chapters of the Koran into chronological order? Because
they are commanded to follow the Koran literally and to
model their behaviour on the behaviour of Mohammed.
They must follow these commands to the letter, or risk
eternal damnation. There would be no need to put the
Koran in chronological order if it were not an ambiguous
and contradictory text which commanded that it be taken
literally. So, to resolve these contradictions and to know
what one must do to be a good and literalist Muslim, the
followers of these doctrines have needed to put the Koran
in chronological order. Thus, when an instruction in one
part of the Koran contradicts an instruction in another
part of the Koran, the later (chronological) instruction
from Mohammed takes precedence. This process is called
“abrogation”.^293
We are sure most of the population of the West have
never encountered the word “abrogation” before, a word
which means to rescind a law, most often used in a religious
context. In a secular society we have laws which are open to
repeal or modification and it is many centuries since
religious law held sway in our societies. We have a morality
and a legal system which evolves. We don’t live in a nation
like Pakistan which has nuclear missiles yet which also
claims to conform to the legal principles laid down in
seventh century Arabia. Around the world, religious groups
other than Muslims might choose to live by literalist
interpretations of their texts, but that is a marginal concern
for us, since in the West they are but a small proportion of
the population and they are not involved in terrorism at
home and abroad. If Muslims were not using terrorist