The relevant chapters are at the website - their URLs won't translate to relevant URLs on this site.

SOME INTERESTING OBSERVATIONS:

Here on this site, it is claimed that Muslims "Revere Jesus" as a prophet, etc. Other claims are made that Islam is a peaceful religion. Now you can read and decide for yourself. See the last verse of Chapter 17 (17.111); where it is claimed that Praise be to Allah, who begets no son, and has no partner in (His) dominion...

This is meant as a useful resource - we can check the claims made by the media shills with what the Koran ***actually says***. Enjoy.

None of your links lead to anything usefull. Suggestions?

Most here will suggest that, "It's God's will", I suppose.

Go to the sorce link at the article top. That site is the source and has working links.

Here's the link again in case you need it

The Old Testament portrayed a God who was a stern taskmaster, vengeful and violent at times.

My opinion is that God sent Christ into the world to show that he is a God of love and peace. The Koran seems to be a step back into the time BC, portraying once again a view of God that Christ was sent here to correct.

017.111
YUSUFALI: Say: "Praise be to Allah, who begets no son, and has no partner in (His) dominion: Nor (needs) He any to protect Him from humiliation: yea, magnify Him for His greatness and glory!"
PICKTHAL: And say: Praise be to Allah, Who hath not taken unto Himself a son, and Who hath no partner in the Sovereignty, nor hath He any protecting friend through dependence. And magnify Him with all magnificence.
SHAKIR: And say: (All) praise is due to Allah, Who has not taken a son and Who has not a partner in the kingdom, and Who has not a helper to save Him from disgrace; and proclaim His greatness magnifying (Him).

__________________________________

Indeed, they deny Jesus is the son of God. They can't have it both ways, now can they? No more hiding or duplicity.

The Noble Qur'an

"Alif Laam Raa. A book which we have revealed to you (Muhammad) so that you may lead the people from out of the darknesses into the light by their Lord's leave to the path of the All-Mighty, the Praiseworthy." [Qur'an 14:1]

The Qur'an ("Qor-Ann") is a Message from Allah to humanity. It was transmitted to us in a chain starting from the Almighty Himself (swt) to the angel Gabriel to the Prophet Muhammad (saas). This message was given to the Prophet (saas) in pieces over a period spanning approximately 23 years (610 CE to 622 CE). The Prophet (saas) was 40 years old when the Qur'an began to be revealed to him, and he was 63 when the revelation was completed. The language of the original message was Arabic, but it has been translated into many other languages.

The Qur'an is one leg of two which form the basis of Islam. The second leg is the Sunnah of the Prophet (saas). What makes the Qur'an different from the Sunnah is primarily its form. Unlike the Sunnah, the Qur'an is quite literally the Word of Allah, whereas the Sunnah was inspired by Allah but the wording and actions are the Prophet's. The Qur'an has not been expressed using any human's words. Its wording is letter for letter fixed by no one but Allah.

Prophet Muhammad (saas) was the final Messenger of Allah to humanity, and therefore the Qur'an is the last Message which Allah has sent to us. Its predecessors such as the Torah, Psalms, and Gospels have all been superceded. It is an obligation - and blessing - for all who hear of the Qur'an and Islam to investigate it and evaluate it for themselves. Allah has guaranteed that He will protect the Qur'an from human tampering, and today's readers can find exact copies of it all over the world. The Qur'an of today is the same as the Qur'an revealed to Muhammad (saas).

Related Items

A transliteration of the Qur'an
An index to the Qur'an
Search for a particular verse
Syed Maududi's introduction to each chapter
An essay highlighting the scientific information contained in the Qur'an
Another essay on the Qur'an, knowledge, and science
A brief history of the compilation of the Qur'an, courtesy of Perspectives.
Some rules to assist in the memorization of the Qur'an.

Translations of the Qur'an

On this Web site, there are three translations of the Qur'an. Note that any translation of the Qur'an immediately ceases to be the literal word of Allah, and hence cannot be equated with the Qur'an in its original Arabic form. In fact, each of the translations on this site is actually an interpretation which has been translated. The first-time reader is strongly advised to read the introduction to the translations we have made available. Corrections and suggestions are appreciated.

