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

Quran

Quran is the eternal miracle. It is the last Book of Allah sent for the guidance of humanity through the last Prophet, Muhammad, peace be upon him (PBUH).

Revelation of the Quran
The Quran was revealed piecemeal throughout a period of about 23 years. The Prophet received the first revelation in 610CE, in the Cave of Hira in the Mountain of Light (Jabale-Noor), two and a half miles away from the House of Allah in the city of Makkah in Arabia.

The first revelation was the first five verses of Surah (chapter) Al-Alaq: "Iqra bismi rabbikalla dhi khalaq. Khalaqal insana min alaq. Iqra wa rabbukal akram. Alladhi 'allama bil qalam. 'Allamal insana malam ya’lam, " which means "Read in the name of your Lord who created, created man from a clot. Read, for your Lord is most Generous, Who teaches by means of the pen, teaches man what he does not know." (96: 1-5)

The last revelation was the third verse of Surah Al-Maidah, which was sent down to the Prophet in 632 C.E. : "Al yawma akmaltu lakum dinakam wa atmamtu alaikam ni'mati wa raditu' lakumul islama dinan''," which means "Today I perfected your religion for you and completed my favor to you and have chosen for you Al-Islam as your religion." (5:3)

Surah Al-Fatiha (The Opening Chapter) was the first complete chapter to be revealed and Surah An-Nasr was the last.

Divisions of the Quran
Al-Quran is divided into thirty equal divisions, which are called juz in Arabic. There are 114 chapters, of varying length. The longest chapter is Al-Baqarah consisting of 286 verses and the shortest chapter is AlKawthar consisting of three verses only. The whole Quran has 6,236 verses (see Basic Stats on The Holy Quran )

The chapters revealed before the migration of the Prophet to Madina are called Makkan, whereas those sent down after the migration are called Madinan.

Topics of the Chapters
Makkan chapters generally consist of brief sentences which are full of enthusiasm, poetical, lofty and brilliant. They stress the Unity and Majesty of Allah, the Most Exalted, Most High (SWT), denounce idol worship, promise paradise for the righteous and warn wrongdoers of their punishment in Hellfire, confirm the prophethood of Muhammad (PBUH), and remind humanity of the past prophets and events of their time.

On the other hand, the Madinan chapters are lengthy and the verses are more prosaic. They outline ritualistic aspects of Islam such as Zakah, Fasting, and Hajj, lay down moral and ethical codes, criminal laws, social, economic, and state policies, give guidelines for foreign relations, rules and regulations for battle and the captives of war. They also contain descriptions of some of the early battles of Islam, condemnation of hypocrites, emphasis on the unified basic message of all the past prophets, and confirmation that the process of prophethood and revelation is complete, so that no Prophet will come after Muhammad [PBUH], no new book will be revealed, and Allah's religion is complete through Al-Quran. So here Allah [SWT] exhorted the followers of truth to make Al-Quran as their only guide.

The Importance of the Quran
The Quran is considered the eternal miracle of Islam. It is the complete and best guide for living one's life and seeking Allah's pleasure The teachings of the Quran are universal, addressed to all people throughout the world regardless of their creed and color. They enlighten man's soul, purify his morals, condemn all wrongs, order good deeds and call for the establishment of justice and fraternity through obeying Allah as the supreme authority. The Quran provides the regulations that create the proper relations between man and Allah and man and man. It leads man to understand his role in this world, encourages him to think and ponder, and guides him in the usage of natural resources. In short, the Quran provides all the guidance that humanity needs. Without the guidance of the Quran, humanity would still be groping in the darkness of ignorance.

Compilation of the Quran
The Quran was revealed piecemeal, according to the needs of the time. Angel Jibrail [PBUH] brought it to the Prophet [PBUH] who would memorize it. Afterwards, it was preserved in two ways.

First, through memorization, there were a number of early Muslims who would memorize each revelation as soon as it was revealed and thus had the whole Quran memorized at the time of the final revelation. The tradition of memorizing the entire Quran still continues, and a person who does so is called a Hafize Quran.

Second, the Quran was preserved through writing. Whenever any revelation took place, it was written at once on tablets, palm branches, shorn of leaves, or animal skin. This was done primarily by Zaid bin Thabit, who was the main scribe out of the 42 scribes of the revelation. The Prophet [PBUH] set the order of the chapters under the guidance of Angel Jibrail [PBUH] and ordered his companions to maintain that order. Abu Bakr, the first caliph of Islam, compiled the Quran, and Uthman, the third caliph, made numerous copies and sent one copy to each state capital.

