I guess mine reading in the Qur'an is useless.

Originally posted by FMF
The wrong cliche perhaps?

?

Originally posted by Bosse de Nage
I think he's saying that the Holy Spirit will guide your interpretation.

Still rather odd that the Holy spirit doesn't seem to guide the majority of people.
But after re-reading Jaywills post, he seems to be saying that there is enough repetition of points in the Bible that the main issues should be clear to anyone. They are not. So what am I missing.

It seems to me now that it should be possible to translate a text without
losing meaning. The problems are not in the translation per se, but in
the distance between me (my knowledge and experience) and the
culture, the people and times in which the original text was written. The
use of metaphors, similes and parables can sometimes be confusing,
hence I have to look things up all the time. Of course, these things will
not change simply because I study a different language. I must also
study the underlying culture and mindset of the people at the time.

Another thing that strikes me from the speech on Qur'an and Arabic by
Nouman, is that the Qur'an (specifically) is not only the message, but
the miracle. The Qur'an in itself is a work of brilliance that can only be
seen as such in its Arabic form. Entire sentences are apparently
palindromes in the Arabic Qur'an, which Muslims find quite impressive.
Well, obviously it's impressive, but is it: "only Allah can do this"-kind of
impressive, or not? To get an idea of my own, I would definitely have to
learn Arabic.

I'm mostly interested in the message for now though, so it's off to the
library to find everything I can on the Arabic culture today.

Have fun, everyone! Stop fighting. Hug each other. Let friendship rule
across the borders of religious conviction and what not. Or beat each
other to a pulp. Whatever you do, I'm out of here for now.

WOoo-hoo! The library! 😀

Originally posted by Jigtie
It seems to me now that it should be possible to translate a text without
losing meaning. The problems are not in the translation per se, but in
the distance between me (my knowledge and experience) and the
culture, the people and times in which the original text was written. The
use of metaphors, similes and parables can sometimes be confusing,
hen ...[text shortened]... rent language. I must also
study the underlying culture and mindset of the people at the time.

The issue is not whether a text can be translated without loss of meaning but whether it has been translated without loss of meaning.
If the translator did not understand the culture etc of the writer or worse if the translator has personal beliefs that conflict with the writers beliefs then the translation may be rather less than perfect.

But all of that is of small importance when compared to more important issues such as:
Who wrote the text in the first place and why?
Was the writer inspired by God and if so are the interpreters similarly inspired?
Are we translating from the original text or a text that has been copied many times and possibly modified in the process?
Is a given book really the product of only one writer or has it been added to over time?
What about other books not included in the traditional set?

I guess most of that applies more to the Bible than the Quran, but then Islam also has writings other than the Quran.