Steve's Koran (Qur'an)

Steve’s Koran (Qur’an)

Bring (us) a different Qur’an, or change it.

Steve Howard

PUBLISHED BY:

Steve Howard on Smashwords

Steve’s Koran (Qur’an)

Copyright © 2010 by Steve Howard 773U5

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or distributed in any printed or electronic form without permission by the copyright owner and the publisher of this book, except in the case of quotations embodied in critical articles, essays and reviews.

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Table of Content

author’s introduction

chapter 01 _ The Opening

chapter 02 _ The Cow

chapter 03 _ The Family of ‘Imran

chapter 04 _ Women

chapter 05 _ The Feast

chapter 06 _ Livestock

chapter 07 _ The Heights

chapter 08 _ Battle Gains

chapter 09 _ Repentance

chapter 10 _ Jonah

chapter 11 _ Hud

chapter 12 _ Joseph

chapter 13 _ Thunder

chapter 14 _ Abraham

chapter 15 _ Al-Hijr

chapter 16 _ The Bee

chapter 17 _ The Night Journey

chapter 18 _ The Cave

chapter 19 _ Mary

chapter 20 _ Ta Ha

chapter 21 _ The Prophets

chapter 22 _ The Pilgrimage

chapter 23 _ The Believers

chapter 24 _ Light

chapter 25 _ The Differentiator

chapter 26 _ The Poets

chapter 27 _ The Ants

chapter 28 _ The Story

chapter 29 _ The Spider

chapter 30 _ The Byzantines

chapter 31 _ Luqman

chapter 32 _ Bowing down in Worship

chapter 33 _ The Joint Forces

chapter 34 _ Sheba

chapter 35 _ The Creator

chapter 36 _ Ya Sin

chapter 37 _ Ranged in Rows

chapter 38 _ Sad

chapter 39 _ The Throngs

chapter 40 _ The Forgiver

chapter 41 _ Made Distinct

chapter 42 _ Consultation

chapter 43 _ Ornaments of Gold

chapter 44 _ Smoke

chapter 45 _ Kneeling

chapter 46 _ The Sand Dunes

chapter 47 _ Muhammad

chapter 48 _ Triumph

chapter 49 _ The Private Rooms

chapter 50 _ Qaf

chapter 51 _ Scattering (Winds)

chapter 52 _ The Mountain

chapter 53 _ The Star

chapter 54 _ The Moon

chapter 55 _ The Lord of Mercy

chapter 56 _ That which is Coming

chapter 57 _ Iron

chapter 58 _ The Dispute

chapter 59 _ The Gathering (of Forces)

chapter 60 _ Women Tested

chapter 61 _ Solid Lines

chapter 62 _ The Day of Congregation

chapter 63 _ The Hypocrites

chapter 64 _ Mutual Neglect

chapter 65 _ Divorce

chapter 66 _ Prohibition

chapter 67 _ Control

chapter 68 _ The Pen

chapter 69 _ The Inevitable Hour

chapter 70 _ The Way of Ascent

chapter 71 _ Noah

chapter 72 _ The Jinn

chapter 73 _ Enfolded

chapter 74 _ Wrapped in his Cloak

chapter 75 _ The Resurrection

chapter 76 _ Man

chapter 77 _ (Winds) Sent Forth

chapter 78 _ The Announcement

chapter 79 _ The Forceful Chargers

chapter 80 _ He Frowned

chapter 81 _ Shrouded in Darkness

chapter 82 _ Torn Apart

chapter 83 _ Those Who Give Short Measure

chapter 84 _ Ripped Apart

chapter 85 _ The Towering Constellations

chapter 86 _ The Night-Comer

chapter 87 _ The Most High

chapter 88 _ The Overwhelming Event

chapter 89 _ Day Break

chapter 90 _ The City

chapter 91 _ The Sun

chapter 92 _ The Night

chapter 93 _ The Morning Brightness

chapter 94 _ Relief

chapter 95 _ The Fig

chapter 96 _ The Clinging Form

chapter 97 _ The Night of Glory

chapter 98 _ Clear Evidence

chapter 99 _ The Earthquake

chapter 100 _ The Charging Steeds

chapter 101 _ The Crashing Blow

chapter 102 _ Striving for More

chapter 103 _ The Declining Day

chapter 104 _ The Backbiter

chapter 105 _ The Elephant

chapter 106 _ Quraysh

chapter 107 _ Common Kindness

chapter 108 _ Abundance

chapter 109 _ The Disbelievers

chapter 110 _ Help

chapter 111 _ Palm Fibre

chapter 112 _ Purity (of Faith)

chapter 113 _ Daybreak

chapter 114 _ People

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Author’s introduction:

