The Chronological Qu’ran

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I first encountered Islam about six years ago when I was living in London. After meeting a Muslim for the first time, I decided that I should probably become more familiar with the religion, given that it is followed by 1.6 billion people, approximately 23% of the world’s population.

In my naiveté, I decided to start reading the Qur’an, the holy book of Islam. Oddly enough, I had been given a copy of the Qur’an at my (Catholic) school’s prize-giving about ten years earlier. I dug out my copy and started reading…

I’ll admit that I found the text of Qur’an very dry and I gave up after reading it when I was only about a third of the way through. Jumping straight into the Qur’an is very difficult, particularly if you don’t know much about Islam. It would have been helpful to know, for example, that the chapters (“suwar”) are not placed in chronological order, meaning that as I read sequentially through the chapters, I was jumping between very different periods in Muhammad’s life.

quran

I’ve recently been reflecting on the subject of Islam and have concluded that the need for Christians to be familiar with this religion will only become greater with time. I’ve therefore decided to do more posts on this subject over the coming months. I have already written an introduction to Islam and the odd apologetics post, but in preparation for these upcoming articles, and for the sake of gaining credibility, I have decided to read the Qu’ran from cover-to-cover, but on this occasion I will read the chapters in chronological order.

Below you will see my reading plan, with the chapters arranged in (rough) chronological order. Discerning the exact chronology of the chapters is somewhat difficult for Muslim scholars to discern, particularly give that some chapters even contain verses from different periods. I found several different chronological orderings on the Internet, but I have chosen this one. There were other orderings I found on Christian websites, but in an attempt to limit Christian bias (which I will already bring to the text), I chose to use a chronology from a Muslim website.

My plan is to post some very brief thoughts about the chapters I read each day. I’ve also written a glossary of Islamic terms to make these easier to follow. From time to time, I’ll visit an Imam in San Diego, in order to clarify anything which I have found confusing.

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Wise Words on Wednesday: Is there another way?

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matt

Instead of lecturing people about going to church on Sunday, let’s inspire them to want to go. Instead of telling them to dress more appropriately for Mass, let’s give them something worth dressing up for. Instead of telling them not to sleep around, let’s fascinate them with the pursuit of purity. Instead of preaching that giving is better than receiving, let’s just give.

– Matthew Warner, Messy & Foolish

Visit the Sistine Chapel!

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When I have friends who want to visit Rome, I always tell them to visit the Sistine Chapel early in the morning if they would like to be an experience which is even remotely peaceful.

The first time I visited the Sistine Chapel, we arrived in the early afternoon and it was bedlam! Prior to entering the chapel, we saw signs with two instructions:

  1. Be quiet
  2. Do not take photographs

However, as when we entered the chapel, we found lots of people talking, and not even very quietly. The custodians would periodically walk through the chapel saying “Silenzio….silenzio…”. We also saw lots of tourists taking photographs. Many were even foolishly trying to take pictures of the ceiling with woefully inadequate cameras. The custodians would walk past tutting at these people and wagging their fingers at them.

Needless to say, this irritated me greatly and I spent the rest of my time in the chapel planning how I would do things if I was in charge. Every camera I saw would be snatched from the tourist’s hands and smashed on the marble floor. A little harsh, perhaps, but the word would soon get out… I would pile up the remains of the smashed electronics at the entrance to the chapel as a warning to all future visitors, much in the same way monarchs used to put the heads of traitors on spikes. Under my regime guidance, the Sistine Chapel would once more return to being a peaceful sanctuary, away from the harshness of the outside world… 😉

Fortunately, if you would like a peaceful Sistine Chapel without my draconian rule, you can now visit it from the comfort of your own home! The Vatican has published on their website a panorama which allows you to explore (at least to some degree) one of the world’s most famous chapels:

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Music Monday: Lux Aeterna

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Returning once again to classical music, today’s selection is one of the most stirring renditions I’ve heard of Edward Elgar’s “Lux Aeterna”, performed by the VOCES8:

Lux aeterna luceat eis, Domine, cum sanctis tuis in aeternum, quia pius es.
May light eternal shine upon them, O Lord, with Thy saints forever, for Thou art kind.

Requiem aeternam
Eternal rest

dona eis, Domine,
give to them, O Lord,

et lux perpetua luceat eis.
and let perpetual light shine upon them.

Catholic Artists

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If you’ve followed this blog for some time, you will know that each Monday I do a post where I share some Christian music, either ancient or modern. I recently discovered a website which will help me select contemporary songs by Catholic artists, The Catholic Playlist Show:

catholic-playlist-show

Since I’m not regularly in Protestant circles these days, my exposure to Contemporary Christian Music (CCM) is not as great as it used to be, so this site and podcast is ideal for me. The other amazing thing is that about this site is that the Catholic Playlist Show exclusively showcases Catholic artists. Honestly, I think I could name all the prominant contemporary Catholic musicians I know on a single hand, so we’ll see if this site manages to change that!

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