Ok so I'm blogging about my thoughts as I read both the Bible and Quran simultaneously. And I told my Muslim friend that I was reading the Quran obviously not in Arabic but a contemporary English translation,
and she says "Are you sure it's the correct?"
and I say"Yeah I'm pretty sure it's the right version, I mean it's published, it's rated 5 stars on Amazon so I'm assuming it's authentic. "
and she says " You better go check with a Sheik to make sure it's good."
WTF? Never for a printed Bible does someone go, oh you better go check with a priest to make sure it's correct. I'm very taken aback. I thought the Quran was unchanging, so why would a published version even be fake. Sure maybe some of the words may vary from translation to translation but the Bible is translated in many languages and the message is the same and there is hardly a fight about words.
Now the reason why I am taken aback is because for being 'the perfect' book it's really imperfect in the way that it fails to be adaptable. But of course the Quran prides itself on being unchanging, but still come on. There are hundreds of languages and you mean Allah's perfect book is so fragile it becomes a problem if I simply pick up a translated version in a tongue Allah allows me speak in. I can pick up a Bible or a Jewish text anywhere and since it's published everyone knows that it's authentic, no fuss. Why the fuck do I need go to a sheik to check. Can someone explain this to me?
Well to be fair, a translated book will never be the original. Language and interpretation affect all forms of literature. That's not to say that a translated book won't be the same, just not the SAME.
You ever tell a joke from one language to another, but the order of the words needs to be scrambled to translate it, and the jokes meaning doesn't mean the same thing.
Text is sensitive to the translators interpretation.
Secondly just because a book is 'published' these days doesn't mean it has been hed up to some sort of peer review. Self publishing is no longer just the vanity presses it once was.
I could for example translate the quran to my interpretation and then self publish without having to run it by any final authority to check how authentic it is.
I might not sell many copies because I am unknown.
You might stumble across my 'translation' in a charity store and think awesome, I wanna study the quran, this is only 50p, the author has an arabic name.....whoohoo.
Next thing you know you are reading the wrong quran.
From what I remember (I could be wrong, its been years since I cared about this subject) there are 7 or 8 accepted translations of the quran. The question are you reading the right one is valid.
Also when I was studying theology the bible you were reading was important. I'm not sure why you are implying that all bibles are the same. There are different versions and each is slightly different from the rest.
This would be like muslims translating just 1 of these
http://www.firstpresb.org/translations.htm and calling that the ultimate one and thinking WTF when some christian says...well that's interpreted differently from the bible I'm a fan of.
Topic: What do you mean am I reading the right Quran?