It has been said by many that the Qur’an cannot be translated. It should not be translated. Up until recently this may have been true. Most translations were somewhat misrepresentative.

Unfortunately, Islam is a very large event. Like Christianity and Judaism, most of its followers do not read. Reading is a new luxury for our world. Most people, even most Moslems, do not read Arabic; almost no one understands archaic Arabic. Not only can the Qur’an be translated, it must be so that it can be read.

It must be read by Moslems. It should also be read by Christians and Jews. And someone who is not a believer in any religion must interpret the many times told story.

Without the translation by M.A.S. Abdel Huleem, it would be hard to do justice to the much talked about, seldom understood, Qur’an.

It is the objective of Steve Howard to make the message clear. Not so that you can believe it, so that we can let go of our stone age paradigms and become thinking animals.

Chapter 01 THE OPENING

Quote: vs. 1. In the name of God, the Lord of Mercy, the Giver of Mercy! End Quote.

Here we have the opening for every chapter – Sura.

God is the personification of absolute judgement. Often He is referred to as We. And many would argue that it is simply form but this is something we also see in the Torah. It is the we, the elite, the priests, the rulers.

We will tell you how to be, how to think, what to do and when to kill in Our name.

It is a declaration from above how the slaves are to conduct themselves.

Chapter 02 THE COW

Holy Cow. This is a long Sura.

vs. 2. This is the scripture in which there is no doubt, containing guidance for those who are mindful of God, who believe in the unseen, keep up the prayer, and give out of what We have provided for them, those who believe in the revelation sent down to you (Muhammad) and in what was sent before you, those who have faith in the Hereafter. EQ.

This isn’t the first scripture. But the claim is made, like it always is in such a book, that this book is the book that God has ordained. This is the book of all books. This of course could be argued if anyone cared to argue the point.

Let’s do it.

Okay. This book is not ordained by God. This book was written by manipulating primates to explain to the unruly masses how to be.

And this is neither a good thing nor a bad thing. It is an opportunity. It is both law and inspiration for the ignorant.

There are a few prerequisites for those under its guidance. You must accept, with no proof, the unseen God. You must believe God is worthy of worship and prayer. You also have to be ready to forfeit your life for the promise of a place called the Hereafter.

Unfortunately, we have nothing to go on. These claims are all empty. Muhammad spouted out many ideas, some actually making good sense, but it was not God given.

This is not a reason to disregard the book. It simply means that we must approach it for what it is. A book of Law and guidance.

Muhammad tells us there will be those who don’t accept the book as God’s one book. He includes the Jews and Christians as blesses along with his new followers but makes it clear those who don’t accept his words as holy will suffer torment.

vs. 10. There is a disease in their hearts, to which God has added more: agonizing torment awaits them for their persistent lying. EQ

So anyone who questions the authority of His book will suffer greatly. Those who don’t accept the established new truth as the ultimate truth are deceived and the deceivers.

vs. 13. When it is said to them, ‘Believe, as the others believe,’ they say, ‘Should we believe as the fools do?’ but they are the fools, though they don’t know it. EQ

You don’t want to join our club of ignorant fools than you are a fool.

Why would I want to hang out with brainwashed idiots.

