Relevancy of Quranic verses

Submitted by Concerned Buddhist (Lithuania), Sep 19, 2007 at 03:22

ghwoodworth wrote:

[WHO says they have no relevancy? On whose religious authority would you claim that they are meaningless today? Yours? Who says they're only "of historical character?" You? Obviously a great many people think they DO have relevancy, and are willing to sacrifice their lives for it. Don't most (or all) Moslems believe that every single word of the Koran is the literal "word of God"? Are you going to tell them that some of God's words don't count -- just because you say so? What if they don't believe you and choose to act on them anyway?]

I am claiming that not on a basis of any religious authority, but rather on the basis of secular constitution. These verses(in their direct meaning) are invalid and irrelevant simply because they are at variance with the secular constitution. Point.

Whether some people think that offensive verses have litteral relevancy and even are willing sacrifice their lives, this should not make any difference in the eyes of law. There are many more illegal activities that some people find relevant and even maybe willing to sacrifice their lives for it, but law just prohibits that and persecutes offenders

This sort of disclaimer should not go into philosophical and metaphysical questions about God's word or God's will or similar. It should state just that - if you think that these verses shall be conceived as binding in their direct sense and used as call for action, know that this is illegal under secular laws and that you will be punished to the maximum extent under the law for just voicing such interpretations.

On the contrary, if believers think that that these verses shall be interpreted figuratively in an innocent way or used as mantras(it is as an invocation the very sound of which produces magic, miraculous effect even without understanding the sense), the secular law would have no objections for it. It is even acceptable if believers think that these verses historically had litteral validity and were used as the call for action in the distant past. The problem arrises only when people start to think that these verses are to be used as the call for action in our epoch and in our society.

If verses are assumed direct word of God it does not yet mean that, in order to be honored as God's word, they necessarily shall be understood in litteral sense. On the contrary if verses are really from God, it means that they necessarily shall have deeper meaning, including the deepest meaning which is inconceivable by reason and articulated by words and only can be perceived intuitively, chanting Quranic verses as mantras. And I am not inventing nothing since the recitation of Quranic text in Arabic by Muslims who do not understand even a single word of Arabic is very common ocurrence.

But if Quran is used for study, then a disclaimer should be very useful, because even well intended believers could be easily confused. I am not so naive and do not think that evil islamists would change their minds because of disclaimer, however the disclaimer could become very useful tool for legally prosecuting them. It would make them more difficult to entice and fool unsuspecting and naive persons from the Muslim community.

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