The Koran was revealed at a time of great change in the Arab world, the seventh-century shift from a matriarchal nomadic culture to an urban patriarchal system.
Interpretation
The Koran emerged during a significant transformation in Arab society, reflecting a shift in cultural dynamics.
In this quote, Salman Rushdie highlights the historical context in which the Koran was revealed, noting the transition from a matriarchal, nomadic lifestyle to a more structured, urban patriarchal society in the seventh century. This observation underscores how religious texts can be shaped by and respond to the sociopolitical changes of their time, illustrating the complex interplay between culture and religion.
In practice
During a lecture on religious history, one might reference this quote to discuss the impact of societal changes on religious texts.
I've been fascinated by Machiavelli since I was very young. I've always felt that he had a bad rap from history, and that he was actually a person quite unlike what we now think of as Machiavellian. He was a republican. He disliked totalitarian government.
Killing people because you don't like their ideas - it's a bad thing.
faith without doubt is addiction
I am clearly vulnerable to these more passionate and volatile unstable relationships. I am trying to not be so vulnerable.
In India, as elsewhere in our darkening world, religion is the poison in the blood. Where religion intervenes, mere innocence is no excuse. Yet we go on skating around this issue, speaking of religion in the fashionable language of 'respect.' What is there to respect in any of this, or in any of the crimes now being committed almost daily around the world in religion's dreaded name?
Reality is a question of perspective; the further you get from the past, the more concrete and plausible it seems - but as you approach the present, it inevitably seems more and more incredible.
We learn to be racist, therefore we can learn not to be racist. Racism is not genetical. It has everything to do with power.
And the day came when the risk to remain tight in a bud was more painful than the risk it took to blossom.
The only permanent and constructive changes you can make in the world are the changes that you make in yourself.
Life begin at the end of your Comfort Zone. So if you`re feeling uncomfortable right now, know that the change taking place in your life is a begining, not an ending
If we don't change from a world society that worships money and power to one that worships compassion and generosity, I think we'll be extinct by mid-century. I don't say that as an alarmist or as a pessimist.
Change is only another word for growth, another synonym for learning.
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