What this Koran shows very clearly is that the violent verses – the legally binding verses – dominate over the peaceful verses – the abrogated verses...

Islam is a hard to argue about with others. As a white westerner, you are quickly deemed not knowledgeable enough. Have you read it in Arabic? Did you attend Quran school? Have you learned from an Imam? But I know a muslim who is nice, how about that? Many of those reasons are nonsensical. One does not have to be a part of a system to describe it. Nor does one have to be part of that system to condemn it. Reasoning from the broad (ie, islam) to the specific (ie, a muslim) is not an absolute, nor is it the other way around. So let's step away from all the afore-mentioned reasons why you are not capable of arguing about islam and let's take a deep look at the most important component of the islamic system itself; the Koran. Just that, nothing more. Nothing about its believers, or why you should not judge islam; just this one book. This book, Mohammed's Koran, contains an entire Koran. Yes, you heard correctly. The second half of the book is a Koran. There are two adjustments that have been made that make this Koran more interesting and telling than a regular unadjusted Koran. First off, the Koran is originally ordered by the number of verses (ayat) in a Sura. Whoever thought this was a good idea, must not have had the good of the reader in mind, since this makes the Koran very hard to read. So, what if we order the Suras in inverted, chronological order? This means the later verses are shown first, the earlier ones later. Secondly, Islamic law contains the notion of Abrogation. All the verses have been uttered by Allah and therefore they are all true. However, if two verses are in direct opposition, the one uttered later gains legal precedence over the earlier one. Now that we have the Koran in inverted chronological order, it is easy to see for yourself the verses which have been abrogated, or overridden. Better yet, the abrogated verses have been marked as such, by being struck through. Now, the catch. The life of Mohammed is divided in two periods; the Mecca and the Medina period. During the Mecca period, Mohammed was humble, prone to negotiating with his enemies and generally peaceful in his teachings. Most of the peaceful verses in the Koran are from this period. The second period, in Medina, is the one where he became a warlord. He won battles and gained many followers. He became authoritarian in his approach and condoned violence against his opponents. The violent verses are from this period. So what this Koran shows very clearly is that the violent verses – the legally binding verses – dominate over the peaceful verses – the abrogated verses. This is no make-believe, but can be verified against islamic legal jurisprudence which conforms what you can see for yourself with this Koran. The sword on this book cuts both ways. I think it is mandatory reading for everyone who wants to become more knowledgeable about a religion which is hugely important in our contemporary world. However, it is also a danger if muslims use this koran to deepen their own knowledge of their religion. We would all like to believe that the core of islam is peaceful, however that appears to be not the case. Is reform possible? Many claim that reform is already happening, led by the likes of Al Qaida and ISIS. It is just not in the direction we would like it to be in. So what if our (ie, kafir) gaining of knowledge is offset by more and more muslims finding the violent message in their holy book? A chilling thought.