No one approaches a text as a blank slate. The art of reading is very much about allowing a string of characters arranged by the conventions of spelling, grammar, and so on, to stimulate new connections among existing concepts, ideas and images that are already part of who we are.
Even though we share many things, each of us is the unique product of our own life experience and education, and each us has developed certain perspectives and values that function as working assumptions or biases, whenever we encounter new text (written or oral).
When we begin to read the Qur'an, even if we think that we know very little about Islam and are completely open to learning about Islam from the Qur'an, our knowledge and attitudes about religion, politics, human rights, community, nature, and many other topics are all called upon as we take in each word, verse and surah of the Qur'an.
In a very real sense, we construct our own version of the Qur'an as we read it. What does your version have to say?
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