Feminist Koran

Caught this at Drudge. I'm going to guess it's going to go over like a fart in an elevator.

A new English-language interpretation of the Muslim Holy book the Koran challenges the use of words that feminists say have been used to justify the abuse of Islamic women.

The new version, translated by an Iranian-American, will be published in April and comes after Muslim feminists from around the world gathered in New York last November and vowed to create the first women's council to interpret the Koran and make the religion more friendly toward women.

As soon as I saw that "American" part of the description, I was pretty much convinced this will be going no where. Hell, it gives the Imams all the more reason to reject it.

In the new book, Dr. Laleh Bakhtiar, a former lecturer on Islam at the University of Chicago, challenges the translation of the Arab word "idrib," traditionally translated as "beat," which feminists say has been used to justify abuse of women.

"Why choose to interpret the word as 'to beat' when it can also mean 'to go away'," she writes in the introduction to the new book.

The passage is generally translated: "And as for those women whose illwill you have reason to fear, admonish them; then leave them alone in bed; then beat them; and if thereupon they pay you heed, do not seek to harm them. Behold, God is indeed most high, great!"

Instead, Bakhtiar suggests "Husbands at that point should submit to God, let God handle it -- go away from them and let God work His Will instead of a human being inflicting pain and suffering on another human being in the Name of God."

I'm going to guess that is a pretty radical interpretation. It will be interesting to see it put into context of the culture and time that it was written. I'm guessing that that Arab society where the religion of Islam originated probably didn't intend it as she's suggesting. But being no expert on Islam, I'll leave that for others.

She said she agrees with the imam that 'miswak' means twig and that the Koran does not encourage the harm of women. But she also said that men can interpret that passage to justify their own behavior.

That's a bit baffling. If they can interpret the passage for their own purposes, why does she think they care about her interpretation. Not to mention the fact that in all likelihood the Imams will likely condemn her translation which will make it illegitimate in the eyes of the faithful.

Bakhtiar writes in the book that she found a lack of internal consistency in previous English translations, and found little attention given to the woman's point of view.

Ah, so it's not really meant for the faithful. But for those who only read in English.

Bakhtiar has been schooled in Sufism which includes both the Shia and Sunni points of view. As an adult, she lived nine years in a Shia community in Iran and has lived in a Sunni community in Chicago for the past 15 years.

"While I understand the positions of each group, I do not represent any specific one as I find living in America makes it difficult enough to be a Muslim, much less to choose to follow one sect or another," she writes.

Must be rough. Hard to be a Muslim in America and hard to be a Muslim woman anywhere else.