Reading the Qur'an

[Beckyy25]

I've never read anything Islamic other than the Koran so it has to be in there in some way or I'd have no clue about it.

Maybe you read it here somewhere. I posted some time ago a hadeeth talking about that:

Sahih Muslim,
Book 041, Number 6985:

Abu Huraira reported Allah's Messenger (may peace be upon him) as saying: The last hour would not come unless the Muslims will fight against the Jews and the Muslims would kill them until the Jews would hide themselves behind a stone or a tree and a stone or a tree would say: Muslim, or the servant of Allah, there is a Jew behind me; come and kill him; but the tree Gharqad would not say, for it is the tree of the Jews.

Here is the thread where I asked the Muslims what they believe regarding this issue: http://www.christianforums.com/t7385059/

 

[Beckyy25]

I finished reading the Qur'an on Friday, so I will also answer the questions, my own questions.

1) Have you read the Qur'an?

Yes.

2) How many times have you read it?

Once.

3) What was the purpose of reading it (curiosity, intention to convert, etc.)?

Curiosity to know if it's 'better' (in whatever way) than the Bible, although I have to say that only with this curiosity I wasn't able to finish reading it until now. But last month I promised my friend I would read it and so I had to read it.

4) Did you like/dislike it? Give some examples as to why you did or didn't like it.

It's not really easy to answer this question. I've never found it so hard reading a book. I needed a lot of perseverance to read it, it somehow has no beginning and no end. The same stories are mentioned again and again in various chapters; so many repetitions; so many things that are said which you can't ascribe to a specific person; so many things written in parenthesis to explain the text, otherwise you would not understand what is being said there; then the so often repeated statement that "Allah does not love those who do this or that..."

5) What is your favorite ayah/verse or sura/chapter (if there is any)?

I don't have one. Just one ayah which sticks in my mind:

Indeed, they who disbelieved among the People of the Scripture and the polytheists will be in the fire of Hell, abiding eternally therein. Those are the worst of creatures. (Al-Bayyinah - 98:6)

I am a Christian (aka People of the Scripture), so according to this ayah I am one of the worst creatures. Great!

6) Did you convert or considered converting after reading it?

No.

7) Do you think it is a historically accurate book? Why, why not?

I am familiar with the events which are also mentioned in the Bible, but there are some more events I have never heard of and thus I have no idea if they ever took place or not.

8) Would you read it again? Why, why not?

Yes. I want to take more notes when reading it, plus there are several things I do not understand from what I read, so maybe I'll get answers to those things and I will try out ApplePie's method: reading the Bible first and then the Qur'an.

 

[HumbleSiPilot77]

they who disbelieved among the People of the Schripture.

It says they WHO disbelieved AMONG the People of the book. So there must be those among the People of the Book who disbelieved. Does it talk about Christians or does it talk about heretics among Christians? It is vague. One can interpret it either way.

 

[Mahammad]

well Allah says about people of the book "They are not all alike"

 

[Arthra]

1) Have you read the Qur'an?

Yes..

2) How many times have you read it?

I can't really recall ....I've read it in various translations as well as Arabic.

3) What was the purpose of reading it (curiosity, intention to convert, etc.)?

I read the Qur'an to study it and learn more about revelation of Prophet Muhammad.

4) Did you like/dislike it? Give some examples as to why you did or didn't like it.

Yes I feel it is revelation from God and I particularly like the power of the words of revelation.. It is more compact than the Bible and supplements some of the Bible stories.. Noah's son for example and the revelation through Hud and Salih.

5) What is your favorite ayah/verse or sura/chapter (if there is any)?


In the Name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful
BY the noon-day brightness,
And by the night when it darkeneth!
Thy Lord hath not forsaken thee, neither hath he been displeased.
And surely the Future shall be better for thee than the Past,
And in the end shall thy Lord be bounteous to thee and thou be satisfied.
Did he not find thee an orphan[38] and gave thee a home?
And found thee erring and guided thee,[39]
And found thee needy and enriched thee.
As to the orphan therefore wrong him not;
And as to him that asketh of thee, chide him not away;
And as for the favours of thy Lord tell them abroad.

6) Did you convert or considered converting after reading it?

