You may have heard about the Koran's idea of paradise being 72 virgins, and I promise I will come back to those virgins. But in fact, here in the Northwest, we're living very close to the real Koranic idea of paradise, defined 36 times as "gardens watered by running streams." Since I live on a houseboat on the running stream of Lake Union, this makes perfect sense to me. But the thing is, how come it's news to most people? I know many well-intentioned non-Muslims who've begun reading the Koran, but given up, disconcerted by its "otherness." The historian Thomas Carlyle considered Muhammad one of the world's greatest heroes, yet even he called the Koran "as toilsome reading as I ever undertook; a wearisome, confused jumble."
Laga yaabee inaad maqasheen aragtida Quraanka ee Janada inay ku jiraan 72 xuuraylcayn ahi, Waana idiin balanqaadayaa inaan xuuralcaynta kusoo noqon doono. Laakiin, xaqiiqdii halkan waqooyigalbeed Waxanu ku noolahay wax u dhow aragtida Quraanka ee Janada, lagu sheegay 36 jeer inay yihiin 'beero ay qulqulayaan durduro.'' Maadaamoo aan ku noolahay guri dooni ah oo ku yaal durdurka Harada Union, Tani dareen qiima leh bay ii samaysay. Laakiin arintu waa, siday u arkaan dadku arintan warkeeda? Waxan og ahay gaalo niyad wanaagsan kuwaasoo bilaabay akhrinta Quraanka, balse iska daayay, markii ay ku wareereen qariibnimadiisa. Taariikhyahankii Thomas Caryle wuxu u gartay Muxamed mid kamid ah geesiyaashii ugu waynaa aduunka, laakiin Quraanka wuxu ugu yeedhay '' akhriskii ugu kakanaa ee aan dhexgalo kii ugu daalka iyo wareerka badnaa.''
(Laughter)
(Qosol)
Part of the problem, I think, is that we imagine that the Koran can be read as we usually read a book -- as though we can curl up with it on a rainy afternoon with a bowl of popcorn within reach, as though God -- and the Koran is entirely in the voice of God speaking to Muhammad -- were just another author on the best-seller list. Yet, the fact that so few people do actually read the Koran is precisely why it's so easy to quote -- that is, to misquote.
Qayb kamida dhibaatadu, waxan filayaa, inay tahay inaan u haysano in Quraanka loo akhriyi karo sida aynu caadiyan u akhrino buug- oo aynu intaynu gees ula baxno galab roobaad inagoo salool dubana ina horyaalo, sidii oo Ilaahay-- Quraankuna gebi ahaanba waa hadalkii Ilaahay kula hadlayey Muxamad-- uu yahay mid kamida qoraayada liiska ugu wacan ku jira Welise xaqiiqadu waxay tahay in dad yari ay dhabtii akhriyaan Quraanka way cadahahay sababta ay aadka ugu fududahay in la soo xigto-- taas waxay tahay, in si khalkdan loo xigto.
(Laughter)
Jumlado iyo weedho dulucdoodii laga saaray
Phrases and snippets taken out of context in what I call the "highlighter version," which is the one favored by both Muslim fundamentalists and anti-Muslim Islamophobes.
oo ah waxan ugu yeedho ''qeybta naqshada la mariyay' Kaasoo ah kay jecelyihiin Muslimiinta xagjirka ah iyo kuwa islaamka neceb labbaduba. Hadaba gu'gii ina dhaafay,
So this past spring, as I was gearing up to begin writing a biography of Muhammad, I realized I needed to read the Koran properly -- as properly as I could, that is. My Arabic is reduced by now to wielding a dictionary, so I took four well-known translations and decided to read them side by side, verse by verse, along with a transliteration and the original seventh-century Arabic. Now, I did have an advantage. My last book was about the story behind the Shi'a-Sunni split, and for that, I'd worked closely with the earliest Islamic histories, so I knew the events to which the Koran constantly refers, its frame of reference. I knew enough, that is, to know that I'd be a tourist in the Koran -- an informed one, an experienced one, even, but still an outsider, an agnostic Jew reading someone else's holy book.
