The Koran(Holy Qur'an)

[SFG75]

Anybody read it? I'm one good night's reading away from having it completed for the first time. While I knew they considered Jesus to be a prophet, there was some interesting information about the death of Noah's son in the flood, as well as an extended dialogue concerning Moses and the Pharaoh. It does contain some contractual language stuff, which is to be expected. The repeated warnings to "people of the Book" and "unbelievers" became very tiresome. The Bible contains many warnings as well, I haven't noticed it to play such a prominent part. Any thoughts?:biggrin5:

[YesNo]

Anybody read it?
...
The repeated warnings to "people of the Book" and "unbelievers" became very tiresome.
I've read parts of it, but that's the most I can say of any religious tradition. The final surahs are shorter.

Surah 109 comes to mind when I think of the unbelievers. The reported slaughter in Joshua (6.21) is on the same level, perhaps worse, to my way of thinking: "They exterminated everything in the city with the sword: man and woman, young and old..."

What I would like to find is an English commentary on the Quran from the perspective of one who practiced it, something like what Eknath Easwaran did with the Bhagavad Gita.

[hoope]

Anybody read it? I'm one good night's reading away from having it completed for the first time. While I knew they considered Jesus to be a prophet, there was some interesting information about the death of Noah's son in the flood, as well as an extended dialogue concerning Moses and the Pharaoh. It does contain some contractual language stuff, which is to be expected. The repeated warnings to "people of the Book" and "unbelievers" became very tiresome. The Bible contains many warnings as well, I haven't noticed it to play such a prominent part. Any thoughts?:biggrin5:

Yea.. i have read it.. and i do read it many times.. but not the translated version.. which might be a slightly different from the origin . But not much it can do .

So what do you think of it .. i mean you have you read the Bible ..
As you go on reading tell me if you do feel anything different or see any difference in the two divine books.. ?

[caddy_caddy]

What I would like to find is an English commentary on the Quran from the perspective of one who practiced it, something like what Eknath Easwaran did with the Bhagavad Gita.
Actually , this is an essential thing when reading the Koran . We Arabs Cannot read it without extra reading on the Koran . We can never isolate the text and focus on words and verses alone to grasp the meaning . It's a big mistake . Unfortunately , that's what most of the readers do . The formalist approach in dealing with the text leads to misunderstanding because the revelation of each verse has a special occasion , time and place and special kind of addressee. The context is very important .Relating verses to each other and so forth .
The issue is very complicated and not that simple . This is an Islamic science in itself and those who explain the Koran devoted their whole life to do it .

[YesNo]

This is an Islamic science in itself and those who explain the Koran devoted their whole life to do it .
Thanks, caddy_caddy. Is there an English commentator you would recommend?

[dfloyd]

not so much for its religous message, but because I am a book collector.
A few months ago, I bought the Baghavad Gita for the same reason. The Koran was translated into English and produced in the mid-fifties.
It is bound in a Arabic wallet-style binding. Hope to read it soon.

[SFG75]

So what do you think of it .. i mean you have you read the Bible ..
As you go on reading tell me if you do feel anything different or see any difference in the two divine books.. ?

I would say that I have a new found respect for the Bible's authorship as many hands were involved in the writing of it. Obviously, if there is evidence that a single source work like the Koran is divine, then a multi-inspired author book over thousands of years has to be taken with greater weight and validity, at least in comparison to this work. I understand that it is meant to be a latter day add on to the Bible, though I'm not certain much evidence exists that Moses referred to God as Allah, or that anyone heard Christ maintain likewise. If those documents exist around the time the New Testament was written, I would be most curious to read them.:skep:

There were a few lines that were inspiring and could help you see why it is so beloved millions. At the same time, I wanted more of a book of Psalms. Of course, that criticism is unfair perhaps, as it is directly stated that it is not a work of poetry, but rather, a simple life guide for a person. Others take issue with the Koran and science, (http://www.islam-watch.org/SyedKamranMirza/Quran-contradiction-flaws.htm) but I am trying to stick with the literary aspects of the book, at least, as much as I can glean from it. I have the Abdullah Yusuf Ali interpretation that I downloaded to my kindle.

[YesNo]

I would say that I have a new found respect for the Bible's authorship as many hands were involved in the writing of it. Obviously, if there is evidence that a single source work like the Koran is divine, then a multi-inspired author book over thousands of years has to be taken with greater weight and validity, at least in comparison to this work.

I don't see why having many authors over a longer period of time adds greater weight and validity to a religious text. Just puzzled.

[SFG75]

I don't see why having many authors over a longer period of time adds greater weight and validity to a religious text. Just puzzled.

It's hard to agree with a single source perspective on anything. In court, that is only a "he said, she said" claim that can't be authenticated or taken seriously. If you have over a hundred witnesses now............ Add to that the fact that there are tons of manuscripts out there that have been discovered that corroborate the accounts mentioned in the Bible from different tribes, and you have some semblance of what was recognized back then. If you use the Septuagint as the "baseline" model to compare by, you can see that the story doesn't change and that even back then, there is an accurate picture of what happened to who and roughy when.

[YesNo]

It's hard to agree with a single source perspective on anything. In court, that is only a "he said, she said" claim that can't be authenticated or taken seriously. If you have over a hundred witnesses now............ Add to that the fact that there are tons of manuscripts out there that have been discovered that corroborate the accounts mentioned in the Bible from different tribes, and you have some semblance of what was recognized back then. If you use the Septuagint as the "baseline" model to compare by, you can see that the story doesn't change and that even back then, there is an accurate picture of what happened to who and roughy when.
I'm not convinced.

[hoope]

I would say that I have a new found respect for the Bible's authorship as many hands were involved in the writing of it. Obviously, if there is evidence that a single source work like the Koran is divine, then a multi-inspired author book over thousands of years has to be taken with greater weight and validity, at least in comparison to this work. I understand that it is meant to be a latter day add on to the Bible, though I'm not certain much evidence exists that Moses referred to God as Allah, or that anyone heard Christ maintain likewise. If those documents exist around the time the New Testament was written, I would be most curious to read them.:skep:

There were a few lines that were inspiring and could help you see why it is so beloved millions. At the same time, I wanted more of a book of Psalms. Of course, that criticism is unfair perhaps, as it is directly stated that it is not a work of poetry, but rather, a simple life guide for a person. Others take issue with the Koran and science, (http://www.islam-watch.org/SyedKamranMirza/Quran-contradiction-flaws.htm) but I am trying to stick with the literary aspects of the book, at least, as much as I can glean from it. I have the Abdullah Yusuf Ali interpretation that I downloaded to my kindle.

Well i respect your point of view..:)