Qur'an (definition)

Random Quotes from the Qur'an

"72 Virgins With Swollen Breasts in Paradise" "Verily for the Righteous there will be a fulfilment of (the heart's) desires; Gardens enclosed, and grapevines; And voluptuous women of equal age;" - Qur'an 78:31-33 (read more)

What is the Qur'an?

The Qur'ān (القرآن) is the central religious text of Islam. Muslims believe the Qur'an to be the book of divine guidance and direction for mankind. They also consider the text in its original Arabic, to be the literal word of Allah revealed by the angel Jibreel (Gabriel) to Muhammad over a period of twenty-three years, and view the Qur'an as God's final revelation.

Structure and Content of the Qur'an

In length, the Qur'an is slightly shorter than the Christian New Testament (at approximately 165,000 words in English). The text is not in chronological order, but arranged roughly longest surah (chapter) to the shortest. Ayahs (verses) are written in the first person (spoken by Allah), thus they generally lack context. For context, Muslims use Hadith collections (oral traditions which record Muhammad's words and actions) and the Sirat (biography of Muhammad). With these, the surahs can be separated into two categories; Meccan and Medinan.

Love and Fear in the Qur'an

"While there are over 300 references in the Koran to Allah and fear, there are only 49 references to love. Of these love references, 39 are negative such as the 14 negative references to love of money, power, other gods and status.

Three verses command humanity to love Allah and 2 verses are about how Allah loves a believer. There are 25 verses about how Allah does not love kafirs (unbelievers)

This leaves 5 verses about love. Of these 5, 3 are about loving kin or a Muslim brother. One verse commands a Muslim to give for the love of Allah. This leaves only one quasi-universal verse about love: give what you love to charity and even this is contaminated by dualism since Muslim charity only goes to other Muslims."

Non-Muslims and Punishment in the Qur'an

Approximately 67% of the Meccan verses deal with punishing unbelievers for disagreeing with Muhammad, and more than 50% of the Medinan verses deals with hypocrites and jihad against unbelievers. Also, there are nearly 500 verses (roughly one out of every twelve) in the entire Qur'an which speak of Hell, and over 400 teachings of hate of Jews, Christians, Idolaters and Kafirs.

Jihad

Not including verses which deal with heavenly rewards for Jihadists, generic mentions of "victory", and Muhammad's negative opinions of those who do not participate in Jihad, there are roughly 164 Jihad verses in the Qur'an. These speak clearly and directly of military expedition, fighting, spoils of war, etc.

Immorality

Not only critics, but even practicing Muslims agree that the Qur'an justifies and permits things such as; hatred of Homosexuals, lying, pedophilia, polygamy, racism, religious discrimination, terrorism, violence against women, slavery and rape.

As a Florida pastor plans a Quran-burning bonfire on September 11, The Daily Beast’s Asra Q. Nomani [author of Standing Alone: An American Woman's Struggle for the Soul of Islam], herself a Muslim, says there are a few brutal passages in the Quran that need to go up in smoke.

On the plan to burn Qurans this weekend, I say to Muslims: Let's get over the symbolic insult and deal with the very real issues of literal interpretations of the Quran that are used to sanction domestic violence, terrorism, militancy, and suicide bombings in the name of Islam.

Gen. David Petraeus has weighed in, saying that the planned burnings by the Rev. Terry Jones' congregation in Florida will endanger U.S. soldiers fighting in Afghanistan. But I believe that there is something that endangers Americans and American soldiers even more: certain passages that—when read literally—pit Muslims against Americans and the West.

I believe the Qurans are being burnt because we, as Muslims, haven't dealt sincerely and intellectually with very serious issues that certain Quranic passages raise, particularly in the West. These include verses—when literally read—that say that disobedient wives can be beaten “lightly,” that Muslims can't be friends with the Jews and the Christians, and that it's OK to kill converts from Islam.

We, as Muslims, need to tear a few pages out of the Quran—symbolically, at least, by rejecting literal adherence to certain problematic verses.

"Get Over the Quran Burning" (archived)
Asra Q. Nomani, The Daily Beast, September 8, 2010, http://www.thedailybeast.com/blogs-and-stories/2010-09-08/get-over-the-quran-burning/. 

Video

The famous video by British atheist, Nick Gisburne, which got him banned from Youtube.

This page is featured in the core article, Islam and Scripture which serves as a starting point for anyone wishing to learn more about this topic

See Also

• Qur'an - A hub page that leads to other articles related to the Qur'an
• Georgics

Translations

• A version of this page is also available in the following languages: French and Czech. For additional languages, see the sidebar on the left.

External Links

• Qur'an: A Work of Multiple Hands? - Denis Giron
• Cruelty in the Quran - Skeptic's Annotated Quran
• Chronology vs Violence - FFI forum post on why there is more Violence near the end of the Qur'an

Translations

• Master Ayat (Verse) Index - From the people at Islam Awakened. Roman transliteration of the Arabic Qur’an and a massive 34 compared English translations
• iKnowledge Literal Qur'an - Muslim website which provides the English literal translation of the Qur'an. Also shows that Allah is the "best deceiver" in verses 3:54, 7:99, 8:30, 10:21, and 13:42
• Quranx.com - Multiple verses from different surahs can be displayed at the same time (useful in debates for references). Custom highlights are also possible. See their help page for details

Downloads

• English Qur'an: (Yusuf Ali translation), (Pickthal translation), (Shakir translation)