Tuesday, April 14, 2009
Suffering through the Koran – Sura 5 named 'The Table Spread'
The only thing spread through this Sura is the usual injunctions of submission and rule. At least the writers of the Koran are consistent.
by Ferdinand III
It is hard to take this Sura seriously as a part of a 'Holy Book'. There is nothing in this long chapter on the Golden Rule, tolerance, empathy, spiritual development or mental elucidation. The emphasis is clear: Jews and Christians are enemies, obey Mohammed, fear the mysterious Allah, and follow Koranic ritual. At least the Koran is consistent – consistent in its denial of the humane, the humanist, and of the rational.
This long-winded and relatively incoherent chapter is titled 'The Table Spread' for the simple reason that the first few verses deal with the plagiarism of Jewish food practices. The rest of the verse is the usual litany of cries and verbal assaults against reason, Jews and Christians. This chapter should have been named “Disjointed rantings against the 'Others'”.
Even in its admonitions to fight, hate, convert or ignore the unbelievers, the writers of the Koran make an incredibly bad job of organisation and coherency. It is very difficult at times to know what the writer is discussing – but the main themes, so often repeated that one assumes that the writer or writers are simply obsessed with them – are clear enough. And they have little to do with love and compassion.
[Note: This sura is taken from 'The Holy Quran', translated by Abdullah Yusuf Ali, reprinted in 1995, Goodword Books. Regarded as one of the best translations from Arabic to English of the Koran.]
Copying Jewish Liturgy
==================
Mohammed and his friends were obsessed with out-Jewing the Jews. In almost every Sura the writers of the Koran plagiarise the Jewish Bible and affix Arab connotations to Jewish practices.
3. Forbidden to you (for food) are: dead meat, blood, the flesh of swine, and that on which the name of other than Allah has been invoked....
Halal or the Arab practice of slaughtering meat invoking Allah and by means other than strangling or by violent blows is derived from this and other verses. Notice that Allah is the provider and blesser of the appropriate varieties of meat to be eaten. One supposes that Allah was quite busy with husbandry.
12. Allah took (aforetime) a Covenant from the Children of Israel, and We appointed twelve captains among them.
Note; One would assume that Jews would be rather surprised to learn that Allah in the name of Islam, granted the twelve Jewish tribes their patriarchal leadership. But no worries, Allah not only guided the Jews but then after some time condemned them to Hell:
13. Because of their breach of the Covenant, We cursed them....
44. It was We Who revealed the Law (to Moses); therein was guidance and light.
Note; Who is 'We' ? Islam or Muslims or Allah ? Is Allah a pluralised moon deity representing various phases of the moon's nightly orbit ? Or is the We Allah plus Mohammed ? And who is reciting this verse – Mohammed, Allah or a scribe ? Whatever the case, this verse is yet another example of the psychological derangement which permeates this so-called Holy Book.
Fear the Mighty 'Allah'
=================
The Arabs who wrote the Koran never explain who the mysterious and all-powerful Allah is, probably knowing that an Arab audience would associate the name with the chief male moon deity of Mecca ali-ilah. The important point was to fear this Allah – not try to understand who or what Allah is.
8. Be just: that is next to Piety; and fear Allah. For Allah is well acquainted with all that you do.
17. For to Allah belongs the dominion of the heavens and the earth, and all that is between. He creates what he pleases.
Note; By 'creating what he pleases' the mysterious Allah is the universal power who decides all. Human rationality, invention, honor, action and decision making is unimportant. You can be a great humanist, a hard working giver of charity, a proud upholder of all that is sacred, and the mysterious Allah will decide that you are damned because you don't follow Islamic ritual. Is that a sane statement of faith or purpose ?
Reject Allah and be damned
====================
Since the Koran never explains what Allah is, it is rather peculiar that every page denounces the 'unbelievers' or those who don't submit to this Allah. Not only is this fundamentally intolerant, it is anti-rational. Why would someone submit to an idea, they can't understand ?
10. Those who reject faith and deny Our Signs will be Companions of Hell-fire.
And if you fight against Muslims to protect your land, your family and your creed you will probably die:
33. The punishment of those who wage war against Allah and His Messenger, and strive with might and main for mischief through the land is: execution, or crucifixion, or the cutting off of hands and feet from opposite sides, or exile from the land...
Hatred of Christians
===============
One of the great lies of Islam is that Muslims and the Koran embrace the Jews and Christians as People of the Book. Even a cursory glance through the Koran denies this monstrous lie. On almost every page the Jews and Christians are denounced as Unbelievers, only fit for Hell and punishment and inferior in every way to Muslims and Islam.
