Quote Originally Posted by Ajani View Post
I would have thought the author was Muhammad.
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No, not Muhammad. What happened was that the angel, Gabriel, quoted God (a.k.a. Allah) to Muhammad as God's chosen messenger. (Muhammad was illiterate so he quoted Gabriel to scribes who wrote it down.)

Quote Originally Posted by Ajani View Post
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Even with only 1 author and version it still suffers from matters of interpretation, as persons don't take into account the historical context of the teachings... The teachings of Muhammad are quite different during his early peaceful years versus when he became a 'general' in a war... So many of the violent quotes from the Quran were clearly in reference to action during times of war... Yet extremists use them to justify attrocities at any time...
Ah well now, this is where we get into the déjà vu all over again.

In addition to the Qur'an, Muslims believe also rely on the many injunctions, aphorisms, and practices ascribed to Muhammad collectively called the Sunnah, (whence Sunni Muslim). There are thousands of these and not all are considered reliable, but of course people tend to quote the ones they like. Shi'a Muslims use a different set than than the Sunnis.

Ah! religion.