It's
a common refrain from Muslims that the Quran cannot be understood
except in its original Arabic. This is the last-ditch defense when they
are trapped by the impenetrable lack of coherency in the quran. Often a
critic will point out a theological absurdity, only to be told, "That's
not what it means at all! You have to read it in the original Arabic!"
Well,
I have four translations, all reputable, all made by Muslims, and they
all say substantially the same thing. Yet you folks tell us that these
four linguistic scholars are wrong, that it says something else. But you
can't tell us what that something else is, and the scholars who
translated it apparently couldn't either.
So
why did Allah give down a scripture in a language that defies
translation? Does Arabic contain concepts that no other language on the
earth has? I find that difficult to believe, since the written Arabic
was still in development when Muhammad cited his hallucinations.
Or,
an alternate theory is that the poetic content of the verses are so
mind-numbingly hypnotic that it blinds the listener from the absurdities
it contains. There is a precedent for this: Many songs throughout
history reached astonishing levels of popularity in spite of the fact
that their lyrical content was gibberish.
There's
plenty of forensic evidence that the Quran is simply not only in
ancient Arabic, but an obscure dialect unique to the region of Mecca.
There are Hadith stating that when possible, suras are to be recited in
the dialect of the Qaraysh.
Let's
look at the Bible for example. The original Bible was written in
Hebrew and Greek. Hebrew, because that was the language of the Jews,
and Greek, because the New testament authors sought to have their work
available to the widest possible audience, and that meant Greek, which
was common throughout most of the region, thanks to the conquests of
Alexander.
Greek
and Hebrew appear to share some commonality of phrases, since some
terms and concepts can be translated directly between the two without
effort. The Greek does lose some of its depth of meaning when
translated into other languages - "Holy Spirit" for example is better
rendered "Sacred Breath," although both understandings were wrapped into
the Greek phrase, Haggia Pneuma.
Nevertheless,
the Bible has been translated into hundreds of languages from the
original documents, and retains its meaning and glory, no matter what
language it's in. The Quran, apparently loses meaning if it's not in
Arabic - or so our Muslim brothers tell us. I have a friend who speaks
Arabic as a cradle language who says this is bullshit - it's just as
incoherent in Arabic as it is in English.
