath in the Bible

Similar to the Muslim form of the Sabbath, the Bible lists a Function of the Sabbath is to have a Religious Assembly. Congregating on the Sabbath is commanded by God in Leviticus:
# Leviticus 23:1-3 1 The LORD said to Moses, 2 “Say to the people of Israel, The appointed feasts of the LORD which you shall proclaim as holy convocations, my appointed feasts, are these. 3 Six days shall work be done; but on the seventh day is a sabbath of solemn rest, a holy convocation; you shall do no work; it is a sabbath to the LORD in all your dwellings.

The Hebrew word for convocations is migra, meaning a calling (together), according to Young’s Analytical Concordance. Migra is the Hebrew word used in Leviticus 23:4-44 for all the holy convocations commanded for the High Sabbaths also.

Another similarity is Leviticus 23:32, the Day of Atonement is defined as a Sabbath. Islam also believes that Friday is a day for attaining atonement more than any other day of the week:

The Holy Prophet Muhammad said : “The day of Friday has been exalted and conferred many rights. Therefore do not be negligent of your duty. Do not be tardy in your worship this day. Try to attain nearness to Allah by performing pure deeds and refraining from the prohibited things, because this day Allah increases the reward for good deeds and obliterates the sins. Allah raises the position of the believer in the world and the Hereafter.”

Yet the Israelites considered the Sabbath a curse as pointed out in Amos 8:4-6 4

“Hear this, O ye that swallow up the needy, even to make the poor of the land to fail, Saying, When will the new moon be gone, that we may sell corn? and the sabbath, that we may set forth wheat, making the ephah small, and the shekel great, and falsifying the balances by deceit? That we may buy the poor for silver, and the needy for a pair of shoes; yea, and sell the refuse of the wheat?”

Israelites disobeying the Sabbath was also documented in Nehemiah 13:16

“Men of Tyre also, who lived in the city, brought in fish and all kinds of wares and sold them on the sabbath to the people of Judah, and in Jerusalem.”
The Sabbath that was issued to the rebellious Hebrews with Moses became an unbearable restraint towards the Bounties of God to the Israelites, then they were forgiven.

Sabbath in the Quran

“O ye who believe! When the call is proclaimed to prayer on Friday (the Day of Assembly), hasten earnestly to the Remembrance of Allah, and leave off business (and traffic): That is best for you if ye but knew! ” 62:09

The curse of financial confinement is forgivingly removed upon embracing Islam while the substance and content of the Sabbath is in place, the merciful removal of the restriction from God’s bounty is specified in the following verse:

“And when the Prayer is finished, then may ye disperse through the land, and seek of the Bounty of Allah: and celebrate the Praises of Allah often (and without stint): that ye may prosper. ” 62:10

An example in the Bible of God no longer desiring Israelis to follow the Sabbath is:

Isaiah 1:10-15

” Bring no more vain offerings; incense is an abomination to me. New moon and Sabbath and the calling of assemblies–I cannot endure iniquity and solemn assembly. Your new moons and your appointed feasts my soul hates; they have become a burden to me, I am weary of bearing them. 15 When you spread forth your hands, I will hide my eyes from you; even though you make many prayers, I will not listen; your hands are full of blood.”

Here we see how God depending on the Actions of the Jews, changes His relationship with the Jews, similar to being exiled from Israel and being returned to Israel.

With this in mind, the Quran Sabbath is understood as a Merciful Sabbath. Though there is still a Punishment for Breaking the Sabbath.

“The punishment for profaning the Sabbath was imposed only on those who had differed about it and thy Lord will surely judge between them on the Day of Resurrection concerning that wherein they differed.” Quran 16:124

The words penalty and punishment at the beginning of the verse are supplied by the translators, because they are implied in the word ju’ila. The meaning of the verse is that there is a punishment for Sabbath-breaking, but it is to be carried out on upon those who dispute the obligation to keep the Sabbath. Furthermore, it is concluded from this text, that no punishment for Sabbath-breaking is to be carried out before the Day of Judgment.

This is another excellent illustration of how the Quran complements and completes the Bible. In the Bible we are faced with two complications regarding Sabbath breaking. The first is that the punishment for Sabbath-breaking is death. In practice, this is not carried out in the current age. Christ showed by his example how the legislation of the Torah was to be interpreted. He did not as Christianity claims abrogate it.

