In the Beginning, There Were the Holy Books
By Kenneth L. Woodward
Feb. 11, 2002 - Newsweek
He was a pious family man, a trader
from Mecca who regularly retreated into the hills
above the city to fast and pray. In his 40th year,
while he was praying in a cave on Mount Hira,
the angel Gabriel spoke to him, saying,
"Muhammad, you are the Messenger of God,"
and commanded him to "Recite!"
MUHAMMAD PROTESTED that he could notafter all,
he was not gifted like the traditional tribal bards of Arabia.
Then, according to this tradition, the angel squeezed him so
violently that Muhammad thought he'd die. Again Gabriel
ordered him to recite, and from his lips came the first verses
of what eventually became the Qur'an, regarded as the
eternal words of God himself by some 1.3 billion Muslims
around the world.
Until that moment, 13
centuries ago, the Arabs were
mostly polytheists, worshiping
tribal deities. They had no sacred
history linking them to one
universal god, like other Middle
Eastern peoples. They had no
sacred text to live by, like the
Bible; no sacred language, as
Hebrew is to Jews and Sanskrit is
to Hindus. Above all, they had no
prophet sent to them by God, as
Jews and Christians could boast.
Muhammad and the words that he recited until his
death in 632 provided all this and more. Like the Bible, the
Qur'an is a book of divine revelation. Between them, these
two books define the will of God for more than half the
world's population. Over centuries, the Bible fashioned the
Hebrew tribes into a nation: Israel. But in just a hundred
years, the Qur'an created an entire civilization that at its
height stretched from northern Africa and southern Europe
in the West to the borders of modern India and China in the
East. Even today, in streets as distant from each other as
those of Tashkent, Khartoum, Qom and Kuala Lumpur,
one can hear from dawn to dusk the constant murmur and
chant of the Qur'an in melodious Arabic. Indeed, if there
were a gospel according to Muhammad, it would begin with
these words: in the beginning was the Book.
INHERENTLY
INTOLERANT?
But since the
events of September
11, the Qur'an and the
religion it inspired have
been on trial. Is Islam
an inherently intolerant
faith? Does the Qur'an
oblige Muslims to wage jihadholy waron those who do
not share their beliefs? And who are these "infidels" that the
Muslim Scriptures find so odious? After all, Jews and
Christians are monotheists, too, and most of their own
prophetsAbraham, Moses and Jesus especiallyare
revered by Muslims through their holy book. Listening to
the rants of Osama bin Laden and other radical Islamists,
Jews and Christians wonder who really speaks for Islam in
these perilous times. What common groundif anyjoins
these three "Peoples of the Book," as Muslims call their
fellow monotheists? What seeds of reconciliation lie within
the Qur'an and the Bible and the traditions that they
represent? Does the battle of the books, which has endured
for centuries between Muslims and believers in the West,
ensure a perpetual clash of civilizations?
Millions of Muslims make the
pilgrimage to Mecca and
other holy sites each year
The Qur'an does contain sporadic calls to violence,
sprinkled throughout the text. Islam implies "peace," as
Muslims repeatedly insist. Yet the peace promised by Allah
to individuals and societies is possible only to those who
follow the "straight path" as outlined in the Qur'an. When
Muslims run into opposition, especially of the armed variety,
the Qur'an counsels bellicose response. "Fight them
[nonbelievers] so that Allah may punish them at your hands,
and put them to shame," one Qur'anic verse admonishes.
Though few in number, these aggressive verses have fired
Muslim zealots in every age.
The Bible, too, has its stories of violence in the name
of the Lord. The God of the early Biblical books is fierce
indeed in his support of the Israelite warriors, drowning
enemies in the sea. But these stories do not have the force
of divine commands. Nor are they considered God's own
eternal words, as Muslims believe Qur'anic verses to be.
Moreover, Israeli commandos do not cite the Hebrew
prophet Joshua as they go into battle, but Muslim insurgents
can readily invoke the example of their Prophet,
Muhammad, who was a military commander himself. And
while the Crusaders may have fought with the cross on their
shields, they did notcould notcite words from Jesus to
justify their slaughters. Even so, compared with the few and
much quoted verses that call for jihad against the infidels,
the Qur'an places far more emphasis on acts of justice,
mercy and compassion.
Indeed, the Qur'an is better appreciated as
comprehensive guide for those who would know and do the
will of God. Like the Bible, the Qur'an defines rules for
prayer and religious rituals. It establishes norms governing
marriage and divorce, relations between men and women
and the way to raise righteous children. More important,
both books trace a common lineage back to Abraham, who
was neither Jew nor Christian, and beyond that to Adam
himself. Theologically, both books profess faith in a single
God (Allah means "The God") who creates and sustains the
world. Both call humankind to repentance, obedience and
purity of life. Both warn of God's punishment and final
judgment of the world. Both imagine a hell and a paradise in
the hereafter.
DIVINE AUTHORITY
As sacred texts, however, the Bible and the Qur'an
could not be more different. To read the Qur'an is like
entering a stream. At almost any point one may come upon
a command of God, a burst of prayer, a theological
pronouncement, the story of an earlier prophet or a
description of the final judgment. Because Muhammad's
revelations were heard, recited and memorized by his
converts, the Qur'an is full of repetitions. None of its 114
suras, or chapters, focuses on a single theme. Each sura
takes its title from a single wordThe Cow, for example,
names the longestwhich appears only in that chapter.
When Muhammad's recitations were finally written down
(on palm leaves, shoulders of animals, shards of anything
that would substitute for paper) and collected after his
death, they were organized roughly from the longest to the
shortest. Thus there is no chronological organizationthis is
God speaking, after all, and his words are timeless.
