IT IS NASTY TO QUOTE (THE QUOTE.....&.....SOME NOTES)

THE QUOTE

This is the Book without doubt.
As to those who reject Faith, it is the same to them whether thou warn them or do not warn them; they will not believe.
Allah has set a seal upon their hearts and upon their hearing and there is a covering over their eyes, and there is a great punishment for them. 
In their hearts is a disease, and Allah increases their disease. A painful doom is theirs because they lie.
Now surely they themselves are the mischief-makers, but they do not perceive.
Allah shall pay them back their mockery, and He leaves them alone in their inordinacy, blindly wandering on.
And if you are in doubt as to that, which We have revealed to Our servant, then produce a chapter like it and call on your witnesses besides Allah if you are truthful.
But if you do it not and never shall you do, then be on your guard against the fire of which, men and stones are the fuel; it is prepared for the unbelievers.
And among them, there are illiterates, who know not the Book, but see therein their own desires, and they do nothing but conjecture. Then woe to those who write the Book with their own hands, and then  say; "This is from God" to traffic with it for a miserable price.
Woe to them for what their hands do write, and for the gain they make thereby.
They refuse to believe in it but the curse of God is on those without Faith.
And humiliating is the punishment of those who reject Faith.
And God is well acquainted with the wrongdoers.
Thou wilt indeed find them, of all people, most greedy of life, -even more than the idolaters: Each one of them wishes He could be given a life of a thousand years: But the grant of such life will not save him from due punishment.
We have sent down to thee Manifest Signs and none reject them but those who are perverse.
If any one, after Allah’s favour has come to him, substitutes something else Allah is strict in punishment.Those who reject Faith, - neither their possessions nor their numerous progeny will avail them aught against Allah. They are themselves but fuel for the Fire.
Their plight will be no better than that of the people of Pharaoh, and their predecessors: They denied our Signs, and Allah called them to account for their sins. For Allah is strict in punishment.
Say to those who reject Faith: "Soon will ye be vanquished and gathered together to Hell, -an evil bed indeed to lie on!
Say: "Obey Allah and His Messenger. But if they turn back, Allah does not love those who reject Faith.
"As to those who reject faith, I will punish them with terrible agony in this world and in the Hereafter, nor will they have anyone to help."
"As to those who believe and work righteousness, Allah will pay them in full their reward; but Allah loves not those who do wrong."
As for those who sell the faith they owe to Allah and their own plighted word for a small price, they shall have no portion in the Hereafter: Nor will Allah Deign to speak to them or look at them on the Day of Judgment, nor will He cleans them of sin: They shall have a grievous penalty.
How shall Allah Guide those who reject Faith after they accepted it and bore witness that the Messenger was true and that Clear Signs had come unto them? But Allah guides not a people unjust.
Of such the reward is that on them rests the curse of Allah, of His angels, and of all mankind; -
In that will they dwell; nor will their penalty be lightened, nor respite be their lot -
But those who reject Faith after they accepted it, and then go on adding to their defiance of Faith, - never will their repentance be accepted; for they are those who have gone astray.
Let there arise out of you a band of people inviting to all that is good, enjoining what is right, and forbidding what is wrong: They are the ones to attain felicity.
Be not like those who are divided amongst themselves and fall into disputations after receiving Clear Signs: For them is a dreadful penalty, -
On the Day when some faces will be white, and some faces will be black: To those, whose faces will be black, will be said: "Did ye reject Faith after accepting it?
Taste then the penalty for rejecting Faith."
As to those who reject Faith, and die rejecting, - never would be accepted from any such as much gold as the earth contains, though they should offer it for ransom. For such is a penalty grievous, and they will find no helpers.
O ye who believe! Take not into your intimacy those outside your ranks: They will not fail to corrupt you. They only desire your ruin: Rank hatred has already appeared from their mouths: What their hearts conceal is far worse.
That He might cut off a fringe of the Unbelievers or expose them to infamy, and they should then be turned back, frustrated of their purpose.
Not for thee, but for Allah. is the decision: Whether He turns in mercy to them, or punishes them; for they are indeed wrongdoers.
To Allah belonged all that is in the heavens and on earth. He forgives whom He pleases and punishes whom He pleases;
Soon shall we cast terror into the hearts of the Unbelievers, for that they joined companions with Allah, for which He had sent no authority: their abode will be the Fire: And evil is the home of the wrongdoers!
Let not the Unbelievers think that our respite to them is good for themselves: We grant them respite that they may grow in their iniquity: But they will have a shameful punishment.
Let not the strutting about of the Unbelievers through the land deceive thee: Little is it for enjoyment: Their ultimate abode is Hell: what an evil bed To lie on!
Those who reject our Signs, We shall soon cast into the Fire: as often as their skins are roasted through, We shall change them for fresh skins, that they may taste the penalty: for Allah is Exalted in Power.
O ye who believe! Take not for friends unbelievers rather than believers.
The Hypocrites will be in the lowest depths of the Fire: no helper wilt thou find for them;- Except for those who repent, mend their lives hold fast to Allah, and purify their religion as in Allah’s sight:
Those who reject faith and deny our signs will be companions of Hell-fire.
But those who reject Our signs and treat them with arrogance,- they are companions of the Fire, to dwell therein for ever.
To those who reject Our signs and treat them with arrogance, no opening will there be of the gates of heaven, nor will they enter the garden, until the camel can pass through the eye of the needle: Such is Our reward for those in sin.
For them, there is Hell, as a couch below, and folds and folds of covering above: such is Our requital of those who do wrong.
But their brethren the evil ones plunge them deeper into error, and never relax their efforts.
For the worst of beasts in the sight of Allah are those who reject Him: They will not believe.
Let not the unbelievers think that they can get the better of the godly: they will never frustrate them.
And proclaim a grievous penalty to those who reject Faith.
But when the forbidden months are past, then fight and slay the Pagans wherever ye find them, an seize them, beleaguer them, and lie in wait for them in every stratagem of war.
The Hypocrites, men and women, have an understanding with each other: They enjoin evil, and forbid what is just, and are close with their hands. They have forgotten Allah.
So He hath forgotten them. Verily the Hypocrites are rebellious and perverse.
Allah hath promised the Hypocrites men and women, and the rejecters, of Faith, the fire of Hell: Therein shall they dwell: Sufficient is it for them: for them is the curse of Allah, and an enduring punishment.
Whether thou ask for their forgiveness, or not, their sin is unforgivable: if thou ask seventy times for their forgiveness, Allah will not forgive them: because they have rejected Allah and His Messenger.
And Allah guideth not those who are perversely rebellious.
O, ye who believe! Fight the unbelievers who gird you about, and let them find firmness in you: and know that Allah is with those, who fear Him.
They are those who deny their Lord! They are those round whose necks will be yokes of servitude: they will be Companions of the Fire, to dwell therein for aye!
They ask thee to hasten on the evil in preference to the good: Yet have come to pass, before them, many exemplary punishments! But verily thy Lord is full of forgiveness for mankind for their wrong-doing, and verily thy Lord is also strict in punishment.
But alas for the Unbelievers for a terrible penalty their Unfaith will bring them!-
And the Unbelievers said to their apostles: "Be sure we shall drive you out of our land, or ye shall return to our religion." But their Lord inspired this Message to them: "Verily We shall cause the wrong-doers to perish!
Again and again will those who disbelieve, wish that they had bowed to Allah’s will in Islam.
Leave them alone, to enjoy the good things of this life and to please themselves: let false hope amuse them: soon will knowledge undeceive them.

