Quran Readings

Throughout the entire text I felt like I could have been reading the Old Testament in a King James Version of the bible. Being unfamiliar with the Quran and not having read a bible, besides the readings for class, in so long made them seem very related. I found them related as in content and in language. For example, in the readings assigned, one of the interpretations of the Quran brought up Jesus as being the son of Mary and also a prophet. Although the old testament does not mention Jesus, the new testament is all about Jesus and his story. As for the different translations of the text, I did not find them very different at all. Most of the time they interpreted the text pretty similarly but used  different selection of words.

Qu'ran Selections

After reading through the first couple of lines I was having less trouble with the sentence structure and vocabulary that was implemented in the excerpts. However, at first I had to re-read sentences in order to fully understand what they discussed. It was very evident how intertwined Christianity, Islam, and Judaism are based off the content in the readings. Even though I knew that chronologically Islam came after Judaism and Christianity it was interesting to see how related these three religions are based off the similarities in the way they recognize certain prophets and key individuals in their respective faiths. In addition to this I also found it quite interesting how the use of fear was discussed in the Az-Zukhruf section. I never really thought of how fear can be used to influence people's religious beliefs until I read the part relating to how one must fear Allah and obey him. I always thought of God as a guide not as intimidating being and it seems that this religious text delves into the fact that Allah is not only a being that you should respect, but also one that you should fear. The concept of doing wrong and "having woe being brought to the wrong-doers" cemented the idea that people involved in a religion often end up believing in certain principles and acting in certain ways, more so because they are afraid of the consequences.

Allah's Power

One thing that continuously stood out to me as I was reading the excerpts was the notion that if you did not "believe," then you would consequently be punished.  For instance, in "(Yunus) Jonah," Shakir declares: "that He may with justice recompense those who believe and do good; and (as for) those who disbelieve, they shall have a drink of hot water and painful punishment because they disbelieved."  Yes, I wholeheartedly believe that those who practice noble, justice, and sound deeds should be rewarded, and those who are wicked should be punished.  This is what we have been taught all of our lives by society: to be good people and good things will happen.  What goes around comes around, and we should never stray away from performing acts of love and kindness.  Because of my ideals, I had originally read this line without batting an eye because this line seemed to resonate with me, and match all of my beliefs and ideologies that had been instilled in me, and that I had practiced from birth.  However, after rereading it, I questioned a notion that I had not previously thought about.  Did Shakir mean the people who do not lead a just lifestyle, or those who did not believe in the same God as he did?  Is this text implying that those whose beliefs do not perfectly adhere to that of this text are wrong?  Are they wicked?  If somebody does not believe in a God, are they wrong?  Should non-believers in a God's existence in general or disbelievers in a God's teachings be punished?  Or, is this text implying that both of these categories should be?  Just because somebody does not believe in this God does that mean that Shakir is implying that they are evil?