To call The Qur’an a “quick read” feels disrespectful, but in the face of the 426 days it took me to finish my first reading of both The Old and The New Testament, 90 days felt rapid.
As with The Holy Bible, I read Muhammad Abdel Haleem’s translation of The Qur’an aloud every time I had to visit the toilet. As with my comments on The Holy Bible reading, I found this a far better practice than letting my legs go numb scrolling social media.
This version of The Qur’an came with a lot of commentary. My objective with this project is to approach the major religions’ sacred texts without guidance. While referential footnotes are useful, any opinion-based introductions or notes are not. I only realized this a third of the way into Haleem’s translation, but once I stopped absorbing his take on each sura, I felt more rewarded by my exploration.
So then: what’s my takeaway after the complete oral recitation of this world’s top two holy books? I have less to say about religion than I thought I would, and only because my understanding of religion has grown. This is paradoxical, but logical. No one is indoctrinating me. I’m processing text and coming to my own conclusions. I don’t feel compelled at all to join a group. Whether this is a positive or negative outcome, I leave to others.
The Qur’an hammers home the basic premise of “do good deeds, receive a just reward at the end of days; do bad deeds, and expect eternal torment in Hellfire.” It’s what The Bible takes so many more books and poems to get at. Both scriptures imply that there is a force greater than human consciousness that is responsible for overseeing reality. And that’s the sauce I’ve been seeking this whole time. Both scriptures state, in certain terms, that if an individual can give themselves up completely to this idea, that’s all that’s needed. That is faith in a nutshell, compressed down to its fundamental Truth.
I feel that I’m a step closer to the LORD and that reading The Qur’an has only enriched my understanding of faith. But I’m not stopping here. I don’t believe there ever is a stopping point in journeys like these. It’s time to hear what The Bhagavad Gita says.
2024.11.22 – 2025.02.19