Tuesday, May 02, 2006

Sin of Omission II

There are sections of Biblical history which the Q'uran must re-interpret. For example, the Q'uran is content enough leaving much of the Tanakh as it is, but if we do a side-by-side comparison of occurences recorded both in the Tanakh and the Q'uran, we see minor and major differences in the was those occurences were recorded. For example, the Q'uran has Moses saying saying things in a different manner than the Tanakh has him saying them. Which theory is more credible; that Moses said something and the Q'uran records it differently, or that the Q'uran's record is the genuine record and the Torah's account is the falsified version of the "original?" Keeping in mind that the Q'uran (and Islam) appeared in 722 CE and Moses lived some 3,000 years before this, I have never heard of a claim declaring that the newer document is original and the older document is the falsified version. Apparently, for Muslims, time travels in the other direction. The only sections which Muslim tradition claims the Jews falsified are sections that, if they were true, would validate Judaism, so they must be false if Islam is to command any credibility. Other than these sections, the Q'uran accepts the validity of the Tanakh's writings. It must because from where else would the Q'uran gain information about the figures and events of the Tanakh? It is not the Torah which has falsified the "original text," but the original text is the Torah and the Q'uran records what it needs how it needs in order to create a Muslim narrative. This had (and has) implications for Jews, otherwise I would say that Muslims can believe whatever they want. You cannot change a person's past into yours by chopping it up like a series of newspaper clippings. When I read the Q'uran, I realize that most of it is new material, save for some parts, which are altered sections of text from the Tanakh. These sections are "quotes" from the Tanakh, but they have been slightly altered and interjected with the new material, and this is the Q'uran, a relatively simple text, exluding the fact that it brought monotheism to the Arab world.

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