The Koran (Penguin Classics)
by Anonymous
List Price:
Our Price: $5.68
You Save: $7.32 (56%)
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Buy Used: from $2.07 (click here)
Category: Book
See more book details and other editions
Book Summary Information
Author: AnonymousEditor: N. J. Dawood
Translator: N. J. Dawood
Introduction: N. J. Dawood
Edition: Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2004-09-28
ISBN: 0140449205
Number of pages: 456
Publisher: Penguin Classics
Book Reviews of The Koran (Penguin Classics)
Book Review: A religious rext of recycled material and often utterly perplexing
Summary: 1 Stars
Introduction
I write this as a believing christian giving my honest reaction to reading the text. Having found other religious texts pleasing and sometimes insipirational (Buddhist texts in particular), I was open minded to receive something similar from Islam's relgious text. My earnest hope is that Muslims will show similar curiosity and open our Bible as well.
Claim to clarity?
One of the key claims of muslims is that the Qur'an is clear. Indeed, this claim for clarity is important because it is one of their basis basic arguments against jews and christians that they cannot agree about the meaning of their texts. A basic function of the Qur'an in Muslim tradition is its clear teaching about Divine matters. Now, does a reading of this book prove or disprove their point? I am afraid a careful reading of the book shows that the claim for clarity is manifestly and blatantly untrue.
As scholars of classical arabic point out, 20% of the book does not at all make sense. Some of this can be put down to the assembling of the suras by the compilers under Uthman, the third caliph, but a good measure of it must go down to the workings of the brain of the messenger himself. A careful reading shows frequent mental shifts taking place within the context of single paragraphs - a kind of mental gymnastics. I am not referring here to the short (so called Mecca suras) which are quite pleasing and poetic but to the so called Medina suras. Another point is that the text is full of places where the translator is really taking the best guess. No one knows what the text means, not even the Hadith compilers (circa 150-200 years post the messeneger's death).
Grammatical issues
Another important claim of muslims is that this is the most beautiful and unrepeatable texts ever because it proceeds from the mouth of God. And yet, as scholars point out, the book has grammatical errors in it
Recyling of religious material from jews and christians
A Jewish or Christain reader of the Qur'an cannot but be struck by the degree of recyling of jewish material from the Old Testament. Not only that, the same stories re Moses, Noah, Lot, Joseph etc get re-told in different variant forms. Not only that, the stories often rely for meaning and clarity on the assumption that the reader knows more than is the Koran. Indeed, if one does not know more than what is in the Koran, one is left baffled. Why is this so for a text which is claimed to be perfect?
The rule of abrogation and the claim that Islam is a religion of peace
The attentive reader of the text will be struck by contradicitions (Muslims Scholars vary on the numbers, ranging from 5 - 250 or so contradictions). Leaving aside the allowing and then disallowing alcohol, the famous Medina Sura of the sword (when the messenger was poweful and strong) is often contrasted with the religious tolerance of the Meccan (when the messenger was in a weak position politically) sura. The scholars well aware of these contraditions propose the rule of abrogation usually simplified to the later sura knocks out the earlier one. The problem with the Sura of the Sword is that is the later one and its encouraging the slaughter of the infidel should logically abrogate the tolerant and earlier Meccan one. My reading outside the Qur'an on the opinions of muslims scholars on this point have not given me a good answer to this. Logically, the claim that islam is a religion of peace is a claim to be proven.
The key underpinning of Islam is one of recapitulation and clarity?
The frequent references to the Jewish stories together with the key Jewish prophets, the support for the Torah and for the gospel (noting here that Jesus is really a cardboard cut our figure in the Qur'an) leads one to legitimately to ask the question: what is the purpose of this text?
If the purpose is one of recapitulation, it fails. Whilst the Meccan suras are pleasing and rightfully proclaim the grandeur of God, the derivative nature of the rest of the material, the fact that the recyled material is re-told in a manner which is less clear and less satisfying than as told in the Jewish scriptures, the fact that the content of the gospel is completely lost means that the claim that this book is a clear recapitualtion of what God had formally revealed before the messenger is utterly preposterous!
