The Qur’an is the last of the sequence of holy books.  It was received by Muhammed over a period of about 23 years; it was spoken to him through the angel, Gabriel and is meant to depict God’s words to Mohammed.  The word “Qur’an” means “the recitation” because it was first only spoken; it was later written down after the death of Mohammed, in order that the ideas be preserved.  It was first written in Arabic, then translated into Persian and other languages.  It was meant to be the final book and therefore the final ideas and commandments of God’s will.  In The Qur’an, there is a big influence on gardens and feasts.  This is because God wishes to reveal that, if you follow his rules and are good, you will have good things return to you, such as gardens and happiness.  The feasts represent laws and rules that God gives–about what people can and cannot eat, how to eat the food, etc.–but the deeper meaning seems to be to again threaten followers that, if they do not follow rules and be good, that there will be bad consequences.  Essentially, “God has the power to do all things” (5. The Feast, page 9).  Essentially, those who do good, and follow God’s rules, and do good deeds, will be spared and forgiven.  He uses the ideas of the rules of the food (the feast) as an example of how to earn justice and mercy.  He keeps going back to the idea of being just and merciful to those who follow his rules and, by contrast, that those who do not follow his rules will be hurt in the end.  The retelling of the Joseph story is another example of God showing us right from wrong.  Joseph’s brothers were jealous and tried to get rid of Joseph and they were ultimately punished for doing this.  By contrast, because Joseph was a good man, no matter what terible events happened to him, he was able to overcome, succeed and in the end was saved, adored, revered and worshipped.  This shows us that people who do bad things or act on bad ideas, like jealousy, will only get hurt, whereas people who follow God’s law will ultimately be saved.

Question  How is the sanctity of marriage bond portrayed throughout the narrative?

The sanctity of marriage bond is mostly portrayed as something  not highly valued in comparison to today’s standard. Countless times in the story you see characters having  many wives.  Rama’s father had a numerous amount of wives and so did the demon Ravana. It’s interesting to see when Ravana abducted Sita and told her how none of his wives could compare and how she would be his favorite if she married him. This shows that he could easily give up any of his current wives for her. Also in the beginning of the story  Rama’s mother Kausalya states how she was never treated well like how his fathers other wives were. The only true bond seen through the story is with Rama and Sita. They devoted their lives to one another and were in distress when they thought something happened to the other. Based from the text, you also see how Rama had only Sita as his wife. He was monogamous in a society where clearly polygamy was widely accepted.

How is the sanctity of marriage bond portrayed throughout the narrative?

The concept of marriage is extremely scared in The Ramayana of Valmiki. I think it may be the most pertinent form of union between two individuals. A relationship between a man and his wife has been portrayed in the reading as above any other relationship. After Roma was exiled and his mothers wish was to accompany him, Roma informed his mother that her loyalty should be with his father. Leaving her husband to be with her child would be categorized as a form of betrayal. There also seems to be a belief that the bond between a man and wife is continued after death. On more than one occasions in the book, both Rama and Sita considered suicide as a means of being together after life has ended. They preferred death over living without each other.

The Ramayana and The Odyssey are both epics of ancient societies that held some common beliefs. Ancient Greece and Ancient India both placed heavy emphasis on religion, which played a large part in their literature. These cultures also found honor in actions incredibly important, and those who acted without honor were looked down upon and shamed immortally in history and literature. For example, in The Odyssey, Odysseus murdered the antagonists, Penelope’s suitors, and then had their bodies disposed of without proper burial rituals. The Greeks found no honor in death for those who acted dishonorably in life. On the other hand, in the Ramayana, the hero, Rama, defeats his enemy Ravana, but still upheld his honor after death. Despite all the atrocities Ravana had caused for Rama, Rama respected his enemy’s life and honored his body after death. One aspect of Hinduism is the reincarnation of the soul after death, so Rama honored Ravana’s soul by not desecrating his body. In contrast, the Greeks did not place much emphasis on life after death, and therefore would not treat the bodies of the dead as sacredly as other cultures, especially not those of evildoers.

The Hindu gods in Ramayana are portrayed very differently from the Greek gods in the Odyssey. For starters, they are not as prideful – Rama is consistently praised as being a god and having god like beauty and strength, during the time he is perceived as a mortal. Such a display of pride in Greek mythology would have surely incurred the wrath of the Zeus,  even if it was another god he was punishing. In addition, these gods are far more forgiving, kind and less judgmental, with the main instance being at the very end, when Rama berates his wife and allows her to burn herself to death. Such an act would have caused the Greek gods to curse, kill or bestow a horrible prophecy on Rama, who did not realize he was a god yet. Throughout Greek mythology, the gods inflict cruel fates upon those who treat others badly or offend other gods. Instead, in the Ramayana, the gods step forward and give Rama his wife back, saying that she has done no harm and that he should not judge her so quickly. They even reveal that they are immortal anyways. Even though his reasoning for her initial suicide had an ulterior motive, the gods of Olympus would have found his actions extremely unfavorable.

The Ramayana and Odyssey have several similarities and differences. Both stories have a protagonist who is a hero: Rama and Odysseus. The main similarities between Rama and Odysseus is that they both get separated from their wives and take a long journey to get back home. The difference between both of their situation is that Odysseus leaves his wife and home for the war and Rama gets separated from his wife and home by a force. It makes the story slightly different from each other towards to the end. Rama gets back to his wife who was stolen by Ravana while Odysseus just gets back home to his wife. In the Ramayana, relationship plays a big role. When Rama’s wife Sita was with Ravana, she tries to commit suicide because she gets depressed after hearing Ravana’s words. She realizes that she can hang herself with her long hair on a tree, but she begins thinking about if it is right to do as a wife of Rama and a daughter of the city ruler, King Janak. It shows the strong relationship between Rama and Sita; Sita changes her mind not to commit suicide and Rama comes to rescue Sita. In the Ramayana, each character deals with individual conflicts. Rama says, “Tell me what I must do. I will obey my father even if he wishes me to drink poison and die.” It shows that he is very loyalty to his father. Rama conflicts with himself because of his loyalty to family, “My heart knows that Sita is pure. Yest my subjects force me to renounce my devoted wife for a second time.” It shows that loyalty plays in a role within himself. For Sita, she has a conflict with people from outside. She is fooled and naive.

