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Have you ever read the Koran?

Never trust the teller, trust the tale - D. H. Lawrence

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During a dinner party I started a conversation with a table partner who sat opposite me.
A charming woman. She obviously did not agree with what I had to say about the Islam
and as such asked a devastating question: Have you ever read the Koran yourself? A
solemn moment. The whole table was listening. I answered: Blair said . To which:
I am not at all interested in what Tony Blair said. I just want an answer to my ques-
tion. With daring stubbornness I continued: Blair said I do not want to know at
all what Blair said. Once again I said: You do not know what I am going to say. So -
Blair said a few months ago (in 2006) that he regularly reads the Koran and had the
book on his bedside table. And, yes he had even read it twice. With this comment he
made himself completely ridiculous in the eyes of the Muslims, as even a child knows
that you cannot read the Koran. It is a book without context. The name Mohammed
only appears four times in the Koran and place-names hardly or not at all. Only after
having studied the Sira and Hadith for years, which contain the commentaries on the
Koran, is it possible to understand the Koran. Besides, the chronology is inaccurate.
She again (everyones attention is gripped): You may say so, but some experts dis-
agree. What I say is not an opinion but a matter of fact, because the Suras are ranked
in order of length and there is no mention of years. The first chapter or sura is the
longest and the last is the shortest. Many Christians take for granted that within Islam
the Koran is treated the same way as the Bible within Christianity, but that is totally
wrong. In actual fact, within the Islamic practice the Koran is of secondary importance.
For everything they have a rule, but most instructions in the book are rather vague and
the Islamist will rather be led by what is presented by the religious authority, by the
imam.

For that matter, our children too will soon be laughing at Blairs stupid remark. What a
pity he is leaving as Prime Minister of England. Ill explain. In France consideration is
being given after some serious criticism to introducing Arabic into the schools. An
imam complained that the teaching of English was an unacceptable form of American
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imperialism. Who knows, the English imams may be saying the same. It is reported
that Belgium will soon follow suit if France passes a law to that effect. Of course, at
first optional. They are quite sympathetic, arent they? Do you know what happened in
a school in Denmark, a country with relatively few Muslims, after they introduced
Halal food? Their next demand was that non-Muslims should be eating the same.

The Netherlands and Belgium are in a pincer movement. I have already started a rapid
course in Arabic. Hello Mr. Blair, ahlan biek ja oestz Blair. I do not want to be seen as
an old codger when my grandchildren speak Arabic and I cant understand a darn thing.

Hubert Luns

Postscript:
The Observer magazin of June 12, 2011 quoted the former Prime Minister
Tony Blair as saying: Reading the Islamic religions holy book - considered
by Muslims to be the exact words of God - ensures me to remain faith-
literate. To be faith-literate is crucial in a globalised world, I believe. I read
the Quran every day, partly to understand some of the things happening in
the world, but mainly just because it is immensely instructive.

Published in the satirical Email magazine t Scheldt, Nr. 754, 17th Nov. 2006.
www.tscheldt.be

Soon after this article was written, the Center for

the Study of Political Islam (CSPI) published An
Abridged Koran (ISBN 0-9785528-4-9), as part
of The Islamic Trilogy Koran, Sira, Hadith,
that was published at about the same time.

The back cover states: Islam is a political system,

a culture and a religion based upon the Koran, Sira
(life of Mohammed) and Hadith (the Traditions).
The Islamic Trilogy series integrates the three
primary sources to give the entire Islamic political
doctrine the treatment of non-Muslims. The Tri-
logy is authoritative and fact-based. All statements
can be confirmed by the use of reference numbers.
The knowledge is integrated all of the primary
sources are used to give the complete picture of
Islams political doctrine.
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Allah or the Lord Jesus Christ?

by Rick Mathes, the Executive Director of the Mission Gate Prison Ministry

The following story has been challenged. According to prison officials, the Imam was a
Muslim prisoner, not a cleric, and jihad (Holy War) was not discussed. In fact, it is not im-
portant if this exchange of views, which seems very plausible, really took place, because
the argumentation is essentially right.

Last month (May 2003) I attended my annual training session thats required for main-
taining my state prison security clearance. During the training session there was a
presentation by three speakers representing the Roman Catholic, Protestant and Muslim
faiths, who explained each of their beliefs.

I was particularly interested in what the Islamic Imam had to say. The Imam gave a great
presentation of the basics of Islam, complete with a video. After the presentations, time
was provided for questions and answers.

When it was my turn, I directed my question to the Imam and asked: Please, correct me
if Im wrong, but I understand that most Imams and clerics of Islam have declared a
holy jihad (Holy war) against the infidels of the world and, that by killing an infidel,
(which is a command to all Muslims) they are assured of a place in heaven. If thats the
case, can you give me the definition of an infidel?

There was no disagreement with my statements and without hesitation he replied: Non-
believers!

I responded: So, let me make sure I have this straight. All followers of Allah have been
commanded to kill everyone who is not of your faith so they can have a place in heaven.
Is that correct?

The expression on his face changed from one of authority and command to that of a little
boy who had just been caught with his hand in the cookie jar.

He sheepishly replied: Yes.

I then stated: Well, sir, I have a real problem trying to imagine Pope John Paul com-
manding all Catholics to kill those of your faith or Dr. Stanley ordering all Protestants to
do the same in order to guarantee them a place in heaven!

The Imam was speechless!

I continued: I also have a problem with being your friend when you and your brother
clerics are telling your followers to kill me! Let me ask you a question. Would you rather
have your Allah, who tells you to kill me in order for you to go to heaven, or my Jesus
who tells me to love you because I am going to heaven and He wants you to be there with
me?

You could have heard a pin drop as the Imam hung his head in shame.

The purpose of the class was to increase religious sensitivity, that is, tolerance for each
others beliefs and I really blew that. The director was purple with rage. However, the
Imam and I exchanged signs and he said Salaam, which means peace in Arabic (I
hope).

See also: The Golden Rule in Islam by Bill Warner

Available at http://www.politicalislam.com/goldRuleIslam
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Below is a review of An Abridged Koran posted on Amazon.com

Finally a readable Koran (March 21, 2007)

Reviewer: Luns H ubert

The Koran is a book without context. What is context? For example: Yes-
terday president Bush went to visit Jerusalem and said the following on
account of the issue of the Arab-Israeli conflict. Everything in this sentence
is context. If you take what Bush has said during his presidency out of con-
text and the dates and names are omitted from his speeches and all refe-
rences to precise events and you do not respect the chronology of when
something was said, then you get a book very similar to the Koran, but now
it tells the feats of someone called Bush. Such a book needs a decoding by
means of a narrative that restores the context. The decoding books for the
Koran are the Hadith and Sira. If you merge the three (Koran, Hadith and
Sira) you get a story in its original perspective and if you omit the repeat
stories of similar speeches for different audiences, you get the An Abridged
Koran by CSPI. How glad I was to get that book!