Read the Qur’an Today

“We have not sent down the Qur’an to you to be (an occasion) for your distress…” (from the Qur’an, Surah 20).

Some fearful folks might be burning this holy book today, a book that has guided many a wise people and civilization. Very sad. 

I’m afraid that as we enter this post-peak oil period of globalization, there will be a lot of hatred and intolerance. Our belief in how special we are will be confronted with many ugly truths – truths, I believe, that might save us if we face them directly.

Just 50,000 years ago, our relatives – all of our relatives – were living in the same band of hunters&gatherers; in northeastern Africa, a group of 2,000-10,000 people. 

This small group of large-brained, bipedal primates was on the verge of extinction. Inexplicably, we were saved by an unknown cultural innovation and then we quickly spread around the planet. Too often we have forgotten that we are one people and one planet – brimming with remarkable diversity. 

Today we need another cultural innovation. I don’t know what it’ll be, of course, but tolerance and understanding seem like good places to start.

Several years ago, a sincere Muslim friend gave me a copy of the Qur’an that now sits on my desk. I’ve read most of it am moved and impressed that in Buddhist terms, this was largely a layperson’s vinaya (precept text) and a remarkable example of what we need now in this period of modernity – inspiration and guidance for how to make manifest the great earth’s goldenness in the midst of daily living.

So I encourage all practitioners of all paths to read the Qur’an today. Our brothers and sisters are being attacked and all of us should all stand together.