I'd like to gain a basic understanding of Islam. I'm not thinking of signing up anytime soon, but it's worth understanding. I've been at it for a couple of years now and I've found it to be hard to pin down. I'm often told that I'm "misinterpreting" parts, or that I lack historical perspective or this or that...
So here are some ideas I found in the Quran, and my guess is that I'll be told I should ignore them, that they are not part of the "true Islam", even though we see many Muslims in the world pursuing these ideas:
- 1:7 - Allah is forever angry with Christians and Jews
I apologize for the length of this, but you've asked an important question, so I wanted to give as complete an answer as I could given the, er, context.
Don't ignore anything, rather try to be aware of the context in which the verses exist and simply try to understand them in that context. For example, where does the verse you're looking at fit in with other teachings? In the ministries of Moses and Christ (both of whom are revered by Muhammad and Muslims as legitimate Messengers of God and part of His covenant with man), the Prophet Himself set a hierarchy of sorts. To love God and love one's neighbor as one's self are cited as the two greatest commandments by both Moses and Christ. The great Jewish rabbi, Hillel says these two commandments "are the entire Law.
All the rest is commentary" and Christ says upon these two commandments
all the others depend. So that sets a context in which we must understand all other commandments.
One of the first such verses that Muhammad revealed chronologically is in Surih 107, which reads:
“In the name of Allah, the Most Beneficent, the Most Merciful.
Hast thou observed him who belieth religion?
That is he who repelleth the orphan,
And urgeth not the feeding of the needy.
Ah, woe unto worshippers
Who are heedless of their prayer;
Who would be seen (at worship)
Yet refuse small kindnesses!”
As you can see, this sets a priority on acts of kindness over the outward trappings of worship (compare it to Christ's sermon against the Pharisees or His commentary about the widow's mite), or some of the Old Testament prophets (such as Ezekiel) establishing kindness to the stranger and the needy as being at the heart of what God wants from us (along with dire warnings about what will happen if believers fail in this regard). Ezekiel emphasizes the importance of the believers' treatment of others when he says directly: "Look, this was the iniquity of your sister Sodom: She and her daughter had pride, fullness of food, and abundance of idleness; neither did she strengthen the hand of the poor and needy." (16:29)
As you can see, there is also context set by the teachings of prior revelations. The teachings about kindness and love toward others has been at the center of every revelation since the dawn of time, and the same is true of Islam.
There is also context set by repetition. When Christ repeatedly calls on believers to love one another, He gives that commandment
emphasis. Likewise, when Muhammad repeatedly makes the point that men and women receive equal reward for their worship, or that it is best to free slaves, or that the Jews, Christians and Sabeans are believers in God, or the importance of forgiveness, that repetition hints at the relative importance of these teachings.
Context is also set by when and under what circumstances a teaching is given. Christ repeats His commandment to "love one another" (three times) just before He goes to the cross. This is the last message He will give His disciples before He's crucified. Of all the things that He might've said, He chose to say this (paraphrasing):
If you want to stay connected to Me, abide in My love. If you want to abide in My love, obey My commandment. My commandment is: love one another. And if you don't do this, you'll be cut off like a withered branch that's fit for the fire. (Ouch!)
Another facet of this same idea is that while a commandment such as Christ's to love is
an eternal and over-arching principle and a prescription for living, there are commandments that are specific to particular situations. Surih 2 of the Qur'an has a number of these verses that deal specifically with a situation between the Jews of Yathrib (Medina) and the Muslim community. The Jews of Yathrib had entered into a covenant with Muhammad, then broke it violently, driving out Jews who had converted to Islam and killing others. They joined forces with the pagan tribes to try to wipe the Muslims out and assassinate the Prophet. And that is the context of the verses having to do with fighting the infidel (which literally means unfaithful). Even then, Muhammad tells the believers that if the enemy ceases fighting and stops oppressing them, they are to forgive because "Allah is ever-forgiving." (Which throws into question the idea that God is forever angry with Jews and Christians.)
And this also raises historical context as a factor in understanding the verses of the Qur'an (or any other Holy Book). The Pickthall translation of the Qur'an is my favorite in many ways, but in great part because the translator gives the reader an idea of what was happening in the community at the time. Sometimes the context is hinted at in the text—such as when Muhammad suggested that women cloak themselves to go out in public so that they would not be molested. The intent was that they wouldn't draw undue attention to themselves. The situation was that, at the time, pagan and Jewish women were often veiled in public. Indeed, there's been a return to the veil in modern Israel among some women because of the beliefs of some Jewish sects.
Also, in reading the way you described the various verses above, I'd make a heartfelt plea that you make sure you understand what's being said. You say that 1:7 says "God is forever angry with Jews and Christians." Surih 1:6-7 reads: “Show us the straight path, The path of those whom Thou hast favoured; Not the (path) of those who earn Thine anger nor of those who go astray.” There's nothing here about eternal anger for anyone, let alone Jews or Christians.
To give context, again, here is a general teaching about how to view the People of the Book, from Surih 2: 62 "Lo! Those who believe (in that which is revealed unto thee, Muhammad), and those who are Jews, and Christians, and Sabaeans - whoever believeth in Allah and the Last Day and doeth right - surely their reward is with their Lord, and there shall no fear come upon them neither shall they grieve.” Please note: This comes
after Muhammad's instructions about warfare with the infidels or disbelievers. In the same way that we draw a distinction between Muslims in general and Islamist terrorists, Muhammad draws a distinction between truly devout Jews and Christians and the disbelievers among them who are terrorizing the Muslim community.
In general, if you look at the scriptures of any revealed religion, you'll find that there are two types of teachings. There are eternal spiritual precepts—such as the commandment to love our fellow creatures, to practice kindness, to be detached from material desires, to love God, pray and strive to fulfill our covenant with Him, etc. And there are social or material teachings which have to do with the specific times. The eternal teachings don't change. They come down to us in similar form from age to age. The second type can change radically depending on the circumstances of the people they were brought to.
Christ makes this point, er, pointedly when the Pharisees ask Him why He has changed Moses' law of divorcement. He responds:
“Moses, because of the hardness of your hearts, permitted you to divorce your wives, but from the beginning it was not so." (Matt 19:8)
So, when Muhammad says in Surih 4 that a man may have up to four wives IF he can treat them with complete justice, and then later in the same chapter comments that this is impossible, He has done several things: He's severely limited the number of wives a man can have, enjoined justice as part of the marriage covenant, and has left it to the capacity of the believing men to realize that He's really saying they should only have one wife. (Remember the context: women were chattel, a man had no limit to the wives he could have, and he essentially owned them; in some tribes he could as easily kill as divorce them and they had no more rights than a piece of livestock. A great many of the social laws that Muhammad made dealt with women's rights.
A passage from the Bahá'í writings puts this idea about God's revelation to humanity pretty succinctly: “The All-Knowing Physician hath His finger on the pulse of mankind. He perceiveth the disease, and prescribeth, in His unerring wisdom, the remedy. Every age hath its own problem, and every soul its particular aspiration. The remedy the world needeth in its present-day afflictions can never be the same as that which a subsequent age may require. Be anxiously concerned with the needs of the age ye live in, and center your deliberations on its exigencies and requirements." – Bahá'u'lláh
This is akin to understanding historical context. But goes a bit deeper than that to understanding that we humans are a work in progress—we are evolving and our capacity to understand God's word in its myriad forms evolves as well.