We serve the overlords. And the overlords do not like clever questioning. They like idiot slaves that do as they are told.

vs. 21. People, worship your Lord, EQ

vs. 23. If you have doubts about the revelation We have sent down to Our servants, then produce a single sura like it – EQ

At the time this was written it was a real challenge because almost no one could read or write. The Qur’an was memorized by those who passed it on before a copy was finally written down. Only recently have we had the means to meet the challenge. Now that we do, much better books have been written.

vs. 24. If you cannot do this – and you never will – then beware of the Fire prepared for the disbeliever whose fuel is men and stones. EQ

Muhammad was wrong. He didn’t know about the effects of the printing press. An age of enlightenment.

vs. 28. How can you ignore God. EQ

Let’s suppose just for a minute there is an almighty God. Would it be possible to question such an entity. Would this being write conflicting religious books full of brutal laws. Simply put: would an almighty being be fallible and petty like an ignorant human.

I think it fairly presumptuous to say that God had a hand in any book. It is much more likely that some humans have made this empty claim. This outright lie. To frighten the ignorant.

vs. 31. He taught Adam all the names ...EQ

This contradicts the Torah where Adam was simply instructed to name the things. Now of course Adam was not conjured into existence about six thousand years ago during six days of sorcery by a deity. But there are some things to learn in this story. We did make a jump in our evolution when we developed language. And here we must give the Qur’an its credit along with other ancient writing. It wasn’t all clear but it was a very good start.

vs. 34. When he told the angels, ‘Bow down before Adam, EQ

This also contradicts the Torah. It also propagates a very bad habit: Bowing down.

It goes on to tell the story of Satan. It boils down to: do as you are told.

vs. 42. Do not mix truth with falsehood, or hide the truth when you know it. EQ

This is one of those verses that can be made into a poster and hung on the wall or billboard.

Muhammad, or the writers of the Qur’an, could have followed their own advice.

But they didn’t.

vs. 43. Keep up the prayer, pay the prescribed alms, and bow your heads EQ

That is the voice of a dictator.

vs. 50. and when We parted the sea for you. EQ

Just for the record. The story is not true. The sea was not parted by the federation of God. The Sea of Reeds in question here may have been parted by a hot summer, low tide.

Whatever. It likely was just a story.

Right.

vs. 53. Remember when We gave Moses the Scripture, and the means to distinguish, so that you might be guided. EQ

We always supposed to refer to God. It is the style of the language at the time. It does however translate very nicely to reveal the truth of the situation.

We have given you law. Follow it and do not question. Any who do not follow, kill them.

vs. 57. We made the clouds cover you with shade, and sent manna and quails down to you... EQ

Almost no one catches the quail story. The three or six million, so the story goes, wander through the desert, had nothing much to eat. This didn’t include Moses and the Levite priests who feasted every day. So the three or six million complained that they got no meat so God got pissed off at their complaining and over reacted. God was always over reacting like a spoiled brat. A manipulative greedy dictator.

Get to the point.

Well, God, the prick, he rained down quail one time. A bloody storm of quail from the sea. It rained quail knee deep and the Hebrews were forced to eat them all. And many died in the process.

So what’s your point.

God was being a real tyrant. Not at all pleasant.

Muhammad continues to regurgitate his interpretation of the Torah. They, the Egyptians, were bad so sent plagues. Moses smacked rocks to get water. The people complained and reminded Moses they had a much better food supply in Egypt.

vs. 61. ... All this was because they disobeyed and were lawbreakers. EQ

God is the Law. The Law is God. This is the obvious message of the books know as holy ordained by the makers of Law.

vs. 67. Remember when Moses said to his people, ‘God commands you to sacrifice a cow.’ They said, ‘Are you making fun of us?’ He answer, ‘God forbid that I should be so ignorant.’ EQ

So they got the details of what kind of Cow, what colour and age.

vs. 68.’... so do as you are commanded." EQ

vs. 78. Some of them are uneducated, and know the Scripture only through wishful thinking. They rely on guesswork. 79. So woe to those who write something down with their own hands and then claim, ‘This is from God,’ in order to make some small gain. EQ

This needs to be understood. Anyone who claims that God told them what to write is a liar. A deceiver. The priests that wrote down the ranting of Muhammad are not an exception.

All claims that are based on the justification of the authority of God are servants of Satan.

Satan ain’t real.

Satan is God.

