Came across a blog called hypocalypse via Crooks & Liars that had a post about that "noted Muslim scholar," Charles Johnson (of LGF infamy). Ol' Chuck here wrote:
"Keith Ellison took his oath on the Koran, touching it with his left hand which is most definitely haram..."
My comment on the hypocalypse page:
Ol' Chuck there's hardly an Islamic scholar; his level of "scholarship" is too little to impress even a Muslim. As abraham pointed out in his 23:25 comment, we Muslims do a ritual bathing called "wudu" before we pray or touch the Qur'an. Touching the Qur'an with either hand after performing wudu is permissible; after all, it is a book and, like any book, it normally takes two hands to handle properly. (Duh!) But here's what Chuck missed, which even a Muslim child could have told him: The "Qur'an" used in the ceremony was a George Sale translation. Translations of the Qur'an are not the Qur'an itself, which is only in Arabic. Translations, while they too should be handled with respect, are not subject to the wudu requirement. I seriously doubt that Jefferson's "Qur'an" has any Arabic in it; I suspect there is only the English translation (and a rather poor one at that). And so it didn't really matter who touched the "Qur'an" that Ellison used in the ceremony or with what hand because it wasn't a real Qur'an to begin with. But as I said earlier, even a Muslim child could have told you all this and, yes, this really does show you all what a dolt ol' Chuck is.
2 comments:
Assalaamu alaikum,
Unfortunately, that was not only an English translation, but one with a very negative perspective on Islam...
Wa 'alaikum salaam. Yes, that thought had crossed my mind as well regarding the George Sale translation. But I think the political one-upsmanship was too attractive to ignore. I think Ellison was signaling to other politicians that he too knows how to play the game.
Post a Comment