[Script Info]
Title: 
[Events]
Format: Layer, Start, End, Style, Name, MarginL, MarginR, MarginV, Effect, Text
Dialogue: 0,0:00:01.12,0:00:04.55,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,You may have heard\Nabout the Koran's idea of paradise
Dialogue: 0,0:00:04.57,0:00:06.85,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,being 72 virgins,
Dialogue: 0,0:00:06.88,0:00:09.83,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and I promise I will come back\Nto those virgins.
Dialogue: 0,0:00:09.85,0:00:12.81,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,But in fact, here in the Northwest,\Nwe're living very close
Dialogue: 0,0:00:12.83,0:00:15.43,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,to the real Koranic idea of paradise,
Dialogue: 0,0:00:15.46,0:00:21.10,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,defined 36 times as "gardens\Nwatered by running streams."
Dialogue: 0,0:00:21.90,0:00:26.14,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Since I live on a houseboat\Non the running stream of Lake Union,
Dialogue: 0,0:00:26.16,0:00:28.38,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,this makes perfect sense to me.
Dialogue: 0,0:00:28.41,0:00:31.41,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,But the thing is, how come\Nit's news to most people?
Dialogue: 0,0:00:32.71,0:00:34.88,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I know many well-intentioned non-Muslims
Dialogue: 0,0:00:34.90,0:00:37.57,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,who've begun reading\Nthe Koran, but given up,
Dialogue: 0,0:00:37.59,0:00:40.12,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,disconcerted by its "otherness."
Dialogue: 0,0:00:40.91,0:00:43.64,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,The historian Thomas Carlyle\Nconsidered Muhammad
Dialogue: 0,0:00:43.66,0:00:45.64,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,one of the world's greatest heroes,
Dialogue: 0,0:00:45.66,0:00:48.08,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,yet even he called the Koran
Dialogue: 0,0:00:48.10,0:00:53.47,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,"as toilsome reading as I ever undertook;\Na wearisome, confused jumble."
Dialogue: 0,0:00:53.49,0:00:55.77,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,(Laughter)
Dialogue: 0,0:00:55.79,0:00:58.80,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Part of the problem,\NI think, is that we imagine
Dialogue: 0,0:00:58.82,0:01:02.48,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,that the Koran can be read\Nas we usually read a book --
Dialogue: 0,0:01:02.50,0:01:05.48,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,as though we can curl up\Nwith it on a rainy afternoon
Dialogue: 0,0:01:05.50,0:01:07.48,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,with a bowl of popcorn within reach,
Dialogue: 0,0:01:07.50,0:01:09.02,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,as though God --
Dialogue: 0,0:01:09.04,0:01:12.79,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and the Koran is entirely in the voice\Nof God speaking to Muhammad --
Dialogue: 0,0:01:12.81,0:01:15.60,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,were just another author\Non the best-seller list.
Dialogue: 0,0:01:17.68,0:01:21.73,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Yet, the fact that so few people\Ndo actually read the Koran
Dialogue: 0,0:01:21.75,0:01:27.01,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,is precisely why it's so easy to quote --\Nthat is, to misquote.
Dialogue: 0,0:01:27.04,0:01:28.06,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,(Laughter)
Dialogue: 0,0:01:28.09,0:01:30.48,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Phrases and snippets taken out of context
Dialogue: 0,0:01:30.50,0:01:32.58,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,in what I call the "highlighter version,"
Dialogue: 0,0:01:32.60,0:01:35.69,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,which is the one favored\Nby both Muslim fundamentalists
Dialogue: 0,0:01:35.71,0:01:38.48,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and anti-Muslim Islamophobes.
Dialogue: 0,0:01:38.100,0:01:40.82,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,So this past spring,
Dialogue: 0,0:01:40.85,0:01:44.91,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,as I was gearing up to begin writing\Na biography of Muhammad,
Dialogue: 0,0:01:44.93,0:01:49.17,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I realized I needed to read\Nthe Koran properly --
Dialogue: 0,0:01:49.19,0:01:51.95,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,as properly as I could, that is.
Dialogue: 0,0:01:51.98,0:01:55.09,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,My Arabic is reduced by now\Nto wielding a dictionary,
Dialogue: 0,0:01:55.11,0:01:57.48,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,so I took four well-known translations
Dialogue: 0,0:01:57.50,0:02:01.66,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and decided to read them\Nside by side, verse by verse,
Dialogue: 0,0:02:01.69,0:02:06.56,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,along with a transliteration\Nand the original seventh-century Arabic.
