Something Lost in Translation?

Submitted by Dean (United States), Dec 30, 2008 at 18:25

I've tried reading the Koran in several English translations.

Of all the scriptures of other cultures I have striven to read and understand, the Koran has proven to be the most difficult for me to see in a positive light. The few Muslim people I have known have seemed to be such nice people, so I've wished to understand their faith better.

Their holy book, however, in no way seems holy to me, but rather to be an imitative and severe distortion of the Hebrew scriptures. Not only that, in the Five Books of Moses the Divine Law is given in terms of the maximum possible punishment for which the mitigating aspects are preserved in context of the oral tradition, later written down in what is called Talmud. But it appears to me that the maximum punishment and harsh condemnation of "sinners" is the starting place for the Koran. Am I wrong?

I don't want to sell the book short. I've heard that it really can only be understood in Arabic. I have a fair grasp of Biblical Hebrew and Aramaic but I have not studied Arabic. To give the book the benefit of the doubt, considering the fine Muslim people I've known, I am assuming that something is lost in translation. If Tony Blair and others can read the book in English can get past the language barrier, and find inspiration, more power to them.

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