Hi Darren; Re your quotes from the Koran. Some of them are more or less exact duplicates of what was already in the Torah. Others are misquotes, mistranslations, or taken out of context. This is not something that is only done with the Koran, the Torah (which shares so much with the Old Testament and the Koran) is also subject to deliberate or (possibly) accidental mistranslation and misquouting.
So rather than quoting the actual Koran in context, let me simply quote how the "Ask A Rabbi" on Jewish.com responded to the same sort of filth being stated about the Torah:
Talmud out of context
Q. Someone in an atheist chatroom started complaining that Jewish people are racist. The person used quotes such as: Jews may Lie to Non-Jews. Baba Kamma 113a. Jews may use lies (subterfuges) to circumvent a Gentile. Non-Jewish Children. Sub-Human Yebamoth 98a. All Gentile children are animals. I don't understand these passages.
A: There is always danger in reading a text, and certainly a translation without benefit of commentaries. Besides, anyone versed even a little in the Talmud will confirm that the style of the Talmud is to be basically a collection of statements attributed to various sages, followed by a discussion of what the statement truly meant, offering and rejecting inconsistent theories until the final explanation is reached. One cannot simply pluck out a phrase from somewhere in the Talmud and state that it is a Talmudic maxim without considering the context and the final result. The Talmud (Bava Kamma 113a) discusses a case where an unscrupulous gentile tax-collector lays a fraudulent claim against a Jew for taxes. The situation is sensitive, since the claim is basically authorized thievery, yet, it would not be advisable to anger the gentile. The Talmud says that if the tax man drags the Jew to a Jewish Court, the Court is permitted to apply the laws most favorable to the Jew, whether Jewish law or secular law, in order to free the Jew from this fraud. If neither law is favorable to the Jew, one may use legal strategy and wisdom to find a loophole for him. The commentaries (Meiri) add that this is permitted, only where the gentile is an idol worshipping crook who is advancing force and fraud without regard to even his own laws. Otherwise, the Talmud states clearly that one may not steal from a gentile and one must abide by the law, even if unfavorable to the Jew. The Talmud (Yevamos 98a) discusses the very complex and intricate laws dealing with the familial relationships that survive a conversion to Judaism. The general rule is that a convert is deemed to have been "reborn" - i.e. without legal relation to his/her gentile parents and siblings. However where a gentile husband and wife convert during the wife's pregnancy, their resultant child will remain legally a son to the mother, but not to the father. This is a Halachic phenomenon, regardless of the fact that we know with certainty (and Rashi explains how we may be certain) that the father is in fact, the child's father. The Talmud then adds as another illustration, the law that twin boys, who later convert to Judaism, are not deemed brothers for purposes of a levirate marriage (where a married, childless man dies and his brother is obligated to marry or discharge the widow), even though it is a scientific, physical fact that twins are born from one split zygote. The Talmud comments that we see from here that Jewish law chooses to ignore the physical properties (DNA etc..) of non-Jewish seed, considering it for these intents and purposes to be irrelevant and the Halachic equivalent of an animal's seed, citing a passage in Ezekiel (23:20) where a metaphor is used that compares gentile flesh to a donkey's and gentile seed to that of a horse. The passage itself is an allegory referring to a harlot who lusts after Egyptian men. The commentaries (Rashi & Metzudas David) explain that the comparison to animals here is to illustrate how the relevant physical characteristice of Egyptian men were comparable to a donkey's (large) and the frequency of their liaisons were similar to a horses's (very frequent), both factors which were of interest to the harlot.Thus, there is quite a bit more to these Talmudic statements than meets the anti-semite's eye.
jewish.com
But to respond specifically to the first few of your quotes. Re: "The Quran teaches that Muslims are superior to others: "Ye (Muslims) are the best of peoples evolved for mankind . . ." Surah 3:110.
A more complete translation:
Surah 3.110-112:
[3:110] You are the best community ever raised among the people: you advocate righteousness and forbid evil, and you believe in GOD. If the followers of the scripture believed, it would be better for them. Some of them do believe, but the majority of them are wicked.
This is the sort of delusion that is not uncommon among religious groups. It's natural that everybody wants to be God's chosen people.
Re: ""Fight and slay the pagans wherever ye find them and seize them, beleaguer them, and lie in wait (ambush) for them in every strategem (of war) . . ." Surah 9:5 (also 2:193).
Quoted out of context that's kind of barbaric, isn't it! Let's see what the complete quote, in full context:
[9:4] If the idol worshipers sign a peace treaty with you, and do not violate it, nor band together with others against you, you shall fulfill your treaty with them until the expiration date. GOD loves the righteous.
[9:5] Once the Sacred Months are past, (and they refuse to make peace) you may kill the idol worshipers when you encounter them, punish them, and resist every move they make. If they repent and observe the Contact Prayers (Salat) and give the obligatory charity (Zakat), you shall let them go. GOD is Forgiver, Most Merciful.
[9:6] If one of the idol worshipers sought safe passage with you, you shall grant him safe passage, so that he can hear the word of GOD, then send him back to his place of security. That is because they are people who do not know.
submission.org
You really shouldn't post references to other Silicon Investor sources. If you're going to trash the Koran, you should reference an official full copy in translation. If you look through enough Protestant hate organization web sites, you should be able to find a full translation (rather than an out of context one) that nevertheless is sufficiently biased as to justify your beliefs. I suppose that since the Pope has been recently seen in a mosque and praying with Moslem religious leaders, that the Catholics are also falling under the spell of evil.
-- Carl
P.S. One of my favorites is this one, which could have come straight out of Sunday school class in the Southern US:
Were there polar bears and kangaroos on Noah's ark?
jewish.com
A good source for the Koran in translation is this one:
submission.org |
