The Qur'an

Disclaimer

According to Islamic tradition, any translation of the Qur’an is not considered to be “inspired” or to even to be “the Qur’an.” Being that I do not read Arabic - The language in which the original Qur’an was recited and recorded - I read an English translation of the Qur’an made by M. A. S. Abdel Haleem. Throughout this paper, I will many times refer to what the Qur’an says in an assumption that although I have merely read one translation of it, the content of the story and teachings is practically the same (at least for this basic criticism). In other words, although I am not reading what is considered to be the Qur’an but a translation of it, I will many times refer to the translation which I read as the Qur’an.

In the first quarter of the year 2021, from January 1st to March 31st, I studied the English translation of the Qur’an made by M. A. S. Abdel Haleem. By studying [my English translation of] the Qur’an, I aspired to learn more about the Islamic tradition and how its most important text portrayed it. I wished to compare [my English translation of] the Qur’an to the Bible and, potentially, other religious texts that I might come to read; effectively, I hoped to compare Christianity to Islam by holding up their texts against one another.

Reference

These notes on the Qur’an with page numbers are based on the text that I read translated by M. A. S. Abdel Haleem. Though a different translation, an English translation of the Qur’an can be found in the following: http://www.quran.com/.

Goals

By studying [my English translation of] the Qur’an, I aspired to learn more about the Islamic tradition and how its most important text portrays it. I wished to compare [my English translation of] the Qur’an to the Bible and, potentially, other religious texts that I might come to read soon. Effectively, I hope to compare Christianity to Islam by holding up their texts against one another.

Expectations

Before studying the Qur’an translation by M. A. S. Abdel Haleem, I expected a couple of things from [my English translation of] the Qur’an; first, I expected a mostly narrative format for the text with large chunks of poetry and some pro’s discourse (Like the Bible). As is sometimes stereotyped, I imagined [my English translation of] the Qur’an to promote terrorism, genocide against Jews, Christians, and polytheists and to be dramatically anti-semitic and misogynistic. 

Methods

In the first quarter of the year 2021, from January 1st to March 31st, I studied the English translation of the Qur’an made by M. A. S. Abdel Haleem. Since there was a lack of headings and subheadings, I broke up sections of the text with brackets off to the side to add subheadings to each group of ayats as I saw fit to be able to understand the main thought of a section at a glance (although I began by splitting up each Sura according to the content and would allow as much content per section as I saw fit, I quickly came to break up every Sura by paragraph with a couple of exceptions). Additionally, as I studied [my English translation of] the Qur’an, I underlined sections and wrote questions concerning the underlined passages off to the side as I also noted some questionable content (once a questionable theme or doctrine was repeated, I did not underline it again or write the question off to the side). In order to understand where [my English translation of] the Qur’an and Bible line up or contradict one another, I would additionally underline passages that were linked to familiar Bible stories (I underlined as many as possible in the beginning, even when [my English translation of] the Qur’an repeated this common element, but came to only note new differences) and reference the verse that it aligned with or write a question about how [my English translation of] the Qur’an drew any unbiblical conclusion. I also made sure to underline passages that could be referenced as key Islamic doctrines that I, with my very basic understanding of Islamic theology, knew of, (such as the five pillars of Islam) and wrote about the doctrine off to the side (although I also came to stop noting these after a couple of repetitions). These questions, key doctrines, and biblical references will be mentioned in the following sections with their corresponding references. Finally, after finishing each sura, I would make sure to summarize the section of the text with the key terms and phrases of the sura - Whether that was names of characters or events that took place or ideas and doctrines that were mentioned.

Questions

Key Doctrines

Biblical Index

Table of Contents (With Keywords)

Results

Unlike my expectations, the Qur’an seemed to be mostly discourse with little narrative and no poetry and unlike the stereotypes, the Qur’an did not promote terrorism, genocide against specific religious groups but fighting against unfaithful Jews, Christians, and pagans. However, it did seem to have some slightly misogynistic passages (although, even then it should be noted that it seemed to be very fair to women for its time).