THE REAL THING, ACCORDING TO THE KORAN

   


      I HAVE, IN THE 'WORLD RELIGIONS SECTION' of my personal library, the "bible" of Muslims, the Koran.
      It is a translation from Arabic into English, and was produced by the classics division of the great British publishing house, Penguin Books.
      This book informs me that "the Koran" means "the recital," and refers to wisdom recited to the illiterate Mohammed by the angel Gabriel while Mohammed meditated in a cave. Mohammed is said to have in turn recited Gabriel's wisdom to scribes, Gabriel having been required to do by Allah.
      To the best of my knowledge the Penguin Koran is a true and highly reliable version of the Koran. It was translated by the Iraq-born Islamic scholar, N.J. Dawood. The Penguin book was originally published in 1956.
      My copy is of the Fourth Revised printed in 1975, and I have had it in my personal library for some 30-odd years. I have had occasion over the years to refer to it now and then (usually as a result of  some news event involving Islam) in order to clarify my understanding and evaluation of that religious movement.

      MY REASON FOR DISCUSSING Islam at this particular time springs from recent events in France involving what are described as "Islamic radicals" who on Jan. 7, 2015, murdered staff-members (10 of them), of the Paris-based humor magazine Charlie Hebdo (plus a couple of police officers) for the sole reason that the attacking "Islamists" did not like the satirical treatment of Islam by that magazine.
      The important thing to realize here --  and it isn't something the news outlets of the world seem conscious of -- is that religions of the world do not have a very well developed sense of humor. I think I can say without much chance of contradiction that they take themselves terribly seriously.
      This is perhaps understandable, to a mild degree, since adherents of religions tend to spend most of their thought and their time delving into prospects of an afterlife for humans, as well as framing precise, heavily moralistic rules for the ways in which people should, or usually MUST, live. One might say there's a heavy love-of-power-and-authority aspect to religious leadership. God, we are told to believe, is the author of it all.
      If the followers of religions don't observe those rules, well, they are to be punished in this life through such things as, on the mild side, expulsion from the church (or synagogue or mosque of choice), or, in Islam, through traditional desert-tribe beheadings, on the exceptionally evil side.

      ALSO, PERDITION AND HELL-FIRE in a supposed afterlife await sinners in religions of various stripes, including Christianity, but more especially those who were once members of a given religion but decided at some point they could no longer continue as believers, as in some Islamist branches.
      It will have been detected by readers of this essay that I am personally at odds with religions in general. At this moment, however, my attention has been drawn to Islam by events in the news and I admit that my  examination of Islam here is not extensive. It is, however, what I consider to be fair comment, in a free society, arising from the horror in Paris.

      ISLAM IS A RELIGION OF MORE than beliefs. It is a prescription and a guide --  containing many decrees -- regarding certain types of living and behavior in the name of Mohammed. I have to say that for its approach to women alone it loses any chance that I could become part of it, or even support it.
      Here, for example, is one relevant excerpt from the Koran's section on women:
      "Men have authority over women because Allah has made the one superior to the others, and because they spend their wealth to maintain them. Good women are obedient. They guard their unseen parts because Allah has guarded them. As for those with whom you fear disobedience, admonish them and send them to beds apart and beat them. Then if they obey you, take no further action against them. Allah is high, supreme." (My italics.)

      THE KORAN IS QUITE DIRECT on sexual matters. It says, for example:
      " . . . If any of your women commit fornication, call in four witnesses from among yourselves against them; if they testify to their guilt confine them to their houses till death overtakes them or till Allah finds another way for them.
      "If two men among you commit indecency punish them both. If they repent and mend their ways, let them be. Allah is forgiving and merciful."
      In a few lines preceding the above quoted sexual advice, the text says:
      "Such are the bounds set by Allah. He that obeys Allah and His apostle shall dwell for ever in gardens watered by running streams. That is the supreme triumph. But he that defies Allah and His apostle and transgresses his bounds, shall be cast into Hell-fire and shall abide in it for ever. A shameful punishment awaits him."
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      THUS ENDETH  our Soapbox & Journal commentary on one of the more fascinating and cruel world events of recent years, an event rooted in religious belief that may foreshadow more dire events to come. This space will follow up with examination of the continuing story.
          
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