The Essential Koran: The Heart of Islam

Koran (Qur'an, in some transliterations) literally means 'reading' or 'recitation'. According to Islamic tradition, the Koran is a spiritually revealed book, in the way Torah was revealed to Moses or the Gospel message was revealed to Jesus. Connecting to these earlier voices of the same God, the Koran also serves as a clarifier, a standard. The prophet Muhammad, born about year 570, orphaned early, led a fairly unremarkable life until about age 40, when he had a revelation, which his wife was perhaps first to recognise.

This is a work in English; it is an article of faith among Muslims that the Koran cannot be truly translated into any language apart from the classical Arabic in which it was revealed. There is a fundamental difference between Arabic (or, more precisely, semitic) language and western languages. While all of the Koran is sacred for Muslims, there are portions which are more understandable and accessible to the Western reader; Cleary has assembled these together here.

`Arabic, most precise and primitive of the Semitic languages, shows signs of being originally a constructed language. It is built up upon mathematical principles--a phenomenon not paralleled by any other language.'

Given this view of the language, there are extensive notes throughout Cleary's translation to try to clarify some of the linguistic elements that are lost in translation.

`In the name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful

All praise belongs to God,
Lord of all worlds,
the Compassionate, the Merciful,
Ruler of Judgment Day.

It is You that we worship,
and to You we appeal for help.
Show us the straight way,
the way of those You have graced,
not of those on whom is Your wrath,
nor of those who wander astray.'

This is the opening of the Koran.

The Koran and Islamic tradition holds that there have been 128,000 prophets, who have in their turn revealed 104 Books. The Torah, the Psalms, the Gospel and the Koran are the four most important books according to the Muslim point of view. Theologically, Islam is not exclusionist, and recognises the validity of revelation that has come before (even if not recognising that current practice retains the authority of that validity).

As a priest, I recall the lines

`People of the Book,
do not go to excess
in your religion,
and do not say of God
anything but truth.'

The prophet Muhammad would get irritated if a prayer leader would stretch things out to the discomfort of the attenders.

`The Messiah
does not disdain
to be a servant of God,
and neither do the intimate angels.
As for those who disdain
the worship of God
and who aggrandize themselves,
God will gather
all of them up.'

In the search for pure truth, the Koran gives insight.

`Say,
"It is God, Unique,
God the Ultimate.
God does not reproduce
and is not reproduced.
And there is nothing at all
equivalent to God."'

Philosophy, history, sometimes confusing but mystically-deepening insights are all presented here. Cleary mostly allows the text of the Koran to stand for itself, without analysis, to allow the spirit to speak directly to the reader. More commentary and historical grounding for the non-Muslim reader would be nice

Various parts of the Koran were revealed in different places, and Cleary takes account of this in his organisation. Also, headings allow one to follow lines of thought, but it sometimes takes some real study and meditation to figure out the connexions.

Spend some time with these writings, and approach it with an open mind and heart, holding fast to your own beliefs, to see what new light might be shed upon them.