Found a local HP center. Seems like they can fix the PC for relatively the same cost that shipping it back to the states would incur, minus the long wait. It's already been a few weeks since I last had a working computer. Can't wait much longer.
In other news, I've been continuing my slow and perhaps futile attempt to read through the Qur'an/Koran. I started sometime back in January. My main reason for reading through it is that I simply know nothing about Islam, and, since I'm moving to Dubai in less than two months, I think it's only appropriate that I at least make some effort to understand the vast majority of people I'll be dealing with there. Also, religion and God have always fascinated me to varying degrees, so I think it's about time that I at least make some effort to understand something besides Christianity, which is what I was raised in and feel I have a vast knowledge of.
I seem to be about 10% of the way through the book, and I have to say that it's similar to if you mixed the Bible books of Leviticus and Isaiah together because, so far, God is the narrator, and he's pretty much just been giving out a lot of commands and talking about lots of things that he's gonna do to those that believe and those that don't.
Now, the silly thing that most people don't realize (or refuse to admit) about reading a religious text is that even if something is stated in the text, that doesn't necessarily mean it is a belief of that religion, either in part or as a whole (the Bible has countless examples of this - consider one of the books of Peter in which he specifically commands women not to wear gaudy jewelry, and then try and think of the last time you met a Christian lady not wearing jewelry) and that the grounds for accepting it as doctrine or not may be easily rationalized [away].
That being said, from what I've read so far, it seems that Islam has some pretty interesting beliefs that I wasn't aware of before:
a. There is only one God.
b. Satan also exists, as do heaven and hell.
c. There's gonna be severe punishment for those that don't believe.
d. Those believers that do right will be greatly rewarded.
e. God is forgiving and merciful.
f. Abraham, Jesus, and Moses are talked about and accepted, but it appears that Mohammed is supposed to be the prophet that trumps them all. Gideon and David (Bible characters) were also talked about at one point.
g. The Jews are talked about extensively.
h. God "has permitted trade and forbidden interest."
i. It is often stated that those in the Islamic religion should be trusted, while those outside of it should be regarded as a threat to the religion and are not to be trusted. Ironically enough, almost every Christian I've ever met follows this same principle.
j. It is not possible for you to die unless God wills it.
k. A fun fact about the Bible is that the law that Moses gives condemns sleeping with your wife while she's menstruating. Oddly enough, the Qur'an also states this explicitly. Not sure exactly why it would be important enough to be mentioned in both books, but apparently somebody thought it was.
l. Wars, fighting, jihad....so far, I actually haven't encountered passages that say "Kill the infidels." I was happily surprised. But, then, today I happened upon a group of 5 or so passages that definitely condone fighting in God's name and killing. Yet, it's not super clear who you should be fighting and killing. My best guess is unbelievers though. I'll have to read more. (Also, not as horrific or distanced from the Bible as Christians might think. Consider the Crusades. Considers the vast amounts of fighting between Protestants and Catholics in the 16th and 17th centuries. Consider a large portion of text in the Old Testament that condones Israel's systematic genocide and invasion of the land they were supposed to possess.)
Lastly, a quote I read today, taken from Surah 3, verse 185:
"And what is the life of this world except the enjoyment of delusion."
No comments:
Post a Comment