What Do the Bible and Quran Say About the Eunuch?


by Prof.dr. Ibrahim Khalil - Date: 2007-05-06 - Word Count: 1666 Share This!

Eunuch is a man's private parts have been crushed or cut off:
This was sometimes done to show devotion to pagan gods.

According to Dictionary.com, Eunuch is:
"A castrated man employed as a harem attendant or as a functionary in certain Asian courts. A man whose testes are nonfunctioning or have been removed. A castrated man, esp. one formerly employed by Oriental rulers as a harem guard or palace official.
Word History: The word eunuch does not derive, as one might think, from the operation that produced a eunuch but rather from one of his functions. Eunuch goes back to the Greek word eunoukhos, "a castrated person employed to take charge of the women of a harem and act as chamberlain." The Greek word is derived from eunÄ", "bed," and ekhein, "to keep." A eunuch, of course, was ideally suited to guard the bedchamber of women.

According to Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
"A eunuch is a castrated man; the term usually refers to those castrated in order to perform a specific social function, as was common in many societies of the past. The earliest records for intentional castration to produce eunuchs are from the Sumerian cities of Lagash in the 21st century BC

Among the earliest records of human religion are accounts of castration as an act of devotion, and sacred eunuchs are found in spiritual roles. Archaeological finds at Çatalhöyük, a large Neolithic town of southern Anatolia, suggest that such practises were common in the worship of the goddess Cybele in 7500 BC. The Galli, later Roman followers of Cybele, also practiced ritual self-castration, known as sanguinaria. The practice continued throughout Christian times, with many of the early church castrating themselves as an act of devotion

Eunuchs castrated before puberty were also valued and trained in several cultures for their exceptional voices, which retained a childlike and other-worldly flexibility and treble pitch. Such eunuchs were known as castrati. Unfortunately the choice had to be made at an age when the boy would not yet be able to consciously choose whether to sacrifice his sexual potency, and there was no guarantee that the voice would remain of musical excellence after the operation.

As women were sometimes forbidden to sing in Church, their place was taken by castrati. The practice, known as castratism, remained popular until the 18th century and was known into the 19th century. The last famous Italian castrato, Giovanni Velluti, died in 1861. The sole existing recording of a castrato singer documents the voice of Alessandro Moreschi, one of the last eunuchs in the Sistine Chapel choir. Unfortunately, the early 20th century recording is of poor quality and Moreschi, who was never trained for the stage, is not considered a great singer."

According to the Bible, Deuteronomy 23:1
Eunuch is Excluded From the Assembly and the Congregation, Cannot Become One of the Lord's People , Can not Go Into The Meeting Of The Lord and Can not Worship With the Lord's People.

Herein is the different translation of Deuteronomy 23:1

New International Version
No one who has been emasculated by crushing or cutting may enter the assembly of the LORD.

New American Standard Bible
No one who is emasculated or has his male organ cut off shall enter the assembly of the LORD.

The Message
No eunuch is to enter the congregation of God.

Amplified Bible
HE WHO is wounded in the testicles, or has been made a eunuch, shall not enter into the congregation of the Lord.

New Living Translation
If a man's testicles are crushed or his penis is cut off, he may not be admitted to the assembly of the Lord.

King James Version
He that is wounded in the stones, or hath his privy member cut off, shall not enter into the congregation of the LORD.

English Standard Version
No one whose testicles are crushed or whose male organ is cut off shall enter the assembly of the LORD.

Contemporary English Version
If a man's private parts have been crushed or cut off, [a] he cannot fully belong to the Lord's people.

New King James Version
He who is emasculated by crushing or mutilation shall not enter the assembly of the LORD.

21st Century King James Version
He that is wounded in the stones or hath his private member cut off shall not enter into the congregation of the LORD.

American Standard Version
He that is wounded in the stones, or hath his privy member cut off, shall not enter into the assembly of Jehovah.

Young's Literal Translation
One wounded, bruised, or cut in the member doth not enter into the assembly of Jehovah;

Darby Translation
He that is a eunuch, whether he have been crushed or cut, shall not come into the congregation of Jehovah.

New Life Version
No man who has his sex part crushed or cut off will go into the meeting of the Lord.

Holman Christian Standard Bible
No man whose [testicles] have been crushed or whose penis has been cut off may enter the Lord's assembly.

New International Reader's Version
No man whose sex organs have been crushed or cut can join in worship with the Lord's people.

New International Version - UK
No-one who has been emasculated by crushing or cutting may enter the assembly of the LORD.

