my review of the essential koran

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joshua291185
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my review of the essential koran

Post by joshua291185 »

copyrights for books say that brief quotations may be used in reviews, so my review of this book is favorable, and i will include a brief quotation.
sarah and i were discussing the koran in a different thread so i thought i would write a bit out of the version i am reading so everyone could see how beautiful it is. this translation is by thomas clearly and i think that the translator is extremely important for this book because it was originally written in classical arabic which does not lend itself to an english translation.

Faithful believers!
Revere God with due reverence
and do not die
without conscious submission to God

And hold fast to the rope of God
all of you,
and do not split up.
And remember God's kindness to you:
for you were enemies,
and God joined your hearts;
and you became brethren
by the grace of God.
And you were on the brink
of a pit of fire,
and God rescued you from it.
Thus does God make evident
the signs of God for you,
so that you may be guided.

And let there be among you
a people who call to good
and enjoin what is worthy
and forbid what is repugnant;
they are the happy ones.

And do not be like those
who divide and differ
after clarifications have come to them;
for theirs is a terrible torment.

Faithful believers,
do not take usurious interest,
multiplied and compounded;
and be wary of God,
that you may prosper.

And hasten toward forgiveness
from your Lord,
and toward a garden
broad as the heavens and the earth
prepared for the conscientious,

those who are generous
in good times and bad,
and who withhold anger,
and who pardon people.
for God loves those who do good.

And those who remember God
and seek forgiveness for their sins
when they have done a dishonorable deed
or wronged their own souls
--and who forgives sins but God?--
and who do not knowingly persist in what they have done.

Their reward is forgiveness from their Lord,
and gardens beneath which rivers flow,
being their forever:
how gracious the reward for workers!

Ways of life have passed away before you,
so travel over the earth and see
how scorners have ended up.

If God helps you,
then no one can overcome you;
and if God forsakes you,
who could help you then?
So let believers put their trust in God.

You will surely be tested
in your possessions and your selves
And you will surely hear many insults
from those to whom the Book was given before you,
and from those who idolize things.
Buf if you are patient
and conscientious,
then that is the resolve
which will determine affairs.

Do not suppose of those
who rejoice at what they have brought about
and love to be praised for what they have not done,
do not suppose
that they have escaped torment
for theirs is a painful chastisement.

For to God belongs the dominion
over the heavens and the earth,
and God has power over everything.

Truly in the creation
of the heavens and the earth,
and the alteration of the night and day
are signs for those of heart:

Those who remember God
while they are standing, sitting, and in repose,
and meditate on the creation
of the heavens and the earth:
"Our Lord,
You have not created this in vain.
Glory to You!
Keep us safe
from the torment of fire."

And their Lord responded to them,
"I certainly do not overlook
the work of any worker among you,
male or female:
you come from one another.
And for those who have fled
or been driven from their homes
or been hurt in My cause,
or fought or been killed,
I will erase their sins from them
and introduce them to gardens
beneath which rivers flow
as a reward
from the presence of God.
And in the presence of God
is the finest of rewards"
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nasra1996
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Post by nasra1996 »

Hi Josh,

Yes some parts of the Quran are beautiful, one surah that i like is Al-Rahman, Surah 55... Well apart from the parts about hellfire... :)

( site gone )

Love Sarah
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Post by Petra Wilson »

Hello Josh & Sarah, Josh wrote:
And remember God's kindness to you:
for you were enemies,
and God joined your hearts;
and you became brethren
by the grace of God.
I got excited at this bit. Very universally poignant, ne?

And we are All One.

Love, petra XXX
ॐ LOVE Petra
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