Rating: 
Summary: Got Fatwa?
Review: This is a fascinating book, particularly useful to read following Warraq's "Why I Am Not A Muslim". While Quranic tradition may argue otherwise, a little bit of linguistic and "source" investigation reveals that the Quran is actually a bit more like the "Arabian Nights", composed of a collection of tales from a variety of different authors.Even the casual student of the Quran will find something here to delight...the failure of Satan (Iblis) to bow to Adam is apparently a Coptic story, the "Sleepers of Ephesus" are not sealed up in the cave with their "dog", but when you change one letter in the name of the emperor "Decius" it can sound that way. The "72 virgins" promised in the afterlife are actually "ripe fruit". Parts of the Quran appear to be composed of altered "antitrinitarian" Christian hymns. Instead of a tablet in the sky, the Quran is a book like any other, and the more you think about it, Islam is more a medieval Christian schism (maybe like Arianism?) than a distinct religion. Is there anything new and different under the sun? This book will change the way you look at the "Islam Question" in our fast-paced and confusing modern world.
Rating:
Summary: Got Fatwa?
Review: This is a fascinating book, particularly useful to read following Warraq's "Why I Am Not A Muslim". While Quranic tradition may argue otherwise, a little bit of linguistic and "source" investigation reveals that the Quran is actually a bit more like the "Arabian Nights", composed of a collection of tales from a variety of different authors. Even the casual student of the Quran will find something here to delight...the failure of Satan (Iblis) to bow to Adam is apparently a Coptic story, the "Sleepers of Ephesus" are not sealed up in the cave with their "dog", but when you change one letter in the name of the emperor "Decius" it can sound that way. The "72 virgins" promised in the afterlife are actually "ripe fruit". Parts of the Quran appear to be composed of altered "antitrinitarian" Christian hymns. Instead of a tablet in the sky, the Quran is a book like any other, and the more you think about it, Islam is more a medieval Christian schism (maybe like Arianism?) than a distinct religion. Is there anything new and different under the sun? This book will change the way you look at the "Islam Question" in our fast-paced and confusing modern world.
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