The Bible and The Koran (Qu'ran)

I discovered my friend Nas was similarly researching the topic I was and wanted to provide you with his brief entry regarding Islam's treatment of the Bible and Torah compared to the Qu'ran. He uses three different sites as reference which explains that, while Islam treats Christians and Jews and "people of the book" (the old testament), Islam is able to dismiss these religions as "true" religion because they are based on "flawed" or "corrupted" books. That these "books" were given to man and written by man and, therefore, corrupted by man's interpretation as opposed to the Qu'ran which was given directly to Mohammed by the Angel Gabriel including the portions of the Qu'ran that are similar to these books. Therefore, the Qu'ran, unlike the Bible and Torah, is divine as it comes directly from a divine source and is incorruptible.

Click on the title above to read more interesting information provided by Nas.

As a closing here, I will point out a couple of issues with this theory:

• Mohammed routinely admonishes his followers that he is but a man and not to be worshipped
  
• Mohammed was a man, no more and no less than the prophets who were originally provided "the book" through "divine" means
  
• Mohammed did not write down the "surat" or verses of the Qu'ran himself, but dictated it to his companions, who were also men (and were they not flawed?)
  
• The "surat" of the Qu'ran were not written down until much later, after Mohammed had spoken (some not until he was dead) therefore, they must fall under the same auspices that Islam treats the bible, corrupted as written by man from his remembrance and not by the divine hand of Gabriel guiding the pen.
  
• The "surat" were not organized in the Qu'ran in the order in which they were given to Mohammed which immediately makes the book flawed.
  
• All three books, Torah, Bible and Qu'ran end in the same manner: This is the one and only book. No one must add or take away from it. All books that come after it are false.

As a secular Christian, I can readily accept that all books, Torah, Bible and Qu'ran, were written by men and may be flawed. I can also accept that the Bible has many historical references that may not hold true today or hold up to modern science. Under these circumstances, it does not negate my belief in God, but allows me to continue to believe without appearing foolish or ignoring modern science as opposed to Islam which states "accept no innovations" (ie, no change) because whatever ever the Qu'ran says is true, even if it said the sky was green and the grass was pink (which it doesn't because I am exaggerating).

The point here, probably unacceptable to Muslims and orthodox Christians and Jews, is that Islam must adapt itself to the modern world and not the other way around. It either adapts or becomes extinct. Of course, as I've pointed out in other secular discussions regarding our current terrorist issue, the reason that fundamental Islam is seeing such a revival is that it, Islam, is under attack by the modern world. Not purposefully or deliberately seeking to destroy it, but because it is now a very small world. When a blind person is given new eyes and then the bandages are removed too quickly in glaring light and color of a bright morning sun, it can have some very scary and negative impact on the newly sighted. Which is pretty much what is occurring in Islam today.

The same process that Christianity was exposed to during the Renaissance, in which science deposed the views of the church and proved some things to be impossible. For instance, Galileo was jailed when he confronted the church (Roman Catholic) with the idea that the Earth spun around the Sun and not the other way around. His views were not widely accepted until the renaissance age, in which case, forward thinking Popes of the time quickly jumped on the band wagon to insure that their religion did not sink into irrelevancy in the face of modern science.

What is not glaringly apparent yet is a large scale movement of Islam towards this same idea. Rather, it takes the road that these things are scary blasphemies against the truth set forth by Allah and given to Mohammed. I actually read a site recently which claimed that the Qu'ran was scientifically correct. If you want some humor with your studies, read this site: Illustrated Guide to Islam - Scientific Miracles

There's a lot of reading, but if you want to understand how someone could read from a book, dismiss the book(s) from which it copies and then tell the world that they are heretics or "kuffir" [unbelievers] because they believe in these books or none of them and accept that it is ok to kill the unbelievers but "God" forbid that you do the same to a Muslim, you had best read up on it.

President Bush continues to indicate that this is not a war on Religion. It isn't. There are certain things in this religion that our enemy has decided to focus on and use has his personal doctrine for politics, government and war. We had best know what those doctrines are if we are to counter them. The first of which is that Islam, regardless of Mohammed's fierce defense, is not the "original" religion, anymore than Judaism or Christianity, but is certainly a conglomerate of religions, pagan in particular, that was molded and reformed many times to fit the needs of the populace at that time.

As these religions, including Islam if it wants to survive, will be molded and reformed until it fits within today's world.