I appreciated the beauty of the verses. I'm a Baha'i so am not a convert to Islam as such.. We also acept revelation of Bab and Baha'u'llah.

7) Do you think it is a historically accurate book? Why, why not?

The Qur'an was revealed in a historical context and cannot be understood outside that... just as the Bible was revealed in a historical context.


8) Would you read it again? Why, why not?

Qur'an is an essential part of the spiritual heritage of humanity and will be read again and again as a source of inspiration and guidance.

 

[HumbleSiPilot77]

well Allah says about people of the book "They are not all alike"

How not all alike? In what context?

 

[ChildishFears]

I'm currently reading the Qur'an and I was wondering how many of you have read it too. Here are some questions I would like to ask:

1) Have you read the Qur'an?

Not entirely, I'd say I'm a little less then half way done with it.

2) How many times have you read it?

Haven't finished reading it.

3) What was the purpose of reading it (curiosity, intention to convert, etc.)?

Curiosity and being able to know what I'm talking about when discussing certain topics with Muslims.

4) Did you like/dislike it? Give some examples as to why you did or didn't like it.

To be honest, I disliked it. From what I understand the English version isn't *really* the Qur'an but watered down translation of it and I would appreciate it a ton more if I read it in Arabic. I don't know how much reading it in Arabic would effect whether or not I enjoyed it though.
A few reasons I dislike it is 1) Way too repetitive 2) Doesn't really hold my interest for long 2) I think that the idea of a physical Hellfire is probably one of the most evil, despicable concepts humans could come up with, and to have it written constantly in the Qur'an (almost in every surah so far) is a huge turn off. 3) There's a strong sense of superiority that runs through the Qur'an, where believers are held up in such high regard while nonbelievers are pretty not worth the crap on the bottom of your shoe and deserving of indefinite or an eternal amount of torture. (I'm not saying that the Qur'an dictates believers to be outwardly disrespectful towards nonbelievers, but the opinion of them is still there)

5) What is your favorite ayah/verse or sura/chapter (if there is any)?

Don't have one so far.

6) Did you convert or considered converting after reading it?

Yes, I've considered it at one point, not because I believed in the events laid out in the Qur'an, but the threat of Hellfire was a bit overwhelming so if I were to "convert" it would be solely because of fear at the possibility of hellfire.

7) Do you think it is a historically accurate book? Why, why not?

No I don't, then again I don't believe that the biblical events are wholly accurate. I think there is a lot of superstitution, embellishments, and mythology tied into the scriptures.

8) Would you read it again? Why, why not?

Yes, I would once I've finished, because I want to have a well-rounded and indepth knowledge about the major religions.


I would like especially non-Muslims to answer these questions, but I do not mind if also Muslims answer the questions that apply to them.

Oh yeah, and don't forget to vote in the poll.

Thank you all.

j

 

[HumbleSiPilot77]

I don't have particular favorites. But I took a liking on another vague verse where Islamic Isa says "And peace be upon me the day I was born, the day I die, and the day I get raised back to life again" ...

 

[Beckyy25]

It says they WHO disbelieved AMONG the People of the book. So there must be those among the People of the Book who disbelieved. Does it talk about Christians or does it talk about heretics among Christians? It is vague. One can interpret it either way.

I think it talks about Christians who disbelieved in the Qur'an. The first verses in sura 98 show that they were invited to accept Muhammad's revelations, i.e. the Qur'an, and obviously some accepted it and converted to Islam, while others refused it. So the verse I quoted does talk about those Christians who heard the message of Islam but who refused to become Muslims.

 

[SanFrank]

1) Have you read the Qur'an?

Once and I would not recommend it... I would compare the readily available version with the corrected version of AppliePies as found on freeforum101 dot com, under koranicbible.

3) What was the purpose of reading it (curiosity, intention to convert, etc.)?

To minister to muslims...

4) Did you like/dislike it? Give some examples as to why you did or didn't like it.

I thoroughly disliked the readily available Islamic version.

5) What is your favorite ayah/verse or sura/chapter (if there is any)?

Sura 3:2, "(allah) no god, except He, the living one, has sent down the book, through the Truth..." The Truth being Jesus Christ.