Pfff. You do get the point, don't you? There is much more if you like it.

 

SOME NOTES

I was in Senegal when the extreme right party was on the last round of the 2002 presidential election in France. That’s when I decided to go back to Paris but also where I learnt to shut up. It got me ready for the Parisian art scene in a way. Keeping silent can actually be quite relaxing. You don’t get into conversations. It’s less tiring - that is when you don’t have to go through the effort of shutting up anymore.
With a bit of practice you avoid thinking altogether. Or at least you avoid being caught in someone else’s conversation.
During my stay in Senegal I also went to Guinea Bissau. When asked about my religion for the visa I was told that “without” was not an option. I had to write Christian. It’s quite a bit later that I understood that asking “do you believe in it” was not an option either. You can’t ask that. It’s weird at first but you get used to it. Some women later explained to me that hey had been told not to doubt.
Back in Paris, I bought the Koran and was spellbound. De Sade is literature. I mean we know that but the Koran, man, it is something else. It is NOT literature, believe me.
When you’re told about a hundred times that you are damned, that you will burn in hell, forever, that you deserve severe, painful and never-ending punishment and that will suffer during eternity, you do end up hearing the threat, I’m telling you. This is performative speech. I mean it is difficult not to identify a little bit with the non-believers. But hey, maybe you are a believer.
I read it all, and re-read and re-read it. I couldn’t believe it – I don’t mean I couldn’t believe what it said, I couldn’t believe this was actually what some of my friends believe in. When I tried to speak about what I had read, I couldn’t find anybody who actually read the Koran. I was just told I was a simplistic “anti-Muslim”. So you see; it can be nasty to quote.
I then got threatened when I wanted to publish extracts of the Koran about slavery. I got scared. I’m not anymore.
In printed editions as well as on the Internet, you’re informed you can’t really get the Koran without faith. I only had language a certain sense of logic and curiosity going for me. I did what I could. As early as the second Surah you’re notified: “As for the disbelievers, whether thou warn them or thou warn them not it is all one for them; they believe not. Allah hath sealed their hearing and their hearts, and on their eyes there is a covering. Theirs will be an awful doom.”
Shall I re-play it for you? Where are you blindfolded and punished because you can’t see if not in an S&M club.

