Don't, but for the reason the other says you should

Submitted by Alain Jean-Mairet (Switzerland), Jan 28, 2004 at 12:01

I have read the Koran (a French translation) over 20 years ago. It was a quite intensive and exclusive reading exercise: months not reading anything else, hardly talking to anyone, not watching TV nor listening to radio. Just the book, time, water, little food and very little disturbance.

For what my opinion is worth, I think, unlike Ali Sina, that the Koran is a genuine "holy book", and that the sincere reader will find "God" therein--God being here some strong proof of a true faith that has become a lived reality. But I think that Ali Sina is right in its conclusions: the Koran is a vector of violent power. The god you find therein is a severe, cruel one, despite its repetitive attempts to present itself as merciful, compassionate. The message of the Koran is to conquer and to rule, and quite mercilessly, although in the name of the compassionate God. The only mercy is for its worriers...

Ali Sina is right: moderate Islam means less Islam. And I'd add that good religion means little religion. Faith is good when it is free, fragile, humble, searching and never finding, and it is synonym of evil as soon as it is written down as some certitude.

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