Dialogue: 0,0:02:08.81,0:02:11.50,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Now, I did have an advantage.
Dialogue: 0,0:02:12.48,0:02:17.15,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,My last book was about the story\Nbehind the Shi'a-Sunni split,
Dialogue: 0,0:02:17.18,0:02:20.59,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and for that, I'd worked closely\Nwith the earliest Islamic histories,
Dialogue: 0,0:02:20.61,0:02:24.37,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,so I knew the events\Nto which the Koran constantly refers,
Dialogue: 0,0:02:24.40,0:02:26.38,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,its frame of reference.
Dialogue: 0,0:02:26.40,0:02:31.48,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I knew enough, that is, to know\Nthat I'd be a tourist in the Koran --
Dialogue: 0,0:02:31.50,0:02:33.48,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,an informed one,
Dialogue: 0,0:02:33.50,0:02:34.98,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,an experienced one, even,
Dialogue: 0,0:02:34.100,0:02:37.35,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,but still an outsider,
Dialogue: 0,0:02:37.37,0:02:41.19,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,an agnostic Jew reading\Nsomeone else's holy book.
Dialogue: 0,0:02:41.22,0:02:43.29,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,(Laughter)
Dialogue: 0,0:02:43.32,0:02:44.89,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,So I read slowly.
Dialogue: 0,0:02:44.91,0:02:49.40,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,(Laughter)
Dialogue: 0,0:02:49.42,0:02:51.91,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I'd set aside three weeks\Nfor this project,
Dialogue: 0,0:02:51.93,0:02:54.80,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and that, I think,\Nis what is meant by "hubris" --
Dialogue: 0,0:02:54.82,0:02:59.11,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,(Laughter)
Dialogue: 0,0:02:59.14,0:03:01.31,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,because it turned out to be three months.
Dialogue: 0,0:03:01.34,0:03:03.22,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,(Laughter)
Dialogue: 0,0:03:03.25,0:03:05.74,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I did resist the temptation\Nto skip to the back,
Dialogue: 0,0:03:05.77,0:03:08.94,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,where the shorter and more\Nclearly mystical chapters are.
Dialogue: 0,0:03:08.96,0:03:12.48,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,But every time I thought I was beginning\Nto get a handle on the Koran --
Dialogue: 0,0:03:12.50,0:03:14.78,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,that feeling of "I get it now" --
Dialogue: 0,0:03:14.81,0:03:16.87,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,it would slip away overnight,
Dialogue: 0,0:03:16.89,0:03:18.55,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and I'd come back in the morning,
Dialogue: 0,0:03:18.57,0:03:21.30,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,wondering if I wasn't lost\Nin a strange land.
Dialogue: 0,0:03:22.04,0:03:24.56,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And yet, the terrain was very familiar.
Dialogue: 0,0:03:25.32,0:03:28.18,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,The Koran declares that it comes\Nto renew the message
Dialogue: 0,0:03:28.20,0:03:29.64,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,of the Torah and the Gospels.
Dialogue: 0,0:03:29.66,0:03:33.15,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,So one-third of it reprises\Nthe stories of Biblical figures
Dialogue: 0,0:03:33.17,0:03:37.70,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,like Abraham, Moses, Joseph, Mary, Jesus.
Dialogue: 0,0:03:38.74,0:03:41.38,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,God himself was utterly familiar
Dialogue: 0,0:03:41.41,0:03:44.48,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,from his earlier manifestation as Yahweh,
Dialogue: 0,0:03:44.50,0:03:47.50,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,jealously insisting on no other gods.
Dialogue: 0,0:03:48.64,0:03:53.70,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,The presence of camels, mountains,\Ndesert wells and springs
Dialogue: 0,0:03:53.73,0:03:57.16,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,took me back to the year I spent\Nwandering the Sinai Desert.
Dialogue: 0,0:03:57.93,0:04:01.48,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And then there was the language,\Nthe rhythmic cadence of it,
Dialogue: 0,0:04:01.50,0:04:04.72,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,reminding me of evenings spent\Nlistening to Bedouin elders
Dialogue: 0,0:04:04.74,0:04:07.72,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,recite hours-long narrative poems
Dialogue: 0,0:04:07.75,0:04:09.61,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,entirely from memory.
Dialogue: 0,0:04:10.83,0:04:15.53,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And I began to grasp why it's said
Dialogue: 0,0:04:15.55,0:04:19.67,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,that the Koran is really\Nthe Koran only in Arabic.
