Ragnarok

"The grief of the gods was appalling. They broke down. They could not speak for weeping. Most affected of all was Odin: gods did not fall dead, and when the loveliest and gentlest god could be killed in a game, worse was still on the way. For a long time the assembled gods stood stupidly, unable to touch the body, or to move it. The bright hair ruffled in the light wind. Dark Hödur stood alone, listening to the sobbing. The thing child closed her eyes and tried to imagine the inside of his head and failed." (96).

This passage perfectly illustrates the point that A.S. Byatt is trying to make about gods, war, and destruction on earth (or in this case, in the mythical world). It is a beautiful passage because it illuminates so clearly how the gods feel about the death of the gentle, beautiful Baldur. The way it is written makes the grief and sheer shock palpable. It emphasizes that which is impossible can become possible. It is a paragon of incredulity. This is further emphasized with the fact that thin girl herself cannot even begin to imagine what is going on. 

This all ties in to the themes of the book. It makes a statement about the carelessness of the gods and those with power. The gods act reckless and thus pay for it. Furthermore this passage sheds light on the futility and fleeting nature of life. With these themes in mind, as well as the craftily composed syntax and imagery, this is one of the strongest passages I found in reading this book.

Qur'an Selections

It was difficult to understand each of the different translations at first, but after some rereading I was able to catch on and grasp what was being said. What I found most interesting about these readings was how it talks about the stories of the other religions that are similar to the ones in the Qur'an. It says that the fact that these stories are similar to past religion's stories proves that the Qur'an is more reliable and in fact more true, because these stories have been refined throughout the years. In my opinion, and in the opinion of Bill Maher in Religulous, the fact that these stories have been repeated leads me to believe that maybe they aren't as reliable as some people may think... but that's just my opinion.

10/28/2014 Ian Crowley

I have never read anything from the Qur'an before, and I was very surprised by the how similar it was to the Old Testament. It is told in the Qur'an that the gods punished earlier generations for sinning, by removing them from existence. They did this in order to give future generations the opportunity to have a clean slate and to change their ways. This seems to be a reoccurring theme in the various religious texts that we have read. This reoccurring theme of being punished for sins should make us stop and think more about our actions and how they affect ourselves and others. It was also very interesting to me to be able to see the different translations of the Qur'an. I found that by reading multiple translations of the text, I was able to understand the message much easier.

Quran Response

      I thought it was very interesting to see each of the stories translated by different scholars. As a Muslim, when I read the Quran I always read the translation by someone that has studied Arabic for years. However, the text may still be slightly different from a different person even if they have studied for a long time as well. This is why we have tafseer, which is added explanation from a scholar that has studied the Quran in the context of Islam and the words and practices of the prophet as well. This gives a bigger picture and more context than just reading the translation of the Quran by itself. For example in the translation of surah Naml there is the "ta mim" which is actually referring to two Arabic letters which are meant to be said phonetically. Just this one verse, along with other verses that only have letters have been debated amongst Islamic scholars, but the letters are meant to have a hidden meaning that only God knows.

Qur'an Selections

These three readings were my first experience with the Qur’an. It surprised me how many similarities I found between the Qur’an readings and the Old Testament readings I have been exposed too previously. It also surprised me how logical the arguments in the Qur’an were. The explanations for why God punishes sinners were easy to understand, and the attitude seemed to be that if people do not care enough to change their sinful ways, they deserve punishment from God. I also noted the repeated theme of ungratefulness in the Qur’an selections. It was stated that oftentimes, people pray for help and guidance in times of trouble, and upon receiving this help, go back to their old sinful ways and do not thank God in the way that they should. This created a bold statement about human nature and was very thought provoking to me. Overall, I enjoyed reading the Qur’an and gaining exposure to this holy book.

