Some Qur'an Related Links

I was recently informed about The Koran Interpreted website, where you can download "English Audio of Islam's primary sources" (in a 16,398 KB zip file which contains seventeen MP3 files). The English reading is based on A. J. Arberry's translation (i.e. The Koran Interpreted) which I still consider to be one of the best English translations out there today. Although I prefer to listen to the Qur'an being recited in the original Arabic, I do recall that as a new convert I sometimes enjoyed listening to cassettes of an English translation. This reading and translation are much superior to that one, so I'm confident many out there will benefit from it, insha'llah.

On that note, I'll mention that my favorite translation of the Qur'an, especially for outreach (i.e. da'wah) purposes, is M. A. S. Abdel Haleem's The Qur'an, published by Oxford World's Classics. Sure, I could knit-pick a few things that he says in the introduction and, as with any translation, question some of his word choices. However, not only is his English less archaic than Arberry's, but in contrast to many translations, it uses "God" in lieu of "Allah", as well as the Biblical names of the prophets that are familiar to most English readers (i.e. Noah, Abraham, Moses, Jesus, etc.). This is critical when spreading the word amongst English-speaking people, since although a few open-minded and well-educated people will always be able to overcome the cultural and language barriers that they often face when dealing with Muslims, most cannot (at least not without a struggle).

Although experience tells me that quite a few Muslims feel otherwise, I strongly believe that when you make da'wah to English-speaking people you should actually speak to them in the English language...and that means as close to 100% pure English as you can get. Call me crazy if you'd like, but that's how I feel. Personally, I think this kind of goes along nicely with both the spirit and manifest meaning of Qur'an 14:4: "And We sent not a Messenger except (to teach and preach) in the language of his people, in order that he might make (the Message) clear for them. Then God misleads whom He wills and guides whom He wills. And He is the All-Mighty, the All-Wise."

Anyway...some of M. A. S. Abdel Haleem's other work, such as Qur'anic Orthography: The Written Representation Of The Recited Text Of The Qur'an and Grammatical Shift For The Rhetorical Purposes: Iltifat And Related Features In The Qur'an, is excellent as well and can be found at Islamic-Awareness.org.

I'll also mention QuranExplorer.com, not only because it was established by a friend of mine, but because it's got a flexible set of tools and nice interface. This site also offers Live Online Quran Tutoring, so check it out.

A nice, and fairly new as far as I know, Qur'anic search tool goes by the name QuranicRealm (although the URL is searchquran.net). Even though it was good for its time, I like QuranicRealm much better than the old MSA-USC Qur'an Database. Not only does QuranicRealm let you search in English, Arabic or phonetic transliteration, but the search engine is easier to work with and it provides results in Arabic, transliteration and up to six different English translations. Overall, a very useful on-line tool.

Deen on...

Brian Whitaker - "In God's name"

On Monday, there was an excellent article on one of my pet peeve topics...the God-versus-Allah issue:

In God's name
by Brian Whitaker
The mainstream media should take a closer look at whose agenda they are following when they use the word 'Allah' to mean 'God'.
Guardian Unlimited - January 22, 2007

Some key excerpts from the article:

"Arab Christians worship 'Allah' too, and the first verse of the Arabic Bible informs us that 'In the beginning Allah created heaven and earth.'"

"By opting for 'Allah' they are aligning themselves, in effect, with those who view international politics in terms of a clash of civilisations and even seek to bring it about."

"Since (Edward) Said wrote his influential book, however, we have also seen the rise of another phenomenon which might be called 'reverse orientalism', where Arabs and Muslims deliberately 'other-ise' themselves in order (they hope) to better resist western influence...Consequently, the pressure to turn God into 'Allah' when writing about Muslims comes from two opposing but equally suspect directions...This is not so much a clash of civilisations as a collision of bigotries, and news organisations should not play along with it. If they are referring to God, then 'God' is what they should say."

He also uses the following quotes from Dr. Umar F. Abd-Allah's article One God, Many Names:

"From the standpoint of Islamic theology and salvation history, it is simply unacceptable to deem the Biblical God and that of the Qur'an to be anything but the same..."

"Muslims, Christians and Jews should have no difficulty agreeing that they all turn to the God of Abraham, despite their theological and ritual differences. Historical arguments between their faiths have never been over what name to call Abraham's God."

