wtf, i go away for a while and everyone's turning into damn hippies. must be the z10 effect
Let me know your thoughts on these questions mate.
I suppose you are still collecting your own thoughts on these matters, and admittedly the way you look at the Quran is a far more refreshing & robust way of looking at things from a humanitarian perspective.
But unless you can answer such basic questions competently then I dont think there is much chance for your stance to take off
1) What does your God-given soul and intelligence tell you about eating a ham sandwich?
2) What is the use for the Quran now?
1.) I think humans in general see 'clean' things as being good. I
personally wouldn't like to eat an animal that eats it's own poo (so I probably wouldn't eat rodents, rabbits etc. either). But this is a personal preference. If you for example want to eat pork - I don't think it is a major issue, it's not something that would be considered a 'sin' for example. There would be many grey areas - much more grey than this example - but I don't think these grey areas would be a big deal.
2.) I of course still believe the Qur'an to be the true word of God and Muhammad to be a true Prophet (as well as all the other Prophets mentioned in Qur'an). So even though I believe that the Qur'an was only meant to be limited to its time and place, the Qur'an is still much more than just a 'history book'. The Qur'an tells us that
there is a God. It tells us that
there is an afterlife. It tells us that
there is going to be ultimate justice for things that have happened in this world. It tells us that God
does care about us and that He is a Just and Merciful God.
Now, I'm not saying that you need to beleive in this book to lead a good life - not at all. But for those who do choose to believe in it (i.e. believe that it was divinely inspired), the Qur'an gives them hope and comfort - just having this knowledge can be very important for some people and in fact can help some people and spur them on to lead good lives.