Page 295 - Bigotry: The Dark Danger
P. 295
Adnan Oktar
(Harun Yahya)
additions are made and meanings are shaped according to
the individual interpretations of the translator.
Let us recall here that since the people who translate the Qur'an
generally have traditional conceptions of Islam, which regard
hadiths as the foundation of the faith, and since these people's trans-
lations are generally highly esteemed, individual interpretations
emerging in translations of verses are generally traditional and
shaped in the light of fabricated hadiths. Such translators who add
remarks in parenthesis have a tendency, conscious or otherwise, to
alter the meaning of verses in line with that of such false hadiths.
When we look at the translations of verse 31 of Surat an-Nur, we
see that although the word "head-covering" appears nowhere in it,
the word is used by commentators either directly in the text or else
in parenthesis. Although the word "head" or "ra'as" does not appear
in the verse, and the word "bosom" is used in combination with the
word "cover," meaning that the area to be covered up is clearly the
bosom, the word "khimar," meaning "any covering," is translated as
"head-covering." The instruction in the verse is thus altered; this
altered meaning has been made widespread and become the tradi-
tional interpretation, and the conclusion is thus drawn that women
need to cover their heads.
When this interpretation that was added only later by commen-
tators is done away with, however, it is clear that the verse is explic-
itly referring to the covering up of the bosom. Anyone reading the
verse will encounter that meaning alone.
293