- A rare exception to the lack of chronological Korans is Nicholas
Starkovsky, The Koran Handbook: an Annotated Translation, New
York, 2004. Starkovsky puts the Koran in chronological order, ending
with Chapter 9 as the penultimate chapter (with the final chapter being the
insignificant Chapter 110). Starkovsky thus knows that Mohammedʼs
career as a leader ended with the creation of “a powerful Islamic State”
(p.515), but this does not stop Starkovsky from admiring Islam and
Mohammed, with his hope that his translation of the Koran helps
Muslims and Christians (p.xiii). At the end of his book Starkovsky
prefaces Chapter 9 thus: “the return of the Prophet to Medina after his
conquest of Mecca [...] The Prophet denounced the treaty with the
Confederates [...] took Mecca, fought the remaining opponents and, later,
Byzantium [...], preparing the territorial conquests that began after his
death” (p.515). We assume Starkovsky thinks the attacks by Mohammed
and the first Muslims on the Jews of Medina, the Pagans of Mecca, and
the Christians of Byzantium were all justified. Perhaps Starkovsky is of
the view that if only the entire world submitted to Islam then the world
would be at peace (apart from the lethal doctrinal disputes between Sunnis
and Shias, etc.) Whilst Starkovsky was writing this translation, his wife
was simultaneously preparing a version of the Koran in Russian,
presumably also with the penultimate chapter being Chapter 9. ↵
dana p.
(Dana P.)
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