The Iranian-Dutch writer Kader Abdolah describes the Qur'an as "one of the most beautiful books ever produced by man". He has translated it into Dutch and also written a novel about the Prophet Muhammad's life. By Philip Smet.

Kader Abdolah was born in 1954 and, as a child, lived in the compound of the main mosque in his hometown in Iran.

"The Qur'an was our house book, omnipresent in our lives. It defined much of my identity. When I was 15, I broke my links with the book but, 35 years later, I picked it up again and tried reading it. I thought: Wow, what a wonderful book. It's really my book!"

Readership
As a young man, he joined Iran's left-wing movement opposed to the Shah. In 1979, the Shah was deposed and Ayatollah Khomeini came to power. Mr Abdolah fled Iran's strict

Islamic regime 20 years ago and moved to the Netherlands where he has become a successful novelist.

It was questions from his Dutch readership that caused him to go back to the Qur'an, and eventually to translate it into Dutch for ordinary people in the Netherlands. However, while working on the translation, he decided he should first write a book on the Prophet Muhammad himself, entitled The Messenger.

"I realised they wouldn't be able to understand the Qur'an if they didn't understand Muhammad as a person. I started writing a book on him, not as a holy prophet, but as a person, a leader. I discovered a great man, someone with a dream, and with incredible drive. He took huge risks, loved life and viewed existence with poetic curiosity. That's how I wanted to show him, with all his ups and downs. He is one of the most wonderful people there's ever been."

His idea was to make the Qur'an more accessible for Dutch people by altering the order of the book's suras or chapters, and by putting them in a context. Finally, he added a new chapter of his own, in which the prophet dies.

‘Do not be angry'
He does not want to offend practicing Muslims with the changes he has made to the Qur'an but says:
"Friend, do not be angry with me. My intentions were good. So many ugly things are said about Muhammad. Give me the chance to say lots of beautiful things about him. What reason have you to be angry? I've done it out of love. If you believe in Allah, let Him be my judge. Muhammad says Allah is powerful; he knows all and we know nothing."

Mr Abdolah contends it is wrong to use the Qur'an to tell other people what they should and should notdo.

"The book is 1,400 years old and the laws and rules it contains were written for that time and not for today. You should use the book at home and in your heart."
Kader Abdolah hopes the two books will lead to a better understanding of Islam and, thereby, promote dialogue between Muslims and non-Muslims. The attacks of 11 September and the murder by an Islamic extremist of the Dutch filmmaker Theo van Gogh have severely tested the Netherlands' celebrated tolerance. It remains to be seen how Mr Abdolah's works will be received by both the immigrant and the Dutch-background communities.

Addendum
Michel Hoebink of Radio Netherlands' Arabic Department says Mr Abdolah does not claim the expert knowledge usually considered necessary to translate the Qur'an. Mr Hoebink finds the result surprising:

"Nowadays, we are often confronted with a grim picture of the Qur'an, full of exhortations to kill unbelievers and beat women, but Mr Abdolah's translation calls on us to view the book not as a manual of laws, but as poetry.

Using simple and poetic language, he explains with ease that which many scholars fail to elucidate using many more words: that this text was written by a highly inspired man, the Poet-Prophet Muhammad who lived in a primitive society and who spoke to his people in a way which suited their harsh, primitive, nomadic existence."

April 2008

[Radio Netherlands 2008]