The Qur’an for Modern Times
The Qur’an for Modern Times
As the global population of Muslims, and thus their influence on mainstream culture, grows, I believe society should be more familiar with the Qur’an. It would serve non-Muslims well to read this text to learn more about the beliefs of this fast-growing religious group. While this essay will focus on the need for society to learn more about Muslims, it should be noted that religious tolerance is a not a one-way street and has to be exercised by all parties in order for the world to be a more peaceful place for all groups. Non-Muslims now have an opportunity to learn more about Islam due to the relatively recent release of the Qur’an to the general public for literary analysis. There are multiple ways the Qur’an helps shed light on Islam; namely it helps us to understand how to best handle Islamic terroristic sects that have declared war on non-Muslims, and it increases awareness and sensitivity of cultural differences.
It is necessary for us to study the Qur’an as a representation of Islam to help fight against the terroristic factions that have declared jihad, or war, on non-Muslims. This is actually extremely relevant at this very moment because of the possible resurgence of a war between Israel and the Islamic group Hamas, whose beliefs have made it impossible for the two groups to peacefully co-exist. Another pertinent example is the ongoing war on terrorism aimed at eradicating fundamentalist subgroups of Muslims. When fighting a war on an ideology, brute force alone cannot do the job; it requires changing the minds and hearts of those who have perverse views of the world, and this requires knowledge of how these irrational perceptions came to be. The Qur’an helps us to understand why these particular groups of Muslims commit the acts they do. An example comes from sura 10, the story of Jonah. This sura explains what will happen to both the believers and nonbelievers after death. The Qur’an says that nonbelievers (i.e., those who
As the global population of Muslims, and thus their influence on mainstream culture, grows, I believe society should be more familiar with the Qur’an. It would serve non-Muslims well to read this text to learn more about the beliefs of this fast-growing religious group. While this essay will focus on the need for society to learn more about Muslims, it should be noted that religious tolerance is a not a one-way street and has to be exercised by all parties in order for the world to be a more peaceful place for all groups. Non-Muslims now have an opportunity to learn more about Islam due to the relatively recent release of the Qur’an to the general public for literary analysis. There are multiple ways the Qur’an helps shed light on Islam; namely it helps us to understand how to best handle Islamic terroristic sects that have declared war on non-Muslims, and it increases awareness and sensitivity of cultural differences.
It is necessary for us to study the Qur’an as a representation of Islam to help fight against the terroristic factions that have declared jihad, or war, on non-Muslims. This is actually extremely relevant at this very moment because of the possible resurgence of a war between Israel and the Islamic group Hamas, whose beliefs have made it impossible for the two groups to peacefully co-exist. Another pertinent example is the ongoing war on terrorism aimed at eradicating fundamentalist subgroups of Muslims. When fighting a war on an ideology, brute force alone cannot do the job; it requires changing the minds and hearts of those who have perverse views of the world, and this requires knowledge of how these irrational perceptions came to be. The Qur’an helps us to understand why these particular groups of Muslims commit the acts they do. An example comes from sura 10, the story of Jonah. This sura explains what will happen to both the believers and nonbelievers after death. The Qur’an says that nonbelievers (i.e., those who