[Script Info]
Title: 
[Events]
Format: Layer, Start, End, Style, Name, MarginL, MarginR, MarginV, Effect, Text
Dialogue: 0,0:00:07.32,0:00:10.75,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,You may have heard\Nabout the Koran's idea of paradise
Dialogue: 0,0:00:10.77,0:00:13.05,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,being 72 virgins,
Dialogue: 0,0:00:13.08,0:00:16.03,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and I promise I will come back\Nto those virgins.
Dialogue: 0,0:00:16.05,0:00:19.01,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,But in fact, here in the Northwest,\Nwe're living very close
Dialogue: 0,0:00:19.03,0:00:21.63,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,to the real Koranic idea of paradise,
Dialogue: 0,0:00:21.66,0:00:27.30,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,defined 36 times as "gardens\Nwatered by running streams."
Dialogue: 0,0:00:27.60,0:00:31.84,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Since I live on a houseboat\Non the running stream of Lake Union,
Dialogue: 0,0:00:31.86,0:00:34.08,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,this makes perfect sense to me.
Dialogue: 0,0:00:34.11,0:00:37.11,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,But the thing is, how come\Nit's news to most people?
Dialogue: 0,0:00:37.41,0:00:39.58,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I know many well-intentioned non-Muslims
Dialogue: 0,0:00:39.60,0:00:42.27,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,who've begun reading\Nthe Koran, but given up,
Dialogue: 0,0:00:42.29,0:00:44.82,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,disconcerted by its "otherness."
Dialogue: 0,0:00:45.61,0:00:48.34,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,The historian Thomas Carlyle\Nconsidered Muhammad
Dialogue: 0,0:00:48.36,0:00:50.34,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,one of the world's greatest heroes,
Dialogue: 0,0:00:50.36,0:00:52.78,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,yet even he called the Koran
Dialogue: 0,0:00:52.80,0:00:58.17,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,"as toilsome reading as I ever undertook;\Na wearisome, confused jumble."
Dialogue: 0,0:00:58.19,0:01:00.47,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,(Laughter)
Dialogue: 0,0:01:00.49,0:01:03.50,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Part of the problem,\NI think, is that we imagine
Dialogue: 0,0:01:03.52,0:01:07.18,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,that the Koran can be read\Nas we usually read a book --
Dialogue: 0,0:01:07.20,0:01:10.18,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,as though we can curl up\Nwith it on a rainy afternoon
Dialogue: 0,0:01:10.20,0:01:12.18,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,with a bowl of popcorn within reach,
Dialogue: 0,0:01:12.20,0:01:13.72,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,as though God --
Dialogue: 0,0:01:13.74,0:01:17.49,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and the Koran is entirely in the voice\Nof God speaking to Muhammad --
Dialogue: 0,0:01:17.51,0:01:20.30,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,were just another author\Non the best-seller list.
Dialogue: 0,0:01:22.38,0:01:26.43,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Yet, the fact that so few people\Ndo actually read the Koran
Dialogue: 0,0:01:26.45,0:01:31.71,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,is precisely why it's so easy to quote --\Nthat is, to misquote.
Dialogue: 0,0:01:31.74,0:01:32.76,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,(Laughter)
Dialogue: 0,0:01:32.79,0:01:35.18,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Phrases and snippets taken out of context
Dialogue: 0,0:01:35.20,0:01:37.28,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,in what I call the "highlighter version,"
Dialogue: 0,0:01:37.30,0:01:40.39,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,which is the one favored\Nby both Muslim fundamentalists
Dialogue: 0,0:01:40.41,0:01:43.18,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and anti-Muslim Islamophobes.
Dialogue: 0,0:01:43.70,0:01:45.52,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,So this past spring,
Dialogue: 0,0:01:45.55,0:01:49.61,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,as I was gearing up to begin writing\Na biography of Muhammad,
Dialogue: 0,0:01:49.63,0:01:53.87,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I realized I needed to read\Nthe Koran properly --
Dialogue: 0,0:01:53.89,0:01:56.65,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,as properly as I could, that is.
Dialogue: 0,0:01:56.68,0:01:59.79,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,My Arabic is reduced by now\Nto wielding a dictionary,
Dialogue: 0,0:01:59.81,0:02:02.18,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,so I took four well-known translations
Dialogue: 0,0:02:02.20,0:02:06.36,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and decided to read them\Nside by side, verse by verse,
Dialogue: 0,0:02:06.39,0:02:11.26,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,along with a transliteration\Nand the original seventh-century Arabic.
