Muslim sect celebrates 25 years since Koran translated into Yiddish
Members of a Muslim sect that translated parts of the
Koran into Yiddish are marking 25 years since that translation was published.
The president of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community in
Israel, Muhammad Sharif Odeh, said the group translated select parts of the
Koran into Yiddish in order to present a different face of Islam. In addition,
said Odeh, "We decided we had to make sure that our neighbors could also
read the Koran."
The Ahmadiyya Muslim Community is the only Islamic
community that believes the Messiah has come. Adherents believe that Mirza
Ghulam Ahmad, born in 1835, was the "metaphorical second coming of Jesus
... whose advent was foretold by the Prophet of Islam, Muhammad,"
according to the website. "God sent Ahmad, like Jesus, to end religious
wars, condemn bloodshed and reinstitute morality, justice and peace," say
believers.
There are some 2,000 Ahmadiyya Muslims in Israel; most of
them reside in Haifa's Kababir neighborhood. The sect says it has tens of
millions of followers in more than 200 countries.
The Ahmadiyya Muslim Community translated parts of the
Koran into Yiddish in 1987. The sect chose Yiddish, one of 100 languages into
which it has translated parts of the sacred book of Islam, so that
"Yiddish speakers who wanted to know about us would be able to do so
without language being an obstacle," Odeh explained.
The decision to translate the Koran into Yiddish was made
by the community's religious leader at the time, the fourth Caliph, Mirza Tahir
Ahmad, who was living then in Pakistan. The current Caliph, the fifth, Mirza
Masroor Ahmad, resides in the United Kingdom.
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