20 August 2008

Quranet -- Let's pretend the Quran is a good book
(Hey, it works for the Bible, doesn't it?)

One of the 60 projects selected by the Israeli Presidential Conference to honor Israel's 60th year of independence is called Quranet, from which (according to the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs) "every person in the world can find a Quranic answer to his/her educational question."

Here's how it will work. The user will ask a question (or select one from a list) and Quranet will show the answer from the Quran. Here is the question and answer from their SWF demonstration.

Question: What happens when we repay evil with good?

Answer: . . . the one who used to be your enemy, may become your best friend. (Sura Fussilat ayat 34

Well, it worked well for that question, didn't it? See what a great book the Quran is?

But what if someone asks these "educational questions"?

Question: What does the Quran say about Jews?

Answer: They are wretched, selfish, greedy, hateful, evil, treacherous, losers, blind, deaf, perverse, ugly, and have devils for friends. (But other than that they're OK.)
(Quran 2:61, 96; 5:12-13, 53, 59, 70-71; 7:27, 30; 9:30; 62:5)

Question: What will happen to Jews that refuse to convert to Islam?

Answer: They will be cursed by Allah, their faces will be disfigured, their hearts hardened, they will be turned into apes and pigs, and burn forever in hell.
(Quran 2:65-66; 4:47, 160-1; 5:12, 53, 60; 7:166-7; 9:34)

Question: Should Muslims be friends with Jews?

Answer: Absolutely not. If you have any Jewish friends, Allah will consider you one of them. (And you know what happens to them!)
(Quran 3:28, 118; 4:89, 144; 5:51, 55, 57, 80; 9:23; 58:14-15, 22; 60:1, 9)

Question: How should Jews be treated?

Answer: They should be fought and terrorized until they either are killed (with their heads and fingers chopped off) or forced to into submission.
(Quran 2:191-2; 4:89; 8:12-13; 9:5)

But questions like these will not be asked or answered at Quranet, which was designed to hide, rather than reveal, the true nature of the Quran. By selecting only from the good stuff in the Quran, Quranet will try (as the demo says) to "transform the Quran into a modern and useful educational tool" that "creates a bridge between the Islamic world and the West" while revealing "the beauty of the Quran and its respect for human dignity."

It's dishonest, of course. But then it's hard to honest when you're just pretending.

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

It's the Quran in a magic 8 ball!

watercat said...

Better, let's put it in Lolspeak.
Iz heer:

http://lolkoran.blogspot.com/

Anon said...

Good one, gad. I'm sure the people who created it think it's so cool (this'll get those youngsters to love the Quran!).

I am a lot less familiar with Quran apologists than I am with Bible apologists. There are all sorts of ways of interpreting, mangling, or excusing Biblical verses to get them to mean what you want.

Is there anyone that claims that these verses aren't what they appear: a call for disgusting, xenophobic hatred towards Jews?

Unknown said...

The big problem with Quran and Islam in comparison with the bible and christianity, is that while the last has been challenge since long ago (just remember Galileo), islam hasn´t. Bible doesn´t have political force today, quran does. We can also compare, Jesus with Mohammed, the last one wasn´t just a religious leader, he was Head of State; and in that historical point, the quran start becoming less and less "tolerant". That´s why quranic apologysts prefere to show the meccan quran, than the medina one.
Sorry for my english.

Unknown said...

When you look to find hatred that is all you will find. When a sentence is taken out of context it can be used for anything. I can find a list of verses that tell the opposite.
Most people will forward this link without confirming it from the actual Quran, and confirming what was said in what context.
I do not agree with Dr.Zakir naik in ... Read Moreeverything, but this is a good attempt of his in dealing with ( out of context issues). Listen to this video from 7min and 20 sec onwards. ( followed by others)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AoGo07fiSkA&feature=PlayList&p=9B80CF509AF9A0BA&playnext=1&playnext_from=PL&index=29

Mahmoud Elshafiey said...

I just saw quranet, it does exactly as u did, it's weird how Israel would produce such a site or project, and I found out that many info is false in this project!.
U took verses out of context, I just can't quote something from a whole system.
As an example, I can't quote from your blog: "Quran is a good book" from the title of this post... So ignorant, right?