Quote:
Originally Posted by FlorenceArt
I'm not sure I agree with you, if I understand you correctly. You do need context to understand what the writers of the Bible of Quran meant. But it won't tell you what their followers read in them. It seems to me that many Christian beliefs are based on late inventions or wacky "interpretations" of the original texts.
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Frankly, if you are a Westerner, there are a lot of things in the Qur'an which simply aren't going to make sense if you don't have some knowledge about pre-Islamic Arabia. For example, you won't have an understanding of the idioms used, you won't understand how the split between Sunni and Shi'a happened, and you won't know the importance of the spoken word to this culture (which is important to understanding how Islam spread and why there are still Qur'an recitation contests to this day). I could go on about these kinds of things for pages and pages.
The point I'm trying to make is, without a context or interpretation (
tafsir or
tawil, both of which are still relevant to modern practice and belief), a non-Muslim reader is likely to misunderstand and therefore misjudge the tradition. Interpretations don't come from nowhere. In fact, I would say that when it seems a belief is based on a late invention or a wacky interpretation, as you say, it is all the more important to do the work of uncovering its origins through context and exegesis. Of course, all of this would only be interesting to someone who truly wanted to take a good look at Islam and form her opinions fairly.
I am so fed up with all these faux-Islamists and faux-terrorism experts that have come out of the woodwork in the last nine years. If you want to learn about Islam and you want to learn it right, please read the Qur'an and some exegesis and a history of pre-Islamic Arabia, not some book you saw at Borders for $7.99 by a crackpot promising to tell you how 9-11 happened. (I'm not saying anyone here has done this, by the way. I'm just taking the time to unleash a much-needed rant.)