 

A French rapper called Abd Al Malik claims in his song  “12th September” that one shouldn’t mix up faith and politics. The singer got three music awards (in France of course) the Constantin price, the Raoul Breton price, the Charles-Cros Académie price, the Edgar-Faure political litterature price, the Césaire trophy and on top of it all he was knighted in the order of Arts and Letters by the minister of culture at the MIDEM (French music fair).
Official art? For sure.
Political art? Of course not!
Faith art? well...
There maybe is a religion which isn’t in the sociology, ethnology and history of religions books I read. There might be out here faith without its rules and its practical organisation of life. One that wouldn’t stipulate what you should and shouldn’t do. From the precise lows of monotheisms to Buddhist precepts, from Animists cults to Hinduism, I never heard of such a faith. But it’s maybe I missed out on something. Let’s go back to why the singer got decorated. I'm so nasty I'll quote again: “When the sacred months have passed, slay the idolaters wherever ye find them, and take them (captive), and besiege them, and prepare for them each ambush. But if they repent and establish worship and pay the poor due, then leave their way free.
Not political!
“O ye who believe! Choose not disbelievers for (your) friends in place of believers. Would ye give Allah a clear warrant against you? Lo! The hypocrites (will be) in the lowest deep of the fire , and thou wilt find no helper for them”
Not political! Of course not!
“Now when ye meet in battle those who disbelieve, then it is smiting of the necks until, when ye have routed them, then making fast of bonds; and afterward either grace or ransom till the war lay down its burdens. That (is the ordinance).”
Not political!
“And all married women (are forbidden unto you save those (captives) whom your right hands possess. It is a decree of Allah for you”
Not political.
 “O ye who believe! Observe your duty to Allah, and give up what remained (due to you) from usury, if ye are (in truth) believers. And if ye do not, then be warned of war (against you) from Allah and His messenger. And if ye repent, then ye have your principal (without interest).”
Not political.

If you google Abd Al Malik in English, you’ll first learn about a caliph who ruled from 685 to 705, re-conquered Mecca and Iraq and submitted the Berber people. French rapper born Régis Fayette-Mikano could not have mixed up faith with politics when he adopted this name.
His wife, she’ll never be a knight because her audience is mainly in the suburb. And I’m talking French suburb here. She sings: “I’m the one who says no. They want something that will be successful. But I don’t belong to the ones who sell out.  They want me to collaborate, but I choose the camp of the trenches. My identity against success. I prefer singing with my heart broken. One and indivisible. Incorruptible  (…) I joined the maquis. Indivisible, incorruptible. When the run for money is distracting us, each one us passes by the truth. Do like Malcolm, my brother (yeah) to have a better life. Don’t kowtow unless in front of God.” (see the video)
Imagine for a second she’d sing: “I shut up, I only do what I’m told. I swear I will not surprise you with any new idea.”

Can I just add another quote? Men are overseers over women, by reason of that wherewith Allah hath made one of them excel over anot her, and by reason of that which they expend of their substance. Wherefore righteous women are obedient, and are watchers in husbands absence by the aid and protection of Allah. And those wives whose refractoriness ye fear, exhort them, and avoid them in beds, and beat them; but if they obey you, seek not a way against them; verily Allah is ever Lofty, Grand. (4/34)

By the way, let me just add: "I'm against hatred, poverty, lies, sickness and suffering. "
... and also, I should add that all this is about art. I just like sides tracks...

(sorry about my spelling and grammatical mistakes...)