I'm going to be on the receiving end of a great deal of vitriol for saying The Bible and the Koran, but sitting down and reading those two books—for the first time in my 21-year existence—was a really interesting experience.
I'm not going to turn this into a personal essay. I realized—after reading both books with a critical eye—that there are a lot of trumped-up claims made about each books' contents that ultimately fail to bear themselves out. But there's a great deal to learn from each, and I say this as a nontheist.
As someone who's made the transtion from muslim -> atheist, I was disappointed, confused and terrified when I first read a translation of the Koran. I'm genuinely curious as to what you've learned from it that's of any use, apart from perhaps, a deeper understanding of the thought-process and ethos of Islamic fundamentalists.
I am genuinely curious what you gleamed from your reading that made you atheist. I made the transition from atheist -> Muslim a few years back, though this was not solely from reading the Quran it certainly played a large role in it.
> I am genuinely curious what you gleamed from your reading that made you atheist
On it's own it didn't, but there was enough in there that a) I didn't agree with, b) didn't engage me on a spiritual level and c) that was just downright weird that I knew this wasn't the holy book that I should be looking to for guidance.
Reading it alone got me to 'looking for an alternative' but not quite the atheist I am now (or more specifically secular humanist).
If you'd like to discuss this more via email feel free to drop me a line at ali dot najaf at gmail dot com.
The obvious answer is that he/she was a child, and simply received the religion from the parents. As far as I can tell, most people are religious because their upbringing was, and of those most simply adopt an interpretation of the religion they were brought up under.
Even in adulthood I'd be absolutely astonished if even 50% of any major religion have read to completion the core text of that religion, indeed I would expect the number to be far lower.
Many non-arabic Muslims have not read the Koran, at least not most of it. There are a couple of reasons for this:
Most importantly, translations of Koran are not equated to the real thing, i.e. a Koran in English is not the Koran, it's only a translation. This has historically been a handicap for the "common people" to have access to the book. This situation was also backed by the religious elite (although Islam lacks a religious caste like Christianity, there are still hodjas, etc. who are the ones who interpret the writings). Remember that the Enlightenment in Europe was due in some part to the wide access to the Bible in the vernacular languages, e.g. the King James' version.
Another reason is that, for devout Muslims, there are a set of rules that must be obeyed to touch the Koran, one has to be clean. So (theoretically) you can't just grab it, lean back on the couch and read it. In houses it is not placed with other books on the shelf but usually in a separate cloth cover, above all books. This reverence for it has the paradoxical effect of curtailing access to its content.
All correct. I would also add that I (along with many other non-Arab muslims) had read the Koran at a very young age in Arabic phonetically without understanding what it means. As far as my parents (and our sunday school teachers) were concerned, it was just as good. It wasn't until later that I tracked down a translation.
Excellent point, which I've forgot. My mom and her neighbors perform the hatim during religious festivals using exactly the method you describe, without knowing one word of Arabic and without understanding anything. Reading in the native tongue is just not done.
As far as access to the contents of the Koran, Islam truly has some medieval qualities.
Perfectly valid question with a simple answer. I wasn't born with the ability to read, so between the time I was born and the time I could read and comprehend a translation of the Koran, I was a muslim who hadn't read the Koran.
I'm not going to turn this into a personal essay. I realized—after reading both books with a critical eye—that there are a lot of trumped-up claims made about each books' contents that ultimately fail to bear themselves out. But there's a great deal to learn from each, and I say this as a nontheist.