anigoo u tafaxaydanaya inaan bilaabo qoraal aan ka qoro taariikhdii Muxamed Waxan garawsaday inaan u baahan ahay inaan Quraanka akhriyo si tafatiran-- sida ugu haboon ee aan awooda, waa taas. Afkayga carbeed wuxu ku xidhnaa Qaamuus aan isticmaalo uun, markaa waxan soo qaatay afar tafsiir oo caan ah waxan go'aansaday inaan isla akhriyo dacal ilaa dacal, ayaad-aayad iyadoo alfabeet cod ahna lagu daray iyo carabidii asalka ahayd ee qarnigii 7aad. Halkaa faa'iidaan hore uga haystay. Buugaygii u danbeeyay wuxu ku saabsanaa taariikhda ka danbaysa kala jabka Suniga iyo Shiicada Markaas waxan si dhow ugu kuur galay taariikhdii hore ee Islaamka, Markaas waxaan ogaa dhacdooyinka uu Quraanku sida joogtada u tilmaamayo, Qaabkiisa ujeedka. Waxan si buuxda u ogaa inaan ahaa dalxiise Quraanka dhex yimi-- mid war haya weliba mid khibrad u leh ah, laakiin weli ah soo-galooti, Alla-kood Yahuudi ah. oo akhriyaya kitaabka dhowrsan ee cid kale.
(Laughter)
(Qosol)
So I read slowly.
Marka si degan baan u akhriyay.
(Laughter)
(Qosol)
I'd set aside three weeks for this project, and that, I think, is what is meant by "hubris" --
Sadex todobaad baan u qorsheeyay mashruucas waxana filaya taasi waa waxa 'isla baxsanaanta' micneheedu yahay--
(Laughter)
(Qosol)
because it turned out to be three months.
waayo waxay igu qaadatay sadex bilood.
(Laughter)
Waxan isku celinayay dareenka ah inaan u boodo
I did resist the temptation to skip to the back, where the shorter and more clearly mystical chapters are. But every time I thought I was beginning to get a handle on the Koran -- that feeling of "I get it now" -- it would slip away overnight, and I'd come back in the morning, wondering if I wasn't lost in a strange land. And yet, the terrain was very familiar. The Koran declares that it comes to renew the message of the Torah and the Gospels. So one-third of it reprises the stories of Biblical figures like Abraham, Moses, Joseph, Mary, Jesus. God himself was utterly familiar from his earlier manifestation as Yahweh, jealously insisting on no other gods. The presence of camels, mountains, desert wells and springs took me back to the year I spent wandering the Sinai Desert. And then there was the language, the rhythmic cadence of it, reminding me of evenings spent listening to Bedouin elders recite hours-long narrative poems entirely from memory. And I began to grasp why it's said that the Koran is really the Koran only in Arabic.
meelaha danbe ee jusaska xaqiiqada dahsoon ku yaaliin. Laakiin markastoo aan is iraahdo hadaad Quraanka majaraha u qabatay-- dareenkaas ah 'hadaan helay''-- waxay igaga sii badataa isla habeenkaas, Aroortiina waxan kusoo noqdaa anoo dhex wareegalaysanaya dhul aan ku dhex lumay, laakiin weli dhulku wuxu iila eekaa midaan si fiican u garanayo. Quraanku wuxu sheegayaa inuu u yimid inuu dib u cusboonaysiiyo fariintii Tawraad iyo Injiil. Sidaa awaadood 3 meelood meel waxay ddib u sheegaysaa ashqaastii Injiil ku jirtay sida Ibraahim, Muuse, Yuusuf, Maryama, Ciise Ilaahay oo qudhiisu aad loogu bartay bayaankiisii hore ee Yahweh-- wuxu si adag u sheegayaa inaan Ilaahyo kale jirin. Joogitaanka geela, buuraha, lama-deeganaada iyo durdurada ayaa waxay dib iigu celiyeen sanadihii aan ku qaatay dhex wareega Saxaraha Siinaay. Waxan jirtay luqada luuqda ku jirtaa, ay i xasuusinaysay habeeno aan ku qaatay dhegaysiga odayaal Badawiyiin ah oo tirinaya gabayo saacado qaadanaya gabigoodna korka ka shubaya. Waxan bilaabay inaan fahmo sababta loo yiri: Quraanku wuxu Quraan ku yahay keliya Af-Carabi.
