2025 Readings 24

 And here's another reread (technically, re-listen) that I routinely revisit during Ramadan: Dr. Mark Muesse's Great Courses series on "Confucius, Buddha, Jesus, and Muhammad." I'm afraid that too many of my co-religionists never delve into the religious thinkers and works of other faiths, which I suppose doesn't make us any different than folks in other religions, I guess. In Islam we are told repeatedly that we are Peoples of the Book with Jews and Christians, and thus I would argue that we really need to explore the holy texts and traditions of our two predecessors in the Abrahamic monotheistic tradition. this is, again in my mind, especially true since the Qur'an doesn't tell lengthy stories, but rather more routinely comments on earlier stories from Judaism and Christianity. You'd get something like, "Remember what We (that is, God) told Moses (or other earlier prophets) . . ." and then comments upon it, sometimes reaffirming that earlier revelation or commenting on it. If we're not familiar with those earlier stories - and tests - how are we supposed to understand the Quranic references and admonitions? I'd take it further than that, actually. We are told that God sends a messenger and a text to every people, and some Islamic thinkers would propose that this would also apply to thinkers such as the Buddha or maybe even Confucius. And even if we don't go that far, and only consider them as distinctive thinkers who are not part of a larger religious worldview, isn't it possible that they might have something important to say that would make us better people - and, in my mind, that's sort of the point of all this. Consequently, we really should study these thinkers as well. Is our faith so fragile that we can't expand our vision?