Carla Power and "If the oceans were ink" Another disappointing book

Submitted by dhimmi no more (United States), Apr 4, 2015 at 13:02

Dr. Pipes

The study of the Qur'an is really becoming an industry and this book is another example of how poor it is getting to be.

I suspect that you would agree with me that before writing such book one must be able to read Arabic texts in Arabic and one must have command of the history and the languages of the late antique period and on top of all of vast knowledge of Biblical and literary criticism

And at minimum all Ms Power had to do was to learn Arabic and read the Qur'an in Arabic and read what the early mufasereen tell us about what the Qur'an really says and what modern mufasreen the likes of al-Sheikh al-Albani tell us about what the Qur'an really says. And the truth is the Qur'an is a very confused and confusing book and if the reader depends on translations, and most of them are tendentious, he/she will never get to know what the Qur'an really says

She did not need the help of an Indian man who lives in England, and not let us say an Arab mufaser in al-Hijaz and whose mother tongue is Arabic, in-order to read the Qur'an for her or to even tell her what the Qur'an really says or does not say. Her freindship with him is neither here and nor there and the fact that she describes him as being erudite is also neither here nor there

This is a fatal flaw of this book.

As for the silly tablighee mantra "But Muslims regard Jesus as a prophet of Islam" well if she would have done her home work and read the Qur'an and read what al-Mufasereen tell us she would have discovered that in actual fact the Qur'an really says that Jesus is God (no I'm not kidding) and the early Mufasereen realized that this is indeed the case but again like anything in the Qur'an you will find the yes and the no and the may be and the only Allahu A'lam so Jesus can be a prophet and a God in the Qur'an

As for the Indian Mullah's claim that there are thousands of female Muslim Mufasirat (female mufasereen) this is far from the truth even 'Aisha makes it clear that she is a rawiya (teller) and not Mufasira (explainer) but Ms Power fell for this nonsense

Here is a link to the book

http://www.amazon.com/If-Oceans-Were-Ink-Friendship/dp/0805098194

I give Ms Power no stars this is a very flawed book

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