Tuesday, January 20, 2004


Study the Koran? - article by Daniel Pipes

Daniel Pipes warns against a layman reading the Koran and expecting to learn too much useful from it. An example snip:

Profound. One cannot pick it up and understand its meaning when nearly every sentence is the subject of annotations, commentaries, glosses, and superglosses. Such a document requires intensive study of its context, development, and rival interpretations. The U.S. Constitution offers a good analogy: its Second Amendment consists of a just 27 words ("A well regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed") but it is the subject of numerous book-length studies. No one coming fresh to this sentence has any idea of its implications.

It seems to me the message ought not to be "don't read it," but instead, "go ahead and read it" but bear in mind, reading the Koran will give you no more definitive idea of what modern Muslims actually believe as reading the Old and New Testaments will tell you what modern Jews and Christians believe and how they behave.

Update: Via Lynn B., As a feminist, Meryl Yourish doesn't care for what Pipes says about the hijab. I read it differently. I read it that Pipes is simply saying the "some Muslims believe..." and using that as an example of evolving justifications, not necessarily Pipes's justification. I really doubt Pipes himself is a hijab advocate.

Listed below are links to blogs that reference this entry: Daniel Pipes: Study the Koran?.

TrackBack URL for this entry: http://www.solomonia.com/cgi-bin/mt4/mt-renamedtb.cgi/1636

3 Comments

Solomon,

I agree totally with your restated version of Pipes' message as far as the value of reading the Koran is concerned. You actually said it much better than he did. This article wasn't one of his better efforts, IMHO, as I think he's always at his weakest when he's promoting his "moderate Islam in the answer" agenda. While it certainly is an answer, it doesn't help to whitewash the explicit exhortations found in the Koran, a scripture that many Muslims make it a point to memorize word for word.

Re: Pipes' comments on the veil, if all they were was an example of evolving justifications, it was a poor choice. You can always find a handful of women in any culture who basically say they find oppression liberating. As Meryl points out, in contrast to Pipes' usual scholarly research, the sources he cites for this "trend" are hardly good authority. In addition, he implies that Muslim women in the 20s found the veil oppressive but today they don't. If that's true, it's precisely because today, in some places, they feel they have a choice (see Meryl's title). That has nothing to do with evolving interpretations of the Koran and everything to do with the dreaded "Westernization" of the societies in which these women live.

#1 Lynn B. at: January 21, 2004 10:19 AM

OK, Lynn, I got ya, I think. I agree, as a scholar, one should expect Pipes to be a bit more careful with his citations and examples. I guess I just skimmed by that part with a "yeah, I see what you're saying" without worrying the details so much, whereas Meryl screeched to a halt at that point. To me, it just seems to be making much out of little and somewhat unfair to Pipes for ascribing an insensitivity I doubt he really posesses.

As for the final part concerning the evolving justification, isn't that really where much of religious evolution comes from? When static scriptural reading meets evolving external reality, at the very least some new justifications are necessary to dissipate the cognitive dissonance. In fact, looking at the Pipes piece again, that seems to be just what Pipes is saying - the headscarf bit goes under the "Static" heading and is really about evolving justifications - again, without Pipes taking responsibility for those same justifications - if that makes sense.

I guess to sum-up, I just feel it's one thing to get a good blog riff out of an article snippet (great!), but a little unfair to imply Pipes doesn't "get" feminism from same. (He may not, I just don't get that from the piece necessarily.)

BTW, there's an interesting head-scarf article today from Diana West here. Got that from Robert Spencer's site. (Will put up pointer later, but gotta go out now!)

#2 Solomon at: January 21, 2004 11:16 AM

Pipes is correct. SOME is a much better word than ALL. Too often we lump people into catergories, without realizing that this only restricts OUR understanding, not the person we label.

I am a proud member of Americans for Regime Change in Iran.

Please join us at the hosted website, freerepublic.com

Check out DoctorZin's hompage at

http://www.freerepublic.com/~doctorzin/

for daily updates on the struggle for freedom and democracy in Iran. Join in our discussions.

Best wishes,
Pan_Yans Wife

#3 Pan_Yans Wife at: January 21, 2004 10:53 PM

Leave a comment to: Daniel Pipes: Study the Koran?





(Requires you leave a comment.)


Subscribe to This Thread Without Leaving a Comment


Comment Info and Policy:

1) You must have Javascript enabled in your browser in order to comment (blame the spammers). If you don't know what that is, you're probably fine.

2) HTML is on, so basic html should work. Raw links will be made auto-clickable, too, so even if you don't know html you can just paste in the link and it should work fine. Keep the "http://" in it.

3) Comments are generally unmoderated, which means I don't necessarily agree with the tone and tenor of everything posted. In fact, sometimes people post things they don't really mean just to make other people look bad. The internet is an anonymous place for the most part. That said...

