Reddit Reddit reviews Approaching the Qur'an: The Early Revelations

We found 7 Reddit comments about Approaching the Qur'an: The Early Revelations. Here are the top ones, ranked by their Reddit score.

Religion & Spirituality
Books
Islam
Quran
Approaching the Qur'an: The Early Revelations
White Cloud Press
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7 Reddit comments about Approaching the Qur'an: The Early Revelations:

u/munshiqq · 8 pointsr/islam

Quran is a weird "book". I know when I started reading it, I expected it to read like the Bible, which seemed like a reasonable expectation. If you have time for it, there are two short books about some contexts to the Quran that don't go into too much historical detail:

How to Read the Quran by Prof Carl Ernst, which talks about the Quran as a literary genre that Arabians could be familiar with, including their legends, stories, and the order and structure of the text.

and

Approaching the Quran by Prof Michael Sells, which deals more with the auditory experience of the Quran as a ritual performance. Comes with a selection of recited verses.


CS Monitor had a brief article on Ernst's book.

u/bokertovelijah · 6 pointsr/islam

> He says the Bible is the true word of God because every book in the Bible has the same topic

That's not a good litmus test. Having the same topic or message is not a miracle. You would have to include books like Frankenstein into the canon since it was also a continuation of the story of Adam and his fall.

>He also says that everything prophesised by the Bible eventually came true, like the destruction of Babylon

Every empire crumbles. This is not hard to predict.

> I still consider myself an atheist but I want to know God.

Ask God to guide you. If He guides you to the Quran (and it sounds like He has) then pour over it like any researcher looking for answers. When you feel you've exhausted it, move on. You don't need to learn Arabic, but you should know how to read the genre of literature that is the Quran. I highly recommend to everyone Carl Ernst's How to Read the Quran. I assigned this to my university students along with Michael Sells Approaching the Quran.

But to answer you question in brief, the first revelation of the Quran begins "Read! In the Name of your Lord who creates, He creates humanity as an embryo"

You are still an embryo in the womb of the Quran where all your human faculties are being nurtured. If you become aware of your fleeting and transitory existence, then God's message to you has succeeded in transforming you.

u/Elliot_Loudermilk · 5 pointsr/islam

It takes time to research and learn about any theology. Islam is no exception.

I'd recommend looking into Scott Atran. Scott Atran is one of the worlds leading anthropologists. His publications are great and I'd recommend them all, but because we're on the interwebs I'll diversify it a bit.

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=5701806759199654816
^Scott Atran at Beyond Belief in '06. 40 minute lecture. Must watch. A crash course on Islam in the context of politics, news, and the West.

http://nationalinterest.org/bookreview/sam-harriss-guide-nearly-everything-4893
^His most recent publication- a review of Sam Harris' new book. I highly recommend reading this it's well worth it.

For an understanding of Islam, you have to turn to the Qur'an. But it really is not easy to just pick up and read. It requires a lot of knowledge about context, translation, format and other things.

http://www.ted.com/talks/lesley_hazelton_on_reading_the_koran.html
^Lezley Hazelton's introduction to get you motivated. Good watch.

I also recommend "Approaching the Qur'an" by Michael Sells. It explains context, significance of translation, and the importance of interpretation. It's a great short book that is pretty widely available.

http://www.amazon.com/Approaching-Quran-Revelations-MIchael-Sells/dp/1883991692/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1308671898&sr=8-1

More? Nouman Ali Khan's story is interesting and you might find it worth watching if you're interested. A Muslim who became an atheist but turned back to Islam and became a scholar. His videos are all over youtube and very informative. His story: http://youtu.be/FD8AWqMUv18

u/NomadicVagabond · 5 pointsr/religion

First of all, can I just say how much I love giving and receiving book recommendations? I was a religious studies major in college (and was even a T.A. in the World Religions class) so, this is right up my alley. So, I'm just going to take a seat in front of my book cases...

