My Story with the Quran and Losing My Religion
From Islam Watch.
by Mumin Salih
08 Sep, 2008
"Without raising an eyebrow, I also read about Mohammed's genocide of the Jewish tribe of Bani Quryza. I had developed the concept that committing Islamic genocides against the Jews are no more disturbing to an Arab than slaughtering a herd of cattle.
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Introduction
My problem with Islam was mainly about the Quran which seemed to continuously require external human boasters in the form of interpretations and reinterpretations and endless justifications for much of the Quran's inanities. For a person with a free mind and good knowledge of the Arabic language, it is a fierce struggle with the mind to accept anything about the Quran; its language, style and contents. The Quran is only convincing for those whose knowledge in Arabic is nonexistent or poor, which is the case in the vast majority of Muslims including the Arabs. It is especially true for those who are conditioned to read it year after year with only one thing in their minds- to earn hasanat that helps them to avoid hell fire. For decades, I belonged to the second group, but although my starting point was the false assumption that the Quran is absolutely correct, as all Muslims do, I found it increasingly harder to accept all that collection of nonsense as my knowledge of Arabic developed over the years.
I am afraid that in my case, the language and logical absurdities of the Quran sent a louder alarm than the cruelties of Mohammed. I rejected the Quran because I expected from Allah a much better book!
Continue reading with "A Muslim Child" here .
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After reading Mr. Salih's account of his apostasy from Islam, it inspired me to add a few of my own thoughts.
You can decide for yourself if they are relevant.....or not.
Having read the Qur'an a number of times I still find it difficult to put any rational sense into what I read. There are several translations floating around and many variations to make the book seem more benign and peaceful.
The question arises, which translation then does one read? Perhaps more importantly, which does one accept as truth?
My first time through an English translation of the Qur'an, which I must say required a great deal of effort, left me thoroughly confused as to why "this" book could be accepted as religious and peaceful, and why Islam would be considered superior to Christianity and the Bible.
After my third pass it became apparent to me that most of the verses were the ramblings of a paranoid delusional schizophrenic with a leaning towards dementia.
No I am not a student of psychiatry nor a credentialed psychoanalyst. However, common sense prevails along with rational thought and discerning objectivity. Something I learned growing up.
At one point I considered learning Arabic and Farsi but quickly abandoned that notion after discovering that even Arabs disagree on the translation of the Qur'an. After all they grew up with the language, live it, use it daily in their lives, and even study it as we do English.
It has been pointed out to me that some of the Qur'an is contextual and while I agree to a point, I found it difficult to follow nevertheless.
The book holds little by way of rational common sense thinking in my opinion and contains a great deal of hate, bigotry and nonsense.
How then can a god such as Allah be described as merciful when he commands subduing all those who do not follow his teachings or embrace Islam as the one true religion?
Was Allah the Moon God of Ancient Arab Pagan?
Of course you will find arguments against the notion that Allah was a pagan idol with one assertion going so far as to state one must merely look at a Bible you would find in a hotel or motel, placed there by the Gideons that makes reference to the Arabic Bible translation of Allah as God, and claiming that is proof.
Proof of what?
The debates go on and probably will until Christ's second coming.
And speaking of Christ, whose language was Aramaic, God was known as Allah in Aramaic, which of course Muslims use as another argument that Allah and God are the same.
Interesting discussion can be found here. Correct pronunciation is key.
Confused yet?
You can discern for yourself by reading an accepted translation of the Qur'an and then compare it to the English translation of the Aramaic Bible found here.
I have to say Christians suffer from similar translation and transliteration discrepancies with the modern Bible as Muslims do with the Qur'an.
As in all studies of God's Holy Word that you may delve into, I admonish you to pray for spiritual guidance as you seek the truth.
Luke 11:9-10, "So I say to you, ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you shall find; knock, and it shall be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened."
Pray diligently with sincerity and you will find the truth.
The evidence is clear. Subjugation and oppression is the compass by which Muslims, who do embrace Islam, follow.
Intelligence is not so much a factor as understanding the translations, but an intelligent, reasoning, objective person would find the Qur'an falls short of moral superiority and logic.
As Mr. Salih points out in his essay, intellectual Muslims who have studied the Qur'an and increased their knowledge of Arabic, find it more difficult to "accept all that collection of nonsense", "the language and logical absurdities of the Quran sent a louder alarm than the cruelties of Mohammed."
Bravo Mr. Salih and thank you for your honesty. May God, the Creator of all, guide you on your path to truth and salvation.
Accepting Jesus Christ as your Redeemer will grant you entrance into the Kingdom of Heaven.
Without the Son we have nothing.
Dean
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