The Chapters of the Qur'an: http://www.usc.edu/dept/MSA/quran/003.qmt.html

[Islamic Server Home] | [Reference Materials] | [Glossary] | [Other Islamic Sites] | [Email MSA-USC]

Indeed, they deny Jesus is the son of God. They can't have it both ways, now can they? No more hiding or duplicity.

Thus the link - and all 3 translations seem to pretty much say the same thing in this case.

Do you suppose that this is a quick rewrite?

Islamic Glossary Term: Jihad Islamic Glossary Home

Jihad

Other Commonly Used Spellings: JIHAAD

It is an Arabic word the root of which is Jahada, which means to strive for a better way of life. The nouns are Juhd, Mujahid, Jihad, and Ijtihad. The other meanings are: endeavor, strain, exertion, effort, diligence, fighting to defend one's life, land, and religion.
Jihad should not be confused with Holy War; the latter does not exist in Islam nor will Islam allow its followers to be involved in a Holy War. The latter refers to the Holy War of the Crusaders.
Jihad is not a war to force the faith on others, as many people think of it. It should never be interpreted as a way of compulsion of the belief on others, since there is an explicit verse in the Qur'an that says:"There is no compulsion in religion" Al-Qur'an: Al-Baqarah (2:256).
Jihad is not a defensive war only, but a war against any unjust regime. If such a regime exists, a war is to be waged against the leaders, but not against the people of that country. People should be freed from the unjust regimes and influences so that they can freely choose to believe in Allah.
Not only in peace but also in war Islam prohibits terrorism, kidnapping, and hijacking, when carried against civilians. Whoever commits such violations is considered a murderer in Islam, and is to be punished by the Islamic state. during wars, Islam prohibits Muslim soldiers from harming civilians, women, children, elderly, and the religious men like priests and rabies. It also prohibits cutting down trees and destroying civilian constructions.

http://www.usc.edu/dept/MSA/reference/glossary/term.JIHAD.html [Islamic Server Home] | [Reference Materials] | [Glossary] | [Other Islamic Sites] | [Email MSA-USC]

Question: When an issue is to be settled via consulting the Koran, do the passages toward the end of the Koran take precedence over passages toward the beginning?

According to the server, the Jihad page you reference has not changed since 1998. If you have Netscape, you can check the age of any document by viewing the "page info" for that web page. Of course, a sneaky person could modify the date stamp to backdate the file.

ORIGINS of ISLAM

Occhigrosso (1996) affirms the moon God association and the astronomical basis of the black stone: "Before Muhammad appeared, the Kaaba was surrounded by 360 idols, and every Arab house had its god. Arabs also believed in jinn (subtle beings), and some vague divinity with many offspring. Among the major deities of the pre-Islamic era were al-Lat ("the Goddess"), worshiped in the shape of a square stone; al-Uzzah ("the Mighty"), a goddess identified with the morning star and worshiped as a thigh-bone-shaped slab of granite between al Talf and Mecca; Manat, the goddess of destiny, worshiped as a black stone on the road between Mecca and Medina; and the moon god, Hubal, whose worship was connected with the Black Stone of the Kaaba. The stones were said to have fallen from the sun, moon, stars, and planets and to represent cosmic forces. The so-called Black Stone (actually the color of burnt umber) that Muslims revere today is the same one that their forebears had worshiped well before Muhammad and that they believed had come from the moon. (No scientific investigation has ever been performed on the stone. In 930, the stone was removed and shattered by an Iraqi sect of Qarmatians, but the pieces were later returned. The pieces, sealed in pitch and held in place by silver wire, measure about 10 inches in diameter altogether and several feet high; they are venerated today in patched-together form.)"

"The Quraysh had settled in Mecca towards the end of the fifth century. Their ancestor Qusayy, had settled in the Meccan valley beside the Sanctuary. Legend has it that Qusayy had travelled in Syria and brought the three goddesses al-Lat, al-Uzza and Manat to the Hijaz and enthroned the Nabatean god Hubal in the Ka'aba. In a campaign that combined trickery and force, the Quraysh managed to take control of Mecca and expel the Khuza'ah, its guardian tribe who were considered to have failed their sacred trust" (Armstrong 1991). There are several difficulties with this legend. We have seen that al-Uzza and before her al-Lat have a considerable history as Arab deities, stretching all the way back to Sumeria."