Brian Whitaker mentions that Dr. Umar Abd-Allah, "criticises English-speaking Muslims who insist on talking about 'Allah' instead of 'God' since that "serves only to reinforce the groundless claims of the religious right." In One God, Many Names, Dr. Umar also makes the following useful observations--especially for those involved in Islamic outreach (da'wah):

"It is natural for English-speaking Muslims to have a special attachment to the word 'Allah'... but it rarely has that same effect on non-Muslim, non-Arab listeners..."

"'Allah' continues to evoke a wide range of deeply ingrained cultural prejudices and negative associations, conscious or subconscious. On the other hand, 'God' creates an immediate associative response in most non-Muslim native speakers of English that would be virtually impossible for 'Allah' to evoke even after years of positive exposure."

For the sake of da'wah, please take this to heart!

Deen On...

Some Advice for Muslims Involved in Outreach

In response to a recent posting on DeenPort, I was prompted to rant and rave on a topic that I feel is of utmost importance if we want to make progress in overcoming misconceptions that non-Muslims have about Islam and make our outreach efforts more effective. This was something of a follow up to my recent posting in response to the question: Do Catholics and Muslims Worship the Same God?, and here's what I had to say:

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As-salamu 'alaykum,

Well I'll second Arfan Shah's opinion that you need "some more explanation on the word Allah". Actually, I would strongly recommend simply using "God" in lieu of "Allah". No, I take that back. Rather, I would very, very, very strongly recommend that you use the word "God" instead of "Allah" or, at the very least, offer a well thought out explanation of the word "Allah" that makes it clear that it means "God"—the same God that Jews and Christians believe in (which is not meant to imply that these two abrogated religions don't have serious flaws in their understanding of God). Likewise, I would omit all, and I do mean ALL, of the Arabic terminology and instead translate these words into 100% pure English. Based on my experiences, both prior to converting to Islam and well over a dozen years being active in Islamic outreach (i.e. da'wah), I know that such an approach is usually much more effective than confusing non-Muslims with words that they don't understand and aren't in a position to appreciate.

In His Noble Book, Almighty God informs us that He never "sent a messenger except (to teach) in the language of his (own) people, in order to make things clear to them" (Qur'an 14:4), so I sincerely feel—needless to say—that Muslims ought to employ the same modus operandi in their da'wah efforts. One would think that it's rather obvious that we should speak to people in a language that they can actually understand, but the fact that this needs to be explained speaks volumes about the state that much of our Ummah is in these days. Please understand that this isn't meant to imply that knowing the Arabic language isn't an important (even essential) part of understanding Islam or that the deep meanings of Qur'anic Arabic can necessarily be translated into English (or any other language, for that matter). Rather, I'm only trying to point out that one needs to strive to keep things simple when presenting Islam to non-Muslims who are more than likely misinformed about it. Based on the fact that you named your article "My Simple Guide to Islam", I think that we're probably in agreement on this point.

Before getting involved in any efforts to present Islam to non-Muslims, especially in an age where Islamophobia is rampant in the media and on the Internet, one needs to be keenly aware of the misinformation many people have been subjected to in order to avoid playing into the hands of the enemies of Islam. As I touched upon in a recent blog posting, there's no doubt that one of the main tactics that Christian missionaries and Islamophobes are using in order to "poison the well" of Islam (i.e. get people to reject it before they even take it into honest consideration) is to claim that "Allah" as a pagan god or, at a minimum, portray Him as a completely different God than Jews and Christians worship. As one can plainly see by reading the comments and opinions expressed by non-Muslims here (which represents a fairly typical mixed bag of opinions), this tactic has been rather effective. This can be confirmed by not only doing some Google searches, but by simply listening to the opinions voiced on conservative (and sometimes even liberal) news outlets. In my opinion, that this misunderstanding about Allah is nearly all-pervasive is very much backed up by what I've personally observed in my interactions with non-Muslims. Even as a relatively open-minded truth seeker who was already willing to admit that my previous religion of Christianity had some substantial flaws, it still took me about a year to struggle through the misconceptions that I had about Islam, including the one in question. Thus any Muslim involved in dealing with non-Muslims needs to understand and be sympathetic to the fact that English-speaking non-Muslims sometimes wonder, "If Allah is really God, then why don't you just call Him God?" I've actually been asked this question (and they probably just think it more than they actually ask it!), which I feel is a great indicator of the frame of mind that we often have to deal with. Every age has its issues, misunderstandings, hang-ups and pet peeves—and this seems to be the one for our age.

