KUALA LUMPUR: The seeds of the Allah controversy, the custody battles between Muslim and non-Muslim spouses and the spread of anti-Christian feelings in Malaysia can be traced to a certain translation of the Quran, a recent forum on Muslim extremism in Kuala Lumpur was told.

This widely available translation, called the Hilali-Khan, makes Muslims think that Islam is a religion hostile to other faiths, said academic and progressive Muslim thinker Dr Ahmad Farouk Musa.

It also nurtures the belief that it is acceptable to treat non-believers as second-class citizens and deny them equal rights, he said.

The Hilali-Khan translation is the joint work of two scholars, Dr Muhammad Taqi-ud Din Al-Hilali and Dr Muhammad Muhsin Khan. Theyinserted their interpretations of the holy text according to worldviews that existed about 600 years ago.

It is said to be among the more controversial translations of the Quran.

This worldview was forged at a time when there was no real concept of equal rights among different religions — a core principle in modern democracies, including Malaysia.

Ahmad Farouk said that this translation’s problematic interpretation of key Quranic verses, such as those about other religions, is passed off as the real translation of Quran, when in reality it is not.The pervasiveness of Hilathe li-Khan translation among Muslims makes it easy for Muslim conservatives and extremists to claim their worldview is the authentic form of Islam.

Ahmad Farouk said the translation appeared more than a decade ago and its English edition was widely and freely distributed to haj pilgrims.

It has also been translated into Bahasa Malaysia and distributed to haj pilgrims from Malaysia. Copies of it can be found in mosques, libraries and some schools thoroughout the country, he said.

The result, he said, is that Malaysian Muslims are trapped in a mental paradox.

“On the one hand, the Federal Constitution ensures equal rights to worship for all communities.

“But when they read the Hilali-Khan interpretation of the Quran, it tells them that they can treat non-Muslims as second-class citizens.

“Muslims can’t reconcile these two contradictions,” Ahmad Farouk said.

In reality, it is a false contradiction because other translations of the Quran do not advocate an Islamic worldview which is hostile to non-Muslims.

Ahmad Farouk was speaking at a forum titled “Is Islam a religion of peace?” organised by the Islamic Renaissance Front (IRF) at the Nottingham University Malaysia campus in Kuala Lumpur on Sunday.

Also present were renowned Muslim scholar Professor Ebrahim Moosa of Notre Dame University, Bar Council member Andrew Khoo and Universiti Malaya lecturer Dr Adis Duderija.

A key feature of the Hilali-Khan translation is that it inserts many parentheses in the middle of the verses. These parentheses contain the author’s interpretations of what a particular word or phrase might mean.

“Instead of clarifying the text or explaining a word that cannot be easily explained in English, these comments make the text difficult to follow and often distort, rather than amplify, the meaning,” said Ahmad Farouk, who is also founder and director of the IRF.

An example, he said, was the opening chapter called Al-Fatihah, the most widely recited in individual prayers and public ceremonies.

The last verse of the Al Fatihah, a translation by Sahih International reads: “Guide us to the straight path, the path of those upon whom You have bestowed favour, not of those who have evoked (Your) anger or of those who are astray.”

But the Hilali-Khan translation inserts these words: “Guide us to the straight path, the path of those upon whom You have bestowed favour, not of those who have evoked (Your) anger (the Jews) or of those who are astray (the Christians).”

“This basically gives the impression that the Quran denounces Jews and Christians. Obviously, this is a great untruth.”

“I believe that propaganda such as the Hilali-Khan translation and other materials coming out of Saudi Arabia are one of the major root causes that feed extremist ideas among Muslims,  and violence against Christians and other minorities,” said Ahmad Farouk. — The Malaysian Insider 

This article first appeared in The Edge Financial Daily, on December 12, 2014.