Yunus (Jonah), Al-Naml (The Ants, The Ants), and Az-Zukhruf

This week’s readings were structurally different compared to last week’s.  Instead of one narrator, there were three: Yusuf Ali, Pickthal, and Shakir.  Compared to the Book of Daniel, it felt more like I was reading a book of lessons compared to a fictional story: one of the reasons is because the narrators used “you” to directly address the audience.  Although there weren’t many, one aspect that reminded me of Greek mythology was the three narrators.  They reminded me of the Fates that appeared in the Disney movie Hercules.  The Fates were also consisted of three people, and they also had the tendency of starting and ending each other’s sentences/verses.

Exclusivity of Islam

One thing that kept jumping out to me was how the text kept coming back to how if Allah chose you, then you wouldn’t be doing wrong or evil. It highlights to me one of what I believe to a major driving factors for the spread of religions: exclusivity. If the text can arouse the suspicion that there may be a degree of truth within it to the reader, that reader would likely feel very left out if Allah hadn’t called him or her to His ways. I think that this is a very important part to drawing people in because by simply making a conscious decision to praise Allah, those individuals are able to become part of a very exclusive group; a group consisting of only those which an omnipotent being “chose”. So a paradox is created within the believer in that if they believe, but are not chosen, they get destruction in the end. If they are chosen, however, they get paradise. It seems then that a person can alter themselves to meet the qualifications of what a chosen person does, thus making that individual "chosen".   

Quran Selections

Usually the Quran is not read in English because it's hard to get the meaning of an Arabic word precisely. It was even confusing for me. When I was reading these selections, I kept relating them back to psychology with the "delay of gratificiation. That if you believe in God and repent/don't commit sins, you'll get heaven or be rewarded. You hold out for your sins because you know there is something better. I also wanted to use this quote: "And this Quran is not such as could be forged by those besides Allah, but it is a verification of that which is before it and a clear explanation of the book, there is no doubt in it, from the Lord of the worlds." I wanted to relate it back to Bill Maher's "Religulous." He used the idea of similar stories to discredit religion, while in Islam, they use it to credit religion. It's really interesting to see the dichotomy between those meanings.

Interpretations on How the Quran was Written

While reading selections from the Quran, what truly has caught my attention was the switch between showing punishments and then rewards. In one of the first statements in Jonah, the Quran states, "He reproduces it, 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." It surprised me that right from the start of this holy book that there were threats to those who do not follow. Normally, just from an advertisement stand point, a person would want to portray the benefits of something before showing the harms of it, just so that the person would be interested in it. However, the Quran, on the other hand, begins with a threat to those who do not believe in Allah. Considering that we have learned that the Quran is a relatively modern take on religion that is updated based on past books, it would seem likely that the authors at the team, being prophets, would have written it in a different, more appealing way. Also, I find it very interesting that the Quran is translated in 3 different ways. It makes a relative blur between all the texts that distracts from the true meaning of the text. Overall, I am surprised at how this holy book was written. It offers insightful ideas, but since religion is partially an advertisement game, it is interesting to see how it was written in a different, non-typical way.

Quran

After reading the selections from the Quran, I am mainly trying to translate the reading into concepts that I can more fully understand. The english used was somewhat confusing to me, but some general concepts stuck out to me: Some of the concepts that stuck out were the punishment that seems to be considered commonplace for people who do not worship Allah, and the insistence that Allah created everything and is all knowing. It would be interesting to me to find out whether or not Muslims believe that nonbelievers should be punished in a human way, or if it is expected that Allah will punish the nonbelievers. It seems to me that this would be very much up to interpretation, which could in itself be the cause of the existence of certain muslim sects that take it upon themselves to punish those that they view as transgressors. There was a quote that stuck out to me: "And if they call you a liar, say: My work is for me and your work for you; you are clear of what I do and I am clear of what you do." To me, the implication of this is that a person who is on a religious path is on that path for better or for worse, and someone who is not on that path is "clear" of it. Though this may not be the intention of the quote, it says to me that as long as one's religious practice does not infringe on other people's personal freedoms, then it is acceptable. Along the same line, in the case of a non religious person (or even an atheist), the same applies: Non-belief is acceptable to the extent that it does not infringe on other people's personal freedoms.