Posted on 09/23/2010 7:48:22 AM PDT by Alex Murphy
The threat by Pastor Terry Jones to burn the Qur'an was all over the news. What if, instead of destroying Muslim books, we were actually to create them, by translating the classic works of the Islamic golden age into English?
That is the project Dan Peterson, a professor of Arabic at Brigham Young University has been engaged in for more than a decade, a project that has built tremendous goodwill and resulted in many lasting friendships between Muslims and those of the Mormon faith.
This past Sunday evening, Peterson was in town as part of a BYU humanities outreach to give a lecture at the Mormon Church in Naperville on BYU's Islamic Translation Series. Several hundred people were in attendance, including several dozen Muslim dignataries and guests.
Peterson recalled that when he was first appointed as a professor and began to teach a course in Islamic philosophy, he was chagrined by the lack of classic Islamic texts available in English translation. You can walk into any Borders or Barnes and Noble and find multiple translations of the great thinkers of Greece and Rome, but not so for Islam.
Some time later he was approached by Elder Alexander Morrison, a General Authority (central church leader) of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, the sponsoring institution of BYU. Elder Morrison wanted to discuss with Peterson ways in which BYU could reach out to the Muslim world in a gesture of friendship and respect.
Peterson came to that meeting prepared with a list of ideas, but the one that Morrison (a former academic himself) quickly seized upon was that for a translation series of classic Islamic texts. This idea was particularly appealing to Morrison because it would not entail us talking about Islam, but rather would let the great thinkers of
(Excerpt) Read more at newsblogs.chicagotribune.com ...
Some time later he was approached by Elder Alexander Morrison, a General Authority (central church leader) of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, the sponsoring institution of BYU. Elder Morrison wanted to discuss with Peterson ways in which BYU could reach out to the Muslim world in a gesture of friendship and respect.
Two cults
Where was anybody’s concern when our own military burned hundred of Christian Bibles that were sent to Afghanistan . . . I’m still waiting for one crumb of indignation and outrage!
Don’t care what books one cult or the other writes or believes in. What about our own Bible?
“reach out to the Muslim world in a gesture of friendship and respect”
Notice that doesn’t mean the extreme radical side. I doubt that will matter to many of the freeper regulars that only desire to attack the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints but nevertheless.
Also notice the phrase “friendship and respect”. That will be a new concept to some.
Yep, lets ‘befriend’ the ‘pit-bull’ He’s a great dog. Till he turns on you.
I see the making of a great novel. The Muzzies and the Mormons!
You cannot ‘befriend’ Islam - you can either join or submit - there is no middle ground or other option.
Perhaps if the good prof had read the Qu’ran and not “classic lit” he would have seen why the term 'Arab intellectual' or 'Arab progress' stopped so long ago....(Assuming most Arabs are muzzies)
Goodwill between Muslims and non Muslims is a myth from the Muslim perspective, and even though Mormonism borrowed from Islam, there would be no good will offered to Mormons in a purely Islamic world. But these little charades of tolerance and understanding are the flavor of the day, so sugarcoat them, and pawn them off on the gullible. Just understand that in an Islamic dominant world, the book of Mormon would perish in ashes.
meh, if some of the mormons rubs off on some of the muslims, the good parts that is, then it is a good thing. If some of the bad stuff from the other side rubs off on the mormons, then that is not good.
I wonder how clean cut 19 year old boys wearing black suits and nametags going door to door in Saudi Arabia and Iran are treated?
What ever happened to loving your neighbors and trying to influence them by living through Christ? It is either that or be the sort of person that posts this article just to cause hurt and relish making others unhappy for a few moments.
classic literature?? is that a joke?
Exactly HOW does one tell the difference? Peep stone in a hat?
How quaint...
Wow! It seems like 999replies has a "Magic 8 ball peep stone urum & thummim" all rolled into one if he's able to judge from another state the motivation for FR article posting from a complete stranger!
You know we need to market that. Do you have that patented yet?
It is hilarious...
My favorite is one from a while back where he tells a poster that he hates bullys, then goes on to try and bully everyone, which he continues to do to this day...
It really is a hoot...
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