Dialogue: 0,0:02:13.51,0:02:16.20,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Now, I did have an advantage.
Dialogue: 0,0:02:17.18,0:02:21.85,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,My last book was about the story\Nbehind the Shi'a-Sunni split,
Dialogue: 0,0:02:21.88,0:02:25.29,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and for that, I'd worked closely\Nwith the earliest Islamic histories,
Dialogue: 0,0:02:25.31,0:02:29.07,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,so I knew the events\Nto which the Koran constantly refers,
Dialogue: 0,0:02:29.10,0:02:31.08,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,its frame of reference.
Dialogue: 0,0:02:31.10,0:02:36.18,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I knew enough, that is, to know\Nthat I'd be a tourist in the Koran --
Dialogue: 0,0:02:36.20,0:02:38.18,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,an informed one,
Dialogue: 0,0:02:38.20,0:02:39.68,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,an experienced one, even,
Dialogue: 0,0:02:39.70,0:02:42.05,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,but still an outsider,
Dialogue: 0,0:02:42.07,0:02:45.89,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,an agnostic Jew reading\Nsomeone else's holy book.
Dialogue: 0,0:02:45.92,0:02:47.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,(Laughter)
Dialogue: 0,0:02:48.02,0:02:49.59,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,So I read slowly.
Dialogue: 0,0:02:49.61,0:02:54.10,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,(Laughter)
Dialogue: 0,0:02:54.12,0:02:56.61,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I'd set aside three weeks\Nfor this project,
Dialogue: 0,0:02:56.63,0:02:59.50,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and that, I think,\Nis what is meant by "hubris" --
Dialogue: 0,0:02:59.52,0:03:03.81,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,(Laughter)
Dialogue: 0,0:03:03.84,0:03:06.01,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,because it turned out to be three months.
Dialogue: 0,0:03:06.04,0:03:07.92,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,(Laughter)
Dialogue: 0,0:03:07.95,0:03:10.44,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I did resist the temptation\Nto skip to the back,
Dialogue: 0,0:03:10.47,0:03:13.64,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,where the shorter and more\Nclearly mystical chapters are.
Dialogue: 0,0:03:13.66,0:03:17.18,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,But every time I thought I was beginning\Nto get a handle on the Koran --
Dialogue: 0,0:03:17.20,0:03:19.48,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,that feeling of "I get it now" --
Dialogue: 0,0:03:19.51,0:03:21.57,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,it would slip away overnight,
Dialogue: 0,0:03:21.59,0:03:23.25,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and I'd come back in the morning,
Dialogue: 0,0:03:23.27,0:03:25.100,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,wondering if I wasn't lost\Nin a strange land.
Dialogue: 0,0:03:26.74,0:03:29.26,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And yet, the terrain was very familiar.
Dialogue: 0,0:03:30.02,0:03:32.88,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,The Koran declares that it comes\Nto renew the message
Dialogue: 0,0:03:32.90,0:03:34.34,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,of the Torah and the Gospels.
Dialogue: 0,0:03:34.36,0:03:37.85,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,So one-third of it reprises\Nthe stories of Biblical figures
Dialogue: 0,0:03:37.87,0:03:42.40,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,like Abraham, Moses, Joseph, Mary, Jesus.
Dialogue: 0,0:03:43.44,0:03:46.08,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,God himself was utterly familiar
Dialogue: 0,0:03:46.11,0:03:49.18,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,from his earlier manifestation as Yahweh,
Dialogue: 0,0:03:49.20,0:03:52.20,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,jealously insisting on no other gods.
Dialogue: 0,0:03:53.34,0:03:58.40,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,The presence of camels, mountains,\Ndesert wells and springs
Dialogue: 0,0:03:58.43,0:04:01.86,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,took me back to the year I spent\Nwandering the Sinai Desert.
Dialogue: 0,0:04:02.63,0:04:06.18,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And then there was the language,\Nthe rhythmic cadence of it,
Dialogue: 0,0:04:06.20,0:04:09.42,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,reminding me of evenings spent\Nlistening to Bedouin elders
Dialogue: 0,0:04:09.44,0:04:12.42,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,recite hours-long narrative poems
Dialogue: 0,0:04:12.45,0:04:14.31,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,entirely from memory.
Dialogue: 0,0:04:15.53,0:04:20.23,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And I began to grasp why it's said
Dialogue: 0,0:04:20.25,0:04:24.37,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,that the Koran is really\Nthe Koran only in Arabic.
