On The Holy Qur'an (Updating all the time)

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I am reading the Qur'an again, as an attempt to understand Muslims( I am not very ambitious to understand all of them, but I would be satisfied, even find one interesting point) and somehow, benificial to my view of modern politics-

I found two interesting note now...

I will find many when I finished, I think...

4:15 Those who commit unlawful sexual intercourse of your women - bring against them four [witnesses] from among you. And if they testify, confine the guilty women to houses until death takes them or Allah ordains for them [another] way.

4:16 And the two who commit it among you, dishonor them both. But if they repent and correct themselves, leave them alone. Indeed, Allah is ever Accepting of repentance and Merciful.

Although most of the Qur'an-related article always claim that men and women are equal in the Holy Qur'an...But we can find this point in most of wide-spread religions, while the Qur'an must be so for most of its texts, otherwise it would not be believed by so many people...
But it certainly has some hard-to-understand things, like my quotation above...

Why??

I meet some difficulty on this point.

Please, what is your opinion on this point?

Last edited by metaphysics on 20 Jul 2011, 8:28 am, edited 8 times in total.

One can guess that Muhammad had real women issues and since people trusted all he said they believe this is innately correct.

It doesn't feel right at all. No sense of respect for women was shown. This four people thing was arbitrary.

The Quran was heavily rewritten during war. Most of it doesn't sound right to me.

......

And more:

4:17 The repentance accepted by Allah is only for those who do wrong in ignorance [or carelessness] and then repent soon after. It is those to whom Allah will turn in forgiveness, and Allah is ever Knowing and Wise.

This 'you' is indicating men...perhaps. But, for the acceptance of repentance...Is the Qu'ran think that Men doing wrong things in ignorance but women......

But how much is up to conjecture right now. At least you are right. There was rewriting I feel.

This is unfair to the highest degree. it is good to see the writing in full as is in the Qur'an.

And more:

5:6 O you who have believed, when you rise to [perform] prayer, wash your faces and your forearms to the elbows and wipe over your heads and wash your feet to the ankles. And if you are in a state of janabah, then purify yourselves. But if you are ill or on a journey or one of you comes from the place of relieving himself or you have contacted women and do not find water, then seek clean earth and wipe over your faces and hands with it. Allah does not intend to make difficulty for you, but He intends to purify you and complete His favor upon you that you may be grateful.

The notion of ritual purity is not only found in Islam though.


Although the first passage you quoted is particularly unpleasant.

The TNKH (Hebrew bible) is replete in various purification rituals including bathing, washing the clothes etc. After an emission of semen (either by intercourse or nocternal emission) the male is suppose to bath himself (in a mikvah) and wash his clothes. Contact with a woman during her period renders a male ritually unclean and a woman is ritually unclean during her period and after birth.

Islam is far from the only religion that is loaded down with cleansing rituals.

ruveyn

More and more and more:

http://quranicteachings.co.uk/witness.htm

http://www.islam-watch.org/IW/links.htm (we may not completely believe this website, for it seems like an anti-Islam one)

http://skepticsannotatedbible.com/quran/women/long.html

http://moderationinstitute.com/

http://bibleandquran.com/women.htm

http://islamnewsroom.com/news-we-need/335-womennorights

The two above, Women in the Quran and the Bible

http://www.themuslimwoman.com/herrights ... rights.htm Women's Rights In Islam

( it will be updating all the time!)

I think "contacted women" is old-timey for "had sex".
I don't think it means casual contact.

I thought so, but one of the translations told me it is not.

A new point:

Why in the whole Qur'an, we always 'fear' of Allah, but in the bible, in my impression, we always love god?

In the Buddhism, we love the Buddha...

Well, there's always debate over any religious passage.
You'd need to read the whole Kuran and then decide which translation makes the most sense to you, in the context of the book as a whole.
I do know, though, that the Bible likes to use phrases like "knew" and "lay with" when it means "sex". Likely, the Kuran is being similarly vague and prudish.

We can ask some Arab men to decide.

But I think you missed my main point. I can understand, if I have only seen this passage.

I didn't miss the point.
I commented on the only part of the Koran you quoted that seems somewhat defensible.
My only comment on the rest would be, "You're right, that's horrible".

And actually, the Bible does alternate between "fear" and "love" in regard to how people should feel about God. I had a preacher once that told everyone "fear" should be read as "awe", but that's just one opinion.