A SMALL news report on one TV channel and a few lines in some newspapers is all the attention that a Council of Islamic Ideology (CII) decision has received.

The CII has recommended that ‘sacred Islamic’ words such as Allah, Sala’t, Rasool, Masjid should not be translated into English, and the recommendations have been approved by the prime minister. The CII has commended the PM for such a good deed in the month of Ramazan.

The recommendations and their approval are beyond the comprehension of any logical mind and a Muslim thinker.

Translations are a means to communicate the essence of a language into other languages, as well as unearth the diverse meanings that words carry.

What purpose will such decrees carry except to ban English translations which many read, not only in the country but on a global level? And how many “sacred” words will be banned? Are we moving towards banning English translations of the Qur’an and other religious books?

How further shall we shun knowledge and sink into darkness?

S. N. K.

Karachi

Published in Dawn, July 8th, 2015

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