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From: tim@k.cs.cmu.edu.ARPA (Tim Maroney)
Newsgroups: net.books,net.religion
Subject: Re: English Koran Translation
Message-ID: <594@k.cs.cmu.edu.ARPA>
Date: Sun, 13-Oct-85 22:31:16 EDT
Article-I.D.: k.594
Posted: Sun Oct 13 22:31:16 1985
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> Isn't it true (according to Islam) that if the Koran is translated to any
> language other than Arabic, it ceases to be the Word of Allah?

That's true.  The Koran is according to legend written in tablets of stone
in Heaven.  It is written in Arabic.  There are similar legends in Judaism,
although of course the Torah is in Hebrew; it is also my understanding that
they are more ethereal than the Islamic legends of the tablets.

There is no such thing as an "English Koran", only, as the subject line
indicates, a translation of the Koran into English.  I agree that the
Penguin Classics edition (trans. by N. J. Dawood) is good, as well as widely
available.  A sample, which I just randomly opened to:

"56:15 They shall recline on jewelled couches face to face, and there shall
wait on them immortal youths with bowls and ewers and a cup of purest wine
(that will neither pain their heads nor take away their reason); with
fruits of their own choice and flesh of fowls that they relish.  And theirs
shall be the dark-eyed houris, chaste as hidden pearls: a guerdon for their
deeds.

"There they shall  hear no idle talk, no sinful speech, but only the
greeting, 'Peace! Peace!'

"Those on the right hand -- happy shall be those on the right hand!  They
shall recline on couches raised on high in the shade of thornless sidrahs
and clusters of talh; amidst gushing waters and abundant fruits,
unforbidden, never-ending.

"We created the houris and made them virgins, loving companions for those
on the right hand: a multitude from the men of old, and a multitude from
the later generations."
-=-
Tim Maroney, CMU Center for Art and Technology
Tim.Maroney@k.cs.cmu.edu	uucp: {seismo,decwrl,etc.}!k.cs.cmu.edu!tim
CompuServe:	74176,1360	My name is Jones.  I'm one of the Jones boys.