SOME QUESTIONS TO CONSIDER

What most surprised you about the Qur'an?

How would you begin to describe your initial encounter with the Qur'an?

How would you begin to characterize the Qur'an overall?  What theme or themes would you highlight as of greatest importance in the Qur'an?

How would you describe the God of the Qur'an?  How would you describe His relationship with humans?  To what extent is the God of the Qur'an the architect of history?  How would you begin to compare and to contrast him with the God of Old and New Testaments?

One of the striking features of the Qur'an is that many of the key individuals who appear in the Bible are also featured in the Qur'an.  What did you find to be most interesting about this overlap?  What is said about the prophets as they appear in the Qur'an?  What most struck you about the similarities and differences in the stories told about individual prophets, including Noah, Abraham, Ishmael, Joseph, Jonah, Moses, David, Solomon, John the Baptist, and Jesus?  What did you notice about other major characters who are also linked to Biblical stories, such as Adam and Eve, Mary, and the Queen of Sheba?

How does the Qur'an distinguish between believers, disbelievers and hypocrites?

How would you compare and contrast the Qur'an with Genesis?  How would you begin to compare and contrast it to the other core sacred writings in the Abrahamic tradition?  To other sacred texts you have read?

What does the Qur'an have to say about Jews and Christians as People of the Book?

How does the Qur'an describe the Islamic Heaven and Hell?  How would you compare and contrast these to their Christian counterparts?  How prominent of a place do Heaven and Hell assume in the Qur'an?

Where would you begin in assessing what the Qur'an has to say about gender relations and about men and women?

To what extent does the Qur'an provide a code of laws and/or rules for social relations?

What does the Qur'an have to say about peace and war?  About violence?

Was there one surah (chapter) that you found to be of particular interest?  Why?

Highlight at least three particular short passages of special interest.  What caught your attention about these selections?

Identify at least two particular phrases that seem both significant and puzzling.  What might be the meaning of these passages?

What tensions, if any, would you highlight as embedded within the Qur'an?