I have long been interested in religious studies not only about Christianity but about all world religions. As a Christian I have taken a lot of time to carefully read The Bible and understand its teachings (as any Christian should). There is much left for me to learn and I don't think I can ever get to a point where I can say I know everything about The Bible and Christianity. I have found that one of the best ways to learn about your own religion is to study another and then compare and contrast. It will either reinforce your faith or shake it at its core. Either way, it is good to know what you believe and why you believe it.
Several years ago now, I began working with a man who I will characterize as a seeker. He has a Muslim background (Sunni to be specific) but could never really call the religion his own. He is attempting to find the truth by studying all of the main world religions and he is trying to be as objective as possible. I have had many conversations with him over the last several years regarding Christianity and we have both been surprised at some of the differences and similarities. I have committed to studying with him and I think the best place to start is Islam. Since his background is in Islam, studying it first will give me a good understanding of his perspective. It's also a good place to start since Islam has become such a major topic around the world.
Even though I will be bringing a Christian perspective, I hope to approach this study as objective as possible. I know I won't be able to be completely objective and in some cases I'll look to my Christian background to compare and contrast, but I'm going to do my best to read the text for what it is. I just happened to grow up in a Christian family but what if I had grown up in a Muslim family or even Hindu? Might I believe as strongly in them as I do Christianity? My studies of Christianity have revealed lots of supporting evidence. Does similar evidence exist for other religions?
One important thing I have learned from studying The Bible is that context is key. Context about the culture of the time and even the situation of the person who penned the text is very important in comprehending the entire meaning of the text. I'm sure context is just as important in the Qur'an. I already know that the Qur'an was written in the early 600s although it did not exist in its current form at that time. It is widely believed that Muhammad revealed the entire text orally and that it was written by his followers. Different parts of the text were revealed at different times and the Qur'an is not organized chronologically. I also know that the Qur'an makes claims about Christianity and Judaism which I will not discuss until the next post.
A few months ago one of my favorite blogs started "
Blogging the Qur'an". I have intentionally not read any commentary on the Qur'an including the site linked above so I can be as objective as possible. I would, however like to take a similar approach in my study. My plan is to first post about the general context of the entire text and to give some background as I understand it. I will then make a post about individual chapters. For each chapter I will attempt to present a summary, make some observations and then list questions I have about that chapter. Hopefully, someone can respond to some of my questions. My first post will come soon.