It is but an empty claim. A bloody evil conspiracy.

vs. 87. So how is it that, whenever a messenger brings you something you do not like, you become arrogant, calling some imposters and killing other? EQ

They go on to explain that when God hands down a scripture, only a fool would disbelieve. Which makes the whole thing very easy to turn around.

Imagine for a moment that we want to say something good about religion. From a very realistic point of view. Without trying to be gentle for the sake of the foolish believers.

One obvious point is that it led to some fairly significant developments in language. This is especially true for the Qur’an. Instead of discouraging development in some of the sciences, the Qur’an was a motivator for many aspects of life.

Even if it is basically a retold fairytale based on astrology.

But what religion has done is hold us back like a catapult. And this could very well end up being a good thing once the rope is cut. Which it now is.

Let us try just one other analogy and we’ll get right back to Muhammad. No two.

Picture the David meets Goliath story. He puts a stone in his sling. This is nothing more than a leather string that he swings around his head. Around and around he swings it while the big guy stands laughing at him.

The he lets the stone out of the circular motion and it speeds away at great velocity and the joke is over.

Now imagine you are in a small space ship. You are in a star system with a large sun. You are in a hurry. You set you computer and race toward the giant ball of fire. The gravity is so strong that it doubles the speed of your ship in half the time. You reach jump speed just as you are about to enter the crescent of the star and snap into hyperspace. And make it back for your cousin’s graduation.

What.

"Momentum. Religion has given us momentum. Like being chased by a big hungry lizard.

vs. 111. They also say, ‘No one will enter Paradise unless he is a Jew or a Christian.’ This is their own wishful thinking. (Prophet) say ‘Produce you evidence, if you are telling the truth.’ EQ

And now we include the Moslems and say, your petty belief clubs are called on account of awakening to the fact that we are here now.

The writers want in on the two holy monotheistic belief clubs. There was a couple others but not significant. Islam was to be equal to and the third part of the Abrahamic One God cult.

One that was agreed on, everyone else could burn forever.

vs. 126. ... God said, ‘As for those who disbelieve, I will grant them enjoyment for a short while and than subject them to the torment of Fire – an evil destination.’ EQ

vs. 128. the Most Merciful. EQ

Dualism. The monotheistic religions are very basic. Either you join us and do it our way of burn forever.

vs. 130. Who but a fool would forsake the religion of Abraham? EQ

Or. Only a fool would accept such a bogus claim. Like Christianity, Islam makes a big deal about Abraham. Abraham likely never existed but let us set that aside. Let us go with the idea of Abraham.

He left his hometown to go somewhere else. He married his half sister, likely much younger. He pimped her out to a king for animals, slaves and silver. His first son, Ishmael, was from Sarah’s slave. He raised sheep. He prepared a fire to burn Sarah’s first son. He went to war. He plundered. He was a typical illiterate patriarch.

And patriarchy is a very bloody disgrace.

In a sentence.

Religion, these Abrahamic religions, is a farce.

Divine comedy.

vs. 132. ‘My sons, God has chosen (your) religion for you, so make sure you devote yourselves to Him, to your dying moment.’ EQ

Prove it.

God did not chose any religion in any age for any people. There have been stories of God since we started telling stories. And as much as we might like to believe the most recent claim of one or more deities is the one true religion, history shows again and again, gods wear out and man creates new gods in his image.

vs.136. So (you believers), say, ‘We believe in God and in what was sent down to us and what was sent down to Abraham, Ishmael, Isaac, Jacob, and the prophets by their lord. EQ

Muhammad and his scribes accept all the heroes of Judaism and Christianity. All they want is to be part three.

At the time of this story there was a question which way to face when praying. A skeptic might say: much to do about nothing.

vs. 150. wherever you may have started out, turn your face in the direction of the Sacred Mosque EQ

This is a divine rule.

vs. 155. We shall certainly test you with fear and hunger, and loss of property, lives, and crops. EQ

‘We’ is almost always the royal We. Most would say it is God speaking. In real reality, it was the team of priests or scribes.

