Cook notes at the outset of his book, The Koran: A Very Short Introduction, the reaction of the author of the first English
translation of this Holy Text. Indeed, George Sale in 1734 said that no good Christian “can apprehend any danger from so manifest a forgery”. When faced with something which can initially appear as abstract as the Qur’an, it is no surprise that there has been a solid body of literature built up around it, and the author's offering represents a very accessible introduction. He is acutely aware of the intangible qualities the Qur’an possesses.
Cook’s starting point is a supposition of a level of ignorance about what the Qur’an is and what it means. He seeks to draw the Western reader out of a naïvely insular thought-pattern and towards appreciating the Qur’an in a different context. After all, he presses the idea that the Qur’an ought not be thought of as we might of the Bible, for it is not so much a written document as it was a series of recitations – beginning with iqra’ bismi rabbi-ka ‘l-ladhi khalaq – “recite in the name of thy Lord who created” – (Q.96.1) the author noted that the Qur’an is “a product of its own time”, and in an illiterate community the connotations are that of recitation and a very strong oral tradition.
Furthermore, the author takes stock of the role of the Qur’an in the everyday lives of Muslims. After all, its position is far more central to daily life than the Bible is, say, to Christians. Cook alludes to its pervasiveness into all facets of life, even into every day expressions such as al-hamdu l’lah. Additionally, the Qur’an’s role is also all-important on a liturgical level. In mosques, Muslims are often expected to offer recitations from the Qur’an, and there are readings of qur’anic verses frequently given, facts which Cook does not neglect.
Issues are further examined in the more global Islamic community, such as that of translation of the Qur’an into other
languages, and looks at how even languages such as Persian display their translations beside the original Arabic in a very understated manner. It is impossible, he feels, to overplay the potency of the Qur’anic language in its original Arabic, and indeed many people feel that a translation into another language no longer leaves the Text as the Qur’an itself.
The Koran – A Very Short Introduction treats the Qur’an as a text dealt with within the framework of a number of other texts, people and ideas. In essence, then, it tackles an incredibly elaborate subject with the brevity demanded by the printers. It then looks for the broader pool of readers, with, consequently, a slightly less particular
previous knowledge of the Qur’an. Perhaps as a concession to those reading it, it charts backwards the role of the Qur’an today to its very beginning and compilation, the rationale behind this being that contemporary things are far more accessible than those of the previous 1500 years. Primarily, his study is of the Qur’an in the modern world, then the Qur’an in the early period of Islam, and finally the formation of the Qur’an itself. Without ever getting too specific, Cook alludes to a lot of the difficulties one can face in grappling with the Qur’an, such as revelations which appear self-contradictory, or ones, such as the Satanic verses, where one revelation cancels out a previous one. Cook affirms that the Qur’an is a text which has a quintessentially Arabic character, and can barely be replicated in other languages, and he considers this along with a brief look at commentaries on the Qur’an, and their evolution so as to keep the Qur’an relevant in a modern context. It is hard to justify verses such as Q.4.34 which seem to advocate the beating of unruly wives, and 9.25, which suggests the routing of polytheists, in the 21st century, where western values of tolerance and equality have become far more pervasive. In short, the author tries to collect together a great deal of ideas related to the Qur’an, and merely present them, without proffering any overbearing ideas of his own, preferring instead to merely offer a platform of ideas with which the inexperienced student may begin to build further thoughts through other literary sources on the Qur’an.
Cook’s work is more, in the words of fellow Orientalist Neal Robinson, a “vivid account” of the role of the Qur’an in Muslim civilisation, and a comparison to “other scriptures and classics of the historic cultures of Eurasia”.