I thought this was interesting- and I am posting both the article from Newsweek and the article critical of it:
Muslim Scholar Refutes Newsweek Qur’an Article
WASHINGTON, Aug 5 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) - A highly respectable Muslim scholar refuted Monday, August 4, an article by a U.S. magazine claiming the Muslim Glorious Book was "mistranscribed."
Even though attempts to smear Islam are not new, the article by the massively-circulated Newsweek caused an uproar among Muslim scholars, officials and the public, prompting the banning of the magazine in Pakistan and Bangladesh.
The Newsweek, in its July 28 edition, published an article entitled "Challenging The Qur’an", based on what the article’s writer claimed were "academic findings by a German scholar."
The chief hypothesis of the said scholar, identified as Christoph Luxenberg, is that the original language of the Qur’an was not Arabic but "something closer to Aramaic."
He alleged that "Arabic did not turn up as a written language until 150 years after (Prophet) Muhammad’s death."
Based on his hypothesis and rereading the Muslims holy book in Aramaic, he claimed that "reference to the faithful impending ‘marriage in Paradise’ to ‘houris,’ the 72 wide-eyed virgins, refer to nothing more than ‘white raisins’ and ‘juicy fruits.’"
The said-to-be scholar also alleged that "the Qur’an’s commandment for women to cover themselves is based on a similar misreading; in Sura 24, the verse that calls for women to ‘snap their scarves over their bags’ becomes in Aramaic ‘snap their belts around their waists.’ "
What is "something closer to Aramaic" wondered Hathout. "Who will understand something close to English or German?"
Responding to the article, the senior advisor of the Muslim Public Affairs Council, Dr. Maher Hathout, started by questioning the credibility and professionalism of the article’s writer himself, through drawing the reader’s attention to certain points.
"The article claims Professor Luxenberg's is ‘likely to be the most far reaching scholarly commentary on the Qur’an’s genesis, taking this infant discipline far into uncharted and highly controversial territory." Who is Luxenberg? An unknown scholar writing under a pseudonym.
"The ‘scholar’ is hiding his name for fear of repercussions, despite the fact that several people have written on the same subject in the past and present without taking such a precaution," Dr. Maher, also spokesman for the Islamic Center of Southern California, said, in his article entitled "Response to "Challenging the Qur’an" Article in Newsweek", published Monday, August 4, on IBN News website.
"The professor works at an unnamed "leading German university" and his research is acclaimed by "Moudher Sfar" - probably another pseudonymed scholar from Tunisia we've never heard of. So much for academic credibility."
Hathout, then, used point-by-point analysis style to refute the points raised by the article’s writer.
"Describing Luxenberg as one of a small but growing group of scholars studying the language and history of the Qur’an is amazingly wrong. For 1400 years, there have always been groups in the East and West of Muslims and non-Muslims, faithful and skeptical, who wrote volumes about the history and language of the Qur’an. The unknown author here is neither a pioneer nor a hero," he wrote.
"The article surmises that "translations of the Qur’an are never considered authentic." Translations are judged as either accurate or inaccurate. No translation is authentic. When you translate Shakespeare to French or Voltaire to English, you may be accurate or not but the work will never be authentic, simply because it is not what was said by the original author. To make this sound like a peculiarity for the Qur’an or a particular thinking of Muslims lacks academic objectivity," he went on.
"Luxenberg's chief hypothesis is that the original language of the Qur’an was not Arabic, but "something close" to Aramaic. What is the meaning of "something close?" What is it? Where is it? Who would understand it? Who will understand something close to English or German? These are questions that any semi-academic mind would ask.
"He asserts that Arabic as a language and system of writing was not developed until 150 years after the death of Prophet Muhammad. This strange assertion contradicts the major volume of pre-Islamic poetry, which is used even today to help in understanding and interpreting the Qur’an.
"This poetry includes seven famous pieces that students study in middle schools throughout the Arab world, known as "Al Muallaquat." This refers to poems that were hung on the walls of the Kaaba as exhibitions of the best literary work in the pre-Islamic era. (The Kaaba, a cubic temple, has always been attributed by Arabs to the patriarch prophet, Abraham.)
"It also contradicts the Encyclopedia of Literature by Merriam-Webster, which states, "The intermittent revelations to Muhammad were first memorized by followers and used in ritual prayers, although verses were later written down during the Prophet's lifetime."
"We have in Al-Azhar library a manuscript "explaining the unusual styles in the Qur’an" written by Imam Sagistani 153 years after the migration to Medina, in perfect classical Arabic. When we look to what is known as Christian Aramaic, we notice that Jesus spoke in Aramaic, while the gospels are written in Greek. It is far fetched that the Gospel would be written in Greek while the Qur’an would be written "in Aramaic," Hathout added.
The Muslim scholar concluded the point saying, "So, the process upon which the rereading of the verses in Aramaic is false and as Muslim jurists wisely say, "what is built on fallacy is false."
Dr. Hathout then went on to explain some concepts used by the Newsweek writer, showing complete lacking of understanding the meanings and concepts dealt with, throwing deep doubts over the writer’s objectives behind writing the article in the first place.
"Then he talks about "houris," which are allegorically symbolic beings of bliss in paradise, as being raisins and fruits. It is his prerogative but this does not provide anything supernatural to look forward to the life of eternity.