General:

  1. A History of God by Karen Armstrong

  2. The Great Transformation by Karen Armstrong

  3. Myths: gods, heroes, and saviors by Leonard Biallas (highly recommended)

  4. Natural History of Religion by David Hume

  5. Beyond Tolerance by Gustav Niebuhr

  6. Acts of Faith by Eboo Patel (very highly recommended, completely shaped my view on pluralism and interfaith dialogue)

  7. The Evolution of God by Robert Wright

    Christianity:

  8. Tales of the End by David L. Barr

  9. The Historical Jesus by John Dominic Crossan

  10. Jesus: A Revolutionary Biography by John Dominic Crossan

  11. The Birth of Christianity by John Dominic Crossan

  12. Who Wrote the New Testament? by Burton Mack

  13. Jesus in America by Richard Wightman Fox

  14. The Five Gospels by Robert Funk, Roy W. Hoover, and the Jesus Seminar (highly recommended)

  15. Remedial Christianity by Paul Alan Laughlin

    Judaism:

  16. The Jewish Mystical Tradition by Ben Zion Bokser

  17. Who Wrote the Bible? by Richard Elliot Friedman

    Islam:

  18. Muhammad by Karen Armstrong

  19. No God but God by Reza Aslan

  20. Approaching the Qur'an: The Early Revelations by Michael Sells

    Buddhism:

  21. Buddha by Karen Armstrong

  22. Entering the Stream ed. Samuel Bercholz & Sherab Chodzin Kohn

  23. The Life of Milarepa translated by Lobsang P. Lhalungpa

  24. Introduction to Tibetan Buddhism by John Powers

  25. Zen Flesh, Zen Bones compiled by Paul Reps (a classic in Western approached to Buddhism)

  26. Buddhist Thought by Paul Williams (if you're at all interested in Buddhist doctrine and philosophy, you would be doing yourself a disservice by not reading this book)

    Taoism:

  27. The Essential Chuang Tzu trans. by Sam Hamill & J.P. Seaton

    Atheism:

  28. Atheism by Julian Baggini

  29. The Future of an Illusion by Sigmund Freud

  30. Doubt: A History by Jennifer Michael Hecht

  31. When Atheism Becomes Religion by Chris Hedges

  32. Atheism: The Case Against God by George H. Smith
u/gamegyro56 · 3 pointsr/islamicleft

As far as Islam goes I'd recommend Karen Armstrong's Islam or Muhammad, or Reza Aslan's No God but God. Slightly more academic is Carl Ernst's How to Read the Qur'an, Michael Sells' Approaching the Qur'an, and Fazlur Rahman's Major Themes of the Qur'an.

u/internetiseverywhere · 1 pointr/islam

I read Asad's translation for every Surah not covered in Michael Sell's stunning translation

u/swjd · 1 pointr/islam

Additions:

Lives of other Prophets Series

  • [Video] Lives of the Prophets - Series of 31 lectures by Sheikh Shady on the lives of the Prophets from Adam (AS) to Isa (AS).

  • [Video] Stories Of The Prophets - Series of 30 lectures by Mufti Menk on the lives and stories of the Prophets from Adam (AS) to Isa (AS).

    End times, Death, Hereafter

  • [Video] Death and the Hereafter - Series of 10 or so lectures by Sheikh Shady on what happens during and after death. Also, the minor and major signs that would occur until the end of times.

  • [Video] Signs of Day of Judgement - Series of multiple lectures on the signs of the day of judgement by Sh. Yaser Birjas.

    Seerah (Life of Prophet Muhammad (SAW)

  • [Video] Seerah - Series of 47 lectures on the signs of the life of Prophet Muhammad (SAW) by Sheikh Shady.

    Understand the Quran

  • [Video] Story Night - How Allah(swt) wrote/directed the Quran with analogies to popular works of flim and stories. Another way of looking at it is that why does it seem the Quran is out of order sometimes? Noman Ali Kahn mainly talks about the story of Musa (AS) and how ayats pertaining to his story are written.

  • [Book] The Qur'an by M. A. S. Abdel Haleem - Translation of the Quran with modern English vernacular.

  • [Book] Approaching the Qur'an: The Early Revelations by Michael Sells - There's a chapter that goes in depth about how the pre-Islamic Arabs previved the concept of love and the female beloved character layla and what Islam changed about this concept.

  • [Book] No god but God: The Origins, Evolution, and Future of Islam by Reza Aslan -- Covers lots of topics, excellent writing overall.

  • [Audio] Fahm al-Qur'an - Tafseer of the entire Quran in very simple English. The commentary is by a female scholar, Amina Elahi so it's a good tafseer for gatherings with a lot sisters but obviously anyone can listen. Best way to make the most of this tafseer and others like it is to have a translated copy of the Quran in front of you and some highlighters, sticky notes and a dedicated notebook and just scribble away as you listen. BTW, if you have a Muslim friend(s) who is/are interested in Islam and you don't have access to a teacher or w/e, have a listening party/gathering with these lectures once a week. Since each lecture is 2 hrs long, in 30 weeks, you will have finished the tafseer of the entire Quran and you have a notebook filled with notes and a translated Quran that is now colorful and filled with notes.