Tentative Response: What characteristics of the text make it more likely that one should believe what it says?

4. What characteristics of the text make it more likely that one should believe what it says?  

Much of the Qur’an is devoted to criticism of non-believers—unlike the Hebrew Bible, the text, at least the portions we read, does not focus on rules for God’s followers, nor does it focus on the miracles a certain prophet performs, as the New Testament does.  The Qur’an focuses on debunking those who are not faithful through previous tales of those who “deny the Judgment” (439) and eventually regretted their lack of faith.  

The text asserts that many people refuse to believe in God unless they are shown a miracle that proves His existence.  The author dryly notes that non-believers “were not about to change their ways until they were sent clear evidence” (430); however, when these same idolaters did get the evidence they asked for, they still refused to worship God.  The Qur’an continually scorns and threatens non-believers in a way that invokes the fear and threats of the Hebrew Bible; a leitmotif of the text is the eventual violent destruction of those who refused to worship God, as they will be “overwhelmed with shame” (385) when the Last Judgment comes and they are doomed to spend eternity in Hell.  Hell is described in terrifying terms; there, sinners dwell “amid scorching wind...in the shadow of black smoke” (357).  Because the Qur’an describes Hell with such terror, and presents the Day of Judgment as an event so inevitable that “when that which is coming arrives, no one will be able to deny that it has come” (356), one finds oneself compelled to believe what is written because of its sheer force.