Salam!
Today I thought it would be cool to look up Islamic words in my 1974 paperback Merriam-Webster pocket dictionary.
Here is what I came up with:
Islam: submission (to the will of God): the religious faith of the Muslims; also: the civilization built on this faith
submit: to commit to the discretion or decision of another: to yield or surrender
Muslim: an adherent of the religion founded by the Arab prophet Muhammad [salallahu alleyhi wasalam]
Koran[Al-Qur'an]: a book of writings accepted by Muslims as revelations made to Muhammad [salallahu alleyhi wasalam] by Allah [subhana wa ta'ala] [I would also like to note here that they refer to the Qur'an as a book of writings while they refer to the Bible and Torah as "sacred texts" or "scripture"]
Allah: the supreme being of the Muslims [I think this is by far the most biased definiton. Allah means THE GOD. Same as in English. THE GOD is the supreme being of EVERONE not just Muslims. In ANY language.]
Anyway I just thought it would be interesting to see what they had to say about Islam in 1974. It doesn't really seem a whole lot different than what they have to say today really.
Dictionary.com they define Allah as "the Supreme Being; God." without the qualifying "of the Muslims" I like this definition better :-D
As always the words in [brackets] are my addition.
4 comments:
You know what you should do next sweetie? Read "The Arab Mind" which was written in the 1970's. It is actually pretty offensive, talking about boys forced to enter the all-male world, but not being ready.
This looks about the same as it would be today, but those types of books about the culture are not politically correct at all. At the very least, they're an interesting read, though also very annoying.
What a neat idea though! I love it. Love you lots dear.
Salam Lisa!!
I will try to find it, or at least something similar. I'm afraid I would get angry though... lol.
Thanks for the suggestion!
xoxoxo
Ack, the Arab Mind- what a terrible book!
Anyway, thanks for sharing this...can't believe they called the Qu'ran a "book of writings," that is a really stupid phrase- I don't think anyone was thinking it was a book *without* writing in it, no?
Clare,
Lol yeah I know. I love how people will tie themselves in verbal knots to avoid making something they don't agree with/ understand valid.
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