Post 17. The Inflexibility of the Quran.

Quran, page 157.

Verse 5:69

Quran, page 120 .
Verse 4:66 & 4:69

Quran, page 85.

Verse 3:90

Quran, page 84.

end Verse 3:85 and Note1.

Quran, page 83.

Verse 3:84.

Note 1 & *.

Quran, page 14.

end Verse 2:62. Note 1.

Quran, page 13.

Verse 2:61, 2:62.

The To-Day

Unjustifiable, Unacceptable

Inflexibility

of the Interpretation

of the Quran.

Premise.

I have just downloaded a well printed version of the Quran generously offered free by the King of Saudi Arabia ( may Allah bless him!), to whom I give my thanks and love. To show my christian, democratic, XXIst century-transparency and good-will, I even give the reader the website from which to download it, so that anyone may be able to check on the sources referred to in this article.

The Holy Quran.

www.al-qoran.eu

In this article I am referring to some verses from the Quran, three of which state Mohammed's acceptance of Judaism and Christianity as being equal to Mohammedanism insofaras salvation is concerned, one only of these four ( there may be others ) denying this and stated by some later commentator of the Quran, called IBN ABBAS in his commentary titled "Tafsir At-Tabari ", to abrogate the other three, which seems to me a rather arbitrary, unreasonable and exegetically contradictory behaviour, especially in view of the fanatics' claim that the Quran does not contain any contradiction -:

(1) Verse 2:62 from Surah ( Chapter ) 2. Al-Baraqah. ( "The Cow " in referrence to the golden idol cast by the Israelites at the time of Moses.) together with Note 1 at the bottom of page 14.

(2) Verse 3:85 from Surah (Chapter ) 3. Al-Imran. ( "The Family of Imran" ) with the note 1 at page 84.

(3) Verse 4:69 from Surah ( Chapter ) 4. An-Nisaaa. ( "The Women ").

(4) Verse 5:69 from Surah (Chapter ) 5. Maaa-Idah. ( "The Table Spread" ).

The whole decision to abrogate verse 2:62, given at note 1 at page 14 rests on IBN ABBAS, however I am quite certain an interpreter could build up a case quoting other verses from the Quran, some among which, similarly contradictory. I am only going to mention one of these, verses 3:84-86. From these it appears that condemnation of the choice of a religion other than Mohammedanism may refer to the particular case of one who, having first accepted or having been born in it abjures it ( a more reasonable and understandable scenario that modern theological understanding should however condone and accept under given circumstances ).

My concern in discussing this issue is with my desire, as expressed in Post 15, to see the people of the three religions accepting one another, as I am sure Mohammed would agree in terms of the present world-scenarios and as the result of the reformations both Judaism and Christianity ( However this is not applicable to Islam which has never reformed but has systematically killed its would-be reformers [ i.e., Internal religious wars are still of the order of the day between Shiites and Sunnites]) have experienced, each worshipping according to any of the three Faiths ( adequately further reformed and synchronised ), freely, renouncing any theocratic obsession, primeval crudity and cruelty, with its corollary of violence and the ancient law of an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth, feuding, retribution and vengeance, that can only open the possibility that one is tempted to take over, to predominate and to impose on the others.

I shall not quote the verses at this stage, leaving this task for a later edition of this Post. For those who are interested and have the time, leisure and energy, please download from http://www.al-qoran.eu/

Western Christianity and Judaism have reformed their understanding and interpretation of the ancient texts without altering these out of respect and veneration for the good that is also present in these. Islamic excuses referring to the sealed state of the Quran and the inalterability of its interpretation is totally unacceptable by the modern exegetical circles.

This is demonstrated by a simple discussion of IBN ABBAS' ruling on the issue of wether the three treligions are equally fit for salvation, in relation to and in view of the contradictions pointed to above.

Also, please don't give me the lie that there are no contradictions in the Quran, since it appears that it may have been so easy to slip in verses after the death of Mohammed, owing to

the general lack of a continuous narrative in the Quran.

So speaks the Templar!

Amen.