The second Friction is that there is no provision for delaying the Sabbath. If there is something to prevent Sabbath observance on the seventh day, there is no provision in the Torah or any other Scripture for putting it off to the following day, as there is for the Passover, for example, which under certain conditions may be observed in the following month. This means that there are occasions when the intention to observe the Sabbath cannot always be carried out perfectly. If something arises which was unforeseen and unintended, the Sabbath cannot be delayed to the following day.

It has to remain as it is, whether or not its observance turned out to be as was intended. Therefore, the punishment is meted out upon those who dispute the obligation. Those who made the proper intention to observe the Sabbath, but whose observance for unforeseen reasons did not match their intention, are not punished for Sabbath-breaking.

Conclusion

Prior to scientific knowledge of earth formation, or scholarly Bible criticism, the Holy Quran in 632 AD, has purged the man made editing in the Bible and in swift concise Words, Bestowing upon us the proper date, time, and intention of the Sabbath as well as conscientious judgement for Sabbath breakers.

References

1. Revised Standard Bible
2. Holy Quran (Yusif Ali translation, Al Azhar translation, Malik Farid translation)
3. The Bible Sabbath Association at: http://www.biblesabbath.org
4. Extensive background material on the Saturday Sabbath is at the “Present Truth” home page: http://www.present-truth.org

This idea is very dangerous. If you believe that Muslims are worshiping an idol, then there is no basis even to talk to them. They are pagan idolaters like Hindus and Buddhists. It is alleged that although Islam is a monotheistic religion, the Muslims’ only God is simply another idol that Muhammad (P.B.U.H.) chose (or in some versions of the story, he made it up).

To invalidate this foolish theory, one has to take the story from different angles.

The crescent is not a symbol of Islam, but of the Ottoman Empire. The Ottomans are those tribes that moved to Turkey from east and middle Asia. They converted to Islam and built a huge Muslim Empire that ruled the whole Muslim world for centuries. When they took Islam as a religion they started using the lunar calendar, the calendar that was used by Muslims, Jews and early Christians. Even today, the flag of Turkey has a crescent on it. There was no crescent on any mosque built before the Ottomans era.

Prophet Abraham built the Kaaba for people to worship God. While pagan Arabs admitted this fact and even kept the stone where he used to stand to build the Kaaba (Abraham’s station), they brought idols to the Kaaba and worshiped them to get closer to Abraham’s Lord, Allah, God of gods. Prophet Muhammad (P.B.U.H.) came with the monotheistic message of Islam. Arabs defended these idols and refused to give up the religion of their fathers and grandfathers. They offered to Muhammad a deal, that is to worship their gods for one year, and they worship Allah alone for one year. A chapter of the Quran came with the response from God to this evil invitation:

[Say : O ye that reject Faith! I worship not that which ye worship, Nor will ye worship that which I worship. And I will not worship that which ye have been wont to worship, Nor will ye worship that which I worship. To you be your Way, and to me mine. ]109:1-6

Later on, the Quran started calling Allah by other names. One of those holy names was Al-Rahman (the Gracious). Arabs wondered:”is this a new God?” The Quran responded again:

[Say: "Call upon Allah, or call upon Rahman: by whatever name ye call upon Him, (it is well): for to Him belong the Most Beautiful Names. ]17:110

It is not a new god; it is a new name for the same God. Allah has ninety nine names in Islam; all of them are holy and speak about different attributes of the same creator, almighty Allah. As an example, read these verses of the Quran:

[Allah is He, than Whom there is no other god; Who knows (all things) both secret and open; He, Most Gracious, Most Merciful.

Allah is He, than Whom there is no other god; the Sovereign, the Holy One, the Source of Peace (and Perfection), the Guardian of Faith, the Preserver of Safety, the Exalted in Might, the Irresistible, the Supreme: Glory to Allah! (High is He) above the partners they attribute to Him.

He is Allah, the Creator, the Evolver, the Bestower of Forms (or Colours). To Him belong the Most Beautiful Names: whatever is in the heavens and on earth, doth declare His Praises and Glory; and He is the Exalted in Might, the Wise.]59:22-24

When Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) came back to Mecca, he entered the city peacefully on the top of an army of 10,000 men, exactly as the Bible described him “pre-eminent above ten thousand.” (Solomon 5:10). He did not burn a single home; he did not harm a single person; he just went to the Kaaba and destroyed all the gods Arabs had there. He kept nothing in the Kaaba. Where is this picture of the moon god coming from? I don’t know. Did anyone of the pagan Arabs have a digital camera by then?