Eternal Miracle
Al-Quran is the only ever living miracle. Today no other miracle of any prophet exists. According to a survey, the number of Huffaz (persons who have memorized the whole Quran) today is more than 10 million.
Millions of editions and copies were printed and handwritten in almost every part of the world. They were also translated into most of the languages of mankind. During the period of over 1400 years since the Quran was revealed, not a single letter was changed. This is one of the greatest miracles of the Quran.
 
Thanks, quite informative from a muslim point of view, I guess.
So, do you find Quran boring and repetitive?

In short, the Quran provides all the guidance that humanity needs. Without the guidance of the Quran, humanity would still be groping in the darkness of ignorance.
Can't agree with this. There are lots of civilizations who don't read quran, and there were glorious civilizations and empires before it.
And today the most backward countries in terms of education, healthcare, security, healthcare, etc., seem to be muslim countries, if we don't count the primitive tribes of Africa.
 
Is it really an issue wether holy scriptures are interesting or not.. ?
Yes of course it is. These "holy books" were originally folk tales that were passed on orally--in the era before printing presses and widespread literacy. You got to hear it from a guy who knew his audience and would tell it in a way that would keep that audience's attention. A good storyteller can absolutely captivate you; he's like a good actor, and in fact I guess that's what he is in a way.

Now that we're all just reading printed copies of these books, all we hear is that dull monotone in our heads. (Yes I know some people can read without putting the sounds in their heads and some add dramatic voices, but most of us can't do either of those things.)

Add to that the fact that these books were first turned into writing in ancient times. The language comes across as stilted and the references are anachronistic--both of which discourage the reader rather than engaging him. Yes I know there's a New English Bible, but even without the "begat"s and the "thou didst"s it's still just a faithful translation of stories that were told thousands of years ago. You can be sure that if it had been passed down orally, it would have been updated by every storyteller so as to still be true to its purpose but now told in a modern setting that people can relate to.

I have never bothered to read the Koran (sorry that's how we spelled it in my day), but I have to say that the Bible is not a great piece of literature. I've read the ancient Greek playwrights and their stories are far more interesting. And just as full of Universal Truths, told in a way that I can stay awake and digest them.
 
Yes of course it is. These "holy books" were originally folk tales that were passed on orally--in the era before printing presses and widespread literacy. You got to hear it from a guy who knew his audience and would tell it in a way that would keep that audience's attention. A good storyteller can absolutely captivate you; he's like a good actor, and in fact I guess that's what he is in a way.

Now that we're all just reading printed copies of these books, all we hear is that dull monotone in our heads. (Yes I know some people can read without putting the sounds in their heads and some add dramatic voices, but most of us can't do either of those things.)

Add to that the fact that these books were first turned into writing in ancient times. The language comes across as stilted and the references are anachronistic--both of which discourage the reader rather than engaging him. Yes I know there's a New English Bible, but even without the "begat"s and the "thou didst"s it's still just a faithful translation of stories that were told thousands of years ago. You can be sure that if it had been passed down orally, it would have been updated by every storyteller so as to still be true to its purpose but now told in a modern setting that people can relate to.

I have never bothered to read the Koran (sorry that's how we spelled it in my day), but I have to say that the Bible is not a great piece of literature. I've read the ancient Greek playwrights and their stories are far more interesting. And just as full of Universal Truths, told in a way that I can stay awake and digest them.

Of course it is only logical that they wanted to make them interesting for purposes of spreading the word.
But when confronted with holy scriptures as they are today, isn't what they convey (or whether they are even truthful) far more important ?
 
enmos said:
But when confronted with holy scriptures as they are today, isn't what they convey (or whether they are even truthful) far more important ?
Probably not. Even complete incomprehensibility (as with, say, the Latin services of the Catholic Church until recently) is no barrier to their playing their normal role.

edit in: Book of Mormon is more boring than the Koran - and no translation excuse.
 
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Yes, it did strike me as repetitive in a different way than the repetitions in the OT and NT.

Boring? I don't think I'd call it boring.

