Is the Koran as boring and repetitive to you as it is to me?

O

Oniw17

ascetic, sage, diogenes, bum?
Valued Senior Member
It seems like the Old Testament of the Bible is so much more interesting than the Koran. Does anyone agree with this? Or not?
 
The Qu'ran refers back to the bible a lot, but it seems the Prophet only read (or liked) a few of the old stories, so he tends to repeat them over and over.
 
Well, he talks a lot about Lot and his family and Noah. Those are the main ones I remember.
 
You're sayig the Koran is boring, guess what? So is the bible and torah! *surprise*
 
Enmos said:
Is it really an issue wether holy scriptures are interesting or not.. ?
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I think its also an issue of familiarity; we hear the Quran all the time, recited for prayers, so we are familiar with the cadences of the verses. To us, it is a familiar rhythm that we associate with peace and prayer. I suppose to someone who just reads it dryly in prose from one of the gazillion translations, it makes very little sense, especially when most of the people who read it have very little knowledge of Islam. This would also hold true for Muslims who are not educated in the religion, I think.
 
how does one become educated in islam then? the only thing they can really do is read the quran because all other islamic documents are man-made, thus imperfect, and cannot be accepted as the truth
 
s0meguy said:
how does one become educated in islam then? the only thing they can really do is read the quran because all other islamic documents are man-made, thus imperfect, and cannot be accepted as the truth
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The same way one gets educated in everything else, you read, read, read, learn what is the basis for the way the Quran is interpreted, who are the respected scholars in the field, why and what other reviewers think about it. There is no "right" solution, only the solution you decide on after examining all the alternatives.

The best part of Islam is that no opinion is ever discarded, nor is any review of an opinion; all you need is the motivation to learn about it. If your motives and intentions are pure, then your decision will reflect it. I have never met an aalim I could not respect. They have the most beautiful words; some of them are too strictly conservative for me, but that is because they live in a different cultural context.
 
I found the Quran is repetitive yet not boring. This for example:

Bismillah Ar-Rahman Ar-Raheem

Qul a'udhu bi Rabbi-n-nas
Maliki-n-nas
Ilahi-n-nas
Min-sharri-l-waswasi-l-khannas
Alladhi yuwaswisu fi suduri-n-nas
Min al-jinnati wa-n-nas

Means:

In the name of Allah, the Most Beneficent, the Most Merciful.

Say: I seek refuge in the Lord of mankind,
The King of mankind,
The God of mankind,
From the evil of the sneaking whisperer,
Who whispereth in the hearts of mankind,
Of the jinn and of mankind.

how could that be boring? :confused: A thing is boring when it is not only
repetitive but also meaningless.

In my homeland far far away where I could hear adzan (the calling to pray)
five times a day, I never feel bored to hear it. Always the same sound,
always the same tone, but like eating 3 times a day, it doesnt feel boring.
 
In my homeland, Indonesia, every year there is a tradition of MTQ competition,
MTQ = Musabaqoh Tilawatil Quran (if I spell it correctly). The contestant
should read same part of Quran, but although they read same part, all to
me are sound different. Some of them could read a very loooooong part
without taking a breath, and in high tone. It could gimme goose bumps.
 
Musabaqat tilawat al-Qur'an [Qur’an recitation contests]

Qira is also based on tradition:

Recitation must be done according to rules of pronunciation, intonation, and caesuras established by the Prophet Muhammad, though first recorded in the eight century CE. The most popular reading is that of Hafs on the authority of `asim. Qur'an reading may be based on one to three tones only. Similarly, each melodic passage centers on a single tone level, but the melodic contour and melodic passages are largely shaped by the reading rules, creating passages of different lengths whose temporal expansion is defined through caesuras. Skilled readers may read professionally for mosques in cities, although being paid for reciting the Qur'an is prohibited by Islam[citation needed].

The Qur'an is marked with twenty-six symbols, circles, rectangles, dashes and letters, some in color. These are written above, below, or beside the letters of the alphabet . They indicate the pronunciation of consonants, whether the blending of neighboring or adjacent consonants is allowed, and where recitation pauses and caesuras are forbidden and possible
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I once was a bit annoyed of the constant Russian orthodox church bells by my house (they had some festival) and I put loudspeaker by the window and played recitations from Quoran really loud.
Of course I didn't understand a word, but the overall feeling was suprisingly nice, especially when together with church bells - sort of like Jerusalem.

p.s. Repetition is an essential property of ritual.
 
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