The Prophet Mohammed, on his journeys with camel trains trading between Mecca and Syria, encountered many people with different versions of the mainstream of Semitic monotheistic religions, e.g. Jews and Christians as well as the traditional religions of Mecca and parts of Arabia and neighbouring areas. His laudable mission was to purify - and if possible to unite - these different strands, which were tending to diverge.
As Mohammed was illiterate, he could not write it down himself, but had to rely on friendly scribes, who, it must be said, have made a really good job of it.
The essential message, covered to some extent in the vast majority of the suras (chapters), is as follows.
That much sounds not so different from the official Christian view, but the mood in the Koran is much more threatening. For a start, if you don't believe in the Life to Come, you are an automatic candidate for Hell, along with all the following:
- and many others are specified at various points in the text.
What evidence does the Koran offer for all this? Why should anyone believe that all those who have died in the past will be bodily resurrected?
There are perhaps two attempts in the Koran to answer this. One says "well, God could create us and all this fantastic environment we have, so raising dead bodies should be no problem". The other says "according to history and tradition, God has wiped out a whole raft of civilizations in the past, and has smitten various opponents of his prophets; the Koran has a regular set of examples including Noah's flood, Lot and the cities of the plain, Moses and the plagues on Egypt, and Aad and Thamoud" (the last two being vanished Arabian civilizations).
However neither of these answers seem convincing. The assumption that an all-powerful God could resurrect everyone (even those who have been cremated) doesn't mean it will happen. And presumably the Day of Judgment can't happen until there are no more humans to come. In other words, the species of man would first have to have become extinct like the Trilobites, or the Dodo. Of course a meteorite might wipe us all out. The historical wipe-outs mentioned in the Koran aren't, however, examples of the Day of Judgment; they are events of "this world", and even if God did cause the earthquakes that destroyed Sodom, Gomorrah etc, most of the human race is still here.
Two further things need to be added here. First, since the Koran expressly says that it confirms, rather than replaces, the Torah and the Bible, readers should assume that all the good guidance contained in those earlier books ought to be included in what a good Moslem takes on board. Second, in my own experience, having lived and worked in Moslem countries for over two years, I would say that the people I met were generally good advertisements for their faith, as are most of the Christians and Jews - and, I should mention, the Baha'is, Zoroastrians, Buddhists, Hindus - and Atheists - that I have met too.
It does seem, though, that some of these religions (Christianity and Islam are examples) do attract a minority of fundamentalists, people who are sure they are right and others wrong, and who feel it's their job to convert others. There are also agitators, and people with power, who hi-jack the religion to further their agendas. In some cases their followers are content to follow a policy of separateness, but others can find arguments to physically attack those who don't agree with them.
In my opinion, a God that wants us to attack people who don't agree with our particular choice of revelation is not one we should be following.
I feel that, in any case, many societies have moved beyond the concept of a monotheistic super-human-type God who, despite his omnipotence, cowers humans into compliance only by threats of extreme mistreatment for opposing or ignoring any one particular revelation. That's a bit like Father Christmas and his threat of "no presents if a child has been naughty".
Instead, we should be following the spirit of Good, that which distinguishes our Doctor Jekyll from our Mr Hyde, or our potential as cooperating individuals in societies from behaving like an upmarket ape. Our motivation to do Good should be intrinsic; we are good because we know that's best for ourselves, our families, our groups, all mankind, all living things and the world. We (or many of us) don't need threats of inhumane torment in a future life.
It is not so surprising, for a book written in the 7th century, that there are many moral issues that we face in life today which are not mentioned in the Koran. In spite of doubts within Islam as to whether or not the "door of interpretation" is open or closed, this leaves the risk of moral vacuums on these issues. Although there are no instructions about religious hierarchies in the Koran, Moslem clerics are left with the job of deciding what the Prophet would have said on any of these issues not covered in the Koran.
As far as I can see, there is little or no mention in the Koran on:
There is no mention of any civilizations outside the Middle East and neighbouring Europe; so one wonders what the Islamic attitude to Chinese and Japanese civilizations should be. In regard to Buddhism, there may be images, but they are not idols of a God, they are "icons". I can see why Islam might not approve of Hindu theology, but it seems clear that this doesn't make Hindus bad people.
Another area not covered is that of voluntary cooperation, team work, trust in other people, organizations and societies. This is related to the need, in any society, for people to take personal responsibility for their actions. Islam, like some parts of Christianity, believes in pre-destination and that things only happen by God's will (although it also suggests that if things go wrong, it's your fault). This may give some people the inclination to claim "it wasn't my fault - God willed that I did it".
The Koran does not address the question of education; and the idea of learning from feedback and experience doesn't seem to be considered, nor is the possibility of there being more than one valid opinion or theory on a subject. Of course science, including medicine, came later, as did archaeology, geology, the interpretation of the fossil record, and the evolution of species. The idea that human culture evolves over time was not understood at the time the Koran was written.
It is effectively assumed that there can never be any "grey areas", borderline cases, special circumstances or degrees of good and bad. Everything is excessively "black and white" - there is no concept of uncertainty, probability, chance, risk or statistics. There is no thought of foresight, planning, thinking about side effects, avoiding risks, deferring pleasure or taking a longer-term view. In fact thinking about the future generally does not receive much attention, other than in regard to the Day of Judgment.
Finally, despite such issues looming large in current discussions about Islam in non-Islamic countries, I can find no instructions in the Koran suggesting that girls should not be educated, that women should be totally veiled, or that adulteresses should be stoned to death.
Some topics touched on in the Koran only seem apposite to issues relevant at the time of its writing, i.e. Arabia in the 7th century; examples are slaves, spoils of war and raiding of neighbouring tribes. The depiction of Paradise is also very characteristic of the thinking of the time.
To me, literal reliance on the Koran, Hadith etc is a classic case of the "once off revelation fallacy" - the idea that all the truth we need has been given us in a single revelation at one time in history. in one place and in one language. This fallacy does not just apply to Islam - it applies to Christianity, Judaism and all those religions with holy books.
Nevertheless, as most followers of these religions seem to be good people, there seems no point in throwing the baby out with the bath water. The challenge for each religion today is to keep itself relevant, rather than hanging on to literal tradition at all costs. That has been tough for Christianity. I fear it will be even tougher for Islam.
Categorized highlight quotations from the Koran
Index to more of these diatribes
Some of these links may be under construction – or re-construction.
This version updated on 21st May 2010
If you have constructive suggestions or comments, please contact the author rogertag@tpg.com.au .