I am not a religious believer. I saw what was, for me, the light when I was eighteen and walked resolutely away from the high (ish) Anglicanism I’d grown up with, and been actively involved in. I have never wavered from the humanist, secular position I took then although the deeply conditioned legacy in my head of Bible knowledge, much of the Book of Common Prayer, psalms, hymns and so on, has often been useful at various levels.
I do, however, do my very best to be respectful of people who take a different view from mine and, provided I steer clear of extremist missionary evangelists, whether they’re on my doorstep or at extended family gatherings, my experience has always been that mutual tolerance is pretty effective.
And of course it goes beyond Christianity. I used to teach richly diverse classes including many very gentle, thoughtful Jews and Muslims along with the occasional Hindu or Buddhist. Today, as I go about my business in multi-cultural London, I meet adults of many persuasions although I’ve always been conscious that I don’t really know much about the faiths which drive them. I have therefore long thought that I should find out more about the Koran and now, at last, I’ve had a go.
I bought and explored Mulana Muhammad Ali‘s translation of the Koran. And I accessed a copy of Michael Cook’s The Koran: A Very Short Introduction. The latter is part of Oxford University Press’s A Very Short Introduction series. Handy pocket sized books, they usually provide a pretty detailed account of the subject in accessible language without patronising or skimping. And this volume is no exception. Cook is Professor in the Department of Near Eastern Studies at University of Princeton.
The Koran is, I learned, a series of verses which devout Muslims believe are the words of Muhammad (c 570-632 AD) who was a channel for God, whom Muslims call Allah. It is therefore, a much later text than other comparable monotheistic texts such as The Bible although it builds on the heritage of prophets such as Abraham. It reads like an instruction manual or constitution. All the rules about fasting, fighting, divorce and other advice for life are clearly set out. Much of it – instructions about love, kindness, decency, modesty, worship patterns and the like – doesn’t seem to differ greatly from Judaism and Christianity or, indeed from the generally kind humanism I more or less try to live by.
Statements such as: “And your God is One God; there is no God but He! He is the Beneficent, the Merciful” (Q2 v38), for example. sounds very much like the first commandment: “Thou shalt have no other Gods but me” as delivered to/by Moses in the book of Exodus.
Famously the Koran condemns usury and usurers and “causes charity to prosper” (Q2 276.) It also, acknowledges Jesus as a prophet but not as Messiah and argues that he was illegally put to death. At the same time it repeatedly refutes the beliefs of Jews and Christians in a way which doesn’t seem quite consistent. It is fascinating stuff.
Michael Cook meanwhile is very good on the way the Koran evolved and was (and is) disseminated. Is it truth or dogma? What exactly is “scripture” anyway given the status and authority it acquires within communities? And, of course, like the Bible, it can be read by most of us only in translation so how can we be sure we are not being fed a distorted interpretation?
This was an interesting and rewarding exercise. I’m fully aware that I’m only scratching the surface but I learned a lot. Moreover, it’s as well to remind ourselves occasionally that real Islam, as practised daily by nearly 2 billion moderate people all over the world, is a very far cry from terrorism and the Taliban whatever the media would prefer us to believe.
Next week on Susan’s Bookshelves: This is Motherland by Nikki May