Hubal in al-Kalbi's 'Book of Idols (Faris 23) is described as a red-agate statue of a male figure. One passage of al-Kalbi suggests however more of an identification with forms of arrow oracle known throughout the Near East, which are more consistent with Persian influence: "In front of [the idol] were seven divination arrows ". To make a decison or resolve a conflict "they would proceed to the idol and shuffle the divination arrows before it." In Exekiel 21:21 it is noted "For the King of Babylon stands at the parting of the ways he shakes the arrows, he consults the teraphim, he looks at the liver". Such oracles, the urim and tummim were also a vehicle of the Torah (Snaith 146).

Nevertheless the Ka'aba was a sacred sanctuary which displayed tolerance to many paths, containing no less than 360 images and many pictures including those of Jesus and Mary. It was the sacred rule that the faithful should have access to the sanctuary without discrimination and there should be no conflict within 10 miles. The seven circumambulations and the 360 images appear to be related to worship of the seven planets of the Babylonian system and the 360 days of the Sumerian calendar, which was also shared by the Hebrew jubilees calendar. Each Arab tribe had their protecting star from among the Houses of the Moon (Briffault 3/81). The Ka'aba appears to be aligned for lunar and stellar observation. Another noted Ka'aba was sited at Najran, the previously mentioned site of the trench massacre, which was probably in pre-Christian times of similar fame to Mecca. The remains of this Ka'aba contain an inscription to Wadd 'Ab the Moon God of the Mineans.

The hajj itself was originally an Autumn rite apparently persecuting the dying sun to bring on the winter rains. Pilgrims would rush in a body to the hollow of Muzdalifa, the abode of the Thunder God, make an all-night vigil on the plain by Mt. Arafat, hurl pebbles at the three sacred pillars of Mina and offer an animal sacrifice" (Armstrong 1991 62).

One should pause to consider the following fact: The Ka'aba was holy ground and a great measure of the holiness was its religious tolerance. The Ka'aba was a place where all the faithful could assemble to honour a time-immemorial tradition. All forms of violence between any parties were forbidden in Mecca for four months during the hajj. The worshippers of al-Llah, al-Lat and even the Christian Arabs could all come together at the Ka'aba. If the hands of Allah and Allat could again be united across the Ka'aba, as are the hands of particle and wave in the physical universe, the world could know eternal peace.

#############################################

Until Muhammad decided to steal it for himself, and thus did the face of Islam become the face of evil.

Will The Real Islam Please Stand Up?

editorial commentary

Will The Real Islam
Please Stand Up?

Stop telling me about Islam. Shouldn't the media and talk shows hosts really be instructing 'wayward' Muslims and their followers who have 'hijacked' Islam about the true meaning of the Koran and Islam. I really don't care about their religion. Tell them about their religion! Just tell the Muslims who have their Koran and the Prophets' message all wrong that they have it backwards and inside out. They seem to be the ones who need to understand the 'true' meaning of the Koran and Islam. by Van Jenerette, Major, U.S. Army(ret) Ph.D. Candidate, University of South Carolina

I really don't give a rat's explicit about Islam.
...Tell the Muslim's who have hijacked Islam about their religion!

Why can't I turn on the television or read a newspaper or magazine without being bombarded by some instruction from the media on how I should 'understand' Islam? Thanks, but no thanks. I really don't give a rat's explicit about Islam. I just don't like Americans being killed by anyone - and I like it even less when someone comes into my country to do the killing. I don't care to hear any reason this or excuse that or please understand their anger explanations. I just want to hang the people who did it and never let anyone think they can do it again. Not here. I live here.

Anyway, it's been over a month since the World Trade Center and Pentagon attacks and there seems to be hundreds of TV talk-show hosts, news people, Islamic experts, roaming Imams, and Muslim clerics who keep telling me how I should get aquatinted with the 'real' Muslim world of the Koran, Hadith and the Sunna and how these terrorist guys who pulled off the 9/11 attacks don't really represent the actual Islamic faith or the teachings of the prophet.

