keithf@math-cs.kent.edu (Keith Fuller) (08/30/90)
> The Qur'an is different. People memorized and wrote down the quranic > revelations as they were revealed. The complete version of the Quran was > compiled soon after the Prophet's (PBUH) death. There is only one version > of the Qur'an, and it had not changed for 1400 years. Can you make > the same assetion with respect to the Bible? In fact, the GOOD NEWS bible > recently changed the words of the bible into "modern terminology", and > removed "sexist" and "anti-semitic" references. Is this version of > the bible the correct one or is the King James version the correct one? > Abu Syed Marwan Perhaps you are a bit mislead by some semantics. In bible translator talk, VERSION refers to a translation by a committee, a TRANSLATION is by one person alone. The text in the original languages is better preserved than you think, something like one percent of the words are debatable. And even if words differ, they may not affect the meaning of the passage. Bible translations differ mainly because of a) ambiguity of the meaning of the original text, (for example, the greek words for woman and wife are the same and must be distinguished by context) b) how to effectively word these meanings into English. I am certain that translations of the Qur'an into English must suffer from these same problems. ! [Moderators note: replies to this article should remain relevant ! to Islam. -Behnam ] I realize this excellent policy is necessary for this board as otherwise there would be many discussions that would drift from the purpose of this board. I often hear muslims exaggerate the problems of different 'versions', and have consisely presented my understanding of the situation. Keith Fuller Department of Mathematics, Kent State University [ Moderator's note: replies to this article should remain relevant to Islam. -Behnam ]