New Quran translation

Yikes, have you read the blurb on the page you linked?

I must say, it makes the book sound more like an opinion piece than a "critical edition" (i.e. an edition of the text that incorporates and compiles known manuscripts in a scholarly way), despite what its title implies.

Here's what I thought it would be on reading the title: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Textual_criticism, but it seems to pander to those who would just like to find the "terrorist" passages quickly. It says so in the blurb!

Meh. Pfui. I'd have thought Simon&Schuster above such deceptive practices.
 
Well caught @Cino

The thread title is wrong. It is not a new translation of the Quran but a critical commentary, with the emphasis on critical. Robert Spencer is not a particular fan of Islam

Does this thread belong in the Islam forums?
 
RJM said:
Does this thread belong in the Islam forums?
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On one hand, associating the whole of Islam and all Muslim endeavours with the acts of a tiny tiny minute fraction of Muslims is a terrible trope that doesn't deserve to be perpetuated. On the other hand this trope and literature in its genre are highly present in the internet and beyond, so we can not pretend it's not there. We can address it in our own way, as we do, here on i.o.?

I'm for leaving it up in this section, since it is about the Quran, unless our Muslim members object.

I'd be interested in a discussion about why some people out there seem to be so scared of this particular scripture that they need to demonize it at every step. That's a discussion worth having, but it need not be in this thread or this sub- forum.

If it becomes a troll magnet, it can always be locked?
 
I'm still waiting for a Quran translation more in-line with something like the New Oxford Annotated Bible. I think it's a shame that there isn't a lot of dedicated Quranic scholarship in the West like there is for the Bible.
 
Removed ...
 
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https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_B._Spencer

Robert Bruce Spencer (born 1962)is an American anti-Muslim author and blogger, and one of the key figures of the counter-jihad movement. His published books include two New York Times bestsellers.

In 2003 he founded and has since directed a blog that tracks what he considers Islamic extremism, known as Jihad Watch. He co-founded the anti-Muslim group Stop Islamization of America with blogger and far-right conspiracy theorist Pamela Geller. Reports that two of Spencer's books were listed in FBI training materials and that he had given seminars to various law enforcement units in the United States stirred controversy. He has frequently appeared on Fox News. In 2013 the UK Home Office barred Spencer from travel to the UK for three to five years for "making statements that may foster hatred that might lead to inter-community violence" ...
 
'Amir Alzzalam said:
Looks like someone didn't read the book . . .
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Correct for me, & I suspect no one else here has yet. So let us do that and not judge it by blurbs & Spencer's rep in some circles. After all, many Muslims have been criticizing the inferiority of other spiritual paths and demanding compliance since the beginning.

Here is a review from someone who sees value in it:

https://rossonl.wordpress.com/2022/...ntaries-and-contemporary-historical-research/

Last paragraph from this thorough review:

Most Muslims are peaceful and don’t follow Islam strictly. But significant numbers of them do. Jihad and sharia remain imperatives in mainstream Islam, and The Critical Qur’an goes a long way towards accounting for why that is the case. That won’t stop this book from being dismissed on grounds of “Islamophobia”, manufactured bigotry, and Spencer’s personal politics, but those are empty criticisms — ad hominems leveled by people who have little to show for themselves. The Critical Qur’an is a multi-purpose tool for those wanting to understand how Islam’s holy book is widely interpreted, for ideas about its origins and textual issues, and it is a most welcome contribution.
 
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Did you hear about the sequel?

The Critical bible is a multi-purpose tool for those wanting to understand how Christianity's holy book is subverted by racists, homophobes, nationalists and the teachings of Jesus are largely ignored by the nation which maintains the largest war machine.
 
Nicholas Weeks said:
The quote ...Jihad and sharia remain imperatives in mainstream Islam,...

Is from Loren Rosson, not Nicholas.
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You realize that "jihad" means a lot of different but specific things, only one of which is something like the "armed struggle" which is so over-emphasized in certain circles lately?
 
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