I'm reading the Qu'ran this weekend.

[Betsy Ross]

It moved up to the top of my list at the drama over Park 51.

[slackmaster]

1. Let us know if you switch from sewing flags to making suicide bomb vests

;-)

[Jeff In Milwaukee]

8. Red, White and Blue suicide bomb vests....

If you're going to be martyred, you can at least look snazzy!

[demosincebirth]

12. +1

[realisticphish]

2. it was... ok

rather tedious, I thought, but large parts of it are very poetic.

Better than the Bible, by far... that's like driving across Nebraska while Ben Stein reads you a calculus text book.

[WinkyDink]

6. I cannot see the literary superiority of the Q'uran over the poetry of the KJB.

[realisticphish]

9. the poetry of psalms

is more than counterbalanced by endless pages of sacrificial rules, and lineages, and endless monologues from various prophets. KJV English gets incredibly tedious after hours of reading. At least I can read the Q'uran without falling asleep.

[wookie72]

21. I like the Proverbs

and, of course, Micah, the source of my sig. Of the Gospels, I prefer Luke.

I do appreciate the chutzpah of one Psalm being a giant acrostic.

[jberryhill]

14. The problem is that the KJV was also a piece of English literature

When your editorial board includes William Shakespeare, then you get a good product. It's remarkable how well the KJV holds up as literature.

Another problem with the Quran is that doctrinally it is only authoritative in Arabic, and translations are considered a form of interpretation (in the literary sense) or commentary. Because the notion of treating it "as literature" is heresy, you don't end up with any good compromise translations that work well "as literature".

[wookie72]

19. Sufi Poetry is pretty sweet

And the Rubaiyay of Omar Khayyam is a classic.

[Jack Rabbit]

24. Rumi (1207-1273)

I tried to find Him on the Christian cross, but He was not there
I went to the Temple of the Hindus and to the old pagodas, but I could not find a trace of Him anywhere.
I searched on the mountains and in the valleys but neither in the heights nor in the depths was I able to find Him.
I went to the Caaba in Mecca, but He was not there either.
I questioned the scholars and philosophers but He was beyond their understanding.

I then looked into my heart and it was there where He dwelled that I saw Him He was nowhere else to be found.

[wookie72]

20. Sufi Poetry is pretty sweet

And the Rubaiyay of Omar Khayyam is a classic.

[Taverner]

3. That and technical manuals are my books of choice when I have insomnia

:P

[ismnotwasm]

4. I use this site

http://skepticsannotatedbible.com/

It's not a religious friendly site, no, but it makes things very easy to read.

[rucky]

5. I wonder if any of the book burners have even opened it.

[Altoid_Cyclist]

7. All of the news reports lately have piqued my interest also.

I'm an atheist at heart, but I'm just so pissed about the intolerance if not outright hate being directed toward the Islamic people as a whole.

Granted, it's mostly a small group of idiots (like a certain preacher in FL.) getting way more attention than they deserve, but it would be interesting to see what is actually contained in the Qu'ran.

[aquart]

10. Good. You should.

My favorite is the whole thing about boinking the maid and Allah says Mohammed has permission and if his wife doesn't like it he'll get new wives and they'll be okay with it. Very funny stuff.

[Warpy]

11. Good luck. I managed to wade through a good bit of it in translation

but it's a series of sermons and there's no discernable order, rhyme or reason to much of it. It's pretty tedious reading for outsiders, IMO, although Arab friends say it's really lovely in the original Arabic. Apparently we lose a lot of the poetry in translation.

It's like most other religious works, making the best sense to people who were brought up with it.

[jberryhill]

16. I might take another stab at it

But, have you ever tried the Book of Mormon?

Holy Moley - that one is, to me, simply unreadable.

They offer the "Mormon challenge" under which it is alleged that if you read the BoM and ask God if it is true, then you'll get some sort of divine confirmation.

But, good golly, after a few pages I'd rather read a telephone directory.

[McCamy Taylor]

13. Good idea! Public Quran readings all across the country!

[TexasObserver]

17. Indeed. That is the proper response from caring citizens.

The answer to symbolic speech we don't like is symbolic speech we do like.

[smalll]

15. You know, that's actually a good idea. I want to try to get through it someday too.

Maybe someone should put together a DU Koran-reading book club. We could divide it up in digestible parts and discuss what we read here.

[carpetbagger]

18. My church here in Gainesville is doing the same.

Many of the churches, even several fundamentalist churches, as well as the synogogues are doing this too.

[Jack Rabbit]

22. I suggest reading it backwards

The Koran is arranged in order of the length of the 114 Suras. The shorter, and I think the more mystical ones, are last. The first ones are mostly those reveled in Medina and concern specific issues of Islamic government and law.

It's a good idea. I just got my copy down off the bookshelf.

[mia]

23. I'm going to learn about Muslim rosaries

Today I received a "masbaha" from a Saudi student who lived in my house. He moved out today and when I came home tonight to turn on my computer I found it, with his house keys, in front of my keyboard. I feel honored to have received it.

[HopeHoops]

25. A have a beautiful illustrated copy that CAIR sent me for free.