The Qur'an is interesting to read, and I won't judge it too quickly before knowing more about Muslims' beliefs and reading more of it. Allah is similar to the way God is portrayed in the Old Testament, so I don't know why some Christians accuse Islam of being such a violent religion with an evil God. I think the Islamic take on God is a bit more so than the Jewish one, but only slightly so. That being said, I think it comes down to the way the Hebrews/Israelites/Jews thought God was.

The Sword of Shannara by Terry Brooks is proving to be an awful book. Brooks employs deus ex machina far too often. The protagonist has some elfstones which have magical properties. They seem to be able to do anything they are needed to do, yet the characters don't use them that often and tend to think of them only at the last minute. I am also left wondering why the characters don't just ask the elfstones to show them the way to where they're going, since they don't know the way. Handily, they are found by someone and brought to their destination (not their final destination, as I haven't gotten that far yet), presumably just to speed up the story. The characters appear incredibly stupid, but it's a good thing they seem to have fantastically (literally) good luck. I advise that you stay away from these books if you appreciate quality literature. Read a book that has the characters solve their own problems, and doesn't employ a magical plot device that pushes the plot forward when the author runs into a corner. I definitely do not plan to read any more books in the series, but I'll stick with this one until I'm finished, just to see if it improves.