Is Reading the Koran a Waste of Time?

Friday

We received the following question and thought it was worth sharing:

I know you advise all readers to commit to reading the Koran and earlier I agreed with you on this issue. But lately I have realized that no matter what I think the Koran says, the Muslim man or woman is going to interpret it in his/her own way. Even if I think it is terribly violent or it is super peaceful, what difference will that make to the thinking of the Muslim multitudes? They will still commit murders in the name of their religion.

If we — the Islamo-aware people — want to convince other non-Muslims of the horror of Islamic doctrine, then isn't it better to do it by pointing out the violent acts committed by Muslims in the name of their religious doctrines rather than waste time reading a Koran ourselves? I would welcome your viewpoint on this issue.

I replied with this:

What a great question. I have no intention of changing the way Muslims think. It would be great, but I don't see it happening. That's really a job for ex-Muslims. My goal is to get non-Muslims to know what they're dealing with. Once that happens, we will be able to do whatever needs to happen to curb the spread of orthodox Islam. Most of the people I know who are not already Islamo-aware believe that the bloodshed in the name of Islam is being done by a fringe group, similar to the KKK (who consider themselves Christian), and are not a significant threat. Most people are unaware of the scope and universality of Islamic violence and bigotry. So telling them about it might help. For some people it would be enough. But I've found most non-Muslims explain it away. But when I tell them what's in the Koran because I have read it, and when I try to convince them to prove it to themselves by reading it, I gain an authority in their minds and I reach them better.

What I believe people need to understand is that violence and intolerance are embedded in Islam's fundamental doctrines. It is a sobering realization, but it changes the way people respond to actions motivated by Islamic doctrine. That solid information changes people. It gives them a resolve I don't think anything else does.

That's exactly what happened to Thomas Jefferson when he read the Koran.

6 comments:

Anonymous 5:41 AM  

The Koran is normally printed in an order that starts with the longest chapters (Surah) and ends with the shortest chapter. There are conflicting verses within the Koran and Islamic scholars explain this by saying the verses that were written last supersede or abrogate the earlier version.so the chronological order is essential
This order is as follows 96, 74, 111,106, 108, 104, 107, 102, 105, 92, 90, 94, 93, 97, 86, 91, 80, 68, 87, 95, 103, 85, '73, 101, 99, 82, 81, 53, 84,100, 79, 77, 78, 88, 89, 75, 83, 69, 51, 52, 56, 55, 112, 109, ll3, 114, 1, 54, 37, 71, 76, 44, 50, 20, 26, 15, 19, 38, 36, 43, 72, 67, 23, 21, 25, 17, 27, 18, 32, 41 45, 16, 30, 11, 14,12, 40, 28, 39, 29, 31, 42, 10, 34, 35, 7, 46, 6, 13, 2, 98, 64, 62, 8, 47, 3, 61, 57, 4, 65, 59, 33, 63, 24, 58, 22, 48, 66, 60,110, 9, and 5.
Sura 5 can to all intents and purposes be ignored
sura 9 written before muhammed died is the last word on nonmuslims

9:5 Slay the idolaters wherever you find them.
9:6 Those who submit and convert to Islam will be treated well. (Those who don't submit will be killed. See previous verse.)
9:7-9 Don't make treaties with non-Muslims. They are all evildoers and should not be trusted.
9:11 Treat converts to Islam well, but kill those who refuse to convert (see 9:5).
9:12-14 Fight the disbelievers! Allah is on your side; he will give you victory.
9:23 Don't make friends with your disbelieving family members. Those who do so are wrong-doers.
9:29 Fight against Christians and Jews "until they pay the tribute readily, being brought low."
9:33 The "Religion of Truth" (Islam) must prevail, by force if necessary, over all other religions.
9:41 Fight for Allah with your wealth and whatever weapons are available to you.
9:42 Those who refuse to fight for Allah (claiming they are unable) are liars who have destroyed their souls.
9:73 Fight the disbelievers and hypocrites. Be harsh with them. They are all going to hell anyway.
9:81-83 Those who refuse to give their wealth and lives to Allah will face the fire of hell.
9:85 Those who refuse to fight for Allah will be treated (along with their children) as unbelievers.
9:111 Believers must fight for Allah. They must kill and be killed. Allah will reward them for it.
9:123 Fight disbelievers who are near you, and let them see the harshness in you.
Muhsin Khan, the translator of Sahih al-Bukhari, says God revealed sura 9 in order to discard restraint and to command Muslims to fight against all the pagans as well as against the People of the Book if they do not embrace Islam or until they pay religious taxes. So, at first aggressive fighting was forbidden; it later became permissible (2:190) and subsequently obligatory (9:5). This "verse of the sword" abrogated, canceled, and replaced 124 verses that called for tolerance, compassion, and peace.

The Egyptian theologian Abu Suyuti said that everything in the Quran about forgiveness and peace is abrogated by verse 9:5, which orders Muslims to fight the unbelievers and to establish God's kingdom on earth.

Citizen Warrior 10:55 AM  

Someone emailed this worthy comment:

When instructing people to open the Koran, I find it extremely important to equip them with the concept and knowledge of abrogation, since many muslims try to discredit our study of the Koran by claiming that all its hateful verses have been abrogated. This is simply not true. In fact, exactly the opposite is factual.

It’s important for people to understand that all the ‘evil’ verses from Quran and Hadiths are the newer (and current) Medinian-era verses, which abrogate the older, but nicer, Meccan verses. People should also understand why mohammed changed to violent leadership. They must know his story.

I’ve also had muslims throw hateful Bible verses at me. But this one is easy because what they fail to point out is that those are all from the Old Testament, which was abrogated by the Jesus-era New Testament. i.e.- Turn the other cheek.

Truth is, Christianity became nice (because of Jesus), and Islam became, well... not so nice. In fact, the phases of jihad first use the Meccan verses to fool people into thinking Islam is peaceful. This fosters recruitment of some who would otherwise not take the bait. Then, after muslim populations become sufficient, the Medinian verses kick in and all hell breaks loose. Then our new neighbors aren't so nice, are they?

I’ve never met anyone who’s been able to discredit these facts, both the bible and quran. Share with your readers.

ZZMike 7:42 PM  

To read the Koran without reading about it is as pointless as reading the Bible without assistance (Acts 8:31 - paraphrasing: "Do you understand what you're reading?"

"How can I, except some man should guide me?")

For the Koran, you need to know about the Hadith and how they relate to the book.

The point about abrogation is important. It gives the promoters of Islam a way to speak with two tongues: the peaceful verses to the kaffir and the dhimmi; the violent ones to the faithful and the jihadi.

Beside all that, any philosophy that thinks dogs are unclean, is to be rejected.

Citizen Warrior 12:58 AM  

Absolutely. The details you can get from the Hadith are vital. These are the two versions of the Koran I recommend:

http://www.citizenwarrior.com/2007/09/read-koran-to-see-what-islamic.html

Both are done by Bill Warner, and both fill in those missing details from the Hadith that make it understandable. And they are in plain, modern English. And they are in chronological order.

Anonymous 2:49 PM  

I signed up for your Read the Koran Challenge some weeks back. I got halfway through and got sidetracked, but I'm going to get back to it. It's important to be able to say honestly that you've read the sources. -- Bradamante

Citizen Warrior 4:11 PM  

Good for you, Bradamante! It changes the quality of the conversations you can have with people.

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