Before I Get Started 3: Translations

I am no scholar on sacred texts, so nothing I say here is to taken as if I know anything.

I will comment on the Koran and translations in a moment. But first, the Bible. The Bible is pretty much written in Hebrew and Greek. It has been translated into many languages. The Enlgish translations alone are legion in numbers, in emphasis, and agendas. Check out this list of Bibles.

The King James Version, as little as I understand the translation, was meant to be an exact translation and to honor the king of course. The NIV was meant to transfer meaning for meaning, not word for word (again, as far as I understand). The difference between an exact attempt at a translation and a meaning for meaning attempt at a translation can be massive. Then throw in the biases of the translators or translator teams - gee whiz, how do you contol for that?

Now to the Koran. I met a Muslim several years ago who told me that unless I read the Koran in its original language, that it is impossible to understand its meaning. For me, learning Arabic was a tall order. Haven't gotten to it yet.

Reflecting on the idea that I would have to learn a language in order to understand God's communication, it struck me as odd. Why would God require me to learn another leanguage in order to understand him? Let's forget for a moment that Americans (me) are chronically monolingual. I could know 10 languages, but if I do not know the right language, then it doesn't matter how many languages I know.

Although it would be nice to read the Koran in its original language, I am going to read it in English. This Enlgish translation is an attempt at a meaning for meaning translation. I know that this will not satisfy many Muslims. That is OK with me. I am not doing this to satisfy Muslims. Again, I am not doing this to insult Muslims either.

I take it under consideration that what I read and try to interpret is already removed from the original. I will also say that this is the best I can do.

Before I Get Started 2: Getting a copy of the Koran

I was on my way to Wal-mart to get something really important when I came up with the idea to blog through the Koran. Then I wondered where to get the Koran. So, when I got to Wal-mart, I looked in their religious section of the books they sell. At Wal-Mart, religious means Christian.

I knew I could a copy from amazon or some online store, but that would be too easy and take some time. I wanted a copy today.

During my experience at the world's largest retailer, I wondered what it would be like to look for a copy of the Bible and see only Korans and books about the Koran. I wondered what it would be like with shelves of books with only Muslim authors and books about how to be a good Muslim. I began to feel a little alienated just thinking about it.

I left the retail giant in search if the Koran in Minnesota suburbia. Would I even be able to find one at all?

I headed over to Half-Priced Books. I figured if there was one there, it would be cheap, which was quite important since I have no extra money to be jacking around buying books with. I found a copy - a single copy - the store's only copy. Now they have no copies of the Koran because I have the only one available. I now own more copies of the Koran than Half-Priced Books and Wal-Mart combined.

In my search at Half-Priced Books, I found lots of religious books. Many Christian books, of course. But there were several shelves of Buddhist books and several other religions. The second biggest load of books were Wiccan books. There were more books on how to be a sexy witch than there were copies of the Koran. I am not interested in being a sexy witch, so I breezed past those books figuring there was little chance of finding Mohammed in the sexy witch section.

I did get my hands on a copy of the Koran, though, and I am glad.

The process of finding a copy of the Koran was itself enlightening. It was inconvenient and a little sad, say, if I were Muslim and believed it to be the truth for all people for all times. How little it is respected in America. Sexy witches get more respect than Islam in America.

Before I Get Started 1: A little history of Mohammed

I enter into this study of the Koran and Islam as a complete novice, a learner. I know so very little about the religion and the prophet and the sacred writings.

I should start this process by saying that I am reading the following version of the Koran - The Koran. More about this version later.

From the timeline given in the version I am reading, this is some history of the prophet Mohammed.

Born in the year 570, his father died a few months prior to his birth, thus he never met his father. His mother died when he was age 6.

In the year 595, at the age of 25, he married Khadijah.

In the year 610 began his call.

In the 619, Khadijah died. Lots of loss in this guy's life. The people closest to him were taken by untimely deaths.

The next year was Mohammed's"Night Journey" (Don't know what this means) that apparently took him from Mecca to Jerusalem and then to the 7th Heaven. Brings up thoughts of the apostle Paul taking a trip to, what was it, the 3rd Heaven? I don't understand what these many Heaven's means. Almost sounds like the inverse of levels of Hell found in Eastern religions and Dante's writings.

Following this are several references to war and treaties and people put to the sword and so on that I will not enumerate here.

Mohammed took a trip to mecca in 632. It was his farewell pilgrimmage. One of the main diciplines for muslims is a pilgrimmage to Mecca in their lifetime.

Mohammed died in that same year, 3 months after a trip to Medina.

The Koran Blog Begins

I am a life long Christian. I have known many Christians to blog though their Bibles. It is not a bad idea.

And yet, in light of the developments over the past several years, pitting Christians and Muslims against each other, I thought that it might do me some good to read the Koran. So, in processing my thoughts, I am going to blog my experiences.

I approach the Koran as a Christian, but I will be as open minded as I can be. I am not going to pretend that I am approaching the Koran with no preconceived ideas. That would be dishonest. At the same time, I am not intentionally aiming to discredit or slam the Koran.

The reading of the Koran in 2007 will be an attempt to understand the textual source of an influential and important world religion.

I hope you will join me either by reading the Koran, reading this blog or both.