Article: Challenging the Qur'an

Posted by Dan on Jul 30, 2003 @ 2:42 PM

A friend of mine sent me this interesting article posted on MSNBC, titled Challenging the Qur'an, which talks about a new book getting ready to be published which questions the acuracy of the current translation of the Qur'an. The chief point of the book is that the author believes that original language of the Qur'an was probably closer to Aramaic than to Arabic.

[The] copy of the Qur'an used today is a mistranscription of the original text from Muhammad's time, which according to Islamic tradition was destroyed by the third caliph, Osman, in the seventh century. But Arabic did not turn up as a written language until 150 years after Muhammad's death, and most learned Arabs at that time spoke a version of Aramaic. Rereading the Paradise passage in Aramaic, the mysterious houris turn into raisins and fruit—much more common components of the Paradise myth.
- Stefan Theil, Newsweek International
Categories: Potpourri

1 Comments

  • robi's Gravatar
    robi
    whats even more problematic is not just the accuracy of the statements but the interpretation. The versus in the quran are often nebulous and ambiguous at best unless you have a deep understanding of the culture and language at the time. There is much debate in Islamic circles about what specific things even refer to and what their meaning are.

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