Re: [BoI] Islamic criticism

On Oct 7, 2012, at 10:10 AM, Rami Rustom <[email protected]> wrote:

> On Thu, Oct 4, 2012 at 2:34 PM, Rami Rustom <[email protected]> wrote:
>> On Thu, Oct 4, 2012 at 5:00 AM, Ismail Atalay <i_c_atalay-/[email protected]> wrote:
>>> On Wed, Oct 3, 2012 at 18:52 AM, Rami Rustom wrote:
>>> 
>>>> Letter from Mohamed to Emperor of Persia.
>>>> 
>>>> “In the Name of Allâh, the Most Beneficent, the Most Merciful.
>>>> From Muhammad, the Messenger of Allâh to Chosroes, king of Persia.
>>>> Peace be upon him who follows true guidance, believes in Allâh and His Messenger and testifies that there is no god >but Allâh Alone with no associate, and that Muhammad is His slave and Messenger. I invite you to accept the religion >of Allâh. I am the Messenger of Allâh sent to all people in order that I may infuse fear of Allâh in every living person, >and that the charge may be proved against those who reject the Truth. Accept Islam as your religion so that you may >live in security, otherwise, you will be responsible for all the sins of the Magians.”
>>> 
>>> Here is the real version of the same letter.
>>> 
>>> "In the name of Allah, the beneficient, the Merciful.
>>> From Muhammad, the Messenger of God, to Kisra, the great King of Persia.
>>> Peace be upon him who follows the guidance, believes in Allah and His Prophet, bears witness that there is no God but Allah and that I am the Prophet of Allah for the entire humanity so that every man alive is warned of the awe of God. Embrace Islam that you may find peace; otherwise on you shall rest the sin of the Magis." (Al-Tabari, Vol. III, p. 90)
>>> 
>>> Please be careful about the differences.
>> 
>> That translation you gave is wrong. The interpreter is trying to protect Islam.
>> 
>> According to Tabaqat-i Kubra, vol. I, page 360, and Tarikh-i Tabari,
>> vol. II, pp. 295, 296, and Tarikh-i Kamil, vol. II, page 81 and
>> Biharul Anwar, vol. XX, page 389 (which is on wikipedia:
>> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muslim_conquest_of_Persia#cite_note-12),
>> the letter reads:
>> 
>>> "In the name of Allah, the Beneficent, the Merciful. From Muhammad, the Messenger of Allah, to the great Kisra of Iran. Peace be upon him, who seeks truth and expresses belief in Allah and in His Prophet and testifies that there is no god but Allah and that He has no partner, and who believes that Muhammad is His servant and Prophet. Under the Command of Allah, I invite you to Him. He has sent me for the guidance of all people so that I may warn them all of His wrath and may present the unbelievers with an ultimatum. Embrace Islam so that you may remain safe. And if you refuse to accept Islam, you will be responsible for the sins of the Magi."[13]
>> 
> 
> I found the Arabic text. Actually I found a photograph of the actual letter:
> 
> (do a search for "Transcript of Letter to Khosroe Pervez Emperor of
> Persia" to find it easily)
> 
> http://oldenhistory.blogspot.com/2010/02/letters-of-prophet-muhammad-pbuh.html
> 
> Ismail. Take this letter to the Arabic expert you mentioned. Ask him
> to translate it.
> 
> To make this easy, lets just translate one part.
> 
> A portion of that arabic text you translated as "so that every man
> alive is warned of the awe of God." but the actual translation is
> warning of something else. I'll translate it myself:
> 
> Allahoo ila al-nasi kaffaton leyanthur man kana hayan aslim taslim =
> God to all the people, he warns (those of) you whoever lived, become
> Muslim to stay safe.
> 
> Allahoo = God
> 
> ila = to
> 
> al-nasi = the people
> 
> kaffaton = all
> 
> leyanthur = warns you
> 
> man kana = whoever
> 
> hayan = lived
> 
> aslim = Become Muslim
> 
> taslim = to stay safe.
> 
> So where do you get "warned of the awe of God?"

What does "warned of the awe of God" even mean?

When translating it's important that the resulting text actually makes sense instead of being vague, ambiguous or nonsense.

Translating isn't just about wrote replacing one word with another. You also have to think about what meaning is being communicated and then keep the meaning in the new text. Unless the original is nonsense, the final version should not be nonsense. In general, translations should be clear and understandable.


-- Elliot Temple
http://fallibleideas.com/





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