An Atheist's (Somewhat) Relaxed View of the Qur'an

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Posted: 08/01/2014 8:49 pm EDT
Updated: 08/01/2014 8:59 pm EDT
Ronald A. Lindsay
President & CEO, Center for Inquiry

Horrific acts of violence are currently being carried out in several areas of the world in the name of Islam, from Iraq and Syria to Nigeria, Afghanistan, and Pakistan, to provide a partial list. And, of course, Islamic terrorism is not a new phenomenon.

For well over a decade now, there has been a debate about whether Islam and its key holy text, the Qur'an, are different from other faiths and their sacred texts in that Islam and the Qur'an are allegedly uniquely belligerent, inspiring if not commanding violence toward others, and therefore are a significant contributing cause (no one claims the sole cause) for the disproportionate share of religious terrorism attributable to Islamists. Certainly the terrorists themselves invoke Qur'anic texts to justify their violence.

As an atheist, I also consider myself an empiricist, so I decided that there was no substitute for actually reading the Qur'an. I have now read about 40 percent of it (the first 10 suras, or chapters, and some scattered chapters that I thought interesting). This is probably more than I've read of the Bible. In preparation for my reading of the Qur'an, I also read The Story of the Qur'an by Ingrid Mattson, an academic who describes herself as a "faithful Muslim," and reacquainted myself with the history of the period in which Muhammad lived. As with the Bible, there are various controversies surrounding the Qur'an, in terms of its authorship, the date(s) of its composition, the reliability of various versions, and so forth. None of these controversies affects my analysis here, and to avoid unnecessary complications, I'll assume it was Muhammad who transmitted the revelations that constitute the Qur'an.

Defensiveness

I would characterize the predominant tone of the Qur'an not as belligerent but as defensive. From the second sura onward (the first sura is essentially a ritual prayer), verse after verse emphasizes the critical importance of believing in the revelations while coupling this with warnings about those who mock and laugh at Muhammad (e.g., 2:2-21; 2 5-82; 2:87-92; 2:208-212; 3:10-13; 3:116-117; 3:176-186). To quote one passage (I use the translation by M.A.S. Abdel Haleem, published by Oxford University Press):

So when they come to you, they argue with you: the disbelievers say, "These are nothing but ancient fables," and tell others not to listen [to the Qur'an] ... But they ruin no one but themselves ... If you could only see, when they are made to stand before the Fire, how they will say, "If only we could be sent back, we would not reject the revelation of our Lord, but be among the believers." (6: 25-27)

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/ronald-a-lindsay/an-atheists-somewhat-relaxed-view-of-the-quran_b_5640853.html

[cbayer]

1. This is an interesting analysis.

I, like most non-muslim americans, don't really know much about this book.

His conclusions about authoritarian sources being the biggest roadblock to actually listening to each other and working together is good.