Recommended Quran version?

[WT Sharpe]

Originally Posted by rlparker

I went to check out the book at Amazon.

Thanks for that link. If you simply do a search for "The World's Religions by Huston Smith," it leads to a paperback copy and a "Tell the Publisher you'd like to read this on a Kindle" button. What's up with Amazon's search engine? This is the second time I've run into that problem. The first time was when I was looking for another book in the Kindle Store! The Kindle Store led me to a paperback copy and a "Tell the publisher" button. If someone here at MR hadn't provided the link to the Kindle version of that book, I would have thought it non-existent!

I believe I have a paperback copy of Smith's book, but I never got around to reading it. I just bought a copy to read on my Kindle. I also this week bought an ecopy of the Qu'ran (M. A. S. Abdel Haleem of the translation from Oxford University Press). I've read the Penguin edition (translated by N.J. Dawood) a couple of times, but not this one.

[rlparker]

Originally Posted by WT Sharpe

Thanks for that link. If you simply do a search for "The World's Religions by Huston Smith," it leads to a paperback copy and a "Tell the Publisher you'd like to read this on a Kindle" button. What's up with Amazon's search engine? ...

Yeah, the first Kindle version I found is "not available in the U.S.". Weird.

Originally Posted by WT Sharpe

...I also this week bought an ecopy of the Qu'ran (M. A. S. Abdel Haleem of the translation from Oxford University Press). I've read the Penguin edition (translated by N.J. Dawood) a couple of times, but not this one.

Two monkeys one brain! I'm going to read the Quran too. But comments here and here (I know you're looking at those threads too) have convinced me that I need some background reading first.

[WT Sharpe]

Originally Posted by rlparker

Yeah, the first Kindle version I found is "not available in the U.S.". Weird.

Two monkeys one brain! I'm going to read the Quran too. But comments here and here (I know you're looking at those threads too) have convinced me that I need some background reading first.

The Oxford University Press edition contains extensive notes in the Preface concerning the origins of Qu'ran, the various English translations, and a bit of historical background into the life of Muhammad and the major Islamic traditions. It seems to me to be an excellent place to start.

[FlorenceArt]

I think I'd be interested in a biography of Muhammad... any suggestions?

[jgaiser]

Originally Posted by WT Sharpe

The Oxford University Press edition contains extensive notes in the Preface concerning the origins of Qu'ran, the various English translations, and a bit of historical background into the life of Muhammad and the major Islamic traditions. It seems to me to be an excellent place to start.

I picked up a copy of this edition and have learned a lot just from this preface. Wouldn't it be nice if everybody made an attempt to understand each other.

[Lbooker]

Is there a version in which Muhammad is not a pedophile?

[ellimak]

Originally Posted by FlorenceArt

I think I'd be interested in a biography of Muhammad... any suggestions?

I haven't actually read it, but there's one written by Karen Armstrong, who is a very well respected Islamist. The only snag is, Karen Armstrong is a Westerner and has sort of a strange, voyeuristic relationship with Islam. I'm sure the book would be informative and helpful; it's just important to know where Armstrong is coming from. Anyway, the book is called Muhammad: A Biography of the Prophet.

Originally Posted by Lbooker

Is there a version in which Muhammad is not a pedophile?

Um, try all of them?

[jgaiser]

Originally Posted by Lbooker

Is there a version in which Muhammad is not a pedophile?

Where did that come from? Cites? Not from the far right wing, preferably.

[montsnmags]

I refer to the Guidelines of MobileRead, which state:

"7. Political and Religious Topics

Past experience has shown that threads debating religious or political matters are unlikely to be edifying, and often become bad-tempered. Our mission is to support the mobile reading community. There are other sites which focus on contemporary political and religious discussions, so we strongly recommend that you debate these topics elsewhere.

MobileRead reserves the right to edit or delete posts about politics and religion, where these are unrelated to mobile reading."

While not at all precluding this thread in its entirety (acknowledging the OP's intent and reasonable request), I remind you of the Guidelines to avoid it straying into territories likely to incite that which the quoted Guideline is intended to avoid. At the same time, I'd take the opportunity to recall the Guidelines' requirement in regards to on-topicality and politeness:

MobileRead Guidelines

I return you to the OP's original request.

Cheers,
Marc
Moderator

[nohmi2]

Originally Posted by beppe

hi rlparker, with holy books you certainly mean the starting point, the founding corner stone or similar.

I think that to get a broad view of major religious viewpoints one might find more proficient to read someone who has studied the major religions.

I use : The World's Religions by Huston Smith.

Very nice find.....thanks.

Cheers/

[Lbooker]

Originally Posted by ellimak

Originally Posted by Lbooker:

Is there a version in which Muhammad is not a pedophile?
[/I].



Um, try all of them?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muhamma...riage_to_Aisha

"Aisha was six years old when betrothed to Muhammad.[12][13][14]
She stayed in her parents' home until the age of nine or ten, when the marriage was consummated in Medina. Most of the Islamic sources indicate that she was 9 years old at the time that the Prophet first had sexual intercourse with her [12][13][14][15][16][17] with the single exception of al-Tabari, who records that she was ten.[13] She was therefore married to Muhammad while still a child."

[montsnmags]

Originally Posted by Lbooker

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muhamma...riage_to_Aisha

"Aisha was six years old when betrothed to Muhammad.[12][13][14]
She stayed in her parents' home until the age of nine or ten, when the marriage was consummated in Medina. Most of the Islamic sources indicate that she was 9 years old at the time that the Prophet first had sexual intercourse with her [12][13][14][15][16][17] with the single exception of al-Tabari, who records that she was ten.[13] She was therefore married to Muhammad while still a child."

I refer to my previous Moderator post. Please stick to the OP's original topic.

Marc
Moderator

[WT Sharpe]

Originally Posted by Lbooker

Is there a version in which Muhammad is not a pedophile?

Unless I'm mistaken, the Qu'ran never mentions the age of Muhammad's youngest wife, although there are hadiths that tell of his marrying a six year old and consummating the marriage when she was nine. A Muslim who has studied the hadiths would be in a better position than I to tell you what these hadiths actually say.

That having been said, it's not always wise to judge people who lived 14 centuries ago by modern Western norms.

EDIT: Note to Marc: Posted before I read your remarks. The subject is dropped.

[nekokami]

Originally Posted by ellimak

My favorite version of the Qur'an is the Muhammad Asad translation: The Message of the Qur'an. I have it in hardback, but it's also available online: http://www.islamicbulletin.com/free_...quran_asad.htm.

The hardback version of this translation is beautiful; it's full color with side-by-side transliteration as well as the original Arabic text. Beyond that, Asad provides really helpful, extensive context and commentary for most of the verses. While Asad's interpretation (because that's all any translation is, really) is certainly progressive, I believe it maintains the spirit of the original text quite well.

The HTML version is nice, and it would be no trouble to convert it to ePub, but it would be really great to have a version like the hardcover with the Arabic text, perhaps in an interlinear format. Anyone know of such an ebook?

(I'm looking for a good interlinear Bible, as well, preferably one with oldest known versions of the texts in Hebrew and Greek.... and heck, the Bhagavad Gita, and Buddhavacana, too, while I'm at it....)