Unfortunately, Muslims are to blame for a lot of these misunderstandings, since not only are a lot of our so-called "da'wah" efforts not very well thought out, but many Muslims are grossly misinformed and narrow-minded on this subject as well. A good example of this comes from an article about a seemingly well-intentioned but rather misguided Muslim teacher, Israr Khan, that appeared in The Daily Mail several months ago. While I certainly agree with his view that Muslim children should not be singing Christmas carols, his handling of the situation was (at least as portrayed in the article) not only ill-mannered, rough and unwise, but his condemnation of "God" played directly into the hands of the enemies of Islam and smacked of henotheism as well. Indeed, Israr Khan's stating, "Who is your God? Why are you saying Jesus and Jesus Christ? God is not your God - it is Allah" is the type of thing that makes me want to cry out in frustration (or collapse in anguish, since it really does break my heart). Not only do such statements serve to confirm the misconceptions and misinformation that many, if not most, non-Muslims have been exposed to, but they should make one wonder how a "Muslim teacher" living in the West became so bigoted and misinformed in the first place.

Even though I would normally hesitate to base my view of a Muslim on one (non-Muslim) newspaper article, the point here isn't about an individual but about a particular "our God is better than your God" mentality that I've been opposing for many years. In regards to our brother Israr Khan, I'll say "Allahu 'alim" and simply point out that I don't find this story hard to believe, not because of him personally, but because of my own personal experiences. I don't know if he's an anthropomorphic "Salafi" who might be accused (in a tongue-in-cheek sort of way) of "worshipping the sky god of Najd", a Muslim who has fallen victim to a narrow cultural and tribal religious mentality, or simply a well-intentioned and pious man who has been unjustly slandered by The Daily Mail. That's all beside the point, since the sad fact that I want to make clear is that I've had the unenviable experience of coming across quite a few "walking, talking da'wah disasters" (as a convert friend of mine in Kuwait once labeled them) in my fourteen plus years as a Muslim. Even though they almost always counter these feelings and clarify their real views when properly questioned—the universality of the Islamic message being something that almost all Muslims take to heart, unfortunately it often seems that Muslims believe in an anthropomorphic tribal deity that they perceive to be "the god of the Muslims", thus we cannot just blame Islamophobic misinformation for this rather grave misunderstanding.

In order to improve the situation, if it was up to me I would require that every Muslim who wants to get involved in making outreach to non-Muslims in the English-speaking world read Dr. Umar Faruq Abd-Allah's article One God, Many Names and pass a detailed test on it. This Nawawi Foundation article is a masterpiece in regards to clarifying misconceptions that many Muslims have, largely due to linguistic double-standards, intellectual laziness or popular myths, and contains a wealth of information useful to anyone involved in talking about the Deity in any language. It's essentially written with a Muslim audience in mind with the aim of informing them about an important topic and thus to turn them into better-informed ambassadors of Islam...so please read it.

To me, One God, Many Names was really a breath of fresh air, especially coming from a convert who is, relatively speaking, up there in years. This is because, based on what I've seen, many converts over the years seem to forget about their old pre-conversion questions, obsessions and sensibilities once they get fully immersed in the beauty of Islam and the Arabic language...having left behind the facile and childish debate whether "Allah" is really God a long time ago. I admit that I've even caught myself falling into this trap, but when I see clear examples of Muslims being bull-headed and thus turning sincere people away from Islam and making our enemies cheer, then I snap out of it and jump in with both feet (at least some of the time). So in the future, whenever you encounter a Muslim da'i wannabe who is laboring under misconceptions about how the Islamic understanding of God should be explained to non-Muslims, refer them to One God, Many Names, by Dr. Umar Faruq Abd-Allah...and thank God that we still have such wise and articulate scholars in this trying age.

On a side note, I've sometimes considered asking Muslims who are resistant to the views which I've expressed above how they think most Muslims would feel if someone refused to use the word "Allah" when speaking to them and instead used the word for God from another language because they felt that it was much superior? My guess is that they would think that this would be ridiculous, misguided and very offensive-and rightfully so. Hopefully a word to the wise is sufficient in this case, thus I won't attempt to explain this hopefully clear point in detail. On the other hand, this question also serves as a response to the hate-mongers who claim that "Allah" is some false pagan deity, since one wonders how Arabs, regardless of their religion convictions or world-view, would be able to talk about God if they completely stopped using the word "Allah" when they spoke, since it's simply the word for "God" in the Arabic language. Indeed, not only do contemporary Arabic-speaking Jews, Christians and Muslims use this blessed word, but it has been used by all Arabs from time immemorial to refer to the Deity, from the theologically depraved pagan Arabs to the free-thinking neo-Platonic Arab philosophers of the High Middle Ages...since "Allah" is simply the word for God in the Arabic language. As I touched upon in Accidental Paganism Based on a Name, this entire polemic is as ridiculous as asking English-speaking people to stop using the word "God" because it has pagan German origins, since how then, pray tell, would we talk about God in English if we couldn't say the word "God"? Food for thought, I hope...

