As a non-Muslim, did you read the Quran? What did you think?

Thanks for A2A. I have read some of it, but not the whole thing, and what I read was an English translation. This was done as part of a religious studies program with my Unitarian-Universalist church. I have read a couple different versions of the Christian bible, and find a lot of similarity. Different roles for Jesus, different prophets. I don't pretend to be an expert on Islam. But I do look at how different religions talk about the same issues, and how they have impacted the history of their culture and of the world.

I've read an English translation several times. I think it is a rich and complicated spiritual book, and I think an observant Muslim can understand much about God's vision how humanity by studying it and seeking the answers to difficult questions in it. Like many complicated books you can pull anything out of it you wish to support your point of view (pro or anti-Islam), but I don't fear a religious person who dedicates time to trying to seek the truth through sincere study of their traditions, because I believe any sane person can accept that God provided different messages to humanity.

I haven't read the Quran yet, but I would like to embark on it. That was why I was interested in the post. As regards all bellicose, hate-filled incitations to slaughter enemies, take revenge, subjugate women, despise homosexuals and stone people to death, etc. ... well, has anyone round here read the Bible???? Holy books are always full of apparently 'mixed messages', aren't they?

I have tried to read it several times and found it to be confusing, repetitious, and self promoting. The structure is not divine, it jumps around from topic to topic without a clear path. I did not find it to be a book about forgiveness, hope, or love. I found it to be a war doctrine. My savior came to seek and to save. He taught us to turn the other cheek and to love others. I pray for the people of the Middle East. They have such passion for their religion. In Mark 12:28-31 28 One of the teachers of the law came and heard them debating. Noticing that Jesus had given them a good answer, he asked him, "Of all the commandments, which is the most important?" 29 "The most important one," answered Jesus, "is this: 'Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. 30 Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.' 31 The second is this: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' There is no commandment greater than these."

No, I did not read the Quran, because from my point of view it does not matter what is written in it because the whole premise is flawed, as is the premise of every other holy book. The only reason why we are expected to take any holy book for the truth is the claim that this book was inspired by a god. And the reason why we are expected to accept the claim of existence of the god is that it is written in the holy book. This is a circular argument and neither holy text nor god have any justification except each other. We could derive the existence of Illuvatar from the Silmarillion if we used the same kind of reasoning. That's how flawed the premise is.

I'm not a native arabic but I started to read Koran when I was 5. I loved its simple characters, and still I love it. I love how they are arranged as verses. I loved how they sound. I completed its 114 surah. Then as I began to understand the meaning (mostly in translation) somehow I withdrew myself. It might work for those who are merely yearning for abundant pleasure and fearing isolation. But not for me. I want peace and the peaceful way to achieve it. I found it simply in .

I listened to the whole Koran on audiobook over the course of 4 weeks whilst I was on a long distance hike in Japan. I found it to be a largely violent, hate filled book, that says many different things in many places, often contradicting itself. It would be unfair to call it simply violent though, because there are many verses that preach peaceful messages, but there are just so many more verses that dehumanise non-believers and mandate extreme violence under certain circumstances. My lasting impression is that it is a dangerous "toolbox" of ideas, that is, people can use the ideas contained in the book to easily justify a range of violent actions because the supreme ruler of the universe sanctions them. I now also do not believe the actions of groups like ISIS are a form of extremism, but rather, that they are simply taking the Koran literally and strictly adhering to its ideas and thus really doing nothing that "extreme." The politically correct idea that as a non-believer I have to show respect to the Koran and the ideas contained in it is totally lost upon me after reading it. The book says horrible things about me and 6 billion other people on this planet, and literally says we deserve to be tortured for all eternity. Therefore, I believe asking me to respect the Koran is like asking a Jewish person to respect Mein Kampf.

In English form, This is what i though about it. About 3% violent. (all of Surah 9,+ some) About 1% sexist. About 60% boring. About 20% interesting About 10% pretty/poetic, something, moral, or religious i liked. And 6% "Did not i read this already?"

I read it after 9/11 to see how terrorists got inspiration from it and found them on the right track of Islam. Kill and get killed and a promise of Jannat has been given. There are peaceful verses also. Every quafir must read the quran to know the reality of the religion of peace