On Robert Spencer and his textual critical version of the Quran.
And the chapter on Women
Introduction to Robert Spencer
Robert Spencer is a very brave scholar who has written a scholarly, textual critical version of the Quran.
If you are interested in the truth about this very influential 7th century book, I would recommend that you have a look at what Spencer says. Decide for yourself, I would say, don’t just believe what someone else says.
https://www.amazon.com.au/dp/1642939498
https://www.amazon.com/dp/1642939498
Robert Spencer’s videos
If you don’t have time to read the book, Spencer is also doing some excellent videos about this topic, exploring various Surahs (verses in the Quran) — it is actually a great contrast to the Bible — yes, there are difficult verses in the New Testament that can easily be misinterpreted, but this is only because we ourselves are limited by culture and spiritual blindness. But this is nothing like what you find in the Quran — the conception of Allah is completely different from the Biblical God and Robert Spencer does a great job with the Quran, simply because he has studied it so much and knows so much about it, and explains so very well what it actually says, and what Islamic scholars say about it.
I find his little talks with Hatun Tash greatly reassuring as to the truth of Christianity and the Bible, actually — both are Christians — the contrast between the Bible and the Quran is extremely great — Tash and Spencer often contrast the Quranic Allah with the Biblical witness about God and Christ, with a few good natured laughs - to me it is clear that they love Muslims and do not wish to unsettle their faith for malicious reasons but out of love wish them to know the truth.
The Bible deals with historical verifiable events and truths that transcend time and place, God in the Bible is amazing and real and truly loving and wonderful, and many of the truths in the Bible are so deep that they cannot be easily understood, God’s wisdom transcends understanding — and yet even the simplest child can understand the Bible — even so, there is such wisdom in the Bible that even the most intelligent and wise person can never truly plumb the depths of it.
The Quran is somewhat different to this, let me say.
Women
Interestingly after my most recent post, about the rather puzzling verses on women wearing hats in church in the Bible, the verses in the Quran that Spencer and Imran are looking at include the Surah entitled Women. It is quite staggering when one understands what the Quran actually says about women. For instance, the verse about the “captives of their right hand” might help us to understand why religious faith is the prime motivator in what happened to Israeli women captured on October 7th in Israel in 2023.
Spencer analyses these verses very deftly; whereas the Bible has a great deal of relational nuance on the topic of relations between the sexes, in the Quran, to put it mildly, the situation is rather weighted towards the interests of the men.
Despite whatever that verse about "taking" women may say - there is actually 0 credible evidence - that ANYONE was raped on October 7th 2023, or amongst the Prisoners of War and Settler Hostages. To the contrary, several of them have thanked their captors, for the way that they were treated, upon their release.
Max Blumenthal/The Grayzone, Mondo Weiss and the Electronic Intifadah have all done very solid and scholarly journalistic work, exposing the Zionist war/pro-genocide propaganda, surrounding the "Mass Rapes" Hoax, which was so frequently repeated by members of the Biden Regime, the (well paid-for) US Congress, BBC and DNCIA/NATO/EU information space.
By contrast there's a tremendous amount of evidence that the Satanic/Heretical/Idolatrous Zionist Abomination, uses Rape/sexual assault, alongside Torture and Murder, as a pervasive practice, against the Palestinians.
There was almost a civil war, recently, when some of Kahanist Settler Reservists at the Sde Teiman Concentration Camp/Dungeon, were charged for nearly Raping a Palestinian (Male) prisoner to death. After being detained a violent Zionist mob actually stormed a military base to break them out of jail - proclaiming some alleged religious justification for a Zionist "Right To Rape".