I've been skim reading through the Pickthal translation (
http://www.islam101.com/quran/quranPickthal/trans-pickthal.text) recently and am a sixth of the way through it.
Here follows some passages that caught my eye..
1) Sounds like heaven only contains what Muhammad could see & lust for around him at that time & place. Along with passages about Arabian fruits & vegetables (and water), here’s another
Quran 003.014 Beautified for mankind is love of the joys (that come) from women and offspring; and stored-up heaps of gold and silver, and horses branded (with their mark), and cattle and land. That is comfort of the life of the world. Allah! With Him is a more excellent abode.
2) Sounds like predestination to me
Quran 003.145 No soul can ever die except by Allah's leave and at a term appointed.
3) Why the repeated obsession with orphans rather than other unfortunate people e.g. disabled people? Was it because you were an orphan per chance?
Quran 004.010 Lo! Those who devour the wealth of orphans wrongfully, they do but swallow fire into their bellies, and they will be exposed to burning flame.
4) Allah (or more likely Muhammad as he was illiterate) has got their mathematics muddled up because the sums just don’t add up. Grab a calculator & do it yourself. So again who wrote the Quran, Allah or Muhammad?
Quran 004.011 Allah chargeth you concerning (the provision for) your children: to the male the equivalent of the portion of two females, and if there be women more than two, then theirs is two-thirds of the inheritance, and if there be one (only) then the half. And to each of his parents a sixth of the inheritance, if he have a son; and if he have no son and his parents are his heirs, then to his mother appertaineth the third; and if he have brethren, then to his mother appertaineth the sixth, after any legacy he may have bequeathed, or debt (hath been paid). Your parents and your children: Ye know not which of them is nearer unto you in usefulness. It is an injunction from Allah. Lo! Allah is Knower, Wise. 004.012 And unto you belongeth a half of that which your wives leave, if they have no child; but if they have a child then unto you the fourth of that which they leave, after any legacy they may have bequeathed, or debt (they ma y have contracted, hath been paid). And unto them belongeth the fourth of that which ye leave if ye have no child, but if ye have a child then the eighth of that which ye leave, after any legacy ye may have bequeathed, or debt (ye may have contracted, hath been paid). And if a man or a woman have a distant heir (having left neither parent nor child), and he (or she) have a brother o r a sister (only on the mother's side) then to each of them twain (the brother and the sister) the sixth, and if they be more than two, then they shall be sharers in the third, after any legacy that may have been bequeathed or debt (contracted) not injuring (the heirs by willing away more than a third of the heritage) .
5) Did you just say it’s ok to forcibly marry a women if she is ‘guilty of flagrant lewdness’.
Quran 004.019 O ye who believe! It is not lawful for you forcibly to inherit the women (of your deceased kinsmen), nor (that) ye should put constraint upon them that ye may take away a part of that which ye have given them, unless they be guilty of flagrant lewdness. But consort with them in kindness, for if ye hate them it may happen that ye hate a thing wherein Allah hath placed much good.
6) I am not sure if I have ever heard of anyone who wants to marry their mother, but at the end we are given license to marry our sons wife?
Quran 004.023 Forbidden unto you are your mothers, and your daughters, and your sisters, and your father's sisters, and your mother's sisters, and your brother's daughters and your sister's daughters, and your foster-mothers, and your foster-sisters, and your mothers-in-law, and your step-daughters who are under your protection (born) of your women unto whom ye have gone in - but if ye have not gone in unto them, then it is no sin for you (to marry their daughters) - and the wives of your sons who (spring) from your own loins.
7) So it’s ok to get drunk up to the point that you can put together a coherent verse?
Quran 004.043 O ye who believe! Draw not near unto prayer when ye are drunken, till ye know that which ye utter.......
Women are dirty when they are menstruating (this is not the first time I have come across this suggestion in Islam)
(it continues) Quran 004.043) ... nor when ye are polluted, save when journeying upon the road, till ye have bathed. And if ye be ill, or on a journey, or one of you cometh from the closet, or ye have touched women,
The "them & us" mentality is littered throughout the Quran. Here's is an example
Quran 004.092 It is not for a believer to kill a believer unless (it be) by mistake. He who hath killed a believer by mistake must set free a believing slave, and pay the blood-money to the family of the slain, unless they remit it as a charity.
9) So if you know it is not possible to treat each wife equally, then why do you allow us to do it?
Quran 004.129 Ye will not be able to deal equally between (your) wives, however much ye wish (to do so). 10) You talking about ALL Jews here Muhammad, if not then why not make the distinction if it’s a book for eternity? They are usurists and will all go to hell? Sounds presumptuous and racist.
Quran 004.160 Because of the wrongdoing of the Jews We forbade them good things which were (before) made lawful unto them, and because of their much hindering from Allah's way,
004.161 And of their taking usury when they were forbidden it, and of their devouring people's wealth by false pretences, We have prepared for those of them who disbelieve a painful doom.
11) Why didn’t you mention alcohol being banned here?
