Wednesday, December 5, 2007

Assalaam Alaykum

I have read the Qur'an three times this year and I am going to start all over and read again. I read it like a devotional, like I would the Bible. This time around, I need to try to read it in Arabic as well as in English. Spanish is my second language, and on the internet, I looked up a copy of the Qur'an in Spanish. When I read it in Spanish, I find it rather confusing. More so than in English. There is only one Spanish translation I have found of the Qu'ran. There are four different translations in English of the Qu'ran. I prefer the translation written by Abdullah Yusuf Ali. It is a beautiful English translation, but that's just me. The Classical Arabic is the original and many Muslims, as I understand it, rely on it as the most accurate, the most articulate, and the most holy text. A translation just won't do. It is a corruption. This is believed to be, because this is how the Bible got corrupted and tampered with, as claimed by Muslim scholars. Many Evangelical Christians here in the U.S. would like to have me believe that the King James Version of the English Bible is the most accurate, the the most articulate, and the most holy text there is for mankind! Wait a minute? The Old Testament was originally written in Hebrew and parts of it written in Aramaic, the language spoken by Jesus (AS). The New Testament, Greek. Some experts believe many books are missing from the Bible. The Roman Catholic Church places works of the Apocrypha in between the OT and NT, which I have a copy of it in my library. The Latter-Day Saints have the Book of Mormon, which I've read. I have no idea where I am going in all of this. I find the New International Version of the Bible a better read and it's better understand, though I do not think it is the most accurate. My neighbor reads the KJV. His, next door, reads the New American Standard of the Bible. Which one of us is right? Muslim scholars ask this question right now to this day!

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