For Muslims, Koran is ‘light from God to humanity’

To Muslims, the Koran is the word of God.

Muslims believe the sacred text was delivered by the archangel Gabriel to the prophet Muhammad over a period of 22 years in the early 7th century, about 600 years after the crucifixion of Jesus.

“It is the light from God to humanity. The healing of the broken hearts. And the skill to decipher right from wrong,” said Dr. Maher Hathout, a senior advisor for the Muslim Public Affairs Council.

Like the Bible, the Koran teaches moral values and tells stories of prophets, such as Abraham, Moses and Jesus Christ. Hathout said that the Koran — organized by chapters, called “suras,” and verses, called “ayas”— emphasizes three major themes: mercy, justice and the oneness of God and the human family.

The morals of the stories are “to worship God and be good,” said Hathout. “No rocket science there. All the stories revolve around that.”

Although Muhammad was unlettered, the Koran is considered by many Arab speakers to be “the most beautiful and powerful piece of writing in Arabic literature,” said Akbar S. Ahmed, Ibn Khaldun Chair of Islamic Studies at American University in Washington. The word “Koran” means “the recited book,” Hathout said.

The Koran, Ahmed said, is treated with reverence in traditional Muslim homes. “Even in America, where Muslims may be very modern, the Koran will always be placed higher than anything else in the room, in a respectful place,” he said.

Ahmed and Mathout both noted that the pastor of the Baptist church in Florida who had planned to burn Korans on Sept. 11 said he’d never read the text. He might be surprised, they said, if he did.

“My American friends are sometimes surprised that Jesus is mentioned in the Koran,” said Ahmed, who added that not only is Jesus mentioned in the Koran more often than the prophet of Islam, but there is also a chapter called “Mary,” about the mother of Christ.

He said the book is frequently misunderstood as a call to arms against non-Muslims.

“The Koran is often criticized in the West by people pulling out one verse or another to establish its violent nature,” said Ahmed. “They will say the Koran says ‘Fight the Jews and Christians and Muslim renegades,’ but they leave out the next line — ‘But make peace because God prefers peace….’ ”

robin.abcarian@latimes.com