It makes me laugh every time I run across it, because it's so ridiculous.
How is it that Arabic is the only language that supposedly has words and phrases that are literally untranslatable? If Arabic can be learned, then it can be translated. If it can be translated, then there is no need to learn it.
More importantly, why in the world would the demon-god Allah choose to communicate his one true "universal" cult for all people in the only language that cannot be translated for all people?
No world religion claims that it can only be understood in one language. Only the death cult of Islam claims this, and that claim only surfaces in discussions of ayat (verses) that are embarrassing or uncomfortable for Muslims to face.
Not to mention the Koran was written in classical Arabic -- an obscure Quraish dialect which has not been commonly used in over a thousand years and is known only by a few hundred people alive today. Those people are typically Wahabbi scholars, who, ironically, are accused of taking the Koran "too literally."
The Koran has been translated from Arabic by Arabic speakers: devout Muslims whose linguistic expertise far exceeds that of any armchair apologist who pretends to know better. The idea that they would deliberately mangle an interpretation to cast Islam in an unflattering light is unthinkable to any Muslim.
They don't get to have it both ways. They can't declare that (for some strange reason) the "perfect book" of the Koran can't be translated and that Allah's "perfect" death cult thus cannot be understood by most of humanity.
Also, how is it that "the Koran can only be understood in Arabic" applies only to critics of Islam and not to its advocates? Apologists never claim that Arabic is a barrier to understanding Islam when it is lauded as a "religion of peace." Neither do they qualify the claim that "Islam is the fastest growing religion" with the caveat that new converts don't understand Islam since they can't read the Koran in Arabic.
The real reason for this childish game is that modern technology has made the full history and texts of Islam available to everyone and the contents are highly embarrassing for Muslims.
Pretending that different meanings exist in Arabic is merely a pathetic attempt at saving face.
I speak two languages. It's true that sometimes there is no direct translation for a certain concept (the phrase would make no sense structured in English for example), but there is always a way to translate to something roughly equivalent. You might miss some nuance or shade of meaning, but the core concept will be there.
Every human deals with the same world and the same ideas, so obviously we are all going to find a way to describe them all. And you're right, the Muslims would make their holy book as accurate as possible.
I read “Seeking Allah, Finding Jesus” and it was a really good book, about a devout moderate Muslim who goes around and around debating religion with a friend through college and ultimately converts to Christianity.
It was very helpful in understanding how culturally they approach their religion and I discovered that some Muslims may not read certain passages in their book if their leaders don’t show it to them. It was helpful to me to understand that some Muslims may not be practicing taqqiya (sp?)
The author sadly passed away but he has a YouTube video out with his conversion story.
Wow, grade A gaslighting.
It makes me laugh every time I run across it, because it's so ridiculous.
How is it that Arabic is the only language that supposedly has words and phrases that are literally untranslatable? If Arabic can be learned, then it can be translated. If it can be translated, then there is no need to learn it.
More importantly, why in the world would the demon-god Allah choose to communicate his one true "universal" cult for all people in the only language that cannot be translated for all people?
No world religion claims that it can only be understood in one language. Only the death cult of Islam claims this, and that claim only surfaces in discussions of ayat (verses) that are embarrassing or uncomfortable for Muslims to face.
Not to mention the Koran was written in classical Arabic -- an obscure Quraish dialect which has not been commonly used in over a thousand years and is known only by a few hundred people alive today. Those people are typically Wahabbi scholars, who, ironically, are accused of taking the Koran "too literally."
The Koran has been translated from Arabic by Arabic speakers: devout Muslims whose linguistic expertise far exceeds that of any armchair apologist who pretends to know better. The idea that they would deliberately mangle an interpretation to cast Islam in an unflattering light is unthinkable to any Muslim.
They don't get to have it both ways. They can't declare that (for some strange reason) the "perfect book" of the Koran can't be translated and that Allah's "perfect" death cult thus cannot be understood by most of humanity.
Also, how is it that "the Koran can only be understood in Arabic" applies only to critics of Islam and not to its advocates? Apologists never claim that Arabic is a barrier to understanding Islam when it is lauded as a "religion of peace." Neither do they qualify the claim that "Islam is the fastest growing religion" with the caveat that new converts don't understand Islam since they can't read the Koran in Arabic.
The real reason for this childish game is that modern technology has made the full history and texts of Islam available to everyone and the contents are highly embarrassing for Muslims.
Pretending that different meanings exist in Arabic is merely a pathetic attempt at saving face.
I speak two languages. It's true that sometimes there is no direct translation for a certain concept (the phrase would make no sense structured in English for example), but there is always a way to translate to something roughly equivalent. You might miss some nuance or shade of meaning, but the core concept will be there.
Every human deals with the same world and the same ideas, so obviously we are all going to find a way to describe them all. And you're right, the Muslims would make their holy book as accurate as possible.
I read “Seeking Allah, Finding Jesus” and it was a really good book, about a devout moderate Muslim who goes around and around debating religion with a friend through college and ultimately converts to Christianity.
It was very helpful in understanding how culturally they approach their religion and I discovered that some Muslims may not read certain passages in their book if their leaders don’t show it to them. It was helpful to me to understand that some Muslims may not be practicing taqqiya (sp?)
The author sadly passed away but he has a YouTube video out with his conversion story.