Denis Jekić
2nd
of February, 2013
Weekly
Responses #2 – Qur’an: ‘The Newer Testament’/Bible as Literature
Discuss one difference observed between the Qur’an and the
Bible:
I have never read the Qur’an before,
nor have I really taken a chance with the Bible. This is my first experience
with both and from what I’ve read so far, it is completely different from what
I thought. I have always viewed the Bible as a book that was fair and just and
wrote of everything that is right and that may be so in the New Testament. This
predisposed positive view of mine quite possibly may be due to the fact that I
believe that the bible is associated with religion which I see as something
positive but what I discovered in the Old Testament was shocking and slightly
hard to grasp. There is so much inequality, which I understand may be due to
the fact that this was written long ago, but either way it has been interpreted
by people and conditioned into the values of people. People are blindly
following these ideals and some of them are just too much to believe. Women are
mostly viewed as something that helps populate the world. They are given away
for the sake of others, no matter the ties they hold with those who give them
away. This may be due to how devoted people are, but would one really be able
to do something so horrid and live with them self? The Qur’an seemed to take an
almost equal view but it had a more positive light. I felt as though it was a
little more tolerable on some issues. Love is even mentioned within the book,
which is something that I’ve yet to see in the Bible. Unless it is referencing
towards the love one ought to have for God. Love is viewed in the Qur’an as the
bond between two people. It is respected and much less harsh and logical than
the viewpoints presented in the Bible. I understand that both can be
interpreted in many different ways and it may not even be viewed this way by
anyone else, but there is something more spiritual about the Qur’an.
Discuss one similarity observed between the Qur’an and the
Bible:
One noticeable similarity between
the Qur’an and the Bible is the importance both place on having a “blind
devotion” to this book and to the God and everything that is expected to be
done by the believers to follow the righteous path of God. There are many
examples the Bible provides that show us blind devotion to God. Lot, from the
book of Genesis, shows his devotion when he offers his daughters up to be used
so as to protect the men that he was hiding in his house. This shows that he
would rather follow the plans that God has for him and give up his daughters to
be used. In the Qur’an, an example of blind devotion that I observed was found
in Surah 39 (Table Spread/The Throngs) and Surah 109 (The Disbelievers). I
found it strange that the Qur’an had an answer to each disbelief or questioning
of the ideas presented within it. For every question against the ideals of the
Qur’an, there was something written as a guide for what to say back to defend
the devotion people have for the religion. “Say” was often repeated throughout
Surah 39 as a command for the believers to follow when someone or something
presented itself as a hindrance to the devotion of the people. Each “say” was
followed with what seemed to be a retort. Both the Bible and the Qur’an require
its followers to have some form of blind devotion. Some form of giving
themselves away to this religion and completely trusting what is behind it. It
isn’t a bad thing per say, but it can be for those who do not believe and question
because we don’t know what really happens until the end.
What kinds of characteristics are given to those who are
non-believers?
In Surah 107 (Common
Kindness/Neighborly Needs), we have a Meccan surra who describes a man that is
not accepting of the Judgment. A man such as this is seen as someone who
“pushes aside the orphan and does not urge others to feed the needy.” This
shows that there is no sympathy or empathy within a person who is a
non-believer. This calls out non-believers and labels them as people who are
almost without care or soul just for the fact that they do not follow. “…those
who are all show and forbid common kindness,” is another characteristic given.
It seems to imply that these people are all show and basically fake. There is nothing
substantial there but a play put on to distract or manipulate. This reminds me
a lot of the snake from the Bible. The snake was just a character there to
taunt and manipulate. These people are viewed as just that. Since they are not
followers, everything they believe in must be wrong. I also personally see the usage of “common”
to describe the act of kindness implies that even the most simple of acts or
selflessness are viewed as unimportant and uninteresting. These people do not
follow the correct way; therefore they are to be condemned.
Chris Iorio
ReplyDeleteIn response to the first part of the post: I as well had never really read the Bible or the Qur'an. When I first had read the Old Testament of the Bible I as well was quite surprised with not only how unusual some of the parts of the stories were, but also how violent and merciless some of the characters and God can be. I am also aware of how much Christianity has been ingrained into Western society, the precepts that are held by the various groups of Christians, and also the preconceived, and many times, false notions that these groups (and even non-religious types) have about Islam and the Qur'an.
While I am neither Muslim or Christian (I am a Buddhist), it really disappoints me to see so many from each group demonize the other, or use their scriptures as justification for violence and killing. Both Jesus and Mohammad were advocates of turning the other cheek and forgiving your enemies and those who transgress upon you. Those who use scriptures as a means to these ends are not good representatives of their religions, but go against their religion and prophets, and give their religions a bad name. One group in particular that I really despise are the Westboro Baptists. These people are definitely not following the example of Christ, but act in a manner quite the contrary to his teachings. They pounce at the opportunity to damn someone to hell and kick them into the infernal pits of hell, much in the same manner as King Leonidas kicked the Persian ambassador off the ledge.
In response to the second part: I agree that in both the Bible and the Qur'an there are a lot of parts where they expect blind devotion to God, the Prophets, and the Scriptures. However, to the credit of the Qur'an, there are various parts in our readings where it instructs the faithful to be tolerant of those who are not of the Muslim faith, but of different faiths. There was one part in our weekly reading where it says something akin to where Allah is just and those who are just will be judged favorably. In this manner, the Qur'an is expressing that even if you are not a Muslim, if you follow a righteous path you will still be judged favorably on the Day of Ressurection.
In response to the third part: While I agree that a part of the Qur'an like this does speak unfavorably of non-believers, again, as stated in the previous response, there are portions where they are also exonerated from being a non-believer shall they lead a just and righteous life. What I think the most important thing to take from this discussion is that we should beware of judging a the whole book or religion by one passage out of context, or even just one Surah, but should judge them all together to really get a more accurate picture of what is true to the scriptures as a whole.