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Pain, Pleasure and Prejudice

Pain, Pleasure and Prejudice

The Complete Layman’s Guide to the Koran

Chapter 2

An Unfair Comparison

There is no god besides me. Isaiah 45:21

We have not sent before you any Messenger, but We revealed to him that there is no god but I; so worship Me.

The Koran 21:25

Like most non-Muslims who are familiar with the Christian Bible but not the Koran, I assumed it was like the Bible with stories from the past with God taking center-stage, occurring at a specific time and place, containing morality lessons and instruction from God about how to get along and how He should be worshipped. I never expected the Koran to be so different. Not only different in the way it presented its message but how different the message was.

Both the Bible and the Koran claim the same authorship – God – nonetheless, the two books are poles apart. Virgil Gheorghiu in his insightful, admiring biography of the Prophet Muhammad and his time, La vie de Mahomet, explained the difference this way (my translation).

The Christian Bible, the Old Testament portion, is mainly about hope; the New Testament is about love – the Koran is about neither! The Koran is all about loyalty, absolute, unquestioning, blind loyalty to one God.

This unequivocal demand for absolute, blind, unquestioning loyalty would not, in and of itself, be a problem if the God of the Koran did not come across to the lay reader as such a vain, cruel, controlling, vengeful deity. Nobody holds a grudge like Allah holds a grudge.

With such a god, it should not have come as a surprise that instead of finding in the Koran edifying, uplifting text full of noble sentiments for the ages, I found mostly, what I consider, petty preoccupations with organizing every aspect of a believer’s life not worthy of a god. Of course, what I consider petty preoccupations, a believer might expect no less from a deity, even if such worldly concerns and attention to the minutia of daily life leaves very little room for spiritual or intellectual growth.

The Bible, the King James Version, is about 791,328 words, more than 10 times the number of words in the Koran. It covers a period of more than a thousand years and contains a cast of thousands. For such a monumental work it is surprisingly well ordered.

The Koran, on the other hand, is the inspiration of just one man, from revelations he maintains he received from God over a period of just twenty-three years between 610 and 632 C.E. (C.E. for Common Era and B.C.E. for Before Common Era is used instead of the familiar A.D. and B.C. because of their overtly religious tone). Unlike the Bible it is somewhat disorganized. There is no timeline. The only allowance given to any kind of order is the sequencing of most of the 114 chapters from longest to shortest.

Because no attention appears to have been given to arranging the chapters and verses in some kind of chronological order, you often get answers to questions that have yet to be asked. For example, in chapter 9, verse 114 we are told that Allah refused Abraham’s plea that he forgive his father for not believing in Allah.

9:114 Abraham asked forgiveness for his father, only because of a promise he had made to him; but when it became clear to him that he was an enemy of Allah, he disowned him. Indeed Abraham was compassionate, forbearing.

The actual request made by Abraham, and the promise made is revealed ten chapters later, ending with the following verse.

19:47 [Abraham] said: “Peace be upon you. I will seek forgiveness for you from my Lord. He has, indeed, been gracious to me.”

Another example, what scholars believe are the last two verses revealed to God’s Messenger (one is about being allowed to eat what you have taught your dog to catch, the other is also about food, but also about the women a believer can marry), appear early on in the Koran.

5:4 They ask you (O Muhammad) what is lawful to them. Say: “The good things are lawful; and such hunting birds or hounds that you have taught, as Allah has taught you. You may eat whatever they catch for you, mentioning Allah’s name over it. Fear Allah, for Allah is, indeed, Quick in reckoning!”

5:5 This day the good things have been made lawful to you; the food of the People of the Book is lawful to you, and your food is lawful to them; and so are the believing women who are chaste, and the chaste women of those who were given the Book before you, provided you give them their dowries and take them in marriage, not in fornication or as mistresses. If any one denies the faith, his work shall be of no avail to him, and in the Hereafter he will rank with the losers.

The lack of a timeline, the apparent haphazard manner in which many of the revelations appear to have been collected and compiled, means a lay reader has to read the entire Koran just to get an overall idea of what Allah has to say on any given subject. This may be a part of Allah’s plan.

