So more than 80 PCT. of the Muslims on earth do not speak Arabic, and to read any other translation of the Quran in any other language makes you a heretic. And of course that is the ever present argument thrown at those of us who draw our knowledge about Islam, and the Quran. If we are to read any other translation than we will not be able to understand the true sayings of the prophet Mohammed. Maybe that has been the problem all along,we simply misunderstood the writings of the hadiths, and the Quran because they where in another language other than Arabic. Maybe the French,the Germans, and the Italians have a completly different take on what those 114 surahs are saying as compared to,say an English transalation. Has N.J. Dawood mislead us all with his English translation of the Quran?

Maybe all those Grand poopas of the Arabic world should be suing in a class action for giving false transalations to all us infidels.

Posted by: Mackie at March 20, 2006 9:34 AM

Since Arabic speakers have problems with pronunciation of the "P" which is why "Peter" becomes "Boutros" (of course in Argentina it becomes "H. Bustos Domecq"), the poster above took account of the difficulties that Arabic-speaking visitors might encounter, through his suppression of the requisite "b" in "poobah" and his intentional writing of the phrase "Arabic poopas" instead. This is an example not of the false typo, deliberately set to distract and confuse(see "Two Notes on Verbal Decorum") while the passeur is smuggling another kind of meaning across the border of thought, but an example, rather, of the typo as politely silent accommodation.

The new word formed, "poopas," may make some think of one of the stages of insect development. Or of the name of some appetizer in a most authentic Chinese (or other Asian) restaurant. Or of the first doing duty as the second. Try to resist such thoughts.

Posted by: Hugh at March 20, 2006 9:57 AM

Should the prayers be in Arabic or the Classical Arabic of the Koran? Even fewer people understand Classical Arabic than modern Arabic. What is the point in chanting something if you can't understand it?

How do you say "Four legs good, two legs bad" in Classical Arabic anyway?

Posted by: Celsius at March 20, 2006 10:04 AM

"They believe true prayer can be conducted only in Arabic." --from the article

This is yet another indication that Islam, even as practiced today in non-Arab countries, contains an element of Arab imperialism/supremacism. Mohammad in the Hadith is reported to have said that Arabs and non-Arabs are equals. However, one can find other statements that suggest that Arabs are the best. Also, the Shafi'i Reliance of the Traveller stipulates that the Caliph must be an Arab male of the Quraysh tribe.

Posted by: Archimedes at March 20, 2006 10:31 AM

That is an extremely good article, well worth the read. I've been keeping track of some of the blasphemy cases he mentioned, see
http://www.indonesiamatters.com/index.php?s=blasphemy.

Posted by: patung at March 20, 2006 1:05 PM

I guess Allah likes it best when the people praying to him don't know what they are saying.

(Do Islam's Grand Boohbahs disagree?)

Posted by: Malta_1565 at March 20, 2006 1:58 PM

Do Islam's Grand Boohbahs disagree?

I dunno about that, but they don't think much of Pooh Bear's mate Piglet.

Posted by: Granny Weatherwax at March 20, 2006 2:37 PM

"poopas" sounds like a child's mispronunciation of a Salvadorean dietary staple, which BTW are quite tasty and typically served with a tangy curtido.

Posted by: Lisa at March 20, 2006 3:58 PM

The prayers have to be spoken or sung in Arabic since otherwise a lot of Indonesians will figure out that they've been had. They will realise that Islam is not the worship of a transcendent Being but instead the worship of Mohammed and his tribal peculiarities. One is struck by the constant supplications to Allah on behalf of Mohammed prayers and the exhortations of his merits. I mean if Mohammed is the most perfect, most humble etc of creatures why this tedious need to beg the Almighty on his behalf and the constant reminder of his petty merits.
At some subteranean level the Muslims surely must realise that their prophet is actually rotting in Dante's seventh circle of Hell.

Posted by: ivan at March 20, 2006 10:47 PM

And Daniel Pipes, Irshad Manji, and Mansour Ijaz would like the world to sit patiently by while Muslims hash out whether it's only OK to pray in Arabic, or in the language of the adherent, whether it's OK to beat your wife with a stick, whenter it's OK to behead apostates or infidels, or Muslims if they "blaspheme"...

These people sit, straight faced and open eyed, and suggest to us that we are obligated to suffer and die while Muslims spend the next 300 or 400 years sorting out these proposterous issues!? What makes these promoters of the notion of "moderate" Muslims, and the notion that Islam itself is "moderatable", what makes them arrogantly tell us we must be patient, no, we should help Muslims "moderate" their religion, all while they murder and slaughtering themselves, and far worse, countless numbers of we non-Muslims in the process?

I tell them and all who think like them - NO! I will not sit by patiently waiting for Muslims to sort their religion out. What an affront this is - what an unwelcome and unreasonable burden to place on the rest of the world --

We owe Muslims absolutely NOTHING -- and we certainly owe ourselves a better life and future than waiting in impotent fear and anxiety while they drag the world ever closer to possible Armageddon.

If it comes to it, it would be far more just and reasonale to wage a ruthless war of destruction on that fraction of humanity which threatens all the rest, rather than subjecting the entirety of humanity to the threat of annihilation at the hands of that fraction!

Posted by: jsla at March 21, 2006 2:59 AM