Blogging the Koran

Starting some time ago, Slate began running a regular column in which David Plotz, posing as a naif, blogs the Bible. In that way, he gets to express fresh shock at the horrors of some familiar Biblical narratives: “Oh, my! Did you know that after Dinah was raped, her brothers tricked the townspeople so they could kill the men and enslave the women?” “Oh, my! Did you know that God intentionally hardened Pharoah’s heart, leading to the inevitable death of the First Born in Egypt?” That kind of thing.

This disingenuous approach means that Plotz can ignore the centuries of Biblical commentary, commentary written by men and women who do know about these “horror” stories, and and who have struggled over the centuries to analyze them in a way that maximizes good moral lessons, rather than having us walk away from the Bible thinking that rape and pillage are the way to go. (In that vein, a fun book is Jonathan Kirsch’s Harlot by the Side of the Road, a book that examines some of the more lurid stories in the Old Testament, but that explains them with an eye to historical context and rabbinical interpretation.)

For those of us unfamiliar with the Koran (probably most of us), Robert Spencer is starting a weekly Koran analysis, one that will be much more in keeping with Jonathan Kirsch’s book, than with Plotz’s faux innocent reading. Here’s how Spencer describes his upcoming initiative:

To understand the motives and goals of Islamic jihad terrorists, one good place to start might be to explore what they themselves say about why they’re doing what they’re doing, and what they want. That in turn will lead you to the Qur’an (or Koran), the Islamic holy book. The jihadists quote it frequently and portray themselves as those who are following “pure Islam,” the genuine article as it is taught in the Qur’an and Islamic tradition. So in the course of my work explaining the jihadists’ objectives, I’ve quoted the Qur’an a great deal – and hardly a day goes by without my being accused of “cherry-picking” violent passages, and quoting them “out of context.” Meanwhile, the Council on American Islamic Relations and other Muslim groups say that in order to understand the true, peaceful Islam, we should read the Qur’an.

So over the course of the next few months, I’m going to read it, and discuss it in a series of columns. All of it. Not “cherry-picked” or “out of context.” The whole thing, beginning to end. Some of you may be familiar with David Plotz’s series on Slate, “Blogging the Bible.” This series will be similar to that one, but rather than just write about what I think or feel about a certain passage, I will, unlike Plotz, refer to commentaries – all Muslim ones – on the Qur’an. I’ll try to explain how mainstream Muslims who study the Qur’an will understand any given passage, and what its import might be for non-Muslims.

Needless to say, I plan to check in with this column (at Hot Air) regularly.

Hat tip: Michelle Malkin