What appears on the surface to be an innocent distribution of Qur'ans is far from it; the devil is always in the details. The facts surrounding this case should be alarming, and certainly would be alarming to Americans if the Chicago Tribune had not been derelict to its duty to inform its readers. To ignore the facts, without one iota of analysis, is to leave our nation exposed to a grave threat without a challenge. A non-profit organization based out of Chicago, the Al-Furqaan Foundation, received national attention a few weeks ago after the Chicago Tribune profiled their "noble" endeavors in a May 15, 2008 report, "Qurans given out for Free." The Arabic Qur'an certainly plays a central role in my life as a Muslim in its capacity as what Muslims believe to be the revealed words of God to Muslims in Arabic. However, the English translations are not believed to be Qur'an (the recitation in Arabic) but rather more appropriately referred to as "interpretations or explanations" of Quran. In fact our daily prayers which include memorized Qur'anic recitations cannot be done but in the original Arabic of the Qur'an in order to preserve clarity. [more...]
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