Take the Fatihah, the seven-verse opening chapter that is the Lord's Prayer and the Shema Yisrael of Islam combined. It's just 29 words in Arabic, but anywhere from 65 to 72 in translation. And yet the more you add, the more seems to go missing. The Arabic has an incantatory, almost hypnotic quality that begs to be heard rather than read, felt more than analyzed. It wants to be chanted out loud, to sound its music in the ear and on the tongue. So the Koran in English is a kind of shadow of itself, or as Arthur Arberry called his version, "an interpretation." But all is not lost in translation.
Soo qaado suurada Faatixa Suurada 7da aayadood ee bilowga ahi waa sidan: ''Ducada Eebe'' ee Kiristanka iyo ta Yuhuuda ee ''Shema Yisrael'' oo laysku daray. Waa 29 kalmood af carabi ahaan, laakiin waxay tagtaa 65 ilaa 72 marka la tafsiiro. markastoo aad wax ku dartidna waa markastoo micnihii sii lumo. Carabidu waxay leedahay meerin, taaso soo jiidasho sixira leh, tayoo u baahan in la dhagaysto iyadoon la akhrin, la dareemo iyadoon la faaqidin. Waxay u baahantay in kor loogu heeso, si looga dhawaajiyo muusigeeda dhagaha iyo carabka. Markaa Quraanka Ingiliishka ahi wuxu u eeghay hadh wax daboolaya, ama sida uu Arthur Arberry uu ugu yeedhay '' sharaxaad'' Laakiin dhamaanteed ku lunto fasiraada.
As the Koran promises, patience is rewarded, and there are many surprises -- a degree of environmental awareness, for instance, and of humans as mere stewards of God's creation, unmatched in the Bible. And where the Bible is addressed exclusively to men, using the second- and third-person masculine, the Koran includes women -- talking, for instance, of believing men and believing women, honorable men and honorable women. Or take the infamous verse about killing the unbelievers. Yes, it does say that, but in a very specific context: the anticipated conquest of the sanctuary city of Mecca, where fighting was usually forbidden. And the permission comes hedged about with qualifiers. Not "You must kill unbelievers in Mecca," but you can, you are allowed to, but only after a grace period is over, and only if there's no other pact in place, and only if they try to stop you getting to the Kaaba, and only if they attack you first. And even then -- God is merciful; forgiveness is supreme -- and so, essentially, better if you don't.
Sida Quraanka lagu balanqaaday, sabirka waa la abaal marinayaa, waxana jiri doona wax yaabo lala kulmi doono oo cajiib ah-- wacyigelin deegaanka ah ayaa ku jirta ah, tusaale ahaan, Biniaadamku waa khaliifka abuurta Ilaahay ee dhulka, Injiil laguma sheegin. Halka Injiil si gaara loogula hadlayo raga iyadoo la isticmaalayo jinsiga rageed labbaad iyo sadexaad, Quranku wuxu ku soo darayaa dumarka-- wuxu ka hadlaya tuusaale ahaan; raga mu'miniita ah iyo dumarka mu'miinta ah, raga sharafta badan iyo dumarka sharafta badan. Ama soo qaado aayada aan caanka ahayn ee ka sheekaynaysa gaalada oo la dilo. Haa, saasay leedahay, laakiin duluc gaar ah weeye. Furashadii la filayay ee magaalada barakaysan ee Maka taaaso dagaalku xaaraam ka yahay, Ogolaanshuna wuxu la imanayaa shuruudo Keliya ma aha ''Waa inaad dishaan gaalada Maka.'' Waad awoodaan, waa laydiin ogolyahay, laakiin keliya waa marka waqtiga xurmada lihi dhamaado waana keliya marka aan heshiis hore u jirin waana keliya marka ay idinka joojiyaan galida Kacbada, waana keliya haday marka hore idin soo weeraraan. Intaasoo dhan kadibna-- Ilaahay waa naxariiste; Cafiska ugu sareeya-- Asal ahaantiina waxa kasii wanaagsan inaanaydin samayn.
