Reflections on the Koran

Reflections on the Koran (Quran).

Earlier this year (2016) I set myself the task of reading the Koran. My reasons for doing so was simply to become better informed about it. Particularly, there has been so much reference in the media to jihadists that I wanted to know if the holy book of the Muslim world either encouraged or even commanded Muslims to engage in jihad. Initially I committed to producing a short essay on my impressions, mainly for personal reference, but also with a view to contributing something to the debates around the nature of Islam.

The version of the Koran I used is a paperback edition published by the Oxford University Press, ISBN 978-0-19-953595-8 and has a general introduction of thirtysix pages plus a map and chronology.

This short essay is about my initial perception of the Koran. In committing to the project I remained faithful to my original aim but in the process have discovered features of the Koran which have raised questions for me which I will mention further on. The essay is describing how I perceived the Koran as a reader who came to it trying as far as possible to read it without any preconceived view. I have read it without first reading any literature about it whatsoever and I am writing without comparing my perceptions to any other, a difficult task for an almost lifelong Christian with a full time theological education. It’s not impossible that with time and further study my views may modify but this is about my initial perceptions prior to further reflection.

This is not an essay on Islam. It is about the Koran only. The study of Islam is beyond the scope of this essay with many connotations. While the two are far from unrelated this is a purely modular effort.

The Koran as literature.

I began with trying to read the Koran simply as a work of literature.

As literature the overall impression I quickly gained and which continued throughout my reading is that it is a very disjointed and muddled text. The paragraphs flit from one point to another and at times I have been tempted to wonder ‘what the writer was on’. My perception is that there is no narrative. All the books I have ever read have had a narrative. The narrative may have been to explain how a computer works or how a fictional hero or heroine prevailed or to describe a historical event or period, a biography or autobiography but always the narrative has been there and it is reasonably clear where the narrative is going. This was something that I could not find in the Koran, I couldn’t tell where it was going. Having read the Koran I couldn’t summarise it in any meaningful way.

My working life began as an apprentice with the (then) Midlands Electricity Board. Attending day release technical college I had to study, amongst other things, the rules of the Institute of Electrical Engineers. While this was very necessary and important it wasn’t the most stimulating literature but even this had a narrative. There was clear guidance for the most common situations you were likely to work in.

Most of my reading of the Koran followed in the morning after my daily readings of the Bible. Consequently I was reading the Koran and making immediate comparisons. My reaction to the two forms of literatures has left me with a greatly enhanced view of the Bible and a sense of impoverishment in the literature of the Koran. I think this is because the books of the Bible each have their own narrative and the text of the books flows well.

The Koran consists of One hundred and fourteen ‘suras’ each of which are a sort of book claiming to be statements made by Allah and are of varying lengths ranging from thirty pages and many to less than a quarter of a page. The total length of the Koran is four hundred and fourty six pages (compared to the Bible I mainly use which has one thousand one hundred and thirty nine pages in a slightly smaller type).

The construction of each sura begins with a statement of respect to Allah (sometimes named as God) and my perception is that the passages ‘go all over the place’ rarely sticking to the stated theme of the sura.

Much of the great literature of the human race abounds with quotations which are enriching to many cultures. From Plato to Luther, Benjamin Franklin to Winston Churchill et al we can draw on a wealth of quotations which are not necessarily religious but are nuggets of thought which are relevant to human relations and enterprise. I found little or nothing in the Koran which even begins to approach the insights of great men and women both historical and contemporary.

In both biographical and fictional literature there is a sense that you have actually met a person. Books abound with characters and good biographical and fictional writing can give a sense of sharing a journey and experience with the characters in the books. Newhere in the Koran do you ever meet a character or go on a journey. There are names and references to characters and incidents but I never felt that I met and journeyed with anyone.

The authority of the koran.

I can make only one comparison relating to the percieved authority of a Holy book, which is to the Christian Bible.

