Religion: Koran reading, Sura 2

Religions have some features in common. For instance, there is usually some attempt to explain how things got to be where they are now. You might say that is the religion's "cosmology" or "worldview."

Religions vary on the degree to which god (of whatever type) is involved. Even atheism, a world view where there is no god, has a way to explain how things got to be where they are now. Their explanation is that evolution explains everything even religion itself. Am not going to debate the strengths and weaknesses of evolution in this blog post but I will state that atheism necessitates evolution. Simply put, if an atheists does not believe in evolution, then they are stuck with no ability to explain reality.

Aside from attempting to establish some narrative to explain the world as it is today, religions offer rules to live by and the Koran appears to offer that as well in the chapter I've been looking at.

The second chapter of the Koran is pretty long, 286 verses.

Sprinkled throughout the second Surah but mostly toward the end of the chapter are various admonitions on how to live: prayer, charity, Ramadan, the Pilgrimage, money and marriage/divorce.

In the second Surah, from verses 1-30, there is much about the right and wrong path and to God being the creator. Koran 2:2, "This is the Book; in it is guidance sure, without doubt, to those who fear Allah." Then in Koran 2:29, "It is He who created for you all things that are on the earth."

Interestingly, we meet Adam! Just like in Genesis of the Hebrew Scriptures, we meet Adam and Adam falls, Koran 2:36, "Then did Satan make them slip from the (Garden), and get them out of the state (of felicity) in which they had been."

Other figures familiar to Jews and Christians make their appearances in this chapter of the Koran. For instance, Koran 2:87, "We gave Moses the Book and followed him up with a succession of messengers; We gave Jesus the son of Mary Clear (Signs) and strengthened him with the holy spirit. Is it that whenever there comes to you a messenger with what ye yourselves desire not, ye are puffed up with pride? - Some ye called impostors, and others ye slay!"

Whoa!

Doesn't this sound a lot like Matthew 23:37, "O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones God' messengers! How often I have wanted to gather your children together as a hen protects her chicks beneath her wings, but you wouldn't let me."

It is really interesting to see that the Children of Israel are mentioned so explicitly in the Koran. See Koran 2:40, 47, 122, "O Children of Israel! Call to mind the special favor which I bestowed upon you."

Then there is Koran 2:116-117:

They say: "Allah hath begotten a son" :Glory be to Him.-Nay, to Him belongs all that is in the heavens and on earth: everything renders worship to Him. To Him is due the primal origin of the heavens and the earth: When He decreeth a matter, He saith to it: "Be," and it is.

I am not clear on what it is saying here. Perhaps the English translation and its word order is very murky.

It seems to be saying, "God begot a son, glory be to the son. No. To God belongs all that is in heaven and on earth ...."

I have no idea if this passage is a rebuke to Christians who hold that Jesus is God, the second person of the Trinity?

Another verse that caught my eye was Koran 2:136-137

Say ye: "We believe in Allah, and the revelation given to us, and to Abraham, Isma'il, Isaac, Jacob, and the Tribes, and that given to Moses and Jesus, and that given to (all) prophets from their Lord: We make no difference between one and another of them: And we bow to Allah (in Islam)." So if they believe as ye believe, they are indeed on the right path; but if they turn back, it is they who are in schism; but Allah will suffice thee as against them, and He is the All-Hearing, the All-Knowing.

All very interesting! It sounds as if all three theistic religions with their roots in Abraham are valid in Islam's theology?

I realize that I may well be mis-reading this verse. The Koran probably (?) has other verse that are much less open to other faiths. That issue aside, my other question is this: if in Judaism the blessing came through Isaac and in Islam, the blessing came through Ishmael, then why is Jacob and Moses and Jesus (all descendants of Isaac) mentioned in the above mentioned passage?

Also, when it makes reference to "the Tribes," are they referring to the descendants of Ishmael?

Perhaps Islam believes that god worked on parallel tracks through both lines?

If so, then why the hostility toward Judaism and Christianity?

