The beauties of Islam

• Arthur John Arberry Quran 8:39 Fight them, till there is no persecution and the religion is God’s entirely; then if they give over, surely God sees the things they do…
  
• George Sale Quran 8:39 And fight them until there is no persecution and religion is wholly to God. But if they desist, then surely God is Watchful of what they do.
  
•  E. M. Wherry Say unto the unbelievers, that if they desist from opposing thee, what is already past shall be forgiven them; but if they return to attack thee, the exemplary punishment of the former opposers of the Prophets is already past and the like shall be inflicted on them. [A Comprehensive commentary on The Quran, [London: Trubner & Co., Ludgate III] By Reverend E. M. Wherry, volume 2, page 260]
  

• Muhammad Asad And fight against them until there is no more oppression and all worship is devoted to God alone. And if they desist-behold, God sees all that they do…
  
•  M. M. Pickthall And fight them until persecution is no more, and religion is all for Allah. But if they cease, then lo! Allah is Seer of what they do.
  
• Shakir And fight with them until there is no more persecution and religion should be only for Allah; but if they desist, then surely Allah sees what they do.
  

“[a]ge requirements are lacking for just about every other activity or right or penalty one can imagine: ruling, marrying, having children, working, being punished for breaking a law, owning property, making blind agreements, drinking alcohol, leaving home, traveling, studying, riding chariots, and so on. Young people in the Bible did it all.”[5]

“[h]istorians are pretty sure that Mary had just entered puberty when Jesus was conceived. As a peasant in Nazareth she almost certainly would have been married off around the time [of] puberty. […] In short, there is every reason to believe that the Virgin Mary–the mother of one of the world’s major religions–was a young mother indeed.”[7]

“Mark calls her his ‘little daughter’: though both he and Luke say, she was about ‘twelve’ years of age, and that with strict propriety, according to the Jewish canons, which  say; that ‘a daughter, from the day of her birth until she is twelve years complete, is called ‘a little one’ and when she is twelve years of age, and one day and upwards, she is called ‘a young woman’.’’”[9]

“Up to this age a Jewish boy was called ‘little,’ afterwards he was called ‘grown up,’ and became a ‘Son of the Law,’ or ‘Son of the Precepts.’ At this age he was presented on the Sabbath called the ‘Sabbath of Phylacteries’ in the Synagogue, and began to wear the phylacteries with which his father presented him.”[10]

“It was, therefore in strict accordance with usage, with perhaps a slight anticipation of the actual day, that the “child Jesus” should, at the age of twelve, have gone up with His parents to Jerusalem.”[11]

“[a]ll males among the Hebrews were required to appear three times a year before God, to attend on the ordinances of religion in the temple, and it is probable that this was the age at which they first went up to Jerusalem…”[12]

“Let a man deal gently with his son till he come to be twelve years old: but from that time, let him descend with him into his way of living…”[17]

“[n]ot that he was now, “a son of the commandment”, (r) to use the Jewish phrase; or now came under the yoke of the law; or was obliged to the duties of adult church membership, as is asserted by some; nor particularly to go to Jerusalem to make his appearance at the feast of the passover, or any other feast: for according to the maxims of the Jews, persons were not obliged to the duties of the law, or subject to the penalties of it in case of non-performance, until they were, a female, at the age of twelve years, and one day, and a male, at the age of thirteen years, and one day…”[18]

“…they used to train up their children, and inure them to religious exercises before…”

“…after the custom of the feast of the passover, it shows their religious regard to him; and may be an instruction to parents, to bring up their children in the nurture and admonition of the Lord…”

“To shew how eminent Jesus was for his wisdom even in his childhood, the evangelist gives us the remarkable instance here recorded. When he was twelve years of age his parents carried him up to the passover, with a view to instil an early regard for religion and its precepts into his tender mind. See Exodus 34:23. Deuteronomy 16:16. It is generally allowed by learned men, that twelve was the age when young people, according to the Jewish maxims, came under the yoke of the law.”

“Three times a year all the men are to appear before the Sovereign Lord.”[19]

“By “all thy males” we must understand all of full age and not incapacitated by infirmity or illness.”[20]

“Misnic doctors have the following canon (c),”all are bound to appear except a man deaf and dumb, a fool, a little one, one of neither sex, or of both sexes, women, servants not free, the lame, the blind, the sick, an old man, and he that cannot go on his feet.””[24]

“Old men, sick men, male idiots, and male children under thirteen years of age, excepted; for so the Jewish doctors understand this command.”[25]

“Time even the heathens observe, that, in obedience to the law of nature, they may render their own fights to the (different) ages. For their females they despatch [sic] to their businesses from (the age of) twelve years, but the male from two years later; decreeing puberty (to consist) in years, not in espousals or nuptials. “Housewife” one is called, albeit a virgin, and “house-father,” albeit a stripling. By us not even natural laws are observed; as if the God of nature were some other than ours!”[28]

“…doubtless the age from which the law of the veil will come into operation will be that from which “the daughters of men” were able to invite concupiscence of their persons, and to experience marriage. For a virgin ceases to be a virgin from the time that it becomes possible for her not to be one. And accordingly, among Israel, it is unlawful to deliver one to a husband except after the attestation by blood of her maturity; thus, before this indication, the nature is unripe. Therefore if she is a virgin so long as she is unripe, she ceases to be a virgin when she is perceived to be ripe; and, as not-virgin, is now subject to the law, just as she is to marriage.”[29]