The Text: The Good, The Bad, & The Confusing

-sig7: March 13, 2003

Just as the Bible has it's contradictions, exhortations to violence as well as peace, it's good, and it's bad, so does the Koran. The real problem with all three of the books of the major Middle Eastern faiths is, if you are a martin Luther King, you can find passages to point to to show God's love and forgiveness, but if you're George Bush or Osama bin Laden, you can ALSO point to passages to justify your pettiness and violence. Perhaps the faithful need to start taking a hard look at these limited, narrow, mean-spirited passages and begin to ask, which God do we really believe in? This petty, vindictive little man who destroys on a whim for all eternity? Is that really GOD, or merely a reflection of our own limitations put down in print by ancient man? Or is our belief in an expansive, generous, and kind God, who loves all, whose forgiveness is infinite, and whose love is divine?

Which is WORTHY of our worship?

So let's examine the Koran in this context. Those who are Islamic fundamentalists (much like Christian fundamentalists) regard the text as flawless, unchanging perfection, even though we know that the Koran has changed over time, and the old Korans unearthed in 1972 at the Yemeni Grand Mosque in Sana'a prove this. On the other hand, right-wing ideologues in the United States and elsewhere, irrationally regard Islam as an unholy thing, as inherently violent, even though millions of Muslims practice their faith with grace and honor and in the spirit of kindness, generosity, and peace toward all mankind.

Both views are flawed. So perhaps the better question is, what do you as an individual seek to adhere to?  Pettiness and violence, or peace, equality, and justice.?

One of the great harms to the faith committed by Osama bin Laden, Mullah Omar, and others, has been to make many in America regard Islam as an evil thing. By creating fear, by murdering innocents - even fellow Muslims - they have violated their own religion, and done damage to how it is perceived by others. Many who might have viewed Islam with an open mind, never will now, because of the hate they have nurtured. But what does the Koran itself say about the nature of our lives, and how we should try to conduct ourselves?

Let's have a fair look and consider, which of these admonitions are truly divine, which seem to merely be the product of cultural biases, and which are simply the product of flawed humans inserting their fallibility into the text:

The Koran

Odd or Confusing Passages

The Cow

Sura 2:61 Allah stamped wretchedness upon the Jews at the time of Moses because they killed the prophets and disbelieved Allah's revelations. But what prophets could they have killed, and what revelations could they have rejected? Mohammed and his revelations came later, didn't they?

The Women

Sura 4:43 If you get dirty (by touching a woman or something), and can't find any clean water around at prayer time, you can clean up by rubbing your face and hands in some clean dirt.

The Poets

Sura 26:224 Stay away from poets. (Then we should avoid BOTH the Bible and the Koran, since it's ALL poetry?)

Insults to Women

The Cow

Sura 2:282 A woman is worth one-half a man.

The Women

Sura 4:24 You can't have sex with married women -- unless they are captives in a war. Then rape is hunky-dorey!
Sura 4:34 Men are in charge of women, because Allah made men to be better than women. Refuse to have sex with women from whom you fear rebellion, and scourge them.

Convenient Omissions/Misinterpretations

Light

Sura 24:31 Women are told to "lower their gaze and be modest".
Sura 24:30 But so are men. (This part is generally omitted from general discussion, and intentionally avoided in public policy.)
Sura 24:31 Women are told to "to draw their veils over their bosoms". NOT their faces.

Good and Inspiring Passages

The Cow

Sura 2:42 Don't confuse truth with falsehood or knowingly conceal the truth.
Sura 2:83 Be good to parents, relatives, orphans, and the needy. Speak kindly and pay the poor-due.
Sura 2:111 If you believe it, prove it.
Sura 2:113 The Jews say the Christians are wrong, and vice versa. Yet they both believe in the Scriptures.
Sura 2:177 Give of your wealth to family, relatives, and the needy. Set slaves free.
Sura 2:190 Do not fight wars of aggression.
Sura 2:220 Help orphans.

The Family of 'Imran

Sura 3:130 Do not be guilty of usury, doubling and quadrupling the sum lent.
Sura 3:195 The work of men and women is to be equally valued.

The Women

Sura 4:85 Whoever participates in a good cause, will be rewarded. Whoever participates in an evil cause, will bear the consequences thereof.
Sura 4:135 Value justice, for both poor and rich, even when it adversely affects you or your family's interests.
Sura 4:161 Don't lend money at unfairly high rates of interest.

The Table Spread

Sura 5:8 Don't hate other people. Treat everyone fairly.
Sura 5:32 Whoever saves the life of one, it is as if he had saved the life of all.
Sura 5:89 Feed and clothe the needy. Set a slave free.

The Cattle

Sura 6:151 Do good to parents, don't kill your children or other living things unnecessarily.
Sura 6:151 Don't steal from orphans. Don't cheat or lie.

The Heights

Sura 7:199 Be kind and forgiving toward others.

Luqman

Sura 31:34 Repel evil with goodness. That way your enemies will become your friends.

Counsel

Sura 42:42 It is wrong to oppress people.

The Disbelievers

Sura 109:1-6 Let each person be free to believe (or disbelieve) whatever he or she wishes.

A we can see, as with most religions, the good far outweighs the bad in Islam. But again, just as with other faiths, the bad has done SO MUCH damage. We as individual believers must begin to address these contradictions and resolve them for the health of mankind, and for the preservations of our FAITH - something far deeper and more important than the particulars of petty dogma.