Koran Has No Ethics, Says Best Selling Author

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oi-Staff

By Staff

Wednesday, August 26, 2009, 16:44

In what might seem like a publicity stunt, the Best selling author Sebastian Faulks has gone to critize Koran, while saying that the book has "no ethical dimension."

The writer who read the Koran as part of his research for his upcoming novel A Week in December said that the Islamic holy scripture was "a depressing book", was "very one-dimensional" and unlike the Christian New Testament has "no new plan for life".

Best known for historical works such as Birdsong and Charlotte Gray, Faulks new novel addresses contemporary London. Its characters include a health fund manager, a literary critic and a Glasgow-born Islamic terrorist recruit.

Researching the latter, he read a translation of the Koran which he found "very disappointing from a literary point of view". He also criticized the "barrenness" of the Koran's message and the teachings of the prophet Muhammad, especially when compared with the Bible.

A similar public stunt of sort was once undertaken by Salman Rushdie for his book Satanic Verses, which was quickly branded blasphemous by the fundamentalists, while a fatwah was released against the author, catapulting him to instant fame.

Even Faulks it seems has similar notions of quick fame and it surely seems to be on its way as many have found his statement irksome. The writer who went on to belittle prophet Muhammad by saying, "Jesus, unlike Muhammad, had interesting things to say" while called the book "the rantings of a schizophrenic."

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