Today's New International Version
No one who has been emasculated by crushing or cutting may enter the assembly of the LORD.

Also, it is forbidden to offer to the LORD an animal whose testicles are bruised, crushed, torn or cut.

Leviticus 21:20
or who is hunchbacked or dwarfed, or who has any eye defect, or who has festering or running sores or damaged testicles.

Leviticus 22:24
You must not offer to the LORD an animal whose testicles are bruised, crushed, torn or cut. You must not do this in your own land,

I do not know why the Biblical Lord is very interested in the genital organs?
Why the Biblical Lord excludes Eunuch from the His Assembly and Congregation,
Why the Eunuch Cannot Become One of the Lord's People , Why the Eunuch Can not Go Into The Meeting Of The Lord Why the Eunuch Can not Worship With the Lord's People.
Why also the Eunuch is detested?

The Eunuch today
The Eunuch has no sex
Is the Eunuch a third sex?

A Japanese court decides that sex with an eunuch is not a homosexual act because the persons involved are not of the same sex.

The Eunuch in the Quran:

The Eunuch is not named in the Quran.
The Quran mentions the right of any sick person in general
Arabs before Islam gave no human rights to the blind, the lame or the sick. They put them inferior. The human rights before Islam were only for the powerful healthy man. Look how does the Quran settle the human rights for any sick person including the Eunuch?

Surah 48:17
SHAKIR: there is no harm in the blind, nor is there any harm in the lame, nor is there any harm in the sick (if they do not go forth); and whoever obeys Allah and his messenger, he will cause him to enter gardens beneath which rivers flow, and whoever turns back, he will punish him with a painful punishment

PICKTHAL: there is no blame for the blind, nor is there blame for the lame, nor is there blame for the sick (that they go not forth to war). and whoso obeyeth Allah and his messenger, he will make him enter gardens underneath which rivers flow; and whoso turneth back, him will he punish with a painful doom.

YUSUFALI: no blame is there on the blind, nor is there blame on the lame, nor on one ill (if he joins not the war): but he that obeys Allah and his messenger,- (Allah) will admit him to gardens beneath which rivers flow; and he who turns back, (Allah) will punish him with a grievous penalty.

34:61 Surah

SHAKIR: there is no blame on the blind man, nor is there blame on the lame, nor is there blame on the sick, nor on yourselves that you eat from your houses, or your fathers' houses or your mothers' houses, or your brothers' houses, or your sisters' houses, or your paternal uncles' houses, or your paternal aunts' houses, or your maternal uncles' houses, or your maternal aunts' houses, or what you possess the keys of, or your friends' (houses). it is no sin in you that you eat together or separately. so when you enter houses, greet your people with a salutation from Allah, blessed (and) goodly; thus does Allah make clear to you the communications that you may understand
PICKTHAL: no blame is there upon the blind nor any blame upon the lame nor any blame upon the sick nor on yourselves if ye eat from your houses, or the houses of your fathers, or the houses of your mothers, or the houses of your brothers, or the houses of your sisters, or the houses of your fathers' brothers, or the houses of your fathers' sisters, or the houses of your mothers' brothers, or the houses of your mothers' sisters, or (from that) whereof ye hold the keys, or (from the house) of a friend. no sin shall it be for you whether ye eat together or apart. but when ye enter houses, salute one another with a greeting from Allah, blessed and sweet. thus Allah maketh clear his revelations for you, that haply ye may understand.
YUSUFALI: it is no fault in the blind nor in one born lame, nor in one afflicted with illness, nor in yourselves, that ye should eat in your own houses, or those of your fathers, or your mothers, or your brothers, or your sisters, or your father's brothers or your father's sisters, or your mohter's brothers, or your mother's sisters, or in houses of which the keys are in your possession, or in the house of a sincere friend of yours: there is no blame on you, whether ye eat in company or separately. but if ye enter houses, salute each other - a greeting of blessing and purity as from Allah. thus does Allah make clear the signs to you: that ye may understand.

Back to the main topic of my series of articles (1- 54); this is my question to you smart readers: "Is the Quran quoted from the Bible "?


Related Tags: human rights, bible, church, lord, islam, dictionary, wikipedia, japanese, allah, quran, eunuch, excluded, testes, castrated, harem

Professor Dr. Ibrahim Khalil
Prof. of Clinical and Chemical Pathology,
Head of Clinical Microbiology and Infection Control Unit,
Ain-Shams University. Cairo, Egypt.
And, President of The Egyptian Society of Inventors.
Member of the Egyptian union of Writers

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