Goodreads: The Koran translated by J.M. Rodwell (checkpoint 1)

On page 210/500

I read SURA XVI. - The Bee, which is the 73rd chapter in this version of the Koran. It is a chronological version. I began reading this several months ago, on and off.

God's gifts to man and the infidels who reject them
This Sura declares all that God has given man, from livestock, to vegetation, to the mountains and rivers, created for man's guidance and purposes. It decalres his gracious mercy, knowledge, and power.

But the infidels have gone astray and have denied what God has done for them. For this evil, they will be repayed. It is Hell for them, however, those that fear God will be rewarded.  It then goes on to discuss more that God has done for man.

It seems to attribute nearly everything that helps man to God having done it for the purpose of man: mountains for shelter, garments to defend from the heat and in wars, tents to dwell in, skins of beasts, furniture and goods and so on.

The blank slate?
One that caught my eye since I'm reading The Blank Slate by Pinker is:

"God hath brought you out of your mothers' wombs devoid of all knowledge; but hath given you hearing, and sight, and heart, that haply ye might render thanks" - v80

An initial read of this leads me to believe it is standing for what Pinker refers to as the blank slate, that all behaviors are learned from experience and not by innate knowledge, however, I could be reading into this too much from the Koran (or just this particular translation to English).

Election?
The next verse that really jumped out was around 95:

"Had God pleased, He could have made you one people: but He causeth whom He will to err, and whom He will He gideth: and ye shall assuredly be called to account for your doings."

That sounded a good deal like predestination, election, though I could also be miscontextualizing it due to my lack of Western American understanding read into this Eastern text.

Abraham was a Muslim?
Around 124, it seems to state that Islam is the same religion of Abraham, which has also been stated in other Suras as well:

"We have moreover revealed to thee that thou follow the religion of Abraham, the sound in faith."