Summary of The Koran (Penguin Classics)
"The Koran" is universally accepted by Muslims to be the infallible Word of God as first revealed to the Prophet Muhammad by the Angel Gabriel nearly fourteen hundred years ago. Its 114 chapters, or surahs, recount the narratives central to Muslim belief, and together they form one of the world's most influential prophetic works and a literary masterpiece in its own right. But above all, the "Koran" provides the rules of conduct that remain fundamental to the Muslim faith today: prayer, fasting, pilgrimage to Mecca and absolute faith in God.Bible & Other Sacred Texts Books
Book Subjects
- Arts & Photography
- Biographies & Memoirs
- Business & Investing
- Children's Books
- Comics & Graphic Novels
- Computers & Internet
- Cooking, Food & Wine
- Entertainment
- Gay & Lesbian
- Health, Mind & Body
- History
- Home & Garden
- Horror
- Law
- Literature & Fiction
- Mystery & Thrillers
- Nonfiction
- Outdoors & Nature
- Parenting & Families
- Professional & Technical
- Reference
- Religion & Spirituality
- Romance
- Science
- Science Fiction & Fantasy
- Sports
- Teens
- Travel
Most talked about in Bible & Other Sacred Texts Books
NIV Reference Bible, Personal Size (Burgundy Leather-Look)by Zondervan
Zondervan; Published: 1986-10-21; Imitation Leather; Book
Best price: $45.72
Adventure Bible for Early Readers, NIrVby Lawrence O. Richards
Zonderkidz; Published: 2008-06-17; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $16.82
Price in other shops:
A Shepherd Looks at Psalm 23by W. Phillip Keller
Zondervan; Published: 2006-10-06; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $41.93
Lao Tzu's Tao Te Chingby Robert G. Henricks
Columbia University Press; Published: 2000-04-15; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $59.50
Price in other shops:
The Catholic Study Bible: New American BibleOxford University Press, USA; Published: 1990-08-16; Leather Bound; Book
Price in other shops:
Holy Bible: King James Version, The Scofield Study Bible III, Duradera Zipper BlackOxford University Press, USA; Published: 2005-04-30; Leather Bound; Book
Best price: $29.44
Price in other shops:
The Scofieldï¿1/ 2 Study Bible III, NKJVOxford University Press, USA; Published: 2005-10-07; Imitation Leather; Book
Best price: $34.90
Price in other shops:
Catholic Bible: Revised Standard Version, Compact Editionby Oxford University Press
Oxford University Press; Oxford University Press, USA; Published: 2005-02-17; Imitation Leather; Book
Best price: $20.37
Price in other shops:
The Revised Standard Version Catholic Bibleby Oxford University Press
Oxford University Press; Oxford University Press, USA; Published: 2005-02-17; Imitation Leather; Book
Best price: $18.07
Price in other shops:
The Seven Storey Mountain (H B J Modern Classic)by Thomas Merton
Harcourt; Published: 1990-12; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $4.50
Price in other shops:
Similar Books and other products
Discoveries and Opinions of Galileoby Galileo Galilei
Anchor; Published: 1957-03-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $2.00
Price in other shops:
HarperCollins Study Bible - Student Edition: Fully Revised & Updatedby Harold W. Attridge, Society of Biblical Literature
HarperOne; Published: 2006-08-22; Paperback; Book
Best price: $18.25
Price in other shops:
The Princeby Niccolo Machiavelli
Hackett Pub Co; Published: 1995-03-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $3.08
Price in other shops:
Athanasius : The Life of Antony and the Letter To Marcellinusby Athanasius
Paulist Press; Published: 1979-01-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $14.93
Price in other shops:
Letters from a Stoic (Penguin Classics)by Lucius Annaeus Seneca
Penguin Group USA; Penguin Books; Published: 1969-07-30; Paperback; Book
Best price: $5.09
Price in other shops:
The Letters of Abelard and Heloise (Penguin Classics)by Peter Abelard, Heloise
Penguin Books; Published: 2004-04-27; Paperback; Book
Best price: $7.10
Price in other shops:
World Religions: Western Traditionsby Willard G. Oxtoby, Amir Hussain
Oxford University Press, USA; Published: 2010-09-30; Paperback; Book
Best price: $44.53
Price in other shops:
The Tempest (Signet Classics)by William Shakespeare
Signet Classics; Published: 1998-09-01; Mass Market Paperback; Book
Best price: $1.16
Price in other shops:
The Song of Roland (Penguin Classics)by Anonymous
Penguin Group USA; Penguin Classics; Published: 1990-06-05; Paperback; Book
Best price: $5.58
Price in other shops:
St. Thomas Aquinas on Politics and Ethics (Norton Critical Editions)by Thomas Aquinas
W. W. Norton & Company; Published: 1987-11-17; Paperback; Book
Best price: $12.65