Dialogue: 0,0:04:25.24,0:04:29.13,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Take the Fatihah,\Nthe seven-verse opening chapter
Dialogue: 0,0:04:29.15,0:04:33.15,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,that is the Lord's Prayer\Nand the Shema Yisrael of Islam combined.
Dialogue: 0,0:04:33.70,0:04:36.74,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,It's just 29 words in Arabic,
Dialogue: 0,0:04:36.76,0:04:40.60,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,but anywhere from 65 to 72 in translation.
Dialogue: 0,0:04:40.63,0:04:44.39,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And yet the more you add,\Nthe more seems to go missing.
Dialogue: 0,0:04:45.57,0:04:50.18,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,The Arabic has an incantatory,\Nalmost hypnotic quality
Dialogue: 0,0:04:50.20,0:04:53.46,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,that begs to be heard rather than read,
Dialogue: 0,0:04:53.48,0:04:55.25,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,felt more than analyzed.
Dialogue: 0,0:04:55.94,0:04:58.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,It wants to be chanted out loud,
Dialogue: 0,0:04:58.03,0:05:00.81,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,to sound its music in the ear\Nand on the tongue.
Dialogue: 0,0:05:01.46,0:05:06.18,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,So the Koran in English\Nis a kind of shadow of itself,
Dialogue: 0,0:05:06.20,0:05:09.03,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,or as Arthur Arberry called his version,
Dialogue: 0,0:05:09.06,0:05:10.40,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,"an interpretation."
Dialogue: 0,0:05:12.20,0:05:14.75,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,But all is not lost in translation.
Dialogue: 0,0:05:15.50,0:05:18.18,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,As the Koran promises,\Npatience is rewarded,
Dialogue: 0,0:05:18.20,0:05:19.75,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and there are many surprises --
Dialogue: 0,0:05:19.77,0:05:22.93,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,a degree of environmental\Nawareness, for instance,
Dialogue: 0,0:05:22.95,0:05:26.52,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and of humans as mere stewards\Nof God's creation,
Dialogue: 0,0:05:26.55,0:05:28.18,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,unmatched in the Bible.
Dialogue: 0,0:05:29.05,0:05:31.93,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And where the Bible is addressed\Nexclusively to men,
Dialogue: 0,0:05:31.95,0:05:34.58,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,using the second-\Nand third-person masculine,
Dialogue: 0,0:05:34.60,0:05:37.18,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,the Koran includes women --
Dialogue: 0,0:05:37.20,0:05:38.62,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,talking, for instance,
Dialogue: 0,0:05:38.65,0:05:41.07,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,of believing men and believing women,
Dialogue: 0,0:05:41.10,0:05:44.28,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,honorable men and honorable women.
Dialogue: 0,0:05:45.68,0:05:49.66,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Or take the infamous verse\Nabout killing the unbelievers.
Dialogue: 0,0:05:50.55,0:05:52.18,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Yes, it does say that,
Dialogue: 0,0:05:52.20,0:05:54.93,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,but in a very specific context:
Dialogue: 0,0:05:54.95,0:05:59.29,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,the anticipated conquest\Nof the sanctuary city of Mecca,
Dialogue: 0,0:05:59.31,0:06:01.84,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,where fighting was usually forbidden.
Dialogue: 0,0:06:01.86,0:06:05.38,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And the permission comes\Nhedged about with qualifiers.
Dialogue: 0,0:06:05.41,0:06:08.18,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Not "You must kill unbelievers in Mecca,"
Dialogue: 0,0:06:08.20,0:06:10.44,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,but you can, you are allowed to,
Dialogue: 0,0:06:10.46,0:06:14.83,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,but only after a grace period is over,
Dialogue: 0,0:06:14.86,0:06:17.72,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and only if there's no other\Npact in place,
Dialogue: 0,0:06:17.74,0:06:21.18,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and only if they try to stop\Nyou getting to the Kaaba,
Dialogue: 0,0:06:21.20,0:06:23.92,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and only if they attack you first.
Dialogue: 0,0:06:23.94,0:06:27.54,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And even then -- God is merciful;
Dialogue: 0,0:06:27.57,0:06:29.60,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,forgiveness is supreme --
Dialogue: 0,0:06:29.62,0:06:32.34,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and so, essentially,
Dialogue: 0,0:06:32.36,0:06:33.82,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,better if you don't.
