O you who believe! do not take My enemy and your enemy for friends: would you offer them love while they deny what has come to you of the truth, driving out the Apostle and yourselves because you believe in Allah, your Lord? If you go forth struggling hard in My path and seeking My pleasure, would you manifest love to them? And I know what you conceal and what you manifest; and whoever of you does this, he indeed has gone astray from the straight path. If they find you, they will be your enemies, and will stretch forth towards you their hands and their tongues with evil, and they ardently desire that you may disbelieve. Your relationship would not profit you, nor your children on the day of resurrection; He will decide between you; and Allah sees what you do. Indeed, there is for you a good example in Ibrahim and those with him when they said to their people: Surely we are clear of you and of what you serve besides Allah; we declare ourselves to be clear of you, and enmity and hatred have appeared between us and you forever until you believe in Allah alone...WHAMMO! Glass and metal and tires are flying in all directions!
When I listen to the thing, I can't help but do so trying to figure out just how it's been bent to encourage war and destruction. And then I hear verses like that and think it was never bent at all. Just like the video Secular Apostate posted said, the thing is picking up speed as it gets near the end.
I couldn't watch. Just tell me Jeff Burton wasn't in any of those crashes.
ReplyDeleteLOL!
ReplyDeleteRegarding the "picking up speed as you come to the end", you've probably noticed that the chapters are arranged by length with the shortest ones at the end. So you're got past the prepared sermons and the long, rambling musings, and have now hit the main lode of the angry outbursts and brief rants.
ReplyDeleteIt might be interesting to check out what the muslim apologist have to say about all this. There should be some equivalent to the Torah scholar that you found for the bible. I'm sure there's plenty of legalistic hair-splitting trying to explain why it doesn't actually say what it clearly says.
I'm not sure such apologists speak for the majority. Unlike case cited by the troll in the other thread who should have known Jews don't stone adultresses and haven't for centuries, practical applications of the stuff listed here is pretty well-documented and common in 2011.
ReplyDeleteMaybe, maybe not. Most of the objectionable behavior I'm aware of is from certain of the arab countries (which all together only have about 20% of the Muslim population), Iran (4.7%), and the remoter parts of Pakistan (11.1%, but most of those live in the cities). I mostly have dealings with Turks, Egyptians, and Malaysians, and they seem to go along more with what the apologists would say.
ReplyDeleteIs there a reason why you shouldn't look into it more?
Tim, sitting through 121 hours (well, it seemed like that much) of the Koran has me ready to go somewhere else for a while. Let me give you the argument I'd construct if I had the job.
ReplyDeleteLike NASCAR is not full of crashes, the Koran is not full of violence. It just isn't. As I listened, I couldn't figure out how you would derive Sharia from the thing. There are spots where you could easily derive Jihadi-ism from it, but for the most part the Koran tells you to believe in Allah and live a righteous life.
I would imagine that the violent parts are interpreted as being symbolic rather than practical and I'm good with that. I'm just intellectually worn out on the topic and don't feel up to exploring it any farther right now, save as something to draw on in future posts as a reference.