Dialogue: 0,0:04:20.54,0:04:24.43,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Take the Fatihah,\Nthe seven-verse opening chapter
Dialogue: 0,0:04:24.45,0:04:28.45,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,that is the Lord's Prayer\Nand the Shema Yisrael of Islam combined.
Dialogue: 0,0:04:29.00,0:04:32.04,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,It's just 29 words in Arabic,
Dialogue: 0,0:04:32.06,0:04:35.90,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,but anywhere from 65 to 72 in translation.
Dialogue: 0,0:04:35.93,0:04:39.69,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And yet the more you add,\Nthe more seems to go missing.
Dialogue: 0,0:04:40.87,0:04:45.48,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,The Arabic has an incantatory,\Nalmost hypnotic quality
Dialogue: 0,0:04:45.50,0:04:48.76,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,that begs to be heard rather than read,
Dialogue: 0,0:04:48.78,0:04:50.55,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,felt more than analyzed.
Dialogue: 0,0:04:51.24,0:04:53.30,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,It wants to be chanted out loud,
Dialogue: 0,0:04:53.33,0:04:56.11,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,to sound its music in the ear\Nand on the tongue.
Dialogue: 0,0:04:56.76,0:05:01.48,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,So the Koran in English\Nis a kind of shadow of itself,
Dialogue: 0,0:05:01.50,0:05:04.33,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,or as Arthur Arberry called his version,
Dialogue: 0,0:05:04.36,0:05:05.70,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,"an interpretation."
Dialogue: 0,0:05:07.50,0:05:10.05,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,But all is not lost in translation.
Dialogue: 0,0:05:10.80,0:05:13.48,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,As the Koran promises,\Npatience is rewarded,
Dialogue: 0,0:05:13.50,0:05:15.05,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and there are many surprises --
Dialogue: 0,0:05:15.07,0:05:18.23,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,a degree of environmental\Nawareness, for instance,
Dialogue: 0,0:05:18.25,0:05:21.82,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and of humans as mere stewards\Nof God's creation,
Dialogue: 0,0:05:21.85,0:05:23.48,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,unmatched in the Bible.
Dialogue: 0,0:05:24.35,0:05:27.23,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And where the Bible is addressed\Nexclusively to men,
Dialogue: 0,0:05:27.25,0:05:29.88,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,using the second-\Nand third-person masculine,
Dialogue: 0,0:05:29.90,0:05:32.48,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,the Koran includes women --
Dialogue: 0,0:05:32.50,0:05:33.92,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,talking, for instance,
Dialogue: 0,0:05:33.95,0:05:36.37,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,of believing men and believing women,
Dialogue: 0,0:05:36.40,0:05:39.58,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,honorable men and honorable women.
Dialogue: 0,0:05:40.98,0:05:44.96,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Or take the infamous verse\Nabout killing the unbelievers.
Dialogue: 0,0:05:45.85,0:05:47.48,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Yes, it does say that,
Dialogue: 0,0:05:47.50,0:05:50.23,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,but in a very specific context:
Dialogue: 0,0:05:50.25,0:05:54.59,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,the anticipated conquest\Nof the sanctuary city of Mecca,
Dialogue: 0,0:05:54.61,0:05:57.14,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,where fighting was usually forbidden.
Dialogue: 0,0:05:57.16,0:06:00.68,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And the permission comes\Nhedged about with qualifiers.
Dialogue: 0,0:06:00.71,0:06:03.48,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Not "You must kill unbelievers in Mecca,"
Dialogue: 0,0:06:03.50,0:06:05.74,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,but you can, you are allowed to,
Dialogue: 0,0:06:05.76,0:06:10.13,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,but only after a grace period is over,
Dialogue: 0,0:06:10.16,0:06:13.02,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and only if there's no other\Npact in place,
Dialogue: 0,0:06:13.04,0:06:16.48,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and only if they try to stop\Nyou getting to the Kaaba,
Dialogue: 0,0:06:16.50,0:06:19.22,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and only if they attack you first.
Dialogue: 0,0:06:19.24,0:06:22.84,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And even then -- God is merciful;
Dialogue: 0,0:06:22.87,0:06:24.90,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,forgiveness is supreme --
Dialogue: 0,0:06:24.92,0:06:27.64,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and so, essentially,
Dialogue: 0,0:06:27.66,0:06:29.12,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,better if you don't.