Actually, I might resume reading it this summer. I stopped like half way last summer when college started up. It's my second time through it so...
 
It has so many repetitions of phrases and abrogations just like the Bible. I find reading the texts tedious, but the stories are insightful since I see what life is like back then and why they needed a God.
 
i agree it gets boring in sections, i don't need to hear them calling allah merciful or clement or whatever 8000 times. i understand the need to, and i find parts of the quran very interesting, but the repetition can be wearisome.

like leviticus saying 'their blood shall be upon them etc.' so many times. if he'd just put 'here are the things whose blood shall be upon them' and listed stuff, you wouldn't have to read as much. the repetition seems like hypnopaedia (brave new world ne1?) to me, which is annoying. if something has merit i'd like to think i don't need to be pavlov'ed into thinking it.
 
T: hi, just goning to ask a few questions here
1. Quran is the eternal miracle.
2. It is the last Book of Allah sent for the guidance of humanity through the last Prophet, Muhammad, peace be upon him (PBUH).
3. Revelation of the Quran
The Quran was revealed piecemeal throughout a period of about 23 years. The Prophet received the first revelation in 610CE, in the Cave of Hira in the Mountain of Light (Jabale-Noor), two and a half miles away from the House of Allah in the city of Makkah in Arabia.
4. The first revelation was the first five verses of Surah (chapter) Al-Alaq: "Iqra bismi rabbikalla dhi khalaq. Khalaqal insana min alaq. Iqra wa rabbukal akram. Alladhi 'allama bil qalam. 'Allamal insana malam ya’lam, " which means "Read in the name of your Lord who created, created man from a clot. Read, for your Lord is most Generous, Who teaches by means of the pen, teaches man what he does not know." (96: 1-5)
5. The last revelation was the third verse of Surah Al-Maidah, which was sent down to the Prophet in 632 C.E. : "Al yawma akmaltu lakum dinakam wa atmamtu alaikam ni'mati wa raditu' lakumul islama dinan''," which means "Today I perfected your religion for you and completed my favor to you and have chosen for you Al-Islam as your religion." (5:3)
6. Surah Al-Fatiha (The Opening Chapter) was the first complete chapter to be revealed and Surah An-Nasr was the last.
1. how is the Koran an eternal miracle?
2. last? Christianity says the same thing, why should people believe that, what proof? the Bible & the Koran just don't have the same "feel", the Bible reads more like "real" history, man as imperfect, flawed, Moses for one, David for another, is more like "real" people
3. so that Kaaba pre-dates Islam?
4. here's that whole out-of-order thing, whats up with that?
5. confused here, why is the last chapter revealed, placed near the beginning, did Mohammad get special instructions on what order to place them or was it arbitrary????
6. seeing that California just okayed gay marriages, I find this title hilarious, its the name of the gay Muslim group, I guess a pun was intended?
guard your "6" in California
http://www.al-fatiha.org/ ;)
 
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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 Old Testament and the Quran are rife with killing and violence. Aren't most Hollywood blockbuster's rife with same? How is that boring?
 
religion

All religion is the just the opiate of the masses.Man looks for answers if he finds none he makes them up.Every religion that ever existed borrowed something from one which came before it.Religion has caused many more problems than it ever solved including the black death in Europe. We killed all the wise women calling them witches and killed their cats calling them familiars.The rats mutiplied and spread death, but alot more went to church.:rolleyes:

Machiaventa
 
We killed all the wise women calling them witches and killed their cats calling them familiars.The rats mutiplied and spread death, but alot more went to church.:rolleyes:

Machiaventa

What makes you say 'We killed all the wise women'?:confused: Disease has been part of human history, hasn't it?
 
I've read excerpts from it as well as the Bible and other religious books also. They all claim astonishing things that cannot be proven and allot of dogma and inuendo about whatever it is theirs tries to enlighten everyone with.:(
 
The Qur'an is out of copyright. Copyright exists for the life of the author plus a number of years - usually 50 or 75, depending on where you live.
 
james said:
The Qur'an is out of copyright. Copyright exists for the life of the author plus a number of years
Uh, there's a complication - - - ;)

Repetition is standard in orally transmitted stuff - gives the reciter something he can say without thinking, while he calls up the next verse. In the original language it's usually pleasing or attractive or phonetically harmonious somehow, liek the chorus of a song.

Boring in English, printed on the page.
 
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