صفحة جديدة 1
The Quran from the perspective of a non-Muslim
Robin Peters is a 44 years old lady who read the Quran and then she liked to
comment on what she've read .. so let's see what did she say ..
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The Koran is the Bible of Islam. Revealed to the world by Muhammad approximately
1,400 years ago, it is regarded by Muslims, universally, as the word of God to
Muhammad and from him to all Islam. No devout Muslim disputes this; in this
respect, there is more agreement among Muslims about the divine origin of the
Koran (seen as having been literally dictated to Muhammad by the mouth of Allah
Himself) than there is about the origins of the Bible among Christians.
Even those of us forced to rely on translations of the Koran (considered
interpretations of same because only the Arabic Koran is the literal Word of
God) can see the literary value of this work. There is tremendous spiritual and
psychological value in reading this book, as well, for Muslim and non-Muslim
alike.
For me, the psychological value of this book comes in its emphasis on right and
wrong belief and standing up for what you believe in, even if it costs you
dearly in terms of human relationships. Certainly, no one has accused Muslims of
being wishy-washy about their faith! In fact, the differences in the various
branches of Islam come from the ways in which they practice their faith. A Sunni
Muslim will differ from a Shi'ite or Twelver Muslim in the way in which they
practice their faith, but they will not disagree about the divine origin of the
Koran or the fact that there are correct and incorrect beliefs. I think that
Catholics and Protestants can learn an important lesson from Muslims in this
regard; we have become so concerned with whether or not the Bible is inspired or
dictated directly from the mouth of the Lord, or whether certain beliefs are
correct or incorrect, or whether certain actions or practices are moral or
immoral, that we are no longer truly Christian or loving of one another.
The Koran basically mandates certain behavior from the rank-and-file believer.
In this respect, Islam is less a religion than a way of life and pattern of
behavior with Allah (God) at its very center. By way of contrast, Christians
leave Christianity at the door of church on Sunday, still practicing that civil
religion so popular during the 1950s and so offensive to those of us who take
the Bible and Christ seriously. Muslims are expected to pray five times daily;
Christians who pray once daily are seen as "out of the loop" and are thus
discouraged from contacting God regularly unless it's to be polite during a
worship service. Muslims fast at least one month a year; Christians generally
ignore the need to undergo cycles of feasting and fasting, unless they belong to
a denomination which takes Lent seriously. Muslims consider charitable donations
a tax of sorts, due and payable once a year during the feast of Eid, one of the
five pillars of the faith without which one is not a Muslim; Christians
generally donate to charity with such highhandedness and snobbery that they
might as well not donate one penny.
I would strongly recommend that people of all religious persuasions read the
Koran, if only to learn more about what Islam really is all about.
The Quran from the perspective of a non-Muslim
Robin Peters is a 44 years old lady who read the Quran and then she liked to
comment on what she've read .. so let's see what did she say ..
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
The Koran is the Bible of Islam. Revealed to the world by Muhammad approximately
1,400 years ago, it is regarded by Muslims, universally, as the word of God to
Muhammad and from him to all Islam. No devout Muslim disputes this; in this
respect, there is more agreement among Muslims about the divine origin of the
Koran (seen as having been literally dictated to Muhammad by the mouth of Allah
Himself) than there is about the origins of the Bible among Christians.
Even those of us forced to rely on translations of the Koran (considered
interpretations of same because only the Arabic Koran is the literal Word of
God) can see the literary value of this work. There is tremendous spiritual and
psychological value in reading this book, as well, for Muslim and non-Muslim
alike.
For me, the psychological value of this book comes in its emphasis on right and
wrong belief and standing up for what you believe in, even if it costs you
dearly in terms of human relationships. Certainly, no one has accused Muslims of
being wishy-washy about their faith! In fact, the differences in the various
branches of Islam come from the ways in which they practice their faith. A Sunni
Muslim will differ from a Shi'ite or Twelver Muslim in the way in which they
practice their faith, but they will not disagree about the divine origin of the
Koran or the fact that there are correct and incorrect beliefs. I think that
Catholics and Protestants can learn an important lesson from Muslims in this
regard; we have become so concerned with whether or not the Bible is inspired or
dictated directly from the mouth of the Lord, or whether certain beliefs are
correct or incorrect, or whether certain actions or practices are moral or
immoral, that we are no longer truly Christian or loving of one another.
The Koran basically mandates certain behavior from the rank-and-file believer.
In this respect, Islam is less a religion than a way of life and pattern of
behavior with Allah (God) at its very center. By way of contrast, Christians
leave Christianity at the door of church on Sunday, still practicing that civil
religion so popular during the 1950s and so offensive to those of us who take
the Bible and Christ seriously. Muslims are expected to pray five times daily;
Christians who pray once daily are seen as "out of the loop" and are thus
discouraged from contacting God regularly unless it's to be polite during a
worship service. Muslims fast at least one month a year; Christians generally
ignore the need to undergo cycles of feasting and fasting, unless they belong to
a denomination which takes Lent seriously. Muslims consider charitable donations
a tax of sorts, due and payable once a year during the feast of Eid, one of the
five pillars of the faith without which one is not a Muslim; Christians
generally donate to charity with such highhandedness and snobbery that they
might as well not donate one penny.
I would strongly recommend that people of all religious persuasions read the
Koran, if only to learn more about what Islam really is all about.