If this is true, why should I be the target audience on what 'true' Islam really is? I didn't crash a plane in to the WTC, and I didn't send my children out into the streets to cheer the deaths of thousands of innocent people. If I have it right, all the people who did this were Muslims. Correct?

Shouldn't the media and talk show hosts really be instructing these 'wayward' Muslims and their followers who have 'hijacked' Islam about the true meaning of the Koran and Islam? I mean I already know what they did was wrong as do most honest American's, so why are you telling me? I don't really care about their religion. Tell them about their religion!

Yes, tell the Muslims. Now there's a thought, just tell the Muslims who have their Koran and the Prophet's message all wrong - that they have it backwards and inside out. To me, they seem to be the ones who need to understand the 'true' meaning of the Koran and Islam. After all; according to the television 'experts', Islam means peace, not surrender or submission as I've read in Arabic.

See, at this point as an outsider, I really don't know who has the Koran right - the Islamic Fundamentalist or the Islamic Traditionalist - the Sunni or the Shii Muslims, the Wahabis and who ever else is involved, including an assortment of Islamic terrorists themselves. I've heard so much talk from the experts that even Jihad is beginning to sound like a cross between a personal love fest or a pretty violent and murderous enterprise depending on who you are listening to at the time.

So please, to all the media types and so-called Islamic experts - stop giving me your line on how these guys have hijacked a religion and just have the guts to tell Osama bin Laden, Al-Qaeda, Hezbollah, Islamic Jihad, Hamas, the Taliban and other Muslims who agree with them, that they have the Koran and the Prophet Mohammad all wrong. Period.

Like it or not, in the big picture there seems to be no shortage of Muslims who agree with Bin Laden and other Terrorism Inc. members, et. al. But, even worse is the fact that they live all over the world and there are millions of them! From, China to Chechnya, to Indonesia, to the Philippians, back to India, into Saudi Arabia, south to Nigeria and about 50 other places you might not want to visit. To top it off, they come in a variety pack of all races and colors - brown, white, black, blue-eyed; black hair, beards, turbans, suits and ties. Wow! You've got to wonder; which Koran are these guys reading? I mean, someone has to have the Koran right and someone else has to have it wrong! Right?

So many Muslims today make it sound like there are two versions of the Koran floating around out there. If so, what is the difference between the Koran that the Terrorists are reading, and the Koran that the rest of the Muslim world is reading? Is there an Original Koran and Revised Koran? If so, who is reading which version? Why is there an absence of direct condemnation and action targeted at millions of wayward Muslims who follow the terrorists? Why is there no overt and highly visible attempt to re-educate error-laden-believers to the 'true' message of Islam and the Prophet Mohhamad? I'm confused.

This leads to some pretty difficult questions that I would like some brave souls or the members of the media to ask some Muslim leaders or other Islamic experts and try to get some straight answers:

#1) Why is there such a huge effort to convince Christians, Jews and other non-Muslims that Islam is a peaceful, tolerant, kind, respectful religion, but there is no such direct effort to convey the same messages into the Mosques and the Arab Muslim world; especially to those Muslims in Gaza, Afghanistan, Indonesia, Pakistan, Nigeria, Tajikistan, the West Bank, etc.? In the same breath, why are Christian churches, Christian worship and Christian preaching banned in so many Islamic nations if Islam is so tolerant of all faiths?

#2) Where are the Muslim world's media television, talk-show hosts', news people, Islamic experts' and roaming Imams' and clerics' voices with the message that people should not listen to Osama bin Laden, Al-Qaeda, Hezbollah, Islamic Jihad, Hamas and other Muslims who use terrorism. Why aren't they saying that the terrorist interpretations of the Koran and the Prophet's teachings are all wrong?

#3) If the Terrorists and the Islamic Fundamentalists have 'hijacked' Islam to further their own agenda and are not following the Koran; why haven't the clerics and Imams issued a fatwa (religious decree) in full view of Muslims everywhere; as set forth in Islamic law and the Koran, for those who have decried the 'true' faith and edicts of Islam? Does anyone remember the author Salman Rushdie? They didn't waste anytime putting a price on his head and all he did is write a book that broke Islamic Law.

