Wednesday, 17 June 2015

Qur'an: Jesus

In the Hebrew Bible, God occasionally refers to himself using plural pronouns. This is a remnant of ye olde Israelite polytheism, when Yahweh was part of a pantheon. In the Qur'an, God - speaking through the Angel Gabriel, speaking through Muhammad - also occasionally refers to himself using plural pronouns, as well as third person and first person singular pronouns. Islam, being an Arabian reboot of Jewish Christianity, recognises Jesus and the Jewish prophets as legit messengers of God:

'We had sent Noah and Abraham and assigned prophecy and the Book to their progeny. Some are guided aright, but many of them are dissolute. Then, following them, We sent Our messengers, and followed them up with Jesus son of Mary, and granted him the Evangel. In the hearts of those who followed him We planted kindness and compassion; and also a monasticism which they invented but which We did not ordain for them except to seek the good pleasure of God. But they did not do it justice. Hence, We granted those among them who believed their reward, but many of them are dissolute.'

Jesus, in Islamic mythology, was still born from virgin Mary, but he was fully human. Mary produced him via miraculous parthenogenesis; God did not father him. His teaching, the Evangel, was lost and corrupted over time. God still thinks Christianity is cool though, as long as the Christians are being nice.

I have now read over 140 pages of the Qur'an and have still yet to encounter anything morally repugnant. In fact, there has been very little actual content. The main message is: '"End of the World is gonna happen any day now, so stock up on good deeds to make sure you go to eternal paradise not eternal damnation," says the Judeo-Christian God, who is the One True God.'

It's just been that, repeated, over and over again, sometimes with impressive dramatic language, sometimes alluding to various characters from Biblical mythology, sometimes mentioning Jinn (Islamic mythology features 3 intelligent species: Humans, which God made from clay; Angels, which God made from light; and Jinn, which God made from fire.). It's really quite boring. To put it most bluntly: it comes across as the ramblings of an illiterate merchant with voices in his head.

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