God says: Make it bilingual

Two men may die because a translation of the Quran appeared in a major Kabul mosque. It was a small book, printed with money gathered for the purpose, that the two men said would be useful for those who did not know Arabic. For me, the most interesting part:

Many clerics rejected the book because it did not include the original Arabic verses alongside the translation. It's a particularly sensitive detail for Muslims, who regard the Arabic Quran as words given directly by God. A translation is not considered a Quran itself, and a mistranslation could warp God's word.

The clerics said Zalmai, a stocky 54-year-old spokesman for the attorney general, was trying to anoint himself as a prophet. They said his book was trying to replace the Quran, not offer a simple translation. Translated editions of the Quran abound in Kabul markets, but they include Arabic verses.

It's interesting that Christianity hasn't had a strong connection to the original language of the Bible, and, in some cases, it has had a strong attachment to The Vulgate, a 5th century translation into the then-vernacular Latin.

Reza Aslan wrote an interesting article for Slate a few months back, with a good overview of the format of the Quran, and some of the unique problems involved in its translation.