Allah’s plan notwithstanding, reading the Koran with a view to appreciating what this god has to say requires patience and dedication. This prerequisite commitment in time and effort may explain why the Koran remains very much a mystery for non-Muslims.

Adding to a lay reader’s woes, chapter headings which appear to be based on catchwords within the text, for the uninitiated, are almost useless as an indication of the content. The longer chapters in particular are a challenge with Allah, in the words of Justin Wintle author of History of Islam, “jumping from one subject to another in a sort of unfurling stream of supra-consciousness” i.e. a consciousness or awareness that is beyond our understanding.

Another difficulty in interpreting some verses is that Allah will deal with two different subjects in the same verse, or appear to do so, such as in verse 2:189. Allah begins this verse by first telling His Messenger what to say when asked about the timing of the pilgrimage to Mecca and ends it with a warning about entering a house via the back door.

2:189 They ask you about the crescents (the new moons) say: “They are times fixed for mankind and for the pilgrimage.” It is not righteousness to enter houses from the back; but the righteous is he who fears Allah. Enter then the houses by their front doors; and fear Allah that you may prosper.

Those who are familiar with the Bible, both the Old and New Testament, will have a small advantage when it comes to getting a handle on the Koran. This is because the foremost stories from the Bible have found their way into the Islam's holiest  book.

Biblical epics are a favourite of Allah. He obviously enjoys repeating the parts which He considers important over and over again, usually with small but significant differences.

The meeting between Moses and Pharaoh is one such story that is told over and over, with many variations on what actually took place. This may also be due to the way the verses were collected, with different people having different recollections of what Allah revealed to His Messenger.

For the believers however, every memorizer’s recollection of what they heard God’s Messenger convey as being a revelation from Allah is accurate to the letter – the contradictions not withstanding. Every revelation stands on its own as having been revealed independently to the Prophet Muhammad by Allah, via the Archangel Gabriel, and repeated word for word by the Prophet and remembered word for word by his followers and later compiled word for word by the transcribers of the Koran.

The Koran, for the believers, is the literal Word of God therefore there was no mistake in its transmission or transcription. To question this perfection is to challenge dogma, a capital offence.

How the Bible Came To Be

The oral histories that comprise the first books of the Hebrew Bible (the Old Testament) were probably written more than a thousand years after the events described took place. How do we know this?

“There is no reliable record” according to Thomas Cahill, “of written Hebrew before the tenth century B.C.” the principal language of the Hebrew Bible. That is well after the “resettlement of the Israelis in Canaan after their escape from Egypt.”

Therefore, according to the author of The Gifts of the Jews, “this means that the supposedly historical stories of at least the first books of the Bible were preserved originally not as written text but as oral tradition beginning with the wonderings of Abraham and ending with the resettlement of Canaan under Joshua. What we are reading are oral tales, collected and edited for the first (but not the last time) in the tenth century during and after the kingship of David.”

How the Koran Came To Be

The Angel Gabriel – Messenger to the Messenger

The contents of the Koran, according to the Koran, were delivered by the Archangel Gabriel to a wealthy merchant from the Quraysh tribe of Mecca by the name of Muhammad during impressive private meetings, two of which are described here.

53:1 By the star when it goes down,

53:2 Your Companion (Muhammad) has not gone astray or erred,

53:3 And he does not talk capriciously.

53:4 It (the Qur’an) is only a Revelation being revealed,

53:5 Taught him by a mighty one (the angel Gabriel),

53:6 Possessed of steadfastness. And so he arose,

53:7 While he was on the highest horizon;

53:8 Then, he came closer and hovered around;

53:9 Coming thus within two bows’ length or closer.

53:10 Then (Allah) revealed to His servant what He revealed.

53:11 The heart did not deny what it saw.

53:12 Do you then dispute with him (Muhammad) concerning what he saw;

53:13 He has indeed seen him (Gabriel) a second time;

53:14 By the Lotus Tree of the outermost limit.

53:15 Close by it is the Garden of Refuge.

53:16 As the Lotus Tree was covered by that which covers it;

53:17 His gaze did not shift nor did he exceed the bound.

53:18 He saw some of the Great Signs of his Lord.

In surah 97, The Power, Allah intimates that He sent the whole thing in just one night.

97:1 We have sent it (the Qur’an) down on the night of Power.

