love in the Koran

FrontPageMagazine.com has a forum on Islamic reform that focuses on an idea by Khalim Massoud to create a new Koran by removing contradictory and violent passages. One of Massoud's premises is that "God is the Most Merciful, the Most Compassionate" and, in a response to that premise from participant Bill Warner, there is an analysis of the occurrence of the word "love" in the Koran. It is a useful little piece, worth preserving here.

One of those opinions was stated by Mr. Massoud, "God is a loving God." I don't know anything about Allah, but I do know what the Koran says. While there are over 300 references in the Koran to Allah and fear, there are 49 references to love. Of these love references, 39 are negative such as the 14 negative references to love of money, power, other gods and status.

Three verses command humanity to love Allah and 2 verses are about how Allah loves a believer. There are 25 verses about how Allah does not love kafirs.

This leaves 5 verses about love. Of these 5, 3 are about loving kin or a Muslim brother. One verse commands a Muslim to give for the love of Allah. This leaves only one quasi-universal verse about love: give what you love to charity and even this is contaminated by dualism since Muslim charity only goes to other Muslims.

So much for love. Fear is what Allah demands.

source: Bill Warner in Symposium: A New Koran?