Dialogue: 0,0:06:33.84,0:06:37.28,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,(Laughter)
Dialogue: 0,0:06:37.31,0:06:40.07,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,This was perhaps the biggest surprise --
Dialogue: 0,0:06:40.09,0:06:42.18,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,how flexible the Koran is,
Dialogue: 0,0:06:42.20,0:06:45.88,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,at least in minds that are not\Nfundamentally inflexible.
Dialogue: 0,0:06:47.10,0:06:50.74,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,"Some of these verses\Nare definite in meaning," it says,
Dialogue: 0,0:06:50.77,0:06:52.64,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,"and others are ambiguous."
Dialogue: 0,0:06:53.58,0:06:57.38,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,The perverse at heart\Nwill seek out the ambiguities,
Dialogue: 0,0:06:57.41,0:07:02.04,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,trying to create discord\Nby pinning down meanings of their own.
Dialogue: 0,0:07:02.06,0:07:04.35,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Only God knows the true meaning.
Dialogue: 0,0:07:05.73,0:07:09.69,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,The phrase "God is subtle"\Nappears again and again,
Dialogue: 0,0:07:09.72,0:07:12.32,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and indeed, the whole\Nof the Koran is far more subtle
Dialogue: 0,0:07:12.34,0:07:14.85,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,than most of us have been led to believe.
Dialogue: 0,0:07:14.87,0:07:19.94,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,As in, for instance, that little matter\Nof virgins and paradise.
Dialogue: 0,0:07:21.14,0:07:24.32,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Old-fashioned orientalism\Ncomes into play here.
Dialogue: 0,0:07:25.29,0:07:29.87,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,The word used four times is "houris,"
Dialogue: 0,0:07:30.09,0:07:34.55,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,rendered as dark-eyed maidens\Nwith swelling breasts,
Dialogue: 0,0:07:34.57,0:07:37.77,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,or as fair, high-bosomed virgins.
Dialogue: 0,0:07:38.84,0:07:43.40,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Yet all there is in the original Arabic\Nis that one word: houris.
Dialogue: 0,0:07:44.14,0:07:46.65,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Not a swelling breast\Nor high bosom in sight.
Dialogue: 0,0:07:46.67,0:07:49.18,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,(Laughter)
Dialogue: 0,0:07:49.20,0:07:53.76,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Now this may be a way of saying\N"pure beings," like in angels,
Dialogue: 0,0:07:53.78,0:07:56.80,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,or it may be like\Nthe Greek "kouros" or "kore,"
Dialogue: 0,0:07:56.82,0:07:58.16,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,an eternal youth.
Dialogue: 0,0:07:58.18,0:08:00.92,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,But the truth is, nobody really knows.
Dialogue: 0,0:08:00.94,0:08:02.19,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And that's the point.
Dialogue: 0,0:08:03.11,0:08:05.52,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Because the Koran is quite clear
Dialogue: 0,0:08:05.55,0:08:10.38,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,when it says that you'll be\N"a new creation in paradise,"
Dialogue: 0,0:08:10.40,0:08:15.53,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and that you will be "recreated\Nin a form unknown to you,"
Dialogue: 0,0:08:15.55,0:08:18.09,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,which seems to me\Na far more appealing prospect
Dialogue: 0,0:08:18.11,0:08:19.69,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,than a virgin.
Dialogue: 0,0:08:19.72,0:08:26.69,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,(Laughter)
Dialogue: 0,0:08:27.89,0:08:31.20,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And that number 72 never appears.
Dialogue: 0,0:08:31.23,0:08:34.89,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,There are no 72 virgins in the Koran.
Dialogue: 0,0:08:34.92,0:08:38.16,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,That idea only came\Ninto being 300 years later,
Dialogue: 0,0:08:38.18,0:08:41.16,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and most Islamic scholars\Nsee it as the equivalent
Dialogue: 0,0:08:41.19,0:08:44.79,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,of people with wings sitting on clouds\Nand strumming harps.
Dialogue: 0,0:08:46.23,0:08:48.88,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Paradise is quite the opposite.
Dialogue: 0,0:08:49.75,0:08:51.51,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,It's not virginity;
Dialogue: 0,0:08:51.54,0:08:53.02,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,it's fecundity;
Dialogue: 0,0:08:53.63,0:08:55.10,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,it's plenty.
Dialogue: 0,0:08:55.75,0:09:01.34,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,It's gardens watered by running streams.
Dialogue: 0,0:09:02.76,0:09:03.91,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Thank you.
Dialogue: 0,0:09:03.94,0:09:10.91,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,(Applause)