‘A Short Introduction’ is series of books published by the Oxford University Press which are based upon the numerous subjects: from famous figures, to different sciences, religions, and so on. It is a very good idea, actually, since most of the time, we as curious minds and readers tend to be fascinated by many things, but not very often is it a good idea to actually go about reading everything that catches our attention. These short and indeed handy books are a good to way to introduce to the readers the various subjects and figures before they commit to actually going deep into any of these topics.
‘The Koran’, as the name suggests, is a short introductory book about the holy book of the Muslims, which is also an integral part of Islam. It is a collection of all the revelatory verses that Allah descended upon His last prophet Muhammad pbuh, beginning from the first verse of Iqra ‘recite’ that came upon during the month of Ramadan when he was forty years old. These first verses announced the prophethood of Muhammad, who until then, was an ordinary, just, and kind trader.
Koran holds one of the three central claims of Islam, which every Muslim believes in, as being the Holy Book from Allah besides the other two claims, which are that there is no god but Allah, the singular, and that Muhammad is Allah’s (last) prophet. Despite its unquestioning significance among Muslims everywhere around the globe, its uses apart from the cases of worship, is very limited. Koran is given so much prestige and holistic significance that it becomes its demise at times; very rarely do Muslims turn to Koran for guidance, who on the contrary, are more inclined towards its recitation and memorization.
While this may seem a very foolish thing to do, as it seemed to me until recently, the holding of Koran as high as Muslims do is indeed understandable since Koran is not only a book of Islam, it is also the word of God Himself.
As far as the memorization and recitation goes, there too are valid reasons for it: Arabic is not only the language the Koran was descended in, but it is the language of Koran period, thereby the attempts to translate Koran is always misleading. Secondly, the memorization of Koran holds a high prestige because to be able to recite, in Arabic melody and rhythm, the words of God is both praise-worthy while also saving the Koran from being disturbed every time one has to recite it.
These are only some of the facts that I have learned from reading this book, as well as some previous books, which I knew nothing about until recently. And this is so frustrating and dangerous: to not know not only brings irritation inside oneself but it also emits in the form of false hatred and fear among others.
Cook’s short book is a great way, although at times dry hence my subtitle of ‘textbook
information’, to get to know what Koran is on comprehensive and almost complete
grounds – since Cook’s research is both historical and theological. ‘The Koran’
therefore is, dare I say, a must pre-req for those wanting to study the Koran
itself.
Ratings: 4/5 **** April 18, 2021_