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Originally Posted by Sydney
No it does not mean an instant conversion, neither it means an absolute certain chance of converstion either.
But u failed to read between my lines.
Reading the Quran, getting to know a thing or two about what the book says is the first baby step which is far far better than obliviously ranting about something.
Among the hundred curious minds, let just say, who would read the Book, may be a handful of 5 might find it interesting and intriguing enough to seek for further knowledge and find out more about Islam and its proper way of life.
Now 5 is a better number than 0.
I can go on about it, but i hope you get what i mean.
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your original post was a 'snap' comment with no logical basis to it. as i have painstakenly been stating over and over within this thread, without a spiritual basis the quran as a text will have little or no effect on a layman picking it up and reading just as a set of old stories and moral precepts.
the printed book that you might have in your possession is just that. it is a set of moral precepts printed on paper and in a press operated by a man or a man made machine. the tradiotionalist (by this i refer to all muslims who are intellectual descendents of al-ghazali), wahabi and salafi muslims, take that printed word to be divine revealations. it is divine to them because there is a broader spiritual element for cultural reasons that highlight the divinity of the words to them.
as for the 'curious minds' you mentioned, the dutch far right is not curious about islam.
the curious mind would be the spiritually unfulfilled lot who have actively felt the need for spirituality in their lives. this had left a vacuum. only this group of people might be picking up a copy of the quran or the new testament and interpret the tenets as a broader expression of their personal search. this search might lead to conversion.
in the context of the dutch far right or for that matter the far right islamophobes in general, they have as much chance of abhoring islam even more than liking it just by reading the quran. for these and for that matter any non islamic individual to even entertain the prospect of conversion would only lead through a spiritual encounter of sorts which could come through a life changing event or by encountering a charismatic muslim. as furqaan stated in his post, the text means absolutely nothing without the spiritual padding. this spiritual padding can't be bought from borders.
this is not a debate about the validity of religion or for that matter islam. it is about the religious experience, and how that might lead to conversion. sohel_NR mentioned in a recent thread in this forum about muslims who pray five times, go to pilgrimmage, keep a beard in order to buy the godliness, whilst still beating up their wife and kids, abusing their workers and engaging in every possible corrupt activity. prayers and haj wouldn't somehow nullify their sins against islam. islam isn't a case of commiting a crime with the right hand and giving alms to the poor with the other hand to balance that act of sin. islam is about peace and total submission to a higher power. this submission might get manifested through certain rituals that involve circumambulation of a little house in saudi arabia or proskynesis five times of day, or even month long fasting, however, the real submission to god is acting out the moral code. that moral code is peace. peace within oneself which in itself would lead to peace within the family, neighbourhood, community, country and world. without this element of spiritual peace all the rituals mean absolutely nothing at all.
islamophobia in itself is multidimensional. however, islamophobia started out not as a fear of islam but as a fear of the followers of islam - the muslims. this in itself lead to looking at the supposed causes of why certain muslims act the way they do. the conclusion was that these muslims' interpretation of the quran had made them act the way they did.
this hatred of the muslims is not just a muslim specific hatred but it is a general hatred for all things unknown and all that is new. this leads us to the question, why is it that islam is so feared in the west? it is feared because there is little knowledge of it in western society and what knowledge there is, comes from the ethnic minorities who had brought on centuries of tribal and village practices with them that appeared to be islamic on the surface. as mentioned by furqaan, an african muslim lady had given the impression that female circumcision is islamic! culturally, these practices appear as deviant to the westerner. they fear islam through the muslim who engages in a culturally loaded form of islam.
the other element is evangelising islam which is as bad to the secular european and westerner as is evangelising christianity. religion to them, in a broader sense is the 'sigh of the oppressed creature' that obscures the pain felt by the injustices of society by offering the promise of a better life beyond. in post-scarcity society, there is no need for that glorious afterlife since the present life is already very good. where they might value religion might be for its community spirit acted out through the communal act of worship. this they believe leads to a closer bond between individuals. if aspects of religion can bring people together, it is felt that it is a good thing.