Why do you believe this effect is real, and stems from the text itself, rather than the social constructions surrounding it? This is the question that comes before trying to understand the effect. Give an example from the text.
A partial way to check would be to look at accounts by people who converted to Islam, especially if there weren't external incentives-- to what extent do they say they were convinced by reading the Koran, and to what extent were they convinced by knowing Muslims who impressed them or by sampling observances and finding a good fit?
(It's my first time posting an article, so please go easy on me.)
I wonder if anyone ever fully analysed the Qran and all the resources it uses to tug at the feelings of the reader? It is a remarkably persuasive (if not at all convincing) book, even if I say so myself as an ex Muslim. I've started recognizing some patterns since I started reading this site, but I'd like to know if there is a full-blown, complete, exhaustive deconstruction of that book, that is not dripped in islamophobia, ethnocentrism, and other common failures I have seen in Western theologians when applied to Islam. Not a book about "How the Qran is evil" or "How the Qran is Wrong" or "How IT'S A FAAAKE" but "How, precisely, it manipulates you". Can anyone here point me towards such a work?
And where is the markup help in this blog? I can't seem to find it and it frustrates the hell out of me when I'm commenting usual posts.