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Letter to the editor

Leaders weigh in on Koran issue

Religious officials discuss the reverence Muslims, Christians and Jews have for their scriptures.

By WAVENEY ANN MOORE
Published June 8, 2005

To Muslims, the Koran is a holy text that must be treated with care and veneration.

Special stands are crafted to cradle it. Covers encase it. Hands that handle it must be clean. It must never touch the floor. And no other book should be placed on top of it.

That's because Muslims believe the Koran's author is God himself.

While the strict Islamic procedures for handling the Koran may seem unusual, Muslims are not unique in revering their holy book. Jews, for example, have special ceremonies to bury sacred texts. Christians largely revere the words of the Bible, believing the authors were divinely inspired.

But the handling of the Koran has been under intense scrutiny lately because of allegations that U.S. interrogators at Guantanamo Bay mistreated it.

The news accounts were blamed for deadly riots and protests in Muslim countries. At least 17 people were killed. After initial White House denials, the Pentagon last week released a report detailing incidents in which U.S. guards desecrated the Koran, fueling more outrage among Muslims.

Askia Muhammad Aquil, a St. Petersburg imam, or Muslim prayer leader, says the anger is misplaced.

"I think part of what is happening is people are reacting - in some cases overreacting - to the symbolism of the handling of the book," said Aquil, 58, a St. Petersburg native and a longtime convert. "What is essential is the message that is contained in the book and the meaning of the words conveyed by that message."

Aquil said he is less concerned about mishandling the Koran than about alleged human rights abuses in America's fight against terrorism and the terrorism committed in the name of Islam.

"The notion that it is okay to mistreat people, but not to mistreat their book" is "preposterous," he said.

Ahmed Bedier, who was born in Egypt, understands the anger of fellow Muslims.

"I was upset. I was hurt and I was ashamed that our representatives in the military were acting that way," said Bedier, 31, director of the Central Florida office of the Council on American Islamic Relations.

"To Muslims, the Koran is the verbatim word of God revealed to Mohammed," Bedier said. "It's a sacred text. To Muslims, the Koran has never been altered or tampered with. The Koran is not just the paper or the book, it's the actual words of God."

Muslims believe that the Koran is composed of divine revelations given to the prophet Mohammed through the angel Gabriel over 23 years. Since he could neither read nor write, Mohammed recited the revelations to scribes.

A Muslim who memorizes the Koran in Arabic is referred to as a hafiz and is highly respected. The Arabic Koran - some spell it Quran, but the Times uses the traditional spelling in English - has 114 chapters. Believers recite verses of the sacred text during five mandatory daily prayers.

"So they are, in a sense, making the word of God part of themselves," said Charles Kimball, an ordained Baptist minister and chairman of the religion department at Wake Forest University. He was one of a few religious leaders invited to talks with the Iranian government during the 444-day hostage crisis that ended in early 1981.

"There is this tremendous reverence for the Koran and there are things that one would not do. You treat it with respect, so this is why these stories of abuses or desecration of the Koran are very incendiary," Kimball said.

CAIR, based in Washington, D.C., is using the controversy to acquaint non-Muslims with the Koran by offering free copies. Since May 17, over 5,000 copies have been requested, said Rabiah Ahmed, a CAIR spokeswoman. Recipients also get a letter explaining how to handle the book, she said.

The Christian and Muslim views of their scriptures differ as much as their views of Jesus.

To Muslims, Jesus was a prophet whose teachings are respected. To Christians, however, Jesus was God made flesh and his words are God's words.

"In a very real way, Jesus is more analogous to the Koran," Kimball said. "Jesus is the word of God, whereas, in Islam, the book itself is the revelation of God."

Mohammed's revelations came more than 500 years after Jesus. The traditions for handling the Koran evolved after his death and have been in place for hundreds of years.

The Christian Bible is composed of the Old Testament, which is the Hebrew Bible, and the New Testament, which is the life and teachings of Jesus as told by his apostles, and the record of the early church.

"You have a respect for the Bible as a book and as ink on pages," said the Rev. Terry Raburn, superintendent of the Peninsular Florida District Council of the Assemblies of God in Lakeland. "It's a highly esteemed and valued book that leads to our truth. Someone who refuses to dispose of an old, worn-out Bible, that's worshiping the Bible and we don't worship the Bible the same way the Koran is worshiped by the Muslims," Raburn said.

"Yet ... I cannot stand to deface a copy of Scripture. I have the very first Bible I first preached out of on my shelf, though I don't worship it."

In Judaism, holy texts such as the Hebrew Bible, which includes the Torah, and the Mishnah, or oral law, the Talmud and prayer books, are all treated with great reverence.

"We never destroy any of them," said Rabbi Jacob Luski of Congregation B'nai Israel in St. Petersburg. "When they are no longer in good shape to be used, we bury them in the Jewish cemetery. We have a small ceremony. We have a few spaces at the cemetery that are there for that reason.

"If somebody would drop a prayer book or a Bible by accident, they would pick it up and give it a kiss to show that it is special," he added.

Kimball said the United States should be forthright in its response to allegations of Koran abuse and punish those responsible. The accusations have hurt U.S. diplomatic efforts in Muslim countries, he said.

Bedier agrees. Many Muslims are angrier at the American government's reaction to the allegations than about the desecration itself, he said.

"Ultimately, this issue has hurt America's image greatly in the Muslim world and actions like this continue to further the aims of radicals that use these incidents as a way to recruit more enemies against America," he said.

[Last modified June 8, 2005, 10:38:17]