If it is true that we are in a war of religion, as those who fight against us claim, then it is incumbent on each of us to educate ourselves about the religion all of our enemies claim as their own. But reading the Koran as it was written is more an exercise of faith than I am willing to undertake. For my purposes it was important that the translation be in chronological order. The why is explained best by the translator of the Koran I am linking to JM Rodwell:
With a change, however, in the position of Muhammad when he openly assumes the office of “public warner,” the Suras begin to assume a more prosaic and didactic tone, though the poetical ornament of rhyme is preserved throughout. We gradually lose the Poet in the missionary aiming to convert, the warm asserter of dogmatic truths; the descriptions of natural objects, of the judgment, of Heaven and Hell, make way for gradually increasing historical statements, first from Jewish, and subsequently from Christian histories; while, in the 29 Suras revealed at Medina, we no longer listen to vague words, often as it would seem without positive aim, but to the earnest disputant with the enemies of his faith, the Apostle pleading the cause of what he believes to be the Truth of God. He who at Mecca is the admonisher and persuader, at Medina is the legislator and the warrior, who dictates obedience, and uses other weapons than the pen of the Poet and the Scribe.
If we are to understand how Islam changed and became what it is today without dedicating a lifetime to study it would seem a chronological order would suit our purposes best. We can watch as Mohammed makes the trek from poet to warrior. We can perhaps understand why he made that change and from there answer those who apologize for Islams excesses today.
For ourselves we can see that those who claim Islam is a peaceful religion are depending on the earlier passages to make that claim. We can see for ourselves which verses were abrogated and we can wonder how a perfect God can have made a mistake that needs correcting later on.
Tags: Ahmadinejad, BlogDesk, Body Armor, Bush, Hezballah, Hezbollah, Iran, Iraq, Islam, Israel, Kevlar, Loose Change, Mullahs, Pope Benedict, Saddam, Terror, United States
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