I’m not sure if discussing the reasons which Christians have for accepting the authority (and hence the inspiration) of the Bible is the best approach but very briefly my understanding of why Christians give the Bible authority may be helpful.

The Bible consists of sixty six books which contain a variety of literature. History, poetry, proverbs, letters, apocalyptic, laws and reflections. Within each of these there are passages which are literal in meaning and others which use metaphor and other figures of speech many which are in the context of the culture of the times when the books were written. Much of the history has been subjected to rigorous analysis and all the Bible has been minutely examined to establish genre and meaning. Some Biblical history has been checked alongside references to events which are external to the Bible. The Bible itself was not finalised in it’s present form until around 400AD (with some disputes about it’s final form) and many possible books were eliminated from the canon.

The individual books make no claim to be an inspired writing themselves (although many sayings are attributed to God and Paul writing to Timothy does say all scripture is God breathed but doesn’t make any specific references).

Many of the Biblical books teach through the stories which are told. Even though scholars sometimes dispute how literal some stories actually are, none the less the feel of the Bible is that there is an authenticity which is as much discerned as proclaimed. The nature of the message being in stories makes the message as well as the stories memorable.

Above all, the authority of the Bible rests on the well testified historical fact of the resurrection of Jesus.

None of this can be said about the Koran. I would be pushed to say what kind of literature the Koran actually is other than a set of jumbled sayings and rules. References to obscure events are made but the references throw no light on anything resembling a coherent message.

I note also that the Koran has only ONE author, Mohammed. This should set warning bells ringing very loud. This means that we only have Mohammed's take on matters. Research into Mohammed's whole life throws up some very questionable activity in several areas.

What for me finally throws doubt on the claim that the Koran is inspired by God (and hence authoritive) is the sura relating to women.

The Bible, understood in it’s historical context, elevates and liberates women (beyond which many contemporaries would be comfortable with).

By contrast the sura on women seems to have been written for the purpose of subjugating and oppressing women. Here are a few quotations in that section (I am aware of the necessity to quote within context but my reading of the Koran is that most quotations don’t demand context).

(11) “Concerning your children, God commands you that a son should have the equivalent share of two daughters ………..”

(34) “If you fear high handedness from your wives, remind them (of the teachings of God), then ignore them when you go to bed, then hit them.”

(170) “The Messiah, Jesus, son of Mary, was nothing more than a messenger of God ….. do not speak of a Trinity”.

(176) “…. if there are surviving brothers and sisters, the male is entitled to twice the share of the female.”

(In fairness, there are sections of this sura which make provision for orphans and specify the forbidden boundaries of marriage but the contrasting quotations indicate something of the lack of narrative).

The Koran is self referencing. It names itself as the Koran and claims to be from God and it does so frequently. It claims to be from God so often it gives the impression that the writer(s) weren’t fully convinced of the claim that is made. When in college I well remember the words of Revd Dr Keith Clements commenting on Biblical inspiration who said, “Read the Bible to discover it’s inspiration”.

The Koran and the Bible.

Because this could potentially be a long section I’ll limit my comments.

My first reaction to the Koran is to feel a sense of pity for those who regard it as their holy book. By comparison to the Bible it is impoverished, narrow and rather boring.

Reading the Koran was, for me, a work of resolve and determination. The one redeeming feature of the task, if you can call it that, is that it’s much shorter than the Bible. Each sura reads like a random set of rules with a monotonous repetitive style.

By comparison the Bible is a collection of different forms of literature, each fascinating in it’s own way. There is history, poetry, apocalyptic, metaphor, advice, stories of dynasties and stories of ordinary people. There are examples of human frailty and weakness and stories of achievement, laws, prayers, covenant, parables, letters and principles.

The Koran majors on rules. The Bible majors on character, the character of God being slowly unveiled and the character of the people of God. The Bible illustrates. The Koran only repeats rules in a rather unstructured way. We learn in the Bible about how the people of God understood and misunderstood their relationship with God. We see the way God gradually reveals Himself over centuries. We see the despair of people in exile and the search for meaning in the experience of suffering. The Bible teaches through stories and enriches the human spirit whereas the Koran regulates it.

