Why Would a Catholic Married to a Jewish Woman Suggest Reading the Qur'an?

Since September 11, 2001, extremists within the Islamic tradition have gotten almost daily press...and it hasn't been good. Most recently, a great deal of news focused on the proposed burning of the Qur'an by the pastor of the small non-denominational church in Florida. I have to admit that after hearing so much about all of this for the past decade I decided that I should read the Qur'an myself and find out exactly what it says. I'm glad that I did and perhaps you should too.

I'm no Islamic scholar by any means but the Qur'an really isn't anything what I expected. It consists of 114 "suras" or sections (brief chapters) that are reflections of Muhammad on a wide variety of topics. In my view, the themes mentioned throughout focus on the notion that God is all powerful, all merciful, and all forgiving and that we must be mindful and respectful of God's will and ways. Additional themes include that if we are not attentive to God's will and ways, we will find ourselves in Hell during the afterlife. We should also be attentive to the needs of the poor and oppressed as well. There are many very positive and respectful comments about Moses in particular but also Abraham, David, Noah, Joseph, Jesus, and other Jewish prophets and heroes. Much of it was poetic, lovely, and beautiful in my view. Each section begins with the same statement, "In the name of God, the Lord of Mercy, and the Giver of Mercy." Much of it was quite consistent with themes in the Jewish and Christian scriptures that I have much more familiarity with. In fact if I didn't know it was the Qur'an I might have thought that I was reading a Jewish or Christian text.

After reading the Qur'an cover to cover I suppose I just don't get how some of those who are so devoted to it could engage in the type of violence we have been reading about in the news almost daily for a decade. I suppose the same is true when reflecting on some "Christians" who have particular extreme points of view that make the press all the time (e.g., protesting at the funerals of military soldiers, maintaining right wing political views, supporting efforts to help the rich and not the poor and marginalized, negative comments about homosexuals). Unlike the Qur'an, I know the Gospels very well and often ask myself if these "Christians" are reading the same Bible that I'm so familiar with.

If we are to make any progress in terms of interfaith dialogue and relationships (which I think we really must do to have any hope of a more peaceful world in the future) I tend to think we must do two very important things.

The first is to actually read some of the sacred scriptures in religious traditions other than our own. Somehow many people seem afraid of the sacred scriptures from other traditions. Why else would a pastor want to burn copies of the Qur'an? I wonder if he actually read it. I truely believe that if he read it cover to cover he wouldn't want to burn it al all. Many people from the Jewish tradition won't read the Gospels or any parts of the New Testament while many from the Christian tradition won't read the "Old Testament" except for certain sections like the Psalms. Neither seems willing to read the Qur'an at all. This is a big mistake in my view.

The second thing we need to do is to get to know people in traditions other than our own. What we hear and read about in the news is typically the most extreme and fringe elements of religious traditions. Sometimes they are so "out there" that they really don't represent the religious tardition at all...far from it! Certainly not all Muslims are terrorists or extremists. Not all Christians are highly conservative politically and otherwise. Not all Catholics are anti-abortionists or homophobic. Not all Jews don't eat pork...and so on. Actually, I have to admit that I get a bit offended when people have all sorts of assumptions about me being an engaged and active Catholic. They assume so many things that just aren't true. Often people have no clue of the great deal of diversity within each of the traditions. If you know people who are active members of various traditions I'll bet you'll have a very different view of the these traditions than what you read about in the news.

So, a pretty devout Catholic married to an engaged and active Jewish woman can read the Qur'an and get a lot out of it and appreciate it.

Maybe you should read it too. See what you think about Islam after doing so.

And by the way, afterwards (if you haven't done so recently) think about reading the Gospels, the Torah, and so forth and see what you think about the respective religious traditions and the behavior of the members of those traditions who you read about in the news frequently. It might be an enlightening experience for you.

So, what do you think?