I started reading the Koran yesterday, an on-line electronic version, and was surprised at how much of it is expended on saying critical things about Jews and Christians.
hti.umich.edu
One Western commentary pointed out that when the Koran was written, Christianity was in the process of formulating the doctrine of the Trinity, and had been unitarian prior to that, and that the writer of the Koran rejected that, which does make sense in context. All the wrangling over the nature of the Trinity seems very strange to me, too.
Sadly, people are willing to kill each other over what seems to me to be jargon.
But the Koran also says:
>>[2.62] Surely those who believe, and those who are Jews, and the Christians, and the Sabians, whoever believes in Allah and the Last day and does good, they shall have their reward from their Lord, and there is no fear for them, nor shall they grieve.<<
>>[5.69] Surely those who believe and those who are Jews and the Sabians and the Christians whoever believes in Allah and the last day and does good-- they shall have no fear nor shall they grieve.<<
But the really hateful stuff comes out of the various commentaries by the various religious leaders (e.g. Hadith.)
I also learned that Muslims believe that the Koran is the literal word of God, so are not interested in studying the history of the Koran, despite the fact that scholarship has shown it to be an evolving document, as the Bible is.
Interesting article about the historical Koran:
theatlantic.com |
