Modern Times, Modern Qur'an

"There is a growing interest in the active roles and significance of scriptural texts in the years and centuries after original appearance and codification or canonization," (Graham 2)

The International Quran Reading Competition was started in the 60s, a micro year compared to the Qur'an's birth in 609 CE. This quote resonated in me because of a similar topic we had in my other south Asian class. Closer observations of sacred text and more traditional ways of observation have become the method of practicing and demonstrating one's devotion. The president of Maldives made this observation and used the example of women's clothes changing over the years to more conservative dress. Everyone had their versions of their Qur'an and what it means to observe the Qur'an properly.

"From the historian's perspective, the scarcity or holiness of a book is not an a priori attribute of a text but one that is realized historically in the life of communities who respond to it as something sacred of holy," (Graham 5).

The Qur'an is not just a religious text, as mentioned by the 'tv personality'. It is a guide for how to to behave, conduct meetings, act in marriage, etc. From the very beginning the Qur'an was communicated verbally. This is part of it's identity. The fluctuations are the most important part of the interpretations. It is interesting that this has become one of the most important aspects to religion versus understanding it thoroughly. It is hard to believe that one can extract from the text the full message when one does not know Arabic  A lot of key lessons can get lost in translation and yet a wrong pronunciation or a shorten sound seems to be a worse offense .