Written by E

A New But Familiar Holy Well: Reading the Qur’an

Back in the late spring of 2007, I did an intensive study of Sufism in Turkey. We spent time in Frankfurt before moving on to Istanbul. We wound our way down to Cappadocia, eventually ending up in Konya and the back again to Istanbul. It was one of those foundational experiences for me and Turkey will always mean a lot to me. It pains me the Turkish government has become increasingly conservative and oppressive, though I hope Istanbul still holds onto its unique transcontinental, ancient, modern, diverse identity. There’s no way I can sum up Istanbul and do it justice. It’s glorious.

Needless to say, Islam is everywhere in Turkey. The expressions are different in some way wherever you visit, but in the end, it’s an ever-present part of Turkish society. Come evening, the bars are full of Turks and the head scarves would turn into regular scarves. I don’t know if that holds true today, but it was a noticeable dichotomy fourteen years ago. Though I participated in countless prayers while in Turkey, got to celebrate a major milestone in remembrance of Rumi, and experience a culture where Islam — not Christianity — was the dominant religious expression, I have to admit, I’ve never read the Qur’an. I’ve studied selected verses of it, taken classes in Sufism and Islam, but…no. Never read the holy book. That’s about to change.

The Plan

So, here we go, I’m going to finally do it. Much like I did with reading the entirety of Hebrew and Christian scripture in 45 days, I plan to read a segment of the Qur’an each day until it is finished. I’ll be more flexible in my plan for reading this particular text. I imagine it’ll take anywhere from 14 to 18 days if it’s light reading.

One of the challenges of reading the Qur’an is that it is traditional to experience it in Arabic. Outside of remembering verb roots, my knowledge of semitic languages has dwindled significantly since college. So, I won’t be learning Arabic for this. However, I chose a version that is in Modern English and has the Arabic parallel. I went with The Gracious Qur’an published by the Universal Knowledge Institute. I have a couple other versions here that I can consult if needed, but so far it looks like they went to significant lengths to remove archaic English: thee, thou, shalt, willst — things like that. In other words, it won’t be like reading the King James Bible.

I’m starting to read this right in the middle of Ramadan. A tradition for Muslims during Ramadan is to recite the Qur’an during the month. By my count, I have 18 days left. However, I am not a Muslim, so I don’t want to hold to a schedule that might look like cheap appropriation. I’m reading this text to continue a journey I took several years ago and to learn more about a religion I’ve studied extensively — yet left out a giant piece of it.

This will not be a commentary on whether or not I believe the Qur’an is a revelation from God or the validity of the Prophet Muhammad. This is purely an exploratory read to seek understanding. There will be things that I notice that make wonder, but again, it is not an assessment of an entire world religion. I’ll ask myself the same questions I did with the Bible: How do I feel reading this text? How do I see this text in the world around me? What do I notice?

So, here’s a 14 day plan: