Read Online God Is Not One: The Eight Rival Religions That Run the World by Stephen Prothero - Free Book Online
Authors: Stephen Prothero
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Jewish and Christian readers new to the Quran are often surprised to find that its cast of characters extends to Abraham, Adam, Cain and Abel, David, Goliath, Isaac, Ishmael, Israel, Jacob, Jesus, John the Baptist, Jonah, Joseph, Mary, Moses, Noah, Pharaoh, Satan, Saul, and Zachariah. Mary appears more often in the Quran than she does in the New Testament. Nonetheless, the Quran differs radically from the Christian Bible. Here Adam sins, but this first sin is not imputed to the rest of us. So, as in Judaism, there is no doctrine of original sin and no Savior sent to earth to redeem us by dying.
On the question of relations between Muslims, Jews, and Christians, the Quran seems as conflicted as interactions among these groups were during Muhammad’s lifetime. The Quran says its God is the same as the Christian and Jewish God—“Our Allah and your Allah is One” (29:46, Pickthal)—and Muslims are told to “dispute not with the People of the Book” (29:46). At least one Quranic passage seems to indicate that Jews and Christians will make it to Paradise: “Surely they that believe, and those of Jewry, and the Christians . . . whoso believes in God and the Last Day, and works righteousness—their wage awaits them with their Lord, and no fear shall be on them, neither shall they sorrow” (2:62). Many passages say that the Jewish and Christian prophets were sent by God, and at least two passages insist that “we make no division between any of them” (3:84 and 2:136).
Abraham, for example, is described as “a man of pure faith and no idolater,” and it is written that “in the world to come he shall be among the righteous” (16:120, 122). But he will stand there as a submitter rather than a Jew, since “whoso desires another religion than Islam, it shall not be accepted of him; in the next world he shall be among the losers” (3:85).
Consigning Jews and Christians to hell is one thing, but speeding their arrival is another. Some of the Quran’s so-called sword verses—“O believers, fight the unbelievers who are near to you” (9:123) and “Fight you therefore against the friends of Satan” (4:76)—seem not only to justify but also to command making war on non-Muslims. Another controversial verse commands Muslims to “slay the idolaters wherever you find them, and take them, and confine them, and lie in wait for them at every place of ambush,” unless, of course, they convert: “If they repent, and perform the prayer, and pay the alms,” then you can “let them go their way” (9:5).
Ethics is the dimension where the great religions converge most closely. But on the ethics of war the Quran and the New Testament are worlds apart. Whereas Jesus tells us to turn the other cheek, the Quran tells us, “Whoso commits aggression against you, do you commit aggression against him” (2:194). The New Testament says nothing about how to wage war. The Quran, by contrast, is filled with just-war precepts. Here war is allowed in self-defense (2:190; 22:39), but hell is the punishment for killing other Muslims (4:93), and the execution of prisoners of war is explicitly condemned (47:4). Whether in the abstract it is better to rely on a scripture that regulates war or a scripture that hopes war away is an open question, but no Muslim-majority country has yet dropped an atomic bomb in war.
After 9/11, many non-Muslims read the Quran for the first time. Some came away horribly conflicted. When I read the Quran (in translation) for the first time, I found it repetitive. I kept wishing for some sort of narrative arc. I strained for historical context. Still there were elements I loved. I loved the recurring short litanies of the names of Allah, which seemed to punctuate almost every sura, providing the reader with moments of rest and breath:
“and know that God is All-forgiving, All-clement”
“and know that God is All-hearing, All-knowing”
“and know that God is All-sufficient, All-laudable”
(2:235,
Jewish and Christian readers new to the Quran are often surprised to find that its cast of characters extends to Abraham, Adam, Cain and Abel, David, Goliath, Isaac, Ishmael, Israel, Jacob, Jesus, John the Baptist, Jonah, Joseph, Mary, Moses, Noah, Pharaoh, Satan, Saul, and Zachariah. Mary appears more often in the Quran than she does in the New Testament. Nonetheless, the Quran differs radically from the Christian Bible. Here Adam sins, but this first sin is not imputed to the rest of us. So, as in Judaism, there is no doctrine of original sin and no Savior sent to earth to redeem us by dying.
On the question of relations between Muslims, Jews, and Christians, the Quran seems as conflicted as interactions among these groups were during Muhammad’s lifetime. The Quran says its God is the same as the Christian and Jewish God—“Our Allah and your Allah is One” (29:46, Pickthal)—and Muslims are told to “dispute not with the People of the Book” (29:46). At least one Quranic passage seems to indicate that Jews and Christians will make it to Paradise: “Surely they that believe, and those of Jewry, and the Christians . . . whoso believes in God and the Last Day, and works righteousness—their wage awaits them with their Lord, and no fear shall be on them, neither shall they sorrow” (2:62). Many passages say that the Jewish and Christian prophets were sent by God, and at least two passages insist that “we make no division between any of them” (3:84 and 2:136).
Abraham, for example, is described as “a man of pure faith and no idolater,” and it is written that “in the world to come he shall be among the righteous” (16:120, 122). But he will stand there as a submitter rather than a Jew, since “whoso desires another religion than Islam, it shall not be accepted of him; in the next world he shall be among the losers” (3:85).
Consigning Jews and Christians to hell is one thing, but speeding their arrival is another. Some of the Quran’s so-called sword verses—“O believers, fight the unbelievers who are near to you” (9:123) and “Fight you therefore against the friends of Satan” (4:76)—seem not only to justify but also to command making war on non-Muslims. Another controversial verse commands Muslims to “slay the idolaters wherever you find them, and take them, and confine them, and lie in wait for them at every place of ambush,” unless, of course, they convert: “If they repent, and perform the prayer, and pay the alms,” then you can “let them go their way” (9:5).
Ethics is the dimension where the great religions converge most closely. But on the ethics of war the Quran and the New Testament are worlds apart. Whereas Jesus tells us to turn the other cheek, the Quran tells us, “Whoso commits aggression against you, do you commit aggression against him” (2:194). The New Testament says nothing about how to wage war. The Quran, by contrast, is filled with just-war precepts. Here war is allowed in self-defense (2:190; 22:39), but hell is the punishment for killing other Muslims (4:93), and the execution of prisoners of war is explicitly condemned (47:4). Whether in the abstract it is better to rely on a scripture that regulates war or a scripture that hopes war away is an open question, but no Muslim-majority country has yet dropped an atomic bomb in war.
After 9/11, many non-Muslims read the Quran for the first time. Some came away horribly conflicted. When I read the Quran (in translation) for the first time, I found it repetitive. I kept wishing for some sort of narrative arc. I strained for historical context. Still there were elements I loved. I loved the recurring short litanies of the names of Allah, which seemed to punctuate almost every sura, providing the reader with moments of rest and breath:
“and know that God is All-forgiving, All-clement”
“and know that God is All-hearing, All-knowing”
“and know that God is All-sufficient, All-laudable”
(2:235,
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