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Pain, Pleasure and Prejudice The Complete Layman’s Guide to the Koran Preface to the Fifth Edition A reader of the previous edition of Pain, Pleasure and Prejudice, the one with only 2,400 or so revelations, said it was getting a bit repetitive. This edition will also leave many readers with that Yogi Berra-like déja-vu feeling all over again, perhaps even more so, with the varied retelling, and I do mean varied, of the story of Lot for example, providing many of the flashbacks this time around. And it would not be a new edition without more nauseating Divine reminiscences of cruelties past and promises of cruelties to come. It could not be any other way, if my Complete Layman’s Guide to the Koran is to be an accurate representation of the Book, albeit an ordered one. But don’t be disappointed, there are still many surprises and new insights to be had into the mind of the enigmatic Prophet Muhammad and his relationship with a vengeful, cruel Omnipotence who, it is written, chose him as its greatest and last spokesman. The fifth edition is one more step in my goal of a completely ordered Koran with context i.e. the when and wherefore of each revelation or package of revelations. At 2,800+ revelations I am slightly less than halfway. If you take the extreme repetitiveness out of the Koran you could say I am already there, and have been there for some time. That will still not be enough for the skeptics who will say that I have left out the stuff about peace and love. But, that is simply not what the Koran is about, and all the wishful thinking in the world, as Allah might say, will not make it so. Expect more repetitiveness and fewer and fewer surprises if this project to bring order to chaos proceeds any further. The next go-round is about 18 months down the road, so enjoy the current edition, and look forward to more enlightening repetitiousness, Allah willing. December 6, 2011
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