Please read a translation of the Quran first before judging

Submitted by Imran (United States), Feb 2, 2006 at 23:21

To Ayesha and whoever else might share her point of view,

This world has more than its share of hate and ignorance, we should all work for a way to extinguish that fire rather than feed it. Your post shows that you haven't picked up a quran yourself and read through it. If a person were to spend any time at all with the Quran they would know your post is extremely misleading. Find any website with a translation of the Quran and read the verses you mentioned and you'll see how misleading your post is.

What everyone needs to understand is that the Quran is very complex. The Quran is a little like Shakespeare. Yes, Shakespeare is written in the English language, but that doesn't mean you can read a line and immediately know what it means. The reason is that modern English is different from the English in Shakespeare's time. Language, English and Arabic, is always evolving. Although the Quran is written in Arabic, its not in the same everyday Arabic that people speak today. Furthermore, it is written in poetic verses rather than straightforward paragraphs. You take a few lines from one of Shakespeare's plays out of context and know what the entire play is about. Similarly, you can't extract a few words out of context from a translation of the Quran and tell people that's what the entire book is about. The Quran is such a complex book that people who translate it study it for years, and each person who translates it gives it their interpretation of it.

I beg of anyone who reads this post to do a quick search online for an English translation of the Quran and spend at least 5 minutes reading it and you'll understand why over a billion people in the world follow it. A really nice site that has 3 different people's translation is here

scroll down and you can look up Ayesha's references and see what the Quran says with your own eyes. Always look for the facts with your own eyes before making a judgement.

In closing I will leave you all with one line, just ONE line from the Quran (verse 4 line 36 (4.36)). Translated by 3 different people and you decide if its spitting out hate.
004.036
YUSUFALI: Serve Allah, and join not any partners with Him; and do good- to parents, kinsfolk, orphans, those in need, neighbours who are near, neighbours who are strangers, the companion by your side, the wayfarer (ye meet), and what your right hands possess: For Allah loveth not the arrogant, the vainglorious;-
PICKTHAL: And serve Allah. Ascribe no thing as partner unto Him. (Show) kindness unto parents, and unto near kindred, and orphans, and the needy, and unto the neighbour who is of kin (unto you) and the neighbour who is not of kin, and the fellow-traveller and the wayfarer and (the slaves) whom your right hands possess. Lo! Allah loveth not such as are proud and boastful,
SHAKIR: And serve Allah and do not associate any thing with Him and be good to the parents and to the near of kin and the orphans and the needy and the neighbor of (your) kin and the alien neighbor, and the companion in a journey and the wayfarer and those whom your right hands possess; surely Allah does not love him who is proud, boastful;

Ayesha is an Islamic name. She was the Prophet Mohamed's (Peace Be Upon Him (PBUH)) favorite wife. Many of her recollections about how the Prophet (PBUH) practiced Islam are still followed today.

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