By the way, I define hostility in a very narrow sense. I don't think it is hostile if someone tells me I'm going to hell because I believe in Jesus or the wrong conception of Jesus. However, I think it is hostile if someone will try to kill me because I believe in Jesus. My thinking on this has been influenced by Dennis Prager who is a Jewish radio talk show host in Los Angeles. Prager often talks about religion on his program and people have asked him, how do you feel when people of other religions tell him, you are going to hell?

Prager responds by saying, that maybe so and people are free to believe it is so but they don't have the right to send me there prematurely!

Religion: A Christian reading the Koran

Religions do share some similarities. In most cases, there is a concern about the choice of how to live: the right way (God's way) or the way of wickedness (our selfish way).

When I read the first Sura of the Koran, I found myself thinking of Psalm 1; hence, the side-by-side presentation below.

(1) AL-FATIHA (THE OPENING) In the name of Allah, Most Gracious, Most Merciful. Praise be to Allah, the Cherisher and Sustainer of the worlds; Most Gracious, Most Merciful; Master of the Day of Judgment. Thee do we worship, and Thine aid we seek. Show us the straight way, The way of those on whom Thou hast bestowed Thy Grace, those whose (portion) is not wrath, and who go not astray.

Psalm 1 Blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked or stand in the way of sinners or sit in the seat of mockers. But his delight is in the law of the LORD, and on his law he meditates day and night. He is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither. Whatever he does prospers. Not so the wicked! They are like chaff that the wind blows away. Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the assembly of the righteous. For the LORD watches over the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked will perish.

As I continue to explore the Koran, my plan is to note similarities to the Christian faith I'm a part of and I'll also point out differences and pose questions of things that I don't understand.

Religion: Taking a look at the Koran

Like most Americans, I know next to nothing about Islam. I must say even though I live in the cultural melting pot of Los Angeles, I don't know any Muslims personally. I've attended one presentation about Islam which I blogged about and I hear what is in the popular media on television.

As a Christian, I do have a religious perspective to begin with. Nonethess, as a thinking person living in this world at this moment in history, I decided it was time to try to understand Islam a little bit better. I went to Amazon and ordered up a copy of the Koran.

Since the Koran is in Arabic, I have to have an English translation in order to read it.

In Christianity, the Bible's original language is Hebrew and Greek; thus, there are many options for English translations.

I chose the Koran prepared by Abdullah Yusuf Ali because one of the Amazon reviews said this, "This translation is considered the most authentic by Muslim scholars. It is the one that is supported by the government of Saudi Arabia and is most widely read by English-speaking Muslims."

I took his word for it and ordered it up.

In the table of content, one finds that the Koran is divided into 114 Suras.

A visit to the University of Southern California Muslim Student's Association gives the following introduction to the Koran:

The Qur'an is a Message from Allah to humanity. It was transmitted to us in a chain starting from the Almighty Himself to the angel Gabriel to the Prophet Muhammad. This message was given to the Prophet in pieces over a period spanning approximately 23 years (610 CE to 622 CE). The Prophet was 40 years old when the Qur'an began to be revealed to him, and he was 63 when the revelation was completed. The language of the original message was Arabic, but it has been translated into many other languages.

Wikipedia offers these items about the Koran:

There are numerous traditions, and many conflicting academic theories, as to the provenance of the Qur'anic verses that were eventually assembled into a single volume. Most Muslims accept the account recorded in several hadith, which state that Abu Bakr, The First Caliph, ordered his personal secretary Zayd ibn Thabit to collect and record all the authentic verses of the Qur'an, as preserved in written form or oral tradition. Zayd's written collection, privately treasured by Muhammad's wife Hafsa bint Umar, was, according to Muslim sources, later used by Uthman and is thus the basis of today's Qur'an.

Uthman's version, organized the suras roughly in order of length (excepting the brief opening surah Al-Fatiha), with the longest suras at the start of the Qur'an and the shortest ones at the end. More conservative views state that the order of most suras was divinely set. Later scholars have struggled to put the suras in chronological order, and at least among Muslim commentators, there is a rough consensus as to which suras were revealed in Mecca and which at Medina, with distinctive characteristics observed within these two subgroups. Some suras (e.g. surat Iqra) are thought to have been revealed in parts at separate times.