"It seems that what he was referring to as raisins is "kawaib." He challenges what he claims as the Arabic meaning of "beings with swollen breasts," while if he had known Arabic, he would have understood the term as "beings of distinction."
For this translation, we refer him to a real Austrian scholar on the language of the Qur’an, later known as Muhammad Asad. (Review The Message of the Quran).
"The claim that the Qur’an's commandment to women in surah 24 to "snap their scarves over their bags" becomes in Aramaic "snap their belts around their waists." I challenge the professor to show us where he brought this verse of snapping from? Qur’an is available and surah 24 is easy to read, " Hathout explained.
’Click here for Dr. Hathouts complete response.
Newsweek Banned
Last week, Bangladesh banned the Newsweek July 28 issue for containing "confusing and objectionable" information about the Qur’an.
"The government has banned sale, distribution and preservation" of the issue "as it might hurt Muslim religious sentiments," an official statement said.
Even though the statement did not specify which part of the magazine it was referring to, but it was clear "Challenging the Qur’an" was the reason.
Dhaka's ban came four days after Pakistan imposed a similar ban on the same weekly issue for carrying material likely to incite Muslim religious sentiments.
"We have ordered the customs authorities to seize all copies of the Newsweek issue as it contains material which can incite religious sentiments," Minister Sheikh Rashid said, adding that the objectionable article on page 40 was about the (Muslim holy book) Qur’an.
Bangladeshi authorities later allowed copies of the magazines onto news stands with the offending pages ripped out.
It is not the first time that Newsweek has been banned in Bangladesh. Copies of its February 11, 2002 issue were confiscated because they contained an image of the Prophet Mohammed.
In September 2000, an issue which included an article on Islam was also banned.
Bangladesh, which has a population of 130 million, is the world's third largest Muslim-majority country.
.................................................
Challenging the Qur’an
A German scholar contends that the Islamic text has been mistranscribed and promises raisins, not virgins
By Stefan Theil
NEWSWEEK INTERNATIONAL
ARGUING THAT TODAY’S version of the Qur’an has been mistranscribed from the original text, scholar Christoph Luxenberg says that what are described as “houris” with “swelling breasts” refer to nothing more than “white raisins” and “juicy fruits.”
Luxenberg—a pseudonym—is one of a small but growing group of scholars, most of them working in non-Muslim countries, studying the language and history of the Qur’an. When his new book is published this fall, it’s likely to be the most far-reaching scholarly commentary on the Qur’an’s early genesis, taking this infant discipline far into uncharted—and highly controversial—territory. That’s because Islamic orthodoxy considers the holy book to be the verbatim revelation of Allah, speaking to his prophet, Muhammad, through the Angel Gabriel, in Arabic. Therefore, critical study of God’s undiluted word has been off-limits in much of the Islamic world. (For the same reason, translations of the Qur’an are never considered authentic.) Islamic scholars who have dared ignore this taboo have often found themselves labeled heretics and targeted with death threats and violence. Luxenberg, a professor of Semitic languages at one of Germany’s leading universities, has chosen to remain anonymous because he fears a fatwa by enraged Islamic extremists.
Luxenberg’s chief hypothesis is that the original language of the Qur’an was not Arabic but something closer to Aramaic. He says 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.
The forthcoming book contains plenty of other bombshells. It claims that the Qur’an’s commandment for women to cover themselves is based on a similar misreading; in Sura 24, the verse that calls for women to “snap their scarves over their bags” becomes in Aramaic “snap their belts around their waists.” Even more explosive are readings that strengthen scholars’ views that the Qur’an had Christian origins. Sura 33 calls Muhammad the “seal of the prophets,” taken to mean the final and ultimate prophet of God. But an Aramaic reading, says Luxenberg, turns Muhammad into a “witness of the prophets”—i.e., someone who bears witness to the established Judeo-Christian texts. The Qur’an, in Arabic, talks about the “revelation” of Allah, but in Aramaic that term turns into “teaching” of the ancient Scriptures. The original Qur’an, Luxenberg contends, was in fact a Christian liturgical document—before an expanding Arab empire turned Muhammad’s teachings into the basis for its new religion long after the Prophet’s death.
Such interpretations will undoubtedly draw the ire of many Muslims—and not just extremists. After all, revisionist scholars have been persecuted for much less; in 2001, Egypt’s Constitutional Court confirmed the “apostasy” of former University of Cairo scholar Nasr Hamid Abu-Zayd, for considering the Qur’an a document written by humans.
Still, Luxenberg may be ushering in a whole new era of Qur’anic study. “Luxenberg’s findings are very relevant and convincing,” says Mondher Sfar, a Tunisian specialist on the historic origins of the Qur’an in exile in Paris. “They make possible a new interpretation of the Qur’an.” In the West, questioning the literal veracity of the Bible was a crucial step in breaking the church’s grip on power—and in developing a modern, secular society. That experience, as much as the questioning itself, is no doubt what concerns conservative Muslims as they struggle over the meaning and influence of Islam in the 21st century. But if Luxenberg’s work is any indication, the questioning is just getting underway.
© 2003 Newsweek, Inc. |