Before closing, I also want to address the issue of translating the Islamic Testification of Faith (i.e. Shahadah), since this presents some challenges that often lead to misunderstandings. Personally, I prefer to state the Shahadah as: "There is no god but God and Muhammad is the Messenger of God", although I find other all-English formulations, such as "There is nothing divine except for Almighty God and Muhammad is the Messenger of God" acceptable as well. However, I find the use of translations of the Shahadah that mix English and Arabic words to be somewhat questionable since they, based on my personal empirical observations, often confuse non-Muslims. Indeed, I've heard Shaykh Hamza Yusuf clearly state that such translations of the Shahadah are indeed "problematic". This is because the statement "There is no God but Allah" could be (and sometimes is) taken to imply that Muslims are claiming that the "God" that English-speaking Jews and Christians believe in doesn't exist (or is a false god) and "Allah" (the deity of the Arabs) is the only true God. This is certainly not how it's meant, but that's how it often comes across, so in order to avoid being counterproductive in our outreach efforts, one has to be sensitive to the state-of-mind and point-of-view of the audience that one is addressing.

On this note, I'll also point out that the article in question uses both "no God but Allah" and "no god but Allah" (the differences in upper and lower case being significant) in its translations of the Shahadah. This is worthy of note, since these slightly different formulations can both carry different subtle implications and thus spawn varied misunderstandings. Although I've already mentioned the pitfalls that the "There is no God but Allah" formulation presents, one should understand that saying "there is no god but Allah" could be taken in a rather different way (i.e. as an implication that Allah is something less than a full Deity since He's only a "god" with a lowercase "g"). It's due to all of these complications that I feel it's a good idea to stick to using "god" and "God" when translating the Shahadah into English (and I often quip that the ones that don't are really only partial translations), since when both of the words used to express divinity come from the same language, some of these difficulties are clearly avoided. No doubt, the original Arabic formulation is beautifully unhampered by any of these problems, which is why it remains not only a deep and profound theological statement, but the deepest truth ever revealed to mankind...so let's get busy spreading it amongst them in a meaningful way.

In conclusion, I'll clarify that I'm not calling on Muslim to completely stop using the word "Allah" when speaking to non-Muslims (much less amongst themselves), but just trying to make them aware of the dire misunderstandings that exist and the state of mind of their audience. I'll even admit that it's probably even a good idea to use the word "Allah" a bit around non-Muslims, since this sometimes serves to make it clear that this is just another word for Almighty God. However, I would hesitate to do this in initial presentations or discussions with non-Muslims, since they're most probably been exposed to the misinformation that I described above. So a distinction should be made between making presentations to (probably misinformed) non-Muslims and simply going about our daily lives as Muslims (i.e. performing our salat, reading the Qur'an, doing our dhikr and carrying on conversations sprinkled with Arabic terminology).

On a positive note, I feel that the views that I advocate above are really catching on amongst English-speaking Muslim scholars, especially the well-known converts that are active in da'wah. Not only does Dr. Umar's article make this clear, but several months ago, I asked another knowledgeable, well-known and well-respected Muslim scholar about the issue of effective outreach to non-Muslims, and he agreed that we should certainly use the word "God" when presenting Islam to English-speaking non-Muslims, otherwise we'll just end up being misunderstood. He then stated, with wise and sound logic, that "God is Allah and Allah is God" so it's certainly nothing that a thinking person should get hung-up on or confused about. I also recall, back from the years that I spent as a hot-headed young "Salafi" in Kuwait, hearing a Shaykh that had spent many years in America explain to some of my fellow narrow-minded cohorts that if they used the word "Allah" in their da'wah to non-Muslims, they'd probably just be misunderstood...and that's the point that I want to get across.

Here endeth the lesson. To those of you who read all of this lengthy rant, I want to say, "Thanks!" since I sure feel better after getting that off my chest...