There is evidence that the word Allah existed before the birth of Muhammad PBUH for thousands of years. It is probably the oldest name man used to call God. Most likely, Adam used the word Allah to call the Lord. On the other hand, the word “GOD” was born with the English language, less than ten centuries ago. Can we say that all English speaking nations are pagans because they use the word “God”? What about Chinese monotheists? How should they call God?

Prophet Muhammad’s father’s name was Abdullah (The slave of Allah). This name was common among Arab pagans and Jews. Abdullah bin Salam was one of the first Jews to convert to Islam in Medina. When Arabs call Allah in prayer they say: “Ya Allah” or “Allahoma”. Aren’t these words familiar to you? “Alleluia” and “Elohim” are the words used to call Allah in the Bible. In Hebrew, the suffix im means many. So Elohim literally means many Allah(s). This is a known way to express dignity and respect to almighty Allah by calling Him pleural. This phenomenon is known in Hebrew, Arabic, English and other languages. In Quran, the same pattern is seen many times. For example, God says in the holy Quran:

[ We have, without doubt, sent down the Message; and We will assuredly guard it (from corruption). ]15:9.

In the English translation of the Bible, you read, “Let us make man in our image”-Genesis 1:26-KJV.

The word Allah is used in all Arabic translations of the Bible. It was used in some English translations of the Bible like the original “Scofield Reference Bible”-reference: what is his name? by Deedat. In the New Testament, Jesus is believed to cry before his death “ELOI, ELOI, LAMA SABACHTHANI?” Eloi is the exact Arabic word “Elahi” which comes from the same root as Allah.

I have no doubt that the word “Allah” is the oldest known name man called God with. For those who choose to ignore this fact and transgress, Muslims have nothing to offer. Allah says in the holy Quran:

[If any, after this, invent a lie and attribute it to Allah, they are indeed unjust wrong-doers.] 3:94

For Muslims, Allah is perfect. He has no partners. We worship Him and Him alone. Our faith is summarized in the holy Quran:

[Say: He is Allah, the One and Only; Allah, the Eternal, Absolute; He begetteth not, nor is He begotten; And there is none like unto Him.]112:1-4

You claim Christ worshipped allah. Really? what’s your proof? Who is this christ you speak of?

You didn’t challenge me on anything! I put out a challenge a very long time ago, not you!

100s of muslims have gotten on this blog and NOT ONE has been able to explain those 27 pages of suras posted above. Explain the suras that I have posted on this page. They are listed above and you can’t miss them. Are you going to say that we can’t understand those suras because we don’t read them in arabic? Bull crap.

The kkkoran was written by a demonically possessed pedophile, seeing demons in some cave. His own family members said he was possessed of satan! The kkkoran advocates the mass murder of anyone who chooses NOT follow the pagan moon god!

You and I will never agree! Why? Because your kkkoran, which you hold tightly to, advocates the destruction, the terrorizing, the taxing and then the mass murder of kafirs, Jews and Christians.

You also believe it’s perfectly accepted to have sex will little girls. Mohammad married a 6 yr old and then had sex with her when she was 9. Gur-Ross!

Anyone who advocates the destruction of what YHVH created is exactly like mohammad and anyone who believes in having sex with little kids is disgusting, and no free thinking Society will ever tolerate that behavior! You sure you want to be in agreement with that? If you are in agreement with that lifestyle you really ought to trek out to Saudi Arabia. You will be amongst your own people because you sure won’t be among your own people in Western Society!

Don’t think for one minute you challenged me because you didn’t! You have enough on your plate explaining why you believe in that disgusting cult known as Islam!

It’s funny that you didn’t address my challenge because you don’t want to go there I understand. Your emotions are blinding you and keeping you in the state of ignorance. I really don’t care what you believe because the Qur’an teaches us that there is no compulsion in religion and to advise “the people of the book” (Jews and Christians)….so this is my advise to you. You fail to understand or wish to continue to make an attempt to anger me which you can’t or continue to be a disinfo agent which you aren’t very good at. ilaah means god a generic term in Arabic. Allah is Al-ilaah, the One true God that has the only right to be worshipped. We say Allah as one of His perfect names. As Allah says that I have mentioned some of my names as I have mentioned to generations before you and some I have not. The Creator in Arabic is Al-Khaaliq, Al-Baseer (The All-Seeing) As-Samee’ (The All Hearing), Al-Hakim (The All Knowing), Al-Ahad (The One), As-Samad (The Absolute), Al-Alye (The Most High) and there about 99 names and attributes of Allah mentioned in the Qur’an and there are many more from other authentic Islamic sources. The Creator in Hebrew is הבורא and Yahweh is יהוה so even in Hebrew there is a distinction. You can’t simply begin to deal with linguistics until your able to step out of the English lexicon.

