What The Qur'an Meant: And Why It Matters
by Garry Wills /
2017 / English / EPUB
1.2 MB Download
America’s leading religious scholar and public intellectual
introduces lay readers to the Qur’an with a measured, powerful
reading of the ancient text
America’s leading religious scholar and public intellectual
introduces lay readers to the Qur’an with a measured, powerful
reading of the ancient text
Garry Wills has spent a lifetime thinking and writing about
Christianity. In
Garry Wills has spent a lifetime thinking and writing about
Christianity. InWhat the Qur’an Meant
What the Qur’an Meant, Wills invites
readers to join him as he embarks on a timely and necessary
reconsideration of the Qur’an, leading us through perplexing
passages with insight and erudition. What does the Qur’an actually
say about veiling women? Does it justify religious war?
, Wills invites
readers to join him as he embarks on a timely and necessary
reconsideration of the Qur’an, leading us through perplexing
passages with insight and erudition. What does the Qur’an actually
say about veiling women? Does it justify religious war?
There was a time when ordinary Americans did
not have to know much about Islam. That is no longer the case. We
blundered into the longest war in our history without knowing basic
facts about the Islamic civilization with which we were dealing. We
are constantly fed false information about Islam—claims that it is
essentially a religion of violence, that its sacred book is a
handbook for terrorists. There is no way to assess these claims
unless we have at least some knowledge of the Qur’an.
There was a time when ordinary Americans did
not have to know much about Islam. That is no longer the case. We
blundered into the longest war in our history without knowing basic
facts about the Islamic civilization with which we were dealing. We
are constantly fed false information about Islam—claims that it is
essentially a religion of violence, that its sacred book is a
handbook for terrorists. There is no way to assess these claims
unless we have at least some knowledge of the Qur’an.
In this book Wills, as a non-Muslim with an
open mind, reads the Qur’an with sympathy but with rigor, trying to
discover why other non-Muslims—such as Pope Francis—find it an
inspiring book, worthy to guide people down through the centuries.
There are many traditions that add to and distort and blunt the
actual words of the text. What Wills does resembles the work of art
restorers who clean away accumulated layers of dust to find the
original meaning. He compares the Qur’an with other sacred books,
the Old Testament and the New Testament, to show many parallels
between them. There are also parallel difficulties of
interpretation, which call for patient exploration—and which offer
some thrills of discovery.
In this book Wills, as a non-Muslim with an
open mind, reads the Qur’an with sympathy but with rigor, trying to
discover why other non-Muslims—such as Pope Francis—find it an
inspiring book, worthy to guide people down through the centuries.
There are many traditions that add to and distort and blunt the
actual words of the text. What Wills does resembles the work of art
restorers who clean away accumulated layers of dust to find the
original meaning. He compares the Qur’an with other sacred books,
the Old Testament and the New Testament, to show many parallels
between them. There are also parallel difficulties of
interpretation, which call for patient exploration—and which offer
some thrills of discovery.What the Qur’an Meant
What the Qur’an Meant is the
opening of a conversation on one of the world’s most practiced
religions.
is the
opening of a conversation on one of the world’s most practiced
religions.