[lbo-talk] New Translation Prompts Debate on Islamic Verse

[John Thornton]

Yoshie Furuhashi wrote:
> Here are two cases that present a contrast: a Muslim Iranian-American
> woman presenting a new feminist translation of the Koran and a
> non-Muslim German woman judge ruling against a speedy divorce based on
> what she thinks is the proper reading of the Koran and Muslim customs,
> mistaking what some fundamentalist Muslims believe for what Muslims
> commonly do.  The irreligious should take care not to unwittingly
> follow fundamentalists' interpretations by assuming the most
> patriarchal interpretations of religious texts to be the truest, which
> is a common error of atheists on a crusade against religions. --
> Yoshie

Isn't this really a good reason to, rather than choose sides in a 
interpretation debate concerning "sacred texts", to distance oneself 
from such nonsense?
The whole idea of serious scholarly debate on the meaning of these 
writings is not any different than a serious study of Grimm's Fairy Tales.
Studying them to glean more about the social settings that created them 
is one thing but studying them to determine future actions is patently 
silly.
Leftists should not align themselves with one interpretation or another.
I don't care what interpretation one makes of ancient codes if their 
reason for doing so is to provide guidance today. Ancient proscriptions 
are just that and should not be applied to modern societies. That seems 
the best position to take concerning such arguments.

John Thornton