#4) Why hasn't the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC); who represents nearly one-fifth of the world's population, named Bin laden directly and condemned him and other terrorist organizations as apostates to the Muslim Religion? Better yet, if in truth Islam is a religion that prohibits the murder and killing of the innocent, why haven't Muslims everywhere; including the OIC, condemned the bombing of Disco's, Pizzeria's, or the killing of civilians and of school children in Israel?

#5) If Jihad, by definition does not include the concept of a violent 'Holy War', why do so many Islamic clerics and followers of the Muslim religion keep using it for justification of their killing of other people of other faiths or nations? Can millions of readers of the Koran have it that wrong?

#6) Pardon my ignorance of the Koran, but if a Catholic Priest did a 'such-and-such' terrible deed, the Bishops, the Cardinals, and the Pope would all condemn the actions and excommunicate the offender. Why is there no such action against the terrorists who (according to all the Islamic clergy and American and Muslim experts who are 'educating' the American public to Islam) have violated the Koran?

#7) Finally, can the Muslims have it both ways? Either the Koran is specific or it is not. Either the plethora of Islamic terrorists organizations are following the literal edicts of the Koran and the Sunan, or they are apostates that must be destroyed by other Muslims with even more vengeance - that which is extended to non-believers. Which way is it?

I would really like some direct and specific answers. I don't want to hear history about the Crusades, or the U.S. foreign policy crap, or the rage of Muslims, or the Palestinians claims to the same lands as the Israelis, or comparisons to Christianity and Judaism, or stories of poverty or hunger, or the CIA, or other 'look-behind-you' and 'blame-the-victim' excuses. Most of what has been said in the media has been either pure bull or a lesser mix of lies and rumors. At this point, the majority of Americans don't want to hear excuses. We want action. Save the excuses for a more Politically Correct time period and a more gullible audience.

Not that it matters, but I'm still not sure if I'm considered a non-believer that Muslims should live in peace with or if I am an infidel that should be killed for my corrupt life style, or my religious belief of Jesus Christ and the trinity of God. I need to have the 'real' Islam please stand up.

I suppose for the time being we are stuck and must consider that there are but two possibilities: in the least, either the majority of Muslims aquiecese to the 'hijacking' of their religion, or at worst, they give tacit approval to the murderous actions the Islamic terrorists have done in the name of Allah.

POST SCRIPT Note:

Before the 11th of September, I really didn't care what Islam was all about. Actually I didn't give a rat's a#@!; it was just another religion with it's share of contradictions and eccentric notions. Outside of some studies of the Koran and the Sunan while at the U.S. Army Command and General Staff College, I never gave Islam much thought. In that case, I opened the book on this most 'interesting' religion only when confronted by some Muslim Officers from Arab countries who tried to convince me about the rightousnous of 'Honor Killing' for wayward daughters at the hands of their own families. A pretty chilling concept for a American father with six children. At least in their Muslim world my sons were safe. Small comfort - four of my children are girls. According to them, the female population of America would dramatically decrease; but improve, overnight once we 'saw the light.' Whew. That's a real scary thought.

About the Writer....

Van Jenerette is a Senior Policy adivisor to U.S. Rep. Henry Brown, 1st Congressional District, South Carolina. He served as a Congressional Staff Assistant to U.S. Rep. Arthur Ravenel, Jr., 1st Congressional District, South Carolina from 1992 to 1994 and was a candidate for the 1st District Congressional seat in the 2000 election. Jenerette is a Ph.D. Candidate in Sociology at the University of South Carolina, where he has also taught Sociology. Van presently teaches Political Science and Social Theory at Coastal Carolina University. He is a U.S. Army veteran; he has studied five languages and has lived in three foreign countries and is the father of six children.

Jenerette is married to Katherine Schmidt of Newport News, Virginia who served with the US Army in Operation Desert Storm and now teaches American History and Western Civilization.

�

typo correction: Van presently teaches Political Science at SCC and he teaches Social Theory at Coastal Carolina University.

typo correction: Van presently teaches Political Science at SCC and he teaches Social Theory at Coastal Carolina University.

And instead of commenting on the article, he spams threads with his self-promoting vanities.

Hey Van! Take a hint from the Commander-in-Chief.
This war is against TERRORISTS, not Islam.