History 101
Professor Riley
Al-Khitab (The Book)
For my analytical book review, I selected the most challenging body of literature known to man. In fact, even its' author is the subject of heated debates amongst the world most renown historians, anthropologist and scholars from all scopes of the social sciences. The book of which I speak is The Holy Qur'an.
I feel that in order to intelligently analyze any written work; a person must first understand its origin. Furthermore, I do not believe that reading the authors name from the side of the book is considered understanding its origin. For example; had the book Roots been written by some caucasian from Quebec named Alex Haley; do you believe the content and impact would have been the same? One of the things that baffles the learned reader when he or she first encounters the Qur'an is that no matters where you find a copy of it or no matter how dated it may be, it will never have any mention of man claiming to have written it.
Quran, Mus'haf_Al_Tajweed.
English: Sura Al-Fātiha from a Qur'an manuscript ...
Front cover of a Holy Qur'an published in Damascus...In regards the author of the Qur'an, there are three hypothetical scenarios that are most commonly referred to. Some tried to explain away the phenomenon of the Qur'an as being the work of a group of Arab scholars from the Sixth Century, when the Qur'an was dated. The major problems with that fallacy have all to do with the known culture of the Arab world prior to the revelation of the Qur'an. Arabs were polytheistic and idolaters. Gambling and the consumption of alcoholic beverages were very much a favorite pastime to the people of the Middle East during the sixth century. The Holy Qur'an forbids all of the aforementioned practices and any group defiant enough to combat the social mores...