(Laughter)
(Qosol)
This was perhaps the biggest surprise -- how flexible the Koran is, at least in minds that are not fundamentally inflexible.
Tanina macquul inay tahay cajiibnimadii ugu waynayd-- ee ina tusta sida Quraanku u furfuranyahay, ugu yaraan maskaxaha aan asalkoodu ahayn kuwa xidhxidhan.
"Some of these verses are definite in meaning," it says, "and others are ambiguous." The perverse at heart will seek out the ambiguities, trying to create discord by pinning down meanings of their own. Only God knows the true meaning. The phrase "God is subtle" appears again and again, and indeed, the whole of the Koran is far more subtle than most of us have been led to believe. As in, for instance, that little matter of virgins and paradise. Old-fashioned orientalism comes into play here. The word used four times is "houris," rendered as dark-eyed maidens with swelling breasts, or as fair, high-bosomed virgins. Yet all there is in the original Arabic is that one word: houris. Not a swelling breast or high bosom in sight.
''Aayadaha qaarkood macnohoodu waa biya-kama-dhibcaan'' ''qaarkoodna waxay leeyihiin micne mutaashih ah'' Qalbiyada aan wanaaagsanayni kuwa macnohoodu mutashaabiha yahay ayay wax ka baadhaan, iyagoo is-diido abuuraya markay ku ladhaan macne ay u samaysteen iyagu. Ilaahay keliyaa og micnaha dhabta ah. Jumalada ''Ilaahay waa ladiif'' ayaa soo noqnoqota in badan, taasina xaqiiqdii waxay ina tusay in Quraanku la ladiifsanyay sida in badan oo inaga midi u rumaysay. Tusaale ahaa, arintii ku saabsanayd bikranimada iyo jannada, Oryantaaliiskii qadiimka ahaa ayaa arinka soo galaya markan. Kelmeda afarta jeer lagu sheegay Quraanka waa Xuur. kelmeda waxa loo tarjuntay jaariyado indha madmadow oo naasa buurbuuran, ama curubooyin bikra ah. Laakiin waxa carabida asalka ah ku jira waxa weeye mid kaliya oo ah ''Xuur''. Ma aha mid naasa buurbuuran mana aha mid curubo ah.
(Laughter)
(Qosol)
Now this may be a way of saying "pure beings," like in angels, or it may be like the Greek "kouros" or "kore," an eternal youth.
Tan waxa la dhihi karaa ''Abuur saafi ah' sida malaaigta oo kale, ama sida Giriiga Kuuros ama Kooree, oo ah dhalinyarimo abadi ah.
But the truth is, nobody really knows. And that's the point. Because the Koran is quite clear when it says that you'll be "a new creation in paradise," and that you will be "recreated in a form unknown to you," which seems to me a far more appealing prospect than a virgin.
Laakiin runtu waxay tahay qofna ma oga, taasina waa ujeedada. Sababtoo Quraanku waa cadeeyay markuu leeyahay waxaad noqon doontaan ''abuur cusub janada dhexdeeda'' taasina waxa weeye' waxa laguu abuuri donaa qaab aanad garanayn adigu'' Kaasoo kaba sii qurux badnaa kara xuuralcaynta aynu aamisannahay.
(Laughter)
(Qosol)
And that number 72 never appears. There are no 72 virgins in the Koran. That idea only came into being 300 years later, and most Islamic scholars see it as the equivalent of people with wings sitting on clouds and strumming harps. Paradise is quite the opposite. It's not virginity; it's fecundity; it's plenty. It's gardens watered by running streams.
Tiradaa 72 marna lama sheegin . Laguma sheegin 72 bikro ah/xuuralcayn ah Quraanka. Aragtidaasi waxay aburantay 300 oo sano kadib Culumada Islaamka waxay ku masaaleeen sidii dad baalal leh oo daruuraha ku fadhiya walax dhawaaq macaanna tumanaya. Janadu waa kasoo horjeedka taas. bikronnimo maaha; waa irmaan. waa badhaadhe. Waa beero lagu waraabiyay durduro qulqulaya.
Thank you.
Mahadsanidiin.
(Applause)
(Sacab)