Like the Jewish Bible and the New Testament the Koran is a collection of texts gathered at different times and brought together later. We cannot be sure which parts came earlier and which came later.

From http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quran:

"There has been no critical text produced on which a scholarly reconstruction of the Quranic text could be based."

Valerie Yule concludes her article with:

"It is better to remember the original beginnings."

We do not and probably cannot know the early beginnings.

A beautifully concise,empathetic and above all, useful commentary. Many thanks Valerie. Sincerely: Chris Nugent

So there's an original Islam and a second version. On the face of it, you would think the new, improved version would count for more, as the New Testament outweighs the Old.
The Koran itself includes the doctrine of the abrogation of earlier verses.
It is no more than an opinion to say that model x of a religion is truer than model y. In the case of Islam, they both--or they all--can claim a basis in the Koran.

Thank you Valerie for this great article.

My personal theory is that Muhammad himself was a good and peaceful person, perhaps even a saint, but then, being illiterate, his teachings as well as the records of his personal history were hijacked by a gang of his evil "disciples", headed by Abu Bakr.

So how do we get Muslims back to the "pure" teachings of the Mecca period? A hypothetical origin for a religion is of no use in the modern world. Allah the Compassionate and Merciful, is and as far as I can see only to those who submit.

The major difference between Allah and the Christian God is, one is personal, the other impersonal.

There seems to be other differences,

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c4I_IXIs_1g

and

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hxP_4O7MBTg

On the other hand, Christ can be swamped in piss and it is art.

More examples needed?