Re:Ask HN: Best book you read in 2011
by alinajaf on Tuesday December 27, 2011 @03:13PM
(#3397202)
All correct. I would also add that I (along with many other non-Arab muslims) had read the Koran at a very young age in Arabic phonetically without understanding what it means. As far as my parents (and our sunday school teachers) were concerned, it was just as good. It wasn't until later that I tracked down a translation.
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Excellent point, which I've forgot. My mom and her neighbors perform the hatim during religious festivals using exactly the method you describe, without knowing one word of Arabic and without understanding anything. Reading in the native tongue is just not done.
As far as access to the contents of the Koran, Islam truly has some medieval qualities.