Chapter 1: The Source

This is where I set the scene and introduce you, dear reader, to the source material that I used in writing the present book, so that you are sufficiently equipped to embark on this journey with me.

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Why “The Cow”

From what I knew about Islam, I never considered studying it a worthwhile pursuit. But witnessing the many falsehoods spread about Islam and its teachings in recent years by the deceiving and the misled, Muslims and non Muslims alike, and how these are used by the radical elements in the Islamic world to further a deadly agenda, I decided to go to the source and improve my knowledge, to gain a better understanding and be better equipped to respond to these falsehoods.

I want to share my learning experience with you: My reactions, comments, interpretation and criticism of what I read.
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As we go through the text, you will see how easy it is to take some of these writings (within context or out of context, it doesn’t really matter) and use them to incite violence against non Muslims, and use them in support and justification of Islamic terrorism.
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I must point out that the text I have chosen to journey through is not viewed as particularly violent or militant, in comparison with the war texts of the Quran, composed when Muhammad’s military activities were in full swing.
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I chose this chapter of the Quran because it is the longest, and it contains a sort of a resume of Islam as a belief system. Most Quranic topics are mentioned in it.
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Much of “The Cow” deals with the Jews, with unfavourable generalisations on their nature, and with criticism, reproaching, threats and curses. And this is how official Islamic religious authorities interpret these texts. I would very much welcome a revised, more favourable interpretation, although it is clear that the prospects of this happening are not very good.
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It is also considered a blessing for Islamic households where “The Cow” is recited.
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So, if religious texts containing curses on Jews are considered blessings for Muslims, then I believe it is proper that I, being one of the accursed, should review these texts and present my perspective.

Keeping it in Perspective

At this point I would like to make it very clear that critical comments made in this book are directed at content, dogma and doctrine, not at people, and are based on my own understanding of the text.
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I do not object to these doctrines, (other than those that call for harming Unbelievers), nor is it my purpose to ridicule them. What I strongly object to, however, is the notion that I must accept them as the only truth or suffer the consequences, or that criticising these doctrines should be suppressed or outlawed.
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While the Quran does vilify and denigrate Unbelievers, makes anti-Semitic allegations, and calls for domination over and subjugation of members of all other belief systems, and while the Quran is quoted in support of atrocities committed by Islamic terrorists, I do not hold the view that all Muslims are terrorists or racists, or that all Muslims endorse violence in the name of Islam, or that all Muslims believe in the supremacy of Islam over all other religions, or that all Muslims believe that this supremacy should be manifested in actual geopolitical terms.
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In this book, when I use the term “Islamic terrorism”, I refer to violent acts committed by Muslim individuals and organisation, who identify their acts as Islamic by making the express claim that they are carried out in the name if Islam or to glorify Allah.
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In some cases they may even quote Quranic verses in support of their actions. At any rate, it is not for me to decide whether an act of terrorism is Islamic or not. It is up to the perpetrators.
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Further, I do not wish that any part of this book be used in any way to further racist agenda against Arabs or Muslims, or any racist or otherwise discriminatory agenda of any kind.
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I expect that some readers will disagree with what I have to say. I also expect that some Muslims who are inclined to take personally any criticism of Islam will become offended and enraged. That is not my intention.
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To help you put things in perspective, please consider this: if the degree of disrespect shown for religion is the yardstick for indignation and rage, then the Unbelievers, and especially Jews, have more cause to be offended, given the contempt and derision expressed towards them, their scriptures and their religion so often and by so many Muslim leaders and followers, religious and political alike.
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The Quran Reading Experience

Reading the Quran for the first time is a bewildering experience for one who is familiar with the Hebrew Scriptures and Jewish law and tradition. The reader faces a barrage of distorted Bible stories, incorrectly identified biblical personalities, misinterpreted religion, pre Islamic paganism and other material, which as I later learned, comes from early Christian fables.
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Here is what R. A. Nicholson, in his “Literary History of the Arabs” writes: “a farrago of long-winded narratives and prosaic exhortations, quite unworthy to be named in the same breath with the Prophetical Books of the Old Testament.”
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And this is what Salomon Reinach, the French scholar, wrote in his book “Orpheus – A History of Religions”: “… From a literary point of view, the Koran has little merit. Declamations, repetitions, puerility, a lack of logic and coherence strike the unprepared reader at every turn. It is humiliating to the human intellect to think that this mediocre literature has been the subject of innumerable commentaries, and that millions of men are still wasting time in absorbing it.”

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These views express what was on my mind, but with eloquence that I do not possess.
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A Perfect Book – The Final True Message