The Bible doesn’t duck the difficult bits. There are passages which scholars have grappled with which are difficult to comprehend. Jesus proclaims the love of God yet God commands that the Israelites exterminate the Amalekites and other passages are equally as challenging.

What for me was striking about the Koran is that it conveys no sense of the love of God. The Bible rises to dizzying heights to proclaim the love of God and the nature of love itself. Even 1Corinthians 13 is sometimes read at secular weddings and it’s almost impossible to read the words without recognising their inspiration. There is nothing in the Koran that conveys a hint that God is a God of love (although it does say God is most forgiving).

Miscellaneous thoughts.

My motive for reading the Koran was so that I would be better informed on where it stood in respect of jihad (which I have taken to mean holy war, although I suspect it could have more than one understanding). The word ’jihad’ never appeared in the version I was using so in that sense I found no imperative to jihad. The Koran is uncompromising in that it gives a green light to vigorous self defence. Like the Bible, it’s very easy to construe the vigour allowed in self defence to be the imperative to wage war. It is easier for those with extremist views to to make reference to passages in the Koran to justify atrocities than it is to justify atrocities from the Bible because the Koran is more a set of rules whereas the Bible’s dealings with violence is more contextual and in narrative form. In other words, the Koran regulates whereas the Bible tells what happened.

My biggest question by far is, what place does the Koran have in the life of a muslim? I appreciate that different forms of literature appeal to different people but I suspect that most people don’t spend too much time reading rule books unless they have an innate tendency to be barrack room lawyers. Most people aspire to read works which have a narrative; fiction, biography, travel, history, nature, adventure, exploration, invention and the like. I would be hard put to quote offhand which chapter and verse in Genesis tells the story of Joseph revealing his identity to his brothers when they meet him in Egypt but I know the story like the back of my hand and I can draw lessons from it. The Koran offers nothing like this. I wonder, do muslims meet together to read it daily? Do individual muslims read it regularly? How can a set of rules be inspirational? I am inspired by the stories of the people in the Bible. Ruth’s loyalty to her mother in law, David’s friendship with Jonothan, Peter’s impetuosity and restoration, Paul’s conversion and adventures to quote just a few. I’m inspired by the poetry of the Psalms but sadly there isn’t one piece of poetry anywhere in the Koran.

Following on from this my next question is how do muslim women see themselves? The Koran came about a couple of hundred years after the canon of the Bible was finalised and clearly the writer(s) knew something of the canon because they make references to some parts of the Bible. Because of the narrative genre of parts of the Bible many theologians have realised that the Bible honours and exalts womanhood beyond and above most of the surrounding cultures. By comparison to this there is a strand of the Koran which is both an explicit and sometimes thinly veiled attempt to create male dominance. Therefore I have to ask, how do muslim women see themselves? I see news reports of muslim women seeking political office, career advancement and they are clearly quite vocal about many things, yet it seems to me that there is an element of female subservience present in the Koran.

I wonder when I hear that many muslim children are raised to learn the Koran off by heart. I would never say this is impossible but given the type of literature the Koran is, I do wonder how plausible this really is.

My perception of the practice of Islam is that there is considerable Koranic illiteracy.

For instance when we hear about atrocities done in the name of Islam they are clearly carried out by those who are unaware of this text found on page 21 of my edition in the sura titled The Cow, “Fight in God’s good cause against those who fight you, but do not overstep the limits ….”. While this gives permission for vigorous violence it also suggests limits, although these are undefined.

Another instance of this is on page 29 of The Cow, “There is no compulsion in religion ...”, yet we hear of extremists such as daesh beheading those who will not convert to Islam.

Having said all this, I appreciate and affirm that there are many Muslims who are peace loving and have even read reports of Muslims defending Christians in places like Egypt. 

I've been intending to post this for some time and may add to it later.