They go on to explain that the nature of nature is proof that God is looking after the believers.

vs. 164. ... there are signs in all these for those who use their minds EQ

It is the backwards way of looking at it. It is the assumption that we, the human primate, are the reason the universe is here. Perhaps for a creature that has suddenly awoken in life not knowing the billions of years of our ancestors in all their various stages it is easier to see it this way. Philosophically speaking, even when one knows the evolution of the life on this planet, it may appear that there must be a reason for it.

Much more likely is that there is an opportunity in it. The nature of this universe is such that in some places in some times, life is possible. The nature of life that procreates is mutation and adaption to environment. It is the nature of life. There is certainly a progressive direction and the force of what one could interpret as godliness. It is godliness in progress.

Our speculative guessing based on limited observations that lead to creeds full of law and guidance, however, is infantile in its understanding. It is highly likely that gods of any real substance are yet to be. It will be our descendants. And in as much as the future is inevitable and some of the likely events are highly probable, we are already the beginning of the gods.

But let us return to the story.

vs. 168. ... they will not leave the Fire. EQ

Those who don’t accept the creed of men who claim it is a God given creed can spend the rest of forever in the Fire. This is simply dualism. Our way or curse be on you.

Fire is often used because fire is a very significant part of our evolution. It changed how we live by changing what we could eat, how we could forge metal, how we could make war. How we could go from an insignificant small number of primates to the assumed owners of the planet. It may have had its significance for the foundation of monotheism. The sun and fire are one in the same and a central theme in many religions. This is in their credit.

vs. 170. But when is it said to them, ‘Follow the message that God has sent down, ‘They answer, ‘We follow the laws of our fathers.’ What! Even though their fathers understood nothing and were not guided? EQ

Before language it was necessary to follow the ways of those who went before. At least until a better way was discovered. After language and written word, a very recent event, it was advantageous to the species to share recorded information.

And if God had told Gabriel to tell Muhammad to tell the scribes to write a handbook to augment the two haphazard handbooks before it, perhaps the Qur’an would be our one book forever.

But that is not how it was. It is a book of guidance, there can be no doubt, but it is short of divine and far short of being applicable to our lives forever, like Moses loved to repeat in the story this story borrows from.

Simply put. It is not good enough. A good step, perhaps, that led to a few more good steps. Evolution demands that we do not stand still. Everything is in motion, so too must our way of thinking be.

vs. 178. You who believe, fair retribution is prescribed for you in cases of murder: the free man for the free man, the slave for the slave, the female for the female. EQ

In order of worth. But let us not get bogged down there. Females had a slightly less significant position in brutal patriarchal theocracies. And a culture that uses slaves is not really much of a culture.

The idea is fairness. And it was an improvement over killing a family or tribe over the murder of one. And to adhere to this is still brutal but a good step.

It is a leap backwards when a nation is blamed for an attack on a nation with absolutely no proof so that the supposedly attacked nation can retaliate and invade, murder, plunder and bomb the shit out of the nation.

vs. 185. ... The Qur’an was revealed as guidance for mankind, clear messages giving guidance and distinguishing between right and wrong. EQ

This is a relatively true statement. We need to know, however, that it was revealed by men and that right and wrong is subjective to time and place.

Ramadan is explained. It shows that men may want to have sex with their wives. So God figured it was okay but not on the nights in the Mosques.

vs. 187 – eat and drink until the white thread of dawn becomes distinct from the black. EQ

Some may ask: what is the point. Eat through the night and not through the day. The point is, this has been made into a creed, so just do it.

vs. 188. Do not consume your property wrongfully, nor use it to bribe judges, intending sinfully and knowingly to consume parts of other people’s property. EQ

This is an effort to convince a greedy primate to show a little dignity. Most of this is a rerun from the previous monotheistic dogmas.

vs. 190. Fight in God’s cause against those who fright you, but do not overstep the limits. 191. Kill them wherever you encounter them, and drive them out from where they drive you out, for persecution is more serious than killing. Do not fight them at the Sacred Mosque unless they fight you there. If they do fight you, kill them – this is what such disbelievers deserve – 192 but if they stop, then God is most forgiving and merciful. EQ

This