The Qur'an - Post I

Reflections on The Qur’an

First, let me preface by saying that I have not read the entirety of The Qur’an. When I proposed to study The Qur’an as part of this course, I was unsure of how long and dense the text would be. I read about the first hundred pages of the text, after which I decided that I needed to prioritize moving onto other texts above finishing this one task. Additionally, the first hundred or so pages mark the largest single sections of The Qur’an. After “The Heights,” the final section I read, the sections become shorter and shorter, first decreasing to less than ten pages, and then eventually five or fewer pages. The second three-quarters of the text is comprised of these very short passages that address very specific topics. Consequently, I believe that in reading the first seven sections, I have learned enough for the purpose of this survey-type study about the nature of The Qur’an and the context from which it comes.

I. Summary

Providing a summary of The Qur’an as a whole (or a large sub-section of the whole) is difficult because it is not a narrative text, but rather, didactic and informative. The first seven sections are as follows: 1) The Opening, 2) The Cow, 3) The Family of ‘Imran, 4) Women, 5) The Feast, 6) Livestock, 7) The Heights. The translation of the text that I have is an Oxford’s World Classics edition, translated by M.A.S. Abdel Haleem. Haleem provides brief, topical overviews at the beginning of each section that are quite clear and succinct. The following summary will draw from his own introductions, as well as my own highlights from the sections.

“The Opening” consists of a single prayer that is less than a paragraph long, but this prayer has become an obligatory part of daily prayer in Islam. The first lines invoke and praise God with various titles, and one notices that “mercy” is mentioned four times in the first two lines. Throughout the book, I would wager the most common title for God is some variation on “the Lord of Mercy” or “the Giver of Mercy” (3) The second part of the opening is a request for guidance, a plea for guidance to “the straight path” (3). The prayer sets up the text that follows as the instructions, the guidelines of that “straight path.”

“The Cow” is the longest sura, or section, of The Qur’an. Haleem describes the opening of this sura as a direct response to the plea from “The Opening,” and indeed the first half of this sura is devoted to confirming the place of The Qur’an and the believers (Muslims) in the holy tradition established by God that began with Abraham and has succeeded through Israel and Jesus. By acknowledging that tradition, The Qur’an also distinguishes between the People of the Book, or Jews, and Christians. This differentiation serves as a transition into some specific guidelines for believers, such as fasting and praying by facing toward Mecca, “the Sacred Mosque” (21).

The title of the next sura, “The Family of ‘Imran,” is actually a reference to Mary’s father. One topic addressed in this sura is Jesus’ role in Islam. It’s also in this sura that we first see the word “islam” (35), which translates to “devotion to Him alone” (35). The fourth sura, “Women,” is a lengthy articulation of how various property disputes and situations should be handled according to God’s decree, and often deals explicitly with how to treat women and orphans. This will come back in the response section.

“The Feast” begins with a short articulation of various laws regarding food – what believers are and not allowed to eat – and quickly moves into Muslims’ relationship to Jews and Christians. This sura explicitly discusses Jesus and the fact that he is not divine, but merely imbued with God’s holy spirit (but not the Holy Spirit of Christianity). “Livestock” directly addresses early Muslim concerns regarding polytheism. It repeatedly emphasizes through various declarations and allusions the all-powerful nature of God as the Creator of everything in the heavens and on Earth. “The Heights” reiterates the urgency disbelievers should feel to repent and believe, and at the end, the precedent of study, memorization, and recitation of The Qur’an is established as the way of communicating God’s word to the disbelievers.

And so much more, but I was doing my best to be as concise as possible.

II. Response

I mentioned above that The Qur’an is didactic, which contrasts with the other deliberately religious text I have read as part of this study, Genesis. The entirety of the text is direct address, from the angel Gabriel through the Prophet, Muhammad.

Much of the language of the text struck me as combative. The following passage issues a direct challenge to the listener:

If you have doubts about the revelation We have sent down to Our servant, then produce a single sura like it-enlist whatever supporters you have other than God – if you truly [think you can]. If you cannot do this – and you never will – then beware of the Fire prepared for the disbelievers, whose fuel is men and stones. (6).

On one hand, the direct address is almost intimate, an attempt to affect the listener. And in the case of Islam, the listener is not only Muhammad, nor just ancient Muslims who first read his transcription, but all contemporary followers of Islam because the message is directly from God. The stories of the Bible do not work in the same way. Though many of the narratives of the Bible contain didactic messages, they are stories, and stories are less presumptuous. I am not trying to say the messages of the Bible are told better, but they are told differently, and in some ways in a more removed fashion. We say the books of the Bible, especially the Gospels, were inspired by God, and authored by God, but of human translation. The Qur’an is believed to be word-for-word as Gabriel spoke, a direct messenger of God.

One fascinating difficulty in reading The Qur’an as well as Genesis is discovering how texts that are meant to lay out some sort of moral code deal with the ambiguities of human existence. Here is another passage dealing with the cohabitation of men and their wives (notice the possessor and the actor): “Live with [your wives] in accordance with what is fair and kind: if you dislike them, it may well be that you dislike something in which God has put much good” (52). In this passage, The Qur’an acknowledges that what may be uncomfortable or disagreeable to someone may in fact be God’s good will at work. Overall, however, The Qur’an’s treatment of women is difficult to stomach, but with this text, there is always the difficulty of translation. Not only is the language itself a translation, but my reading is also a cultural translation. As I read, I am trying to make sense of the text with cultural biases that an Iranian reader does not have. I would be fascinated to discuss the language of The Qur’an with a Muslim, someone more cultural connected to the nuances inherent in the text.

III. Context in Literature: Similarities and Differences

I have discussed some of these questions in the above passage, as part of my response to the text, and for brevity’s sake, I will keep this section short. The Qur’an acknowledges the presence and blessedness of the Jewish Torah and the Christian Gospels, but it explicitly accuses the Jewish people of straying from the covenant of the Torah and denies the idea that Jesus is the son of God. The way the text treats controversy among the different beliefs present in the area makes me realize how culturally and chronologically responsive The Qur’an is. In other words, many of its teachings – like the letters of Paul and others in the New Testament – are reactionary to different practices and beliefs of the particular time and place in which Muhammad lived. I think some research into the relationships between Christians, Jews, and the early Muslims in 6^th and 7^th century Saudi Arabia and the Middle East would reveal some interesting correlation with various teaching found in The Qur’an.

Study of The Qur’an and Islam would undoubtedly be necessary for any classroom reading of contemporary work by Muslim artists dealing with culture in the Middle East. Two books that come to mind as a teacher would be Persepolis and The Kite Runner, maybe A Thousand Splendid Suns. I have not read either of the latter two works, but the environment of contemporary America and the stigma against Islam and The Qur’an needs to be addressed head on in order for students to be truly aware of these works’ place in American literature.

IV. Teaching and Learning

For this section, rather than hypothesizing, I offer the correspondence between Nate (Phillips) and me regarding a lesson I wrote and taught for his class in which I used The Qur’an as a primary text. I will also attach the lesson itself. The process of planning, justifying, teaching, and reflecting on this lesson gave me practical and critical experience with incorporating The Qur’an and presumably other controversial texts in an American classroom.

Because this post and all the posts in this blog are too long, I have decided to include Nate' and my correspondence in a second post, and my lesson plan in a third. There will then be three posts on my dealings with The Qur'an.