Friday, December 18, 2009

Wednesday, December 16, 2009

We deleted all the controversial passages

I have been on a book-buying binge the last few days, buying mostly books on Islam, including a Hausa/Arabic Qur'an.

So, tonight, just as NEPA comes back, I crack open one of my most recent purchases, Stories of the Prophets by Imam Ibn Kathir and translated by Sheikh Muhammad Mustapha Gemeiah, office of the Grand Imam Sheikh Al-Azar.

And this is what I read in the translator's note:

"All those Mulsims who speak English as their native language have been, for decades longing for such a work in English, to share in the refutation of all the false accusations and doubts about the infallibility of the prophets and messengers of Allah which some writers raise.

We have elected to simplify the translation to suit the foreign reader. We deleted all the controversial passages; therefore, this text covers most of the important points which are relevant today."

Noooooo..... Nothing strikes gloom in my heart like a statement like this. What controversial passages? What were they? What suits the foreign reader? What are the most important points which are relevant today? So... frustrating...