Then again, in another revelation, it was sent piecemeal.

17:106 It is a Qur’an which we have divided into parts that you may recite it with deliberation, and We revealed it piecemeal.

And, in response to an unbeliever who would believe if only Allah would send down the Koran all at once, Allah explains why He sent it in stages, and that whoever asked that He deliver it all at once will probably be dragged faced down into Hell.

25:32 The unbelievers say: “If only this Qur’an had been sent down on him all at once.” That is how We wanted to strengthen your heart with it and We have revealed it in stages.

25:33 They never bring you any simile but We bring the truth and a better exposition.

25:34 Those who are mustered on their faces in Hell; those are in a worse position and are more wayward.

One thing we can be sure of, it was not the devil’s doing or the work of a madman.

81:22 Your Companion (the Prophet Muhammad) is not mad;

81:23 He saw him (Gabriel) upon the luminous horizon.

81:24 He is not, regarding the Unseen niggardly;

81:25 And it is not the discourse of a devil, accursed.

81:26 Where, then, will you go?

81:27 It is only a Reminder to all mankind;

81:28 To whoever of you who wishes to reform their ways.

Where the original and eternal Koran can be found:

85:21 Yet, it is a glorious Qur’an,

85:22 In a Well-Preserved Tablet.

The First Written Version

The first written version of the Koran was begun during the reign of the first Caliph (first successor to the Prophet Muhammad) Abu Bakr. He was prevailed upon to create a written record of what was revealed by Allah to His Messenger after, according to Emerick, “70 of the most prominent memorizers” had been killed during a rebellion against Islamic rule in southern Arabia. Until that time, it was felt there was no need to put anything in writing because of the tradition established by the Prophet that the Koran should be committed to memory, a tradition that endures to this day.

A scribe of Bakr by the name of Zayd ibn Thabit is said to have gathered the recollections of what the Prophet had said and these recollections became the Koran. He is said to have compiled the Koran from what had already been written down on stones, palm leaves, leather, camel bags, parchment, bones and “only preserved in the hearts of men.”

Divergent versions of the Koran existed until the very human Mushaf Uthman [644-656] the third Caliph decided which compilation would be dogma. The version approved by Uthman, was actually completed during the reign of his successor, Ali [656-661] many years after the Prophet’s death and is most often referred to as the Uthman Codex.

The earliest copy in existence of the Codex, dated approximately 150 years after Uthman’s death can be found in the library of the 16th century Khast-Imam Madrassa in Tashkent, Uzbekistan.

Despite the very human origins of the written Koran, the Book is regarded by believers as being beyond reproach and every word the Word of God – His definitive last words.

Large portions of the Koran are meant to correct errors or re-iterate what god said in the Bible (both the New and Old Testament portions), to validate or repudiate, according to Justin Wintle, “Christo-Judaic beliefs and experience.”

The Koran came after the Bible, and for the believers this, and Allah's and His last Prophet’s assurances, is all the proof they need that the Koran is the more accurate record of the events and personalities that both books purport to describe.

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What is believed to be an earlier version of the Koran, the Sana'a Manuscripts, was found in 1972 during renovations of the Great Mosque of Sana'a in Yemen. When Yemeni authorities were informed that this earlier Koran contained minor but significant differences from the version that orthodox Islam maintains is the perfect unchanging Word of God, they restricted access to the more than 40,000 pieces of parchment of which only an estimated 15,000 had been reviewed by Islamic and Western scholars.

Needless to say, as a committee headed by the Prophet’s former “private secretary” started compiling the Koran from the recollections of surviving memorizers, different versions of what was heard were bound to occur. The same thing happened at least once in the compilation of the first books of the Hebrew Bible, which has two versions of Creation: Genesis I and II. In Genesis I, God creates plants before animals and humans; in Genesis II, God creates Adam, then plants and animals and last but perhaps not least, Eve.

This difficulty for the transcribers in deciding which recollection of an event or what was said was the accurate remembrance may explain why different versions of the same event found their way into both the Bible and the Koran.

Also, if you are a believer, it is quite possible that for God, both recollections are true and the variations simply His way of making a point. Better for the transcribers to leave it to future scholars to sort out the different meanings, if any, and write both versions down. This is what they appear to have done.