14. From those, too, who call themselves Christians, We did take a Covenant, but they forgot a good part of the Message that was sent them: so We estranged them, with enmity and hatred.....And soon Allah will show them what it is they have done.
Note: So the Christians like the Jews will be punished by 'We' or one assumes Allah-guided Muslims. Far from embracing Christians like brothers, the Koran is quite clear – Muslims view these mis-guided people with hatred and a hard heart.
36. As to those who reject Faith – if they had everything on earth, and twice repeated, to give as ransom for the penalty of the Day of Judgment, it would never be accepted to them. Theirs would be a grievous penalty.
and
37. Their wish will be to get our of the Fire, but never will they get out therefrom: their Penalty will be one that endures.
Note; This two verses of gibberish are of course directed at Jews and Christians. 'Faith' references Islam. It is curious that people refer to Islam as a Faith, when only one interpretation is allowed as a 'Faith' namely that of Koranic Islam. If you don't believe in all of it, you have no 'Faith'. It is a bizarre claim made worse by the fact that there is no definition of Islamic faith anywhere in the Koran or the Hadiths – just the following of rituals, sayings and all which the Koran says. There is no creed of understandable 'Faith'.
51. O you who believe ! take not the Jews and the Christians for your friends and protectors: they are but friends and protectors to each other.
Note; This is pretty clear – the Jews and their Christian allies are enemies. There is no verse of love or compassion for either group, anywhere in this Sura.
78. Curses were pronounced on those among the Children of Israel who rejected Faith, by the tongue of David and of Jesus the son of Mary: because they disobeyed and persisted in Excesses.
Note; This piece of propaganda would have impressed the Nazis. Muslims are superior to the other 'Peoples of the Book' because they contravened the Covenants and the words of their Prophets and engaged in 'Excesses'. No details by Mohammed or the writers of the Koran, of these transgressions exist anywhere in the Koran. Just a multitude of repetitive propaganda – the Jews and Christians defied their Prophets, behaved badly, rejected the true faith and therefore are destined to be superseded, punished and destroyed by Islam.
This is nothing more than insane, rambling, ravings – supported by more screaming in verses 79, 80, 81, 82 and 86 – to name just a few.
Obey Mohammed
==============
55. Your (real) friends are (no less than) Allah, his Messenger, and the (Fellowship of) Believers, - those who establish regular prayers and regular charity, and they bow down humbly (in worship).
Note; The injunction to charity is a positive – one of the few that this or any Sura will provide. But notice the rest – obey the 'Messenger', do your rituals, grovel humbly in prayer....this verse must have been written or recited by Mohammed in order to buttress his own power.
67. O Messenger! proclaim the (Message) which has been sent to you from your Lord. If you did not, you would not have fulfilled and proclaimed his Mission.
Note; So Mohammed is just doing the will of his 'Lord'. He is the 'reluctant' messenger who must accede to divine will and destiny. How nice. Mohammed's ideology has nothing to do with Mohammed accruing power, money and deity-like status amongst the Arabs. He is simply the tool of the mysterious Allah........
92. Obey Allah, and obey the Messenger, and beware (of evil): if you do turn back, you should know that it is Our Messenger's duty to proclaim (the Message) in the clearest manner.
I have no idea who the 'Our' is – Allah and Mohammed perhaps ? What sane writer writes in the third person plural ? This verse is a thinly veiled threat – if Arabs or anyone denies Mohammed or Allah, than the Messenger 'in the clearest manner', using force or coercion one assumes, will proclaim the true faith to those who don't believe. In other words, turn from Allah or Mohammed and Mohammed has license, given by his Lord, to do what it takes to make sure you understand the 'truth'.
Summary:
========
The supremacism of this Sura like many others is clear. Muslims cannot blame 'translations' for this obvious fact. Every page is littered with the same repetitive and tiresome propaganda: Muslims are superior to Jews and Christians; Mohammed is the leader controlled by Allah and therefore not responsible for his actions; and Allah, 'faith' and 'signs' are never defined.
It is simply an irrational invocation to obey a primitive Arab cult embedded in the leadership and utterances of a political-social leader named Mohammed. There is no Golden Rule here, nor any displays of what passes for mental and spiritual elucidation. Submit, obey, smite, convert and expand. That is it.
Why then is this pre-destined fatalist screed considered a 'sacred' text ?
Why ?