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| Usama Dakdok's Ignorance on the Front Page |
For those who are unaware, Usama Dakdok is a charlatan who
has ‘translated’ the Quran in English (being retailed on his site for ‘donations’
of $24.95 or $44.95) despite not having any qualifications at all nor any real
training in classical Arabic.
I was going through some of his material on ABN and this guy’s
brazen foolishness and lack of Arabic skills struck me. He even translated the
title القران الكريم as ‘the generous
Quran’. In his animated style he challenges folk to go and look in any
dictionary regarding the word كريم (kareem) convinced the meaning is generous
and not holy or glorious.
The man really makes himself look silly. كريم when used with
regards to a person can mean generous however when used with regards to a book
the meaning is going to be different. Common sense dictates this.
The Hans Wehr dictionary translates كريم in many ways
including 'decent', 'noble' and 'distinguished'. ‘Decent’ is a synonym for ‘good’ in
English – in turn this is a synonym for ‘holy’ so the translation of ‘holy’ is
no conspiracy Usama! The same applies to the translation of ‘glorious’ as the
word distinguished is a synonym of ‘glorious’ in English.
Usama Dakdok would do well to actually read the dictionary
definitions of the words he is going to comment on especially if he is going to
go against popular translations. I assume he knows how to use an Arabic
dictionary.
I guess the following construction in the mind of Usama
Dakdok will mean a generous stone and not a precious stone
حجر كريم
Usama Dakdok, we know you’re a charlatan sadly the Americans
in the churches and gatherings you frequent actually think you are a man in the
know. I’d imagine they are your cash-cows for now. Usama Dakdok, if you’re ignorance is highlighted on the
FRONT COVER of your translation through the TITLE we only worry as to the
accuracy of the contents…
Note: Dakdok does not fit ANY of Ahmed
Von Denffer’s educational requirements for translating the Quran in English.
a amazon review on usama book--->
ReplyDeleteJust a heads up. The "translator" here, Usama Dakdok, still openly promotes on his website the somewhat silly myth that Barack Obama is a Muslim. He has also openly referred to Islam as a virus, a cancer, a disease. So just be aware that you are reading a "translation" by someone who clearly has a bit of an axe to grind.
Beyond that, it's commonly accepted practice among linguists and translators to always translate from one's secondary languages into one's first language. You can tell from watching videos of Usama Dakdok on youtube that he is speaking English as a second language--hence he is operating against accepted translation protocol by translating from his first language into his second language. In my opinion, when you read a translation made by someone who doesn't speak your own language as their first language, you are robbing yourself of the opportunity to read a translation which is beautiful in the receiving language. This combined with Usama's clear hatred for Islam means that you are going to get at best a very ugly slant on the historic religious text. I would suggest skipping it and reading a translation by someone who has the tools and experience which a tertiary education in both languages as well as in the field of linguistics can provide
Will Calvin College Play Host to Fake Ex-Terrorist Kamal Saleem…Again?
ReplyDeleteSUBMITTED BY: Brian Tashman, Friday 01/18/2013, 1:45pm
UPDATE: It appears that Calvin College will no longer be hosting the event. The American Decency Association plans to host Kamal Saleem, who claims to be a former terrorist, at Calvin College as part of a tour of Michigan. Saleem’s story of working as a terrorist all over the globe has been thoroughly debunked, but he continues to be an idol of Religious Right groups. He even spoke at last year’s Values Voter Summit following Paul Ryan where he warned that Secretary of State Hillary Clinton plans to “shut down” churches and synagogues. Saleem has argued that President... MORE >