{"id":1335,"date":"2025-09-25T19:13:11","date_gmt":"2025-09-25T19:13:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/larrykooper.com\/?p=1335"},"modified":"2025-09-25T19:29:42","modified_gmt":"2025-09-25T19:29:42","slug":"39-the-koran-quran-c-632","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/larrykooper.com\/index.php\/2025\/09\/25\/39-the-koran-quran-c-632\/","title":{"rendered":"39. The Koran (Quran) (c. 632)"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>We&#8217;ve left the ancient world behind and entered upon medieval time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Original language: Arabic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The central religious text of Islam.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I read the Penguin Classics edition, translated by N.J. Dawood, first published in 1956.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"304\" height=\"466\" src=\"https:\/\/larrykooper.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/Koran.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-1339\" srcset=\"https:\/\/larrykooper.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/Koran.jpg 304w, https:\/\/larrykooper.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/Koran-196x300.jpg 196w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 304px) 100vw, 304px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>According to Clifton Fadiman, &#8220;it is important to note that most believers deny that any translation [of the Koran] from the original Arabic can be valid.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The Koran is repetitive. It could have been a lot shorter!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Because I don&#8217;t personally believe in God, the arguments that depend on God&#8217;s creation didn&#8217;t work with me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I like the Koran&#8217;s constant emphasis on giving alms and feeding the poor, the hungry, and the orphan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Last thoughts on the Koran<\/strong><br>It was a disappointment to read it for purely literary purposes. There was a lot of repetition. The basic message is that the devout Muslims will be in paradise and the unbelievers in hell.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>We&#8217;ve left the ancient world behind and entered upon medieval time. Original language: Arabic. The central religious text of Islam. I read the Penguin Classics edition, translated by N.J. Dawood, first published in 1956. According to Clifton Fadiman, &#8220;it is important to note that most believers deny that any translation [of the Koran] from the [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1335","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-great-books"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/larrykooper.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1335","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/larrykooper.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/larrykooper.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/larrykooper.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/larrykooper.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1335"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/larrykooper.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1335\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1348,"href":"https:\/\/larrykooper.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1335\/revisions\/1348"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/larrykooper.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1335"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/larrykooper.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1335"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/larrykooper.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1335"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}