Balance and spin

It's taken me a few days to do this, due to busy times at work. Also, the spirit wilts at times, especially when you find yourself spending precious leisure time ploughing through this kind of thing.

The first half is about the power of faith in the face of adversity. Obviously being an atheist the slightest breath of an adverse wind has me entirely flummoxed, so I'm in no position to comment on that. Fortunately he moves on to the love of knowledge, which happens to be something I do know a little about.

I would suggest that the transition from patience to prayer to the virtue of the love of knowledge in verse 164 is crucial to realising how the fortitude and endurance derived from faith becomes an active, hopeful and liberating aid - and something quite distinct from and with no connection to fatalism.

He's done it again. He's tied his comments to a particular section of the Qur'an. He should know better by now. All we have to do now is quote it, and compare and contrast.

Behold! in the creation of the heavens and the earth; in the alternation of the night and the day; in the sailing of the ships through the ocean for the profit of mankind; in the rain which Allah Sends down from the skies, and the life which He gives therewith to an earth that is dead; in the beasts of all kinds that He scatters through the earth; in the change of the winds, and the clouds which they Trail like their slaves between the sky and the earth;- (Here) indeed are Signs for a people that are wise.

In what way exactly is this about the virtue of the love of knowledge? At first glance it seems to be the old argument that God exists because stuff does, and where else did it come from? The last time I checked it wasn't considered one of philosophy's most convincing arguments, but that's by the bye. The point is it doesn't mean what Sardar says it means.

But perhaps it's the context. So, let's see what the context is. Again, I paraphrase, so refer to the original if you want.

2:159 Those who conceal the clear proofs and the guidance that We revealed are cursed.
2:160 Unless they repent.
2:161 Surely those who disbelieve and die while they are disbelievers are cursed.
2.162 Their punishment shall not be lightened nor shall they be given respite.
2:163 There is only one God.
2:164 See above.
2:165 Some people worship objects besides God, whilst some only worship God, and guess who's in trouble.
2:166 Oooh, they're in trouble.
2:167 And they're gonna be so sorry.
2:168 Only eat the stuff you're allowed, and don't follow Satan.
2:169 He wants you to be indecent, you know.
2:170 Do what God wants, not what your fathers did.

Lo and behold, when you see it in context, you will notice how far it is from any kind of exhortation to a genuine spirit of intellectual enquiry. In fact, there is no suggestion that these are subjects worthy of study in their own right. They are simply offered as evidence for the existence of God.

Not that you're ever going to slow him down with close textual argument once he's hit his stride, and before you know it he's throwing inverted commas round like confetti. The middle community consists of people "who use their reason" and study the natural world and think about the physical and material laws of the universe.

People "who use their reason"? Where's that a quote from? Not the second sura of the Qur'an, for certain, unless my text search is playing up.

Then he's back to fundie-bashing. I don't mind him doing this, but I can't see why he thinks the text is with him. This is what he says.

The "men who take for worship others beside God" (v165) are not just idol worshippers in the prophet's Medina. They are also those, I would argue, who have idolised their leaders, religious scholars, and the ways of their forefathers (v170). These are the people referred to in the next two verses (166-167) as "those who are followed" and are "falsely adored".

And yet it's entirely clear from the context that the bad guys in these verses aren't Muslims. Apart from anything, they can hardly be Islamic religious scholars given the time when this was written.

But that's the interpretation game, isn't it? Does it say something vile? Oh, it was only about the historical situation, you can't apply it to today, don't be so naive. Oh, but this bit, which I happen to like, this bit is timeless. If anyone tried to get away with that in the context of a proper subject, they'd be laughed out of the conference hall.

Especially with twisted quotes like this to bolster your case. "Do not follow blindly what you do not know to be true" (17:36), he says, as if the verse was a paean to iconoclasm.

Well, let's see what the online translators made of it.

YUSUFALI: And pursue not that of which thou hast no knowledge; for every act of hearing, or of seeing or of (feeling in) the heart will be enquired into (on the Day of Reckoning).
PICKTHAL: (O man), follow not that whereof thou hast no knowledge. Lo! the hearing and the sight and the heart - of each of these it will be asked.
SHAKIR: And follow not that of which you have not the knowledge; surely the hearing and the sight and the heart, all of these, shall be questioned about that.

I challenge anyone to point to a more dishonest rendering of a Qur'anic verse in anything I've written. It just doesn't say what Sardar says it says. This is cheating.

He then goes on to talk about the dietary rules in verses 172 and 173, which by the standards of religious practices are quite reasonable. It does exclude pork for no good reason except that God apparently says so, but it also says that you're allowed to eat it if there's nothing else to eat and you're in dire necessity. Just in case we get the wrong idea, though, it gives the next two verses over to hellfire.

At one point he has a go at burgers. Ostensibly, the burger is lawful; but given the fact that it is bad for one's health, it ought to be unlawful.

I'm not sure if he's complaining that Islam doesn't have enough rules about food, or if he means it should actually be illegal, but him and Gillian McKeith can stay the hell out of my kitchen either way. If I want to eat fatty food I damn well will.

In this context, he defines halal and haram, and attempts to connect them with everyday concepts of good behaviour. The problem with that argument is that you have to ask why we need separate, religious rules. What work do they do for humanity that a simple, rational ethical system doesn't do?

When the rules coincide with a reasonable ethical position, as with prohibitions against cheating or murder, they are no better than the ethical position itself. When they are simply pointless, as with the prohibition against pork or shellfish, they are annoying but perhaps trivial. When they are morally offensive, as with the injunction to lock up 'lewd women' until they die, then humanity is massively worse off as a result.

Then there's some stuff about the poor, and an outright lie about slavery which I will return to at a future date, but after many, many paragraphs of this witless drivel my spirit has finally wilted altogether. I'm off for a triple cheeseburger and some Ovid.