20 years' jail for "errors" in Koran translation

We read:
"An Afghan court has sentenced an ex-journalist and a mullah to 20 years in prison each for publishing a translation of the Koran alleged to contain errors, friends and media rights groups said today. Afghan and international media rights organisations condemned the sentences handed down yesterday and called on President Hamid Karzai to intervene.

Former journalist Ahmed Ghous Zalmai was arrested in November trying to escape into Pakistan as religious clerics and parliament were in an uproar about a Dari-language version of the Muslim holy book he had published.

Mullah Qari Mushtaq, who was sentenced with him, had approved the version which other clerics and parliamentarians claimed contained errors and misunderstandings about issues such as homosexuality and adultery. Critics also complained the book did not include the original Arabic text as required by Islamic law.

Source

There are all sorts of debates among Bible scholars about the best translation of certain scriptural passages but the debate is carried on in a much more mature way than the childish fearfulness we see above. One is allowed to seek the truth in the text itself in Christian circles but in Muslim circles it seems that what the dominant faction says must not be questioned.

Posted by John Ray. For a daily critique of Leftist activities, see DISSECTING LEFTISM. For a daily survey of Australian politics, see AUSTRALIAN POLITICS Also, don't forget your roundup of Obama news and commentary at OBAMA WATCH

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