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Olde Tyme Religion
Egypt imam approves punctuation use in Quran
2009-06-27
[Al Arabiya Latest] A prominent Egyptian preacher has issued a fatwa, or religious ruling, approving the use of punctuation in copies of the Quran, which has sparked protests by religious scholars who say the meaning can be changed if punctuation is inserted in the wrong place.
If it's read without punctuation then it's subject to an even wider range of meanings, isn't it?
News of the fatwa comes after Egyptian poet and preacher, Abdel-Salam al-Basyouni, said he had researched the issue and discovered using punctuation such as commas, colons and semi-colons would make understanding Islam's holy book easier.
"Hang on a second, guys! This isn't Klingon! It's... ummm... something else!"
Prominent Sunni scholar Sheikh Yusuf al-Qaradawi welcomed the news and said "I personally do this when I cite verses from the Quran in my books and lectures and anything I write," Egyptian daily independent, al-Shorouk al-Gadid, quoted the sheikh as saying. "I advise everyone to follow suit," he said.
"If you put a colon after every eighth word it makes ever so much more sense!"
Qaradawi, however, objected to the use of parenthetical dashes as they imply that the sentence between them is not originally in the text and this could cause confusion.
I read the Koran once. I was confused. It must have been the dashes.
But did you read it an English translation? In the original Arabic? In the ur-original Syrio-Aramaic? Each would add its own special level of confusion, after all, given that the scribe was by all accounts illiterate in all three languages.
The sheikh explained that in the past scholars had broken away from the traditional Ottoman style text and used punctuation marks in the Quran when citing parts of it in an article or a research paper.
Posted by:Fred

#5  These people are sooo unready for life in the 20th century. Much less the 21st.
Posted by: SteveS   2009-06-27 17:16  

#4  I, know for a fact, punctuation is a Zionist plot.
Posted by: BrerRabbit   2009-06-27 13:27  

#3  What would the Imam think of ee cummings?
Posted by: Al-Aska Paul, Resident Imam   2009-06-27 13:16  

#2  So, they're changing its meaning? Look for riots soon. An interesting question, is a Koran with punctuation still a Koran?
Posted by: gromky   2009-06-27 05:52  

#1  I'll punctuate it. Where's my 12-gauge?
Posted by: gorb   2009-06-27 05:39  

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