What purpose does the retelling of the Joseph story serve in the sections of the Qur’an you’ve read?

The retelling of the story of Joseph in the Qur’an seems to be analogous to what Muhamad and other devote Muslims would face while practicing their beliefs. Joseph received a prophecy from god that he would be supreme over everyone else, even though at the time he was one of the youngest in his family, making it sound very unlikely. Joseph’s belief that god will fulfill this prophesy kept his faith strong, even though it caused his siblings to hate him and get rid of him. Joseph’s unfaltering belief caused him to go through many troubles and perils, however by the end of it, it is obvious that his belief paid off. This is just like when Muhamad received the Qur’an, he was told that he and his nation would rise above all others, which would seem unlikely for a new religion. The Qur’an is trying to forewarn the people who will follow the religion that, no matter how unlikely the promises in the Qur’an seem and how much opposition they will face, if they maintain their faith they will receive all that was promised and end up on top. The story also shows that, no matter what people do to put you down because of your beliefs, you should never hold a grudge; even when you’re on top you should forgive and forget the bad things people did to you.

Justice and mercy in the Koran are two very interesting concepts. Mercy, the less complex of the two, appears to be a trait that defines God, and that God’s true colors are that He is merciful and forgiving. In the story of Joseph, Joseph says, “May God forgive you. Of all those who show mercy, He is the most merciful. (1451)” Notice how Joseph does not say that he forgive the brothers, but God does. This idea of God being the most merciful and forgiving carries on through the rest of the stories of the Koran; it is repeatedly mentioned that God knows all, hears all and sees all – every wrongdoing can only be judged by God. I found justice to be more complex, as it seems to only govern human relationships amongst each other. In particular, the story titled “Woman” offers powerful insight into what the Koran views as justice. For example, it states that if a woman was caught cheating, she should be judged by four witnesses – if guilty, she should be locked inside a house until death or until God decides otherwise. It also says if you cannot treat orphans with fairness, then marry 2, 3 or 4 good women and treat them all equally; if not, then marry only one or any slave girls you own so that you may treat them right. Justice seems to be based on a sense of equality and fairness rather than a moral sense of what is good or bad. It seems that morality is not justice but mercy, and only God is allowed to show mercy or leniency. In other words, justice is the human, objective way of looking at things, while mercy is God’s subjective way of dealing with things.

Compare the Ramayana with The Odyssey in terms of the portrayal of evildoers and their treatment at the story’s conclusion.

When comparing how the evildoers in The Odyssey and the Ramayana are depicted and treated, differences start to become apparent. In The Odyssey, the suitors, who are trying to take everything that Odysseus has, including his wife and country, are considered evildoers. In this case the evildoers are not necessarily “evil” because they aren’t trying to cause harm to others, they are only trying to fulfill their own greedy agendas of becoming kings. They are portrayed more as leechers and moochers, than evil minded individuals. When Odysseus finally has the opportunity to purge his house of these evildoers he does so in a merciless fashion where no one is spared, including anyone who corroborated with the suitors. There is no pity shown and everyone dies a dishonorable death and no honor was given to their dead bodies. It was as though Odysseus came home to clean out the garbage. When comparing this treatment of the evildoers to the Ramayana, we see how Rama shows compassion and honor to his enemy, Ravana. Ravana is actually considered “evil” and does cause harm to others, unlike the suitors from The Odyssey. Also unlike the suitors, Ravana, had a fair one on one battle with Rama, showing honor and courtesy. After Rama’s victory over Ravana, we can see just how much respect he gives to his fallen enemy when he says, “It is not right that you should grieve, for a mighty warrior fallen on the battlefield. Victory is a monopoly for none: a hero is either slain in battle or he kills his opponent…. the warrior who is killed in combat should not be mourned.” (Valmiki Yuddha 112, 113). Rama then goes on to grant a proper burial for Ravana, stating that “Hostility ends at death…. He is your brother as he is mine, too.” (Valmiki Yuddha 112, 113). Just like Rama, Sita also shows mercy and forgiveness when she spares the lives of the demonesses that tormented her.

Question: How to similar events in the Ramayana and the Odyssey compare with each other?

It is very easy to compare these two epics given how both were literary texts that represented incredibly important cultures and civilizations. As a result, there are several events that are available for comparison in the two epics. For one, the actions of women in both epics are very important. In both the Ramayana and the Odyssey, the wives of the main male characters, Sita and Penelope, are tormented by individuals that want to take them for their own, even though both women are married. Despite their circumstances, both women choose to stay loyal to their husbands. This is not to say that both epics treat other events in similar fashion. For example, the Odyssey, the suitors that chase after Penelope are brutally murdered and not given burial after Odysseus comes home. However, in the Ramayana, while Sita’s kidnapper, Ravana, is eventually killed by Rama, Ravana is given a proper burial. Even during the story, Ravana is shown to be respected by Rama, despite his actions, contrasting heavily with the opinions of the public of the suitors. In general, key events like this show the key contrasts in the two epics and more so, the civilizations they were a part of.