LessonsQur’anic Argumentation: Debates with Jewish Interlocutors and Principles of ReformQuiz

بَلَىٰ مَنْ كَسَبَ سَيِّئَةً وَأَحَاطَتْ بِهِ خَطِيئَتُهُ
Yes indeed: whoever earns an evil deed and is encompassed by wrongdoing. (Qur’an 2:81, opening clause)

The verse appeals to accountability in relation to actions rather than a community’s hereditary label. The rest of the verse proceeds to punishment; the immediate interpretive point here is the general form of the argument.

Man (whoever) is not the name of one ethnic lineage. It undercuts any claim that belonging to a named community alone removes the possibility of responsibility. The verse is not a license for us to pronounce an individual’s final fate on our own authority.

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The general rule of accountability in Qur’an 2:81

Qur’anic Argumentation: Debates with Jewish Interlocutors and Principles of Reform

بَلَىٰ مَنْ كَسَبَ سَيِّئَةً وَأَحَاطَتْ بِهِ خَطِيئَتُهُ
Yes indeed: whoever earns an evil deed and is encompassed by wrongdoing. (Qur’an 2:81, opening clause)

The verse appeals to accountability in relation to actions rather than a community’s hereditary label. The rest of the verse proceeds to punishment; the immediate interpretive point here is the general form of the argument.

Man (whoever) is not the name of one ethnic lineage. It undercuts any claim that belonging to a named community alone removes the possibility of responsibility. The verse is not a license for us to pronounce an individual’s final fate on our own authority.