Dialogue: 0,0:06:29.14,0:06:32.58,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,(Laughter)
Dialogue: 0,0:06:32.61,0:06:35.37,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,This was perhaps the biggest surprise --
Dialogue: 0,0:06:35.39,0:06:37.48,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,how flexible the Koran is,
Dialogue: 0,0:06:37.50,0:06:41.18,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,at least in minds that are not\Nfundamentally inflexible.
Dialogue: 0,0:06:42.40,0:06:46.04,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,"Some of these verses\Nare definite in meaning," it says,
Dialogue: 0,0:06:46.07,0:06:47.94,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,"and others are ambiguous."
Dialogue: 0,0:06:48.88,0:06:52.68,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,The perverse at heart\Nwill seek out the ambiguities,
Dialogue: 0,0:06:52.71,0:06:57.34,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,trying to create discord\Nby pinning down meanings of their own.
Dialogue: 0,0:06:57.36,0:06:59.65,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Only God knows the true meaning.
Dialogue: 0,0:07:01.03,0:07:04.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,The phrase "God is subtle"\Nappears again and again,
Dialogue: 0,0:07:05.02,0:07:07.62,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and indeed, the whole\Nof the Koran is far more subtle
Dialogue: 0,0:07:07.64,0:07:10.15,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,than most of us have been led to believe.
Dialogue: 0,0:07:10.17,0:07:15.24,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,As in, for instance, that little matter\Nof virgins and paradise.
Dialogue: 0,0:07:16.44,0:07:19.62,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Old-fashioned orientalism\Ncomes into play here.
Dialogue: 0,0:07:20.59,0:07:25.17,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,The word used four times is "houris,"
Dialogue: 0,0:07:25.19,0:07:29.65,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,rendered as dark-eyed maidens\Nwith swelling breasts,
Dialogue: 0,0:07:29.67,0:07:32.87,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,or as fair, high-bosomed virgins.
Dialogue: 0,0:07:33.94,0:07:38.50,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Yet all there is in the original Arabic\Nis that one word: houris.
Dialogue: 0,0:07:39.24,0:07:41.75,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Not a swelling breast\Nor high bosom in sight.
Dialogue: 0,0:07:41.77,0:07:44.28,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,(Laughter)
Dialogue: 0,0:07:44.30,0:07:48.86,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Now this may be a way of saying\N"pure beings," like in angels,
Dialogue: 0,0:07:48.88,0:07:51.90,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,or it may be like\Nthe Greek "kouros" or "kore,"
Dialogue: 0,0:07:51.92,0:07:53.26,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,an eternal youth.
Dialogue: 0,0:07:53.28,0:07:56.02,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,But the truth is, nobody really knows.
Dialogue: 0,0:07:56.04,0:07:57.29,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And that's the point.
Dialogue: 0,0:07:58.21,0:08:00.62,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Because the Koran is quite clear
Dialogue: 0,0:08:00.65,0:08:05.48,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,when it says that you'll be\N"a new creation in paradise,"
Dialogue: 0,0:08:05.50,0:08:10.63,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and that you will be "recreated\Nin a form unknown to you,"
Dialogue: 0,0:08:10.65,0:08:13.19,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,which seems to me\Na far more appealing prospect
Dialogue: 0,0:08:13.21,0:08:14.79,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,than a virgin.
Dialogue: 0,0:08:14.82,0:08:21.79,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,(Laughter)
Dialogue: 0,0:08:22.99,0:08:26.30,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And that number 72 never appears.
Dialogue: 0,0:08:26.33,0:08:29.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,There are no 72 virgins in the Koran.
Dialogue: 0,0:08:30.02,0:08:33.26,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,That idea only came\Ninto being 300 years later,
Dialogue: 0,0:08:33.29,0:08:36.26,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and most Islamic scholars\Nsee it as the equivalent
Dialogue: 0,0:08:36.29,0:08:39.89,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,of people with wings sitting on clouds\Nand strumming harps.
Dialogue: 0,0:08:41.33,0:08:43.98,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Paradise is quite the opposite.
Dialogue: 0,0:08:44.85,0:08:46.61,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,It's not virginity;
Dialogue: 0,0:08:46.64,0:08:48.12,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,it's fecundity;
Dialogue: 0,0:08:48.73,0:08:50.20,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,it's plenty.
Dialogue: 0,0:08:50.85,0:08:54.60,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,It's gardens watered by running streams.
Dialogue: 0,0:08:56.26,0:08:57.41,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Thank you.
Dialogue: 0,0:08:57.44,0:09:04.41,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,(Applause)