i bought the qu'ran a few weeks ago to start learning about other religions (and other things, part of my quest to become a polymath). i'm not a muslim but this book teaches alotta important lessons. of course islam has a bad name because of the radicals (same as christianity and other religions) but in reality, its a VERY peaceful religion. it preaches peace and equality for all mankind. yea i guess i kinda am defending islam. it just takes awhile learn proper pronunciation of some of the scriptures . did you guys know it was written over a 23 year period by muhammad. it (the text) was revealed to him by the angel gibraele. alot of it (so far) is similar to the christian bible. its also kinda like the torah (jewish holy holy text) in content . but the scriptures in teh qu'ran are composed from a slight (and sometimes dramatically) different point of view. to bad religions are so intolerant of each other. they all have valuable lessons to teach to the masses. islam ( in my opinion) has the best lessons to teach and seems to do it more effictively