Hi alan w; I don't know anything about the Koran, but it appears that Surah 4, is the chapter labeled "Women", (see wsu.edu:8000/~dee/ISLAM/QURANSEL.HTM for instance ) and the text is as follows, with the surrounding passages included for completeness:
94WOMEN, CHAPTER NO. 004
004.001 O mankind! reverence your Guardian-Lord, who created you from a single person, created, of like nature, His mate, and from them twain scattered (like seeds) countless men and women;- reverence God, through whom ye demand your mutual (rights), and (reverence) the wombs (That bore you): for God ever watches over you.
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004.034 Men are the protectors and maintainers of women, because God has given the one more (strength) than the other, and because they support them from their means. Therefore the righteous women are devoutly obedient, and guard in (the husband's) absence what God would have them guard. As to those women on whose part ye fear disloyalty and ill-conduct, admonish them (first), (Next), refuse to share their beds, (And last) beat them (lightly); but if they return to obedience, seek not against them Means (of annoyance): For God is Most High, great (above you all).
004.035 If ye fear a breach between them twain, appoint (two) arbiters, one from his family, and the other from hers; if they wish for peace, God will cause their reconciliation: For God hath full knowledge, and is acquainted with all things.
004.036 Serve God, and join not any partners with Him; and do good- to parents, kinsfolk, orphans, those in need, neighbours who are near, neighbours who are strangers, the companion by your side, the wayfarer (ye meet), and what your right hands possess: For God loveth not the arrogant, the vainglorious;-
004.037 (Nor) those who are niggardly or enjoin niggardliness on others, or hide the bounties which God hath bestowed on them; for We have prepared, for those who resist Faith, a punishment that steeps them in contempt;-
004.038 Not those who spend of their substance, to be seen of men, but have no faith in God and the Last Day: If any take the Evil One for their intimate, what a dreadful intimate he is!
004.039 And what burden Were it on them if they had faith in God and in the Last Day, and they spent out of what God hath given them for sustenance? For God hath full knowledge of them.
004.040 God is never unjust in the least degree: If there is any good (done), He doubleth it, and giveth from His own presence a great reward.
004.041 How then if We brought from each people a witness, and We brought thee as a witness against these people!
004.042 On that day those who reject Faith and disobey the apostle will wish that the earth Were made one with them: But never will they hide a single fact from God!
004.043 O ye who believe! Approach not prayers with a mind befogged, until ye can understand all that ye say,- nor in a state of ceremonial impurity (Except when travelling on the road), until after washing your whole body. If ye are ill, or on a journey, or one of you cometh from offices of nature, or ye have been in contact with women, and ye find no water, then take for yourselves clean sand or earth, and rub therewith your faces and hands. For God doth blot out sins and forgive again and again.
004.044 Hast thou not turned Thy vision to those who were given a portion of the Book? they traffic in error, and wish that ye should lose the right path.
004.045 But God hath full knowledge of your enemies: God is enough for a protector, and God is enough for a Helper.
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islam101.com
My understanding that unbelievers are not "fair game" in the Koran is from reading stuff about it, I'm not at all a believer, or fully familiar with the work.
The Koran was written at a time when killing the unbelievers wasn't a realistic alternative. The same is true about the New Testament. They are both "revolutionary" documents. That is, they were written at a time when the religion they espoused was the underdog. Underdogs don't go around espousing killing the unbelievers. If they did, they'd be dead dogs instead of underdogs. Instead, underdogs espouse converting the unbelievers. By the way, this is in contrast to the Old Testament, which was written at a time when the religion was already established for a long time. As such, the Old Testament includes language intended to give a religious justification for how to run a government. (I.e. execution for fornication and the like.) Even now it's a heck of a lot easier to convert to Islam or Christianity than to convert to Judaism.
But like the Bible, (and anything else, for that matter) I'm sure the Koran's capable of interpretation at the will of the reader.
In any case, the moslems are "people of the book" and are only a very little distant from the Jews and Christians.
-- Carl |
