Response
to QURA’ANIC DEBATE - 2.
By-Aparthib.
Well, Satish Saberwal and Paramanav aptly cited the examples of Veda,
Upanishad being memorized as Shruti's for millenia. Samir Nandy mentioned
Kalidas and Balmiki as other examples of epics by illiterate folks. I am not
sure if Homer was illierate as well. Need to check it out. The bottom line is
that Quran does not point to anything unprecedented. But it is better to explain
it by objective factors rather tha by similar examples. And the best explanation
is in terms of memes. Instead of going into memetics, let me point to some nice
links and books on this. The idea is that when a dogma, belief etc is hammered
down on a tender brain by everyone around from childhood to adulthood, it can
get firmly entrenched, often irrepairably. When punishments of hell, rewards of
heaven, concept of sin (gunah) and virtue (sawab), martyrdom as a guaranteed
passport to heaven etc are repeated like a mantra day in day out, it can produce
the most poweful meme that human can produce, anything can be achieved with such
powerful meme. Memorizing Quran is a picnic with such potent meme at work. If
similar brain washing with carrot and stick was done in any other
religion day in day out we would see similar feats. But we know such is not done
in any other religion except Islam. Remember that meme is now understood by
neurologists as being mapped to a certain set of neuronal wirings. Brain is a
powerful organ, it can be misused, well-used, or simply over-used in harmless
pursuits. Regarding the following comments:
>The Qura’anic debate is not a fare debate.
Because, the critics are in an
>advantageous position. In this debate, the believers has to prove that the
>Qura’an from cover to cover is without a shadow of mistake/contradiction.
It is quite fair, as the BURDEN OF PROOF is on those who made such
extraordinary claim. It is fair to expect that one has done all their homework
before making such claims. Once such claim is made before verifying its
validity, then sympathizing with them for the difficulty in validating their
claim is not legitimate. The apologists brought it on to themselves. They
initiated the debate with their extra ordinary claims to begin
with.
Regarding the following:
>establishes certain financial regulations. It is
not a “Mohakabbyo” (what is
>the English word of it?) though its poetic beauty and melody is
>indisputable. It is a kind if its own. It cannot be read in the way all
The "indisputable" above can itself be disputed! The
"melody" and
"beauty" you are referring to is to a believer's ear. When you
identify with
a message, it sounds many times multiplied in its appeal. Of course there will
be some non-believers who may find the sound of Azan melodic. Many find
Reggae melodic. I don't. Its a personal taste. Many (need not be Mullahs)
in Bangladesh do not find Tagopre songs melodic. So its all personal taste.
And finally regarding your query:
>But how the Qura’anic language stood immune to
>that evolution?
I am not sure are you referring to Arabic or Quran itself that did not
change? If its the latter it is easy to explain. Quran cannot change by
definition. Its a tautology to say that. Any mention of change/revision of Quran
invites death sentence. If its the former, I am not an Arabic scholar to comment
on it, but we know how rigid orthodox Islam is in incorporating foreign word or
elements. That can explain it. Nothing divine about it. Is it. Occam's razor can
provide us lot of simple plausible explanations.
Here are the links on Memes:
http://maxwell.lucifer.com/virus/alt.memetics/what.is.html
http://www.cms.dmu.ac.uk/~mac/memetics.html
http://www.santafe.edu/~shalizi/Dawkins/viruses-of-the-mind.html
Book: The Meme machine - Susan Blackmore
Susan Blackmore is a psychologist at Univ. Of London and a strong exponent
of evolutionary biology/psychology. Reading her book one can get a
convincing explanation of the phenomenon of Quran memorization. It will take the
myth out of it. Quite easily. No miracle.
Guaranteed !
Aparthib
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