The Quran is regarded in Islam as the perfectly true and final message to Humanity from the creator of the universe, with every word and every letter in the Quran being divine signs and miracles, revealed to Muhammad by Allah, via the angel Gabriel and a few other curious conduits.
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It claims to be an exact copy of the divine “Guarded Tablets” held in heaven. Another Quranic reference states that this heavenly Book is in the form of a scroll. The reason for this apparent discrepancy is not given.
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The Quran claims to supersede all previous divine messages, in particular those of Judaism and Christianity. It confirms previous scriptures, but only to the extent that they are in agreement with the Quran, or they are not mentioned in the Quran.
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This gives no room for co-existence with, or tolerance or acceptance of, the other. If Islam is the only truth, it is inconceivable that reasonable people should want to subscribe to any belief systems that contradict Islam, as these are deemed false.
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This doctrine of supremacy, claiming an absolute monopoly over the truth, puts Islam in a state of perpetual conflict with all existing belief systems, which it claims to abrogate.
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Contradicting scriptures (Jewish and Christian) are alleged to be the result of deliberate corruption of the true message by evil Unbelievers, a claim that defies logic. More on this topic later.
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The style of the Quran is mostly that of orations: speeches by Muhammad to his audience. In support of the Islamic message, Biblical and pseudo-Biblical stories are told and retold with inconsistencies between the Quranic versions, and in conflict with their scriptural source.
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Relentless repetition is used to inculcate the message of Islam, which is the singularity and exclusivity of Allah, Muhammad’s prophethood, the Day of Judgement, Paradise and Hell. The Quran discusses other subjects, such as ritual, laws, curses, spell, Muhammad’s family life, and his quarrels with personal enemies.
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For a book that claims to be eternal, it contains many references to current events, specific to a very short period of just over two decades.
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The Quran is divided into 114 chapters (“surah”, meaning a series or a row, in this case a series of verses), arranged by size, beginning with the largest and ending with the shorter ones (except for surah 1, which is a very short prayer to be recited 5 times a day). Each verse is called Ayah, meaning miracle or divine sign, and since each verse is a miracle, the whole Quran is considered a miracle too.
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Quran Translations

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There are many English translations to the Quran. Some translators tend to colour their work with interpretation that goes beyond the meaning of the text. As first reference I have used A. J. Arberry’s almost literal translation, free of commentary or interpretation (Even though he calls it an interpretation of the Quran, he translates it almost word for word).
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I accessed other English translations from a website called “Yet Another Quran Browser”, including Pikhtall (British Convert to Islam), Usuf Ali (Pakistani Muslim), Khan (Afghani Muslim), Shakir (Arab Egyptian Muslim), Muhammad Ali (Indian born Muslim), and a few others. I complemented that with the Hebrew translation of the Israeli scholar Y. Y. Rivlin, and browsed other Hebrew translations.
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The English renditions presented in this book are a synthesis of the sources available to me, together with my rudimentary knowledge of Arabic and Aramaic. Of course, I did not review all translations for every verse quoted here.
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There are differences in the division into verses. Some translations repeat verse numbers by adding a suffix “a” to keep the numbering in sync. Some do not number every verse, but count in fives. This Ayah numbering inconsistency does not go well with the claim that each verse is a specific divine miracle.
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In the present book I use the most prevalent verse numbering.
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The Traditions and the Traditionists

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Islamic traditions are like a roadmap, helping to arrange the Quran chronologically and supplying context to its scattered utterances. These traditions are called “Hadith”, meaning an oral report, concerned with the deeds and sayings of Muhammad.
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According to Islamic doctrine, Muhammad was put on Earth by Allah as the perfect role model for all mankind to emulate. Therefore, his acts and sayings as reflected in the Quran, but to a much greater extent in the many Hadith collections, are law. These Hadith collections are the basis for the Islamic Law, the Shari’a.
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The passage quoted in The Opening chapter comes from the earliest known biography of Muhammad, composed by Muhammad Ibn Ishaq. Since this is the only other Islamic source I will quote in the present book, let me give you a brief background on the man and his work.
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He lived between 57-135 years after Muhammad’s death. He collected traditions about the life of Muhammad, which are said to come from Muhammad’s contemporaries. This was a family occupation, passed down to him by his father.
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Ibn Ishaq’s work is called “Sirat Rasul Allah” (or the “Sira”), meaning the path (of life) of Allah’s Messenger. We do not have access to Ibn Ishaq’s entire original work, but only to a censured and abridged version by Ibn Hisham, who died 65 years after Ibn Ishaq.
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His rationale for the abridgement was in part to omit “things which are disgraceful to discuss, matters which would distress certain people”.
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Some of the “certain people” who could possibly be distresses were Ibn Hisham’s masters in the Umayyad dynasty. Other passages were omitted due to their unacceptable portrayal of Muhammad. Fortunately, some of the omitted traditions did find their way to Tabari’s monumental 40 volume history of Islam.
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The Sira seems to be relatively more authentic than other collections, which appeared later. These Hadith collections, in addition to looking like recycled earlier traditions, are curiously greater in number and in detail.
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In fact, the further we move from Muhammad’s time, the more traditions we have, and the more detailed they are. Many of them seem politically motivated, serving the agenda and interests of the local ruler of the Islamic empire province where they were issued.
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Still, as I said before, these numerous Hadith traditions are the foundation of Islamic law and of Islam as a belief system.
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References

In this book, Quran references will be denotes like this: 22:53, meaning Quran surah 22 verse 53. References to Ibn Ishaq will cite the book “The life of Muhammad” as translated by Alfred Guillaume, Oxford University Press, 1955, (1967 reissue) and will have the format of Sira:354, meaning text marked with number 354 in that book, which indicates the page number in the Arabic copy of the Sira. Other references will be fully identified within the body of the text.
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One work that I gratefully acknowledge is by David S. Margoliuth, professor of Arabic in Oxford University, called “What Did They Teach / Mohammed” (1939). This excellent book is a concise and comprehensive survey of the teachings of Islam as expressed in the Quran.
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One last thing, regarding the use of “Allah” vs. “God”: Many translations, including Guillaume’s Sira and Arberry’s Quran, translate “Allah” as “God”. In the present book the word “Allah” will not be translated, so as to differentiate it from references to the biblical deity, who will be referred to as “God”. The non-capitalised word “god” will be used as a generic term for any deity. Other epithets will be presented as translated (e.g. “Lord” for “Rabb”).