The Koran is the Islamic holy book that 1.5 billion people venerate. Most Muslims believe that the Holy Book represents the literal word of God (“Allah”) as communicated to the Prophet Muhammad. Growing up a Muslim, we were taught, at an early age, to revere it and to treat it with the utmost respect. The Koran must only be touched by the clean and the pure. We were not allowed to hold it before we do the Wudu wash (“ablution”). Before and after recitation, many raise the Koran to their lips, kiss it, then touch their forehead to honor it. The Koran is always placed above the ground on a clean surface.
The “Book,” as we know it today, did not exist during Mohammad’s time. Koranic verses came to the Prophet in bits and pieces. The words were memorized by him and his companions, and some were written down on papyrus, animal skin or camel bones. After Mohammad’s death, the first caliph, Abu Bakr, with the encouragement of Umar, who later became the second caliph, decided it would prudent to collect the objects documenting these verses and to record the part memorized by the Mohammad’s companions. The task was entrusted to man called Zaid, a companion known for his honesty and knowledge. To accept a particular verse as legitimate, he looked for two witnesses who had heard it, first hand, from Mohammad and could testify to its accuracy. Zaid turned the finished papers over to Caliph (ruler) Abu Bakr. Later Umar, the second caliph, took possession of the collection. Caliph Umar bequeathed Zaid’s one copy to his daughter Hafsa — who was one of prophet Mohammad’s widows.
During the rule of the third caliph, Othman, it became apparent that various readings and interpretations of the Koran exist in different parts of Muslim lands. Based on Hafsa’s copy, Othman instructed four writers, including Zaid, to reproduce the holy Book, and ordered them to resolve any differences in interpretation by adhering to the Quraish (Mecca tribe) articulation — prophet Mohammad spoke the Quraishi Arabic. Caliph Othman kept one copy and sent the rest to Mecca, Iraq, Syria, Yemen and Bahrain. Soon after, he ordered all other copies of the Koran set alight. The original collection, Hafsa’s copy, was burned after her death. Some scholars ascertain that was due to discrepancies between the original copy and Othman’s book.
The precedent, set by Caliph Othman, to burn the holy script, became a basic argument in Sharia (Islamic) law to rule the act as permissible or halal (kosher). In fact, if a part or the whole Koran was damaged and one can not derive a benefit from it, a Muslim should burn or bury the items to avoid desecrating the Book with worldly dirt. On the other hand, if burning the Koran occurred by mistake, it is not regarded as a sin nor transgression.
The Afghanistan incident involved burning material that belonged to the Bagram base detention centre, that was used in clandestine communication. Therefore, it safe to assume that the intention of the officer who decided to burn these books was not to insult God or show disdain to Islam. To the contrary, the officer acted in an Islamically correct manner and in accordance to Sharia. In contrast, a few days after the Bagram episode, a Saudi newspaper reported that over 100 copies of the Koran, owned by the Ha’el Charitable Society in Saudi Arabia, were thrown out on the street next to the garbage bin. The reporter added: “Some of these copies were damaged, but others looked brand new.”
As of yet, Muslims did not hear any apologies from the Wahabi king of Saudi Arabia!
Rima Barakat-Sinclair lives in Denver.
EDITOR’S NOTE: This is an online-only column and has not been edited.
