Re: Islamically can you join a national army...
oh lol so that is what you meant :) I thought you were going to present the verse after 2:238 :) anyhow, let me see. BTW, I am very happy that you are being patient with me.
DUH!!!!
Your premise: Prayer is timelimited, and to be performed at specific times... and as such, salawaat is plural of salaat. Then edges of the day (TARAIY), and approach of the night (ZULFAN) need a quantifiable entity that exibits plurality.
I have already answered about that... and I do not accept this as a viable trannslation.
Again, the context of the verses around the axis of this verses is hell-fire as a result of corruption and how God does not punish a society that has reformers? What then is the context of the edges of the day: Rise and Twilight, and then as Night approaches. In the context of the ruku' of this surah, is this not an allegory for the rise, fall and stagnation of a society?
It is interesting that 111 speaks of staying "on straight course" (ASTQIM) ... how do you stay on course? What do you follow? And to stay on course for paradise, what would you follow (be MuSallee of)? Through a ritual?
The premise of our overall discussion is to prove that prayer existed before the introduction of ahadith. I am doing this by giving references to the establishment of prayer through the Quran. It was not a ritual introduced by ahadith.
As for your commentary on the verse, the verses around the axis of this verse do talk about heaven and hell-fire but what you missed is for whom is it talking about. People who worship dieties other than Allah SWT. It is not a general premise of paradise or hell. It says not to imitate their forefathers in their form of worship and goes on to explain or reference about prayers for muslims or believers in Allah SWT. In further goes on to say that those things that are good wipe out those which are evil, what is meant is that the prayer that muslims are supposed establish will wipe of the custom of worship of their forefathers (which is evil because it gets them into hell-fire). That is the allegory not rise and fall of the society but how to overcome the ingrained false forms of worship from previous generations.