Preface
Analysis of the Koran
Translation of the analysis in German of August 2010 with some additions. July 2017.
Preface
The Koran is the holy book of Islam and thus the basis of the Moslem religion. One can only understand this religion with knowledge of the Jewish religion. Out of a multitude of gods the Israelites declared that their own one God was the only existent God in the world, who had chosen the Jewish people as His privileged people and had sent the prophets to them. The first of these elected people was called Abraham, who is also the first for Moslems, and according to Islamic belief Mohammed is the final and decisive prophet in a whole line of prophets.
The Koran which I have used is the bilingual edition of 1930, newly published in Istanbul in 2008. This book has more than 600 pages. The Koran has 114 suras, each of which has its own title except for sura 1. The titles, however, do not give much information about the contents. The suras are organized in verses and are of greatly varying length.
The statements concerning certain themes are distributed over many suras, so reading the text gives an impression of chaos. One finds, for example, statements about Jesus in 11 suras (3, 4, 5, 6, 9, 18, 19, 23, 25, 43, 61) which include references to Him in a total of 43 verses.
In this analysis the selected verses are printed in blue italics and are numbered in accordance with the bilingual edition used. If they are printed at the head of a section, the reader should let them make an impression on her or him before reading my comments.
The analysis of the Koran has been undertaken according to the following points of view:
1. Which statements can be found concerning the Koran itself; do they corroborate the contents?
2. What significance do the Torah and the Gospels have? What statements about Adam, Noah, Abraham, Moses and Jesus can be found in the Koran? In how far do they conform with the Torah and the Bible (O.T. and N.T.)?
3. What image of God does the Koran offer?
4. What form of society can be found in the Koran?
5. What important statements concerning Islam can be found in the Koran?
6. Is tolerance towards other religions to be found?
The verses cited are taken from the bilingual edition of the Koran mentioned above.
The general result of this analysis is among other things deliberate differences (deliberate in the sense of being directed towards Islamic doctrine) in important characteristics concerning the figure of Jesus and important persons in the Old Testament. These differences are discussed in detail in the appropriate sections of this treatise.
Statements in the Koran about the Koran
Statements in the Koran about the Koran
2/2 „Tis is the Scripture whereof there is no doubt, a guidance unto those who ward off (evil).“
3/3 „He hath revealed unto thee (Muhammad) the Scripture with truth, confirming that which was (revealed) before it, even as He revealed the Torah and the Gospel“
3/7 „… The scripture wherein are clear revelations… and others (which are) allegorical …“ 3/164 „Allah verily hath shown grace to the believers by sending unto them a messenger of their own who reciteth unto them His revelations, and causeth them to grow, and teacheth them the Scripture and wisdom; although before they were in flagrant error“
4/113 „… Allah revealeth unto thee the Scripture and wisdom…“
5/15 „… Now hath come unto you light from Allah and a plain scripture“
7/204 „And when the Quran is recited, give ear to it and pay heed, that ye may obtain mercy“
According to 10/15, in the Koran Mohammed is only doing what has been revealed to him and so it is the revelations of Allah that can be read here.
10/37 „And this Quran is not such as could ever be invented in despite of Allah; but it is a confirmation of which was before it.“
10/61 „And thou are not occupied with any business and thou recitest not a Lecture from this and ye perform no act, but We are Witness of you when ye are engaged therein…“
11/1 „… a Scripture the revelations whereof are perfected and then expounded, from One Wise, Informed“
12/2 „So We have revealed it, a Lecture in Arabic;…“
13/37 „Thus we revealed it, a decisive utterance in Arabic;…“ and
14/1 „… thou mayst bring forth mankind from darkness unto light…“
make it clear that the suras have been sent down from Allah as an immutable directive to lead mankind from darkness into light.
According to 15/9 Allah is the author of these admonitions and will be the guardian of them. The often repeated verses 1/1-7 have been given by Him.
16/63 „By Allah, We verily sent messengers unto the nations before thee, but the devil made their deeds fair-seeming unto them. So he is their patron this day, ad theirs will be a painful doom“
16/64 „And We have revealed the Scripture unto thee only that thou mayst explain unto them that wherein they differ, and as a guidance and a mercy for a people who believe“
According to 17/9 the Koran guides believers to great rewards, whereas evil doers will be ruined (17/82).
The perfection of this holy text is absolute (17/88):
„Say: Verily though mankind and the Jinn should assemble to produce the like of this Quran, they could not produce the like thereof…“
According to 17/106 the text of the Koran has come down from Allah one part after another and there is nothing false in it (18/1). Furthermore, it has been made easy to comprehend (19/97).
26/196
Impressum
Verlag: BookRix GmbH & Co. KG
Texte: Walter Brehm
Tag der Veröffentlichung: 07.12.2017
ISBN: 978-3-7438-4507-7
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