Quran 005.003 Forbidden unto you (for food) are carrion and blood and swineflesh, and that which hath been dedicated unto any other than Allah, and the strangled, and the dead through beating, and the dead through falling from a height, and that which hath been killed by (the goring of) horns, and the devoured of wild beasts, saving that which ye make lawful (by the death-stroke), and that which hath been immolated unto idols. And (forbidden is it) that ye swear by the divining arrows. This is an abomination.
12) So it’s not just about defence & protecting yourselves when you fight. Here you openly accept you are the transgressor in Israel and taking a land that is not already yours.
Quran 005.021 O my people! Go into the holy land which Allah hath ordained for you. Turn not in flight, for surely ye turn back as losers.
13) I was surprised to see this particular Sharia Law come directly from the Quran, and not the hadith
Quran 005.038 As for the thief, both male and female, cut off their hands. It is the reward of their own deeds, an exemplary punishment from Allah. Allah is Mighty, Wise.
14) Who said Muhammad was forgiving, kind & a pacifist?
Quran 005.045 And We prescribed for them therein: The life for the life, and the eye for the eye, and the nose for the nose, and the ear for the ear, and the tooth for the tooth, and for wounds retaliation.
15) Not only idolaters go to hell, but Christians believing in the trinity -
Quran 005.072 They surely disbelieve who say: Lo! Allah is the Messiah, son of Mary. The Messiah (himself) said: O Children of Israel, worship Allah, my Lord and your Lord. Lo! whoso ascribeth partners unto Allah, for him Allah hath forbidden paradise. His abode is the Fire. For evil-doers there will be no helpers. 16) Again no wine mentioned here:-
Quran 006.145 Say: I find not in that which is revealed unto me aught prohibited to an eater that he eat thereof, except it be carrion, or blood poured forth, or swineflesh - for that verily is foul - or the abomination which was immolated to the name of other than Allah. But whoso is compelled (thereto), neither craving nor transgressing, (for him) lo! thy Lord is Forgiving, Merciful. 17) These are the Lot versus (so-called anti-homosexual ones)- In any case this is wrong, as homosexuality in animals is a well documented and known phenomenon. Bonobos are our closest known relative, and males give each other oral sex to promote societal bonding
Quran 007.080 And Lot! (Remember) when he said unto his folk: Will ye commit abomination such as no creature ever did before you ?
007.081 Lo! ye come with lust unto men instead of women. Nay, but ye are wanton folk.
007.082 And the answer of his people was only that they said (one to another): Turn them out of your township. They are folk, forsooth, who keep pure.
007.083 And We rescued him and his household, save his wife, who was of those who stayed behind.
007.084 We rained a rain upon them. See now the nature of the consequence of evil-doers! 18) This verse refers to the miracles of Christianity & calls them ‘conjecture’. However the Islamic miracles of the prophet sitting on a flying donkey on your way to get the message from heaven (when nobody was around), and the solar eclipse (when you allegedly split the moon in half) could also be considered as thus?
Quran 010.036 Most of them follow not but conjecture. Assuredly conjecture can by no means take the place of truth. 19) The Quranic challenge and so called proof of its divine origins – i.e. bring another Sura like it -
Quran 010.038 Or say they: He hath invented it ? Say: Then bring a Sura like unto it, and call (for help) on all ye can besides Allah, if ye are truthful. Here is the same challenge adjusted to 10 Suras now
Quran 011.013 Or they say: He hath invented it. Say: Then bring ten Suras, the like thereof, invented, and call on everyone ye can beside Allah, if ye are truthful! Two questions:
Why would an omniscient Allah change his mind?
Secondly why was it adjusted from 1 to 10 - is it possible to meet the challenge of one Sura? If so, does that negate the earlier verse or is it a mistake by an all-seeing all-knowing creator?
20) Aren’t Muslims supposed to pray 5 times a day ?
Quran 011.114 Establish worship at the two ends of the day and in some watches of the night. Lo! good deeds annul ill-deeds. This is reminder for the mindful. 21) A typical example of threat after threat, but haven’t bothered to list all of them here otherwise it would be almost the length of the Quran. But here’s a typical example..
Quran 012.041 O my two fellow-prisoners! As for one of you, he will pour out wine for his lord to drink; and as for the other, he will be crucified so that the birds will eat from his head. 22) I ask you again Allah, it’s too confusing for a message that is apparently clear, is wine ok to drink then?
012.049 Then, after that, will come a year when the people will have plenteous crops and when they will press (wine and oil).23) You heard it here first, wombs absorb babies.
Quran 013.008 Allah knoweth that which every female beareth and that which the wombs absorb and that which they grow. And everything with Him is measured. 24) So Allah does punish in this life too. Religionists are right in calling Tsuanami Allah’s punishment for disbelief in him? It says so right here..
Quran 013.013 The thunder hymneth His praise and (so do) the angels for awe of Him. He launcheth the thunderbolts and smiteth with them whom He will while they dispute (in doubt) concerning Allah, and He is mighty in wrath
Topic: Islame re-reads the Quran