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| Feminist translation of Qur'an to come out next month |
| 2007-03-23 |
| A new English-language interpretation of the Muslim Holy book the Koran challenges the use of words that feminists say have been used to justify the abuse of Islamic women. The new version, translated by an Iranian-American, will be published in April and comes after Muslim feminists from around the world gathered in New York last November and vowed to create the first women's council to interpret the Koran and make the religion more friendly toward women. In the new book, Dr. Laleh Bakhtiar, a former lecturer on Islam at the University of Chicago, challenges the translation of the Arab word "idrib," traditionally translated as "beat," which feminists say has been used to justify abuse of women. "Why choose to interpret the word as 'to beat' when it can also mean 'to go away'," she writes in the introduction to the new book. The passage is generally translated: "And as for those women whose illwill you have reason to fear, admonish them; then leave them alone in bed; then beat them; and if thereupon they pay you heed, do not seek to harm them. Behold, God is indeed most high, great!" Instead, Bakhtiar suggests "Husbands at that point should submit to God, let God handle it -- go away from them and let God work His Will instead of a human being inflicting pain and suffering on another human being in the Name of God." In other changes to the text, she cites the most accurate translation of the word traditionally translated to mean "infidel" as "ungrateful." Bakhtiar has been schooled in Sufism which includes both the Shia and Sunni points of view. As an adult, she lived nine years in a Shia community in Iran and has lived in a Sunni community in Chicago for the past 15 years. "While I understand the positions of each group, I do not represent any specific one as I find living in America makes it difficult enough to be a Muslim, much less to choose to follow one sect or another," she writes. The new text is published by Islamic specialty bookseller Kazi Publications, which has a store in Chicago and online. Good luck, professor. You're going to need it. The publisher, too. |
| Posted by:trailing wife |
| #2 "I find living in America makes it difficult enough to be a Muslim, much less to choose to follow one sect or another," she writes." Then leave. Now. Go peddle your book in Saudi Arabia. Submission is not politically correct, no matter how you translate the horrors, my dear. Go preach it in Medina. |
| Posted by: Thinemp Whimble 2007-03-23 19:24 |
| #1 I've just 3 words: Theo. Van. Gogh. |
| Posted by: gromgoru 2007-03-23 19:17 |