The stuff you said about the crescent moon is correct, but as I said you can’t find an Islamic text to support it being part of Islam. It has nothing to do with Islam. Early Muslims didn’t use the crescent moon it is a new phenomena and many early Muslim scholars have refuted it explained its origin as early as 800 years ago plus. The moon god lie is also new.

So you have a new challenge. You lost the last one by forfeit. Bring a verse from the Qur’an or an authentic tradition of the Prophet which substantiates the crescent moon as a legitimate symbol of Islam. Don’t try to use the fact that we begin fasting the month of Ramadan by sighting the moon because we don’t sight it by a crescent moon. This is a lie too.

If you call Allah Satan, then you are totally lost, confused, and only God can heal your stupidity. Satan is nowhere near being anything close to God. Satan is a creation of God allowed to mislead and confuse mankind because of his arrogance and jealously of mankind. In fact, if you do research you’ll find that 7th and 8th Biblical scribes and scholars borrowed the Adam and Eve story from the Qur’an because it was incomplete and had no proper order in relation to the other verse in the their current Bible. This is a well documented academic research which you can’t quote any recognized academic research to support your claims. In fact, there are several Jews and Christians that have conducted academic research and they say the exact opposite of what your saying. Academically, you don’t have a leg to stand on, but in the realm of the internet cest pool, everyone has their soap box to stand on.

Anyone can just pick up the Qur’an and see that you are absolutely wrong. As they say, “the proof is in the pudding”. In the near future I’ll be sure to post some quotes from the Mishnah, Zohar Talmudic writings and see what you have to say about those….lol

Going back to Islam: Islam is demonic in origin. All you have to do is read about mohammad and his life and with all demonic things there is nothing new under the sun. The crescent moon goes far back into history. However, who cares about that when the very ideology of islam is to subject those who disagree with its ideology. Simple. If you are supporting this demonic political system then you have to take it for what it is advocates. Are you willing to say right here and now that you adhere to what the koran says and commands in all that it commands?

Oh, yeah, and finally, I have heard these illogical arguments that the kkkoran can only be understood in arabic. Well, arabic has changed quite a bit since the 700s so don’t tell me that your stupid killing book can only be understood in arabic! It can’t be that great of a “holy” book if your god can only speak to people in one language. I don’t need to study the arabic language as I would prefer to study Hebrew. Arabic is very close to Hebrew anyway.

You are getting your panties in a bunch of the word “allah,” (BIHF)! That is what you call your god, not me. You are the one who called allah, YHVH. They are not the same. You are the one who says allah is just a word for god. Agreed. However, YHVH IS NOT just a word and it’s certainly NOT the word for god in Hebrew. It IS the creator’s name just like I have a name. My name isn’t girl and your name isn’t boy. You have a name and so does the Creator. You call your god allah, a generic word. I call your god Satan, Lucifer, Hasatan and his destiny is preordained by YHVH to the Lake of Fire for deceiving people like you!

Repent of this dangerous belief system you are adhering to and ask YHVH if he is real and He will prove it to you. I know when you talk to your moon god his ears are deaf to you, but YHVH’s ears are never deaf!

You just don’t get it. You don’t have to take it from you (the Jew…Edomite) nor any lying Arabs or any ex-Muslims. All any intelligent person has to do is read the Qur’an and it will prove how unintelligent you are. You have an agenda and it is very clear to the intelligent and the well read. No truly intelligent person would say such a thing. No one who truly knows the Arabic language would say that Allah is the moon god, this is absurd. You should try another tactic because this one doesn’t work at all. Study the Arabic language and you’ll see how badly you are representing yourself. You should have more honor for yourself and God before saying such a thing.

I have a challenge for you. Since we know that the Bible (Biblos) in it’s original form was written in Aramaic and “Ancient Hebrew” (both of which are nearly lost languages). Was the original verse, which uses the word Yahweh, the same word used in Aramaic or Ancient Hebrew. Furthermore, you call yourself a Jew which comes from Judah. Moses’ followers were not Jews, this is a made up term as the term Christian is a made up term as the word Bible is a made up term. The tribe of Judah were Edomites which also means that Jesus was not a Jew, but he was sent to the Edomites who rejected him (peace be upon him).