4) I welcome you to post here. I'd love to have your input, agree, disagree or just offer a different data point, really. If I didn't want any participation, I'd turn off comments. Be aware, however, that this blog and the comments section exist for my entertainment. Therefore, I reserve ALL RIGHTS here, including the right to remove any or all comments on nothing more than a whim. Please don't even bother complaining. I'm the one providing the space and the free news and thought buffet. I don't owe anyone anything.

Anyone who posts here will be treated as my guest. That means I'm happy to be polite as a default, but if anyone is rude to the host they'll be unceremoniously shown the door.

It may pay to recall a famous line from the Tom Selleck magnum opus, Mr. Baseball: "Jack-san, you want Yoji's advice about the babes, you come to Yoji with respect."

5) Enjoy your stay!

"Will he listen to his inner voice? But it is said that this voice is only formed by the habit of judging and feeling in the bosom of society and according to the laws; it cannot, then, serve to establish them."

-Rousseau


Links



Blogroll Me!

:Blogs:
Adam Holland
Adloyada
Agam's Gecko
Amy Ridenour
Armies of Liberation
Astute Blogger
Atlas Shrugs
Asymmetric
Backseat Blogger
Backspin
Bagel Blogger
Bald-Headed Geek
Banagor
BlueTruth
Boker tov, Boulder
Bosch Fawstin
Breath of the Beast
Celestial Blue
Classical Values
Colin Meade
Combs Spouts Off
Coming Anarchy
Common Sense & Wonder
Conservative Grapevine
Contentions
Contentious Centrist
Cox & Forkum
Dave Bender
Davids Medienkritik
Dean Esmay
Democracy Project
Dodgeblogium
Done With Mirrors
Dreams Into Lightning
Dutchblog Israel
Exit Zero
Fightin' w/Grabes
Free Thoughts
FresnoZionism
The Ghost of a Flea
GM's Corner
The God Blog
Hog On Ice
Hyscience
In Context
Iraq the Model
Israpundit
Israellycool
Israel Matzav
Jerusalem Diaries
Jerusalem Posts
Jihad/Dhimmi Watch
JPundit
Kesher Talk
Little Green Footballs
Marathon Pundit
The Marmot's Hole
Martin Kramer
Matthew K. Tabor
Mere Rhetoric
Michelle Malkin
Mick Hartley
Miss O'Hara
My Wide Blue Seas
Mythusmage Opines
Normblog
One Jerusalem
Paula Says
Peaktalk
Philosemitism
Pillage Idiot
Point of no Return
PoliGazette
Random Thoughts
Ranting Sandmonkey
Recovering Presbyterian
Red Planet Cartoons
Right Wing News
Rishon Rishon
Roger L. Simon
Sense of Events
Seraphic Secret
Shekel
Shira bat Sarah
ShrinkWrapped
Simply Jews
Smooth Stone
Snapshots
Soccer Dad
A Soldier's Mother
Solomon's House
Something Something
Somewhere on A1A
Stand for Israel
Tel Chai Nation
Texican Tattler
This Ain't Hell
TigerHawk
Tom Glennon
Tundra Tabloids
UCC Truths
The View From Here
View From Iran
The Wandering Jew
White Pebble
The World
Yid With Lid
Yourish
Z-Word

:New England Blogs:
Alphecca
And Rightly So
Augean Stables
Bloodthirsty Liberal
Boston Maggie
Boston's Patriots
Business of Life
Cambridge Patriots
Daniel in Brookline
Hub Blog
Hub Politics
Internet128
JRTelegraph
Jules Crittenden
Kavanna
Libertarian Leanings
Lords of Kobol
Maggie's Farm
Miss Kelly
N.E. Conservative
N.E. Republican
Neo-Neocon
New Wineskins
Petitedov
Pundit Review
Red Mass Group
sisu
Squaring the Globe
Technicalities
Universal Hub
Weekend Pundit
Who Knew?




Blogroll Policy



Note on Permissions:
You may feel free to use anything you find on this site as long as you're not selling it. Just give credit where credit is due is all. Thanks for stopping by!

Site (C)2003-2008 Solomonia.com

If You Enjoy This Site


Amazon Honor System Click Here to Pay Learn More
Paypal Donate
Amazon Donate
Amazon Purchase
(Buy yourself something and I will get a percentage.)
Worth a Click

CJUI

Graphics

Remember

Solomonia Button

Smaller Button

Smallest Button
Syndication



Powered by

Search

Banner

Banner

Banner

Authors

Solomon
Martin Solomon

MaryM
Mary Madigan

HillelS
Hillel Stavis

What They're Saying

"...keep up the great work. I check your site very frequently."
- Ed Lasky, American Thinker

"...always excellent..."
- Seraphic Secret

"...how very excellent for us that Solomon blogs..."
- Atlas Shrugs

"...good writing, great content..."
- PeakTalk

"...unfailingly readable..."
- Jacob Laksin, FrontpageMag

Archives
1/28/03-2/4/03
Subscribe
Enter your Email for a Daily Digest of New Posts


Preview | Powered by FeedBlitz
(Be sure to whitelist feedblitz@mail.feedblitz.com if you aren't receiving updates.)
Now Reading

Library Thing

Random Books from My Library

News