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« on: March 07, 2016, 10:53:58 AM »
Asalaam Jospeh,
I don't give much heed to the traditional narratives of the arrival of 'mehdi' or last day or the day of judgement. Somehow the traditional narratives sound like 'housewives tales'. Obviously I could not show such derision openly for fear of repercussions (I live in Pakistan where a person can get killed easily on such stuff). But reading the paper by Imran was different. Somehow, it communicated the sort of un-escapability, the intrinsic-ness of what will happen in a way no other 'reading' on this topic ever could. The reason is that in traditional tales, there are a hundred holes, and un-realistic propositions divorced from reality. But Imran's narrative is logical, cold without any effort to try to scare. It is as if a message is being communicated. And that message is stating facts about and by the Creator. It managed to convey utter powerlessness of me and other humans in a way like no other. it literally made me question my own deeds and question whether I am prepared to meet the Creator. I would like to point out that this has never been the case with any other narrative on this topic or on heaven or hell. The reason I guess is that, those narratives do not resonate. It is like a horror movie plot. Good, but deep down you know it is not real. But this paper, is interpreting and giving life to what the Quran is saying in a way I have never read before.
Now the consequence is that after reading this, I am seriously considering reading the Quran and trying to understand whatever I can with the help of root words dictionary. I want to do this because I want to firsthand understand and realize this Message. Reading translations colored by hadith, traditions and literal mis-translations has never really resonated with me. Instead this has led me to distance my self from religion. I guess for better or worse, I seek depth and consistency to a very high degree. I am a computer science grad btw working in a startup firm and doing practical R&D. I read and try to understand complex physics, medicine, genetics etc as a hobby. Nothing new in this as I have been doing this from early childhood. This means that my criteria for the Message to hit home is I guess stricter, such that translations will not make do, especially after finding flaws in them (like mis-translation or un-warranted rendering of generic meaning of Quran's translation to a very specific case etc).
Now, having read a sample of what Quran when rendered in a way it should be on an important topic, has perhaps give me impetus to actually stop delaying and try to read the Quran and understand it myself.
As an aside, is there a way to get the entire "Quranic Odyssey" by the author ? Could you help me with that ?
Thanks,