Durban - While there has been much interest in the Zulu and sign language Bible translations currently being undertaken, very few seem to know much about the Zulu Qur’an, despite its first being published in 1993.
The first abridged version was published by the late famous Muslim cleric Ahmed Hoosen Deedat, who was funded by the controversial Bin Laden family.
According to Deedat’s son, Yousuf Deedat, their Zulu Qur’an was inspired by the Bin Ladens, who also donated a substantial amount to the project, after a meeting in Saudi Arabia in 1986.
“Umar Moleleki (a Zulu- speaking Muslim) started working on the translation and he was later joined by Thembelani Mbhele ka Ncanywa, who is also fluent in Zulu and Arabic – the original language of the Qur’an,” said Deedat.
They printed 100 000 copies which were distributed freely to Zulu-speakers as mandated by their sponsors
“In the Qur’an Allah says: ‘I have placed warners amongst all nations that they may convey the message to the people in their own languages,’ so we clearly had a responsibility to do the translation,” said Mbhele ka Ncanywa.
They were planning to do a comprehensive version in the 2000s, but lack of funding delayed the project which Mbhele ka Ncanywa plans to resume soon, only without Moleleki, who died two years ago.
“Islam is not just for those who speak Arabic and English, that is why it’s been translated into so many languages. It’s only right that South African Muslims also have the Qur’an in their mother tongue,” said Mbhele ka Ncanywa.
The second comprehensive Zulu-only Qur’an was published by the Islamic Interfaith Research Institute (IIRI) in 2006. It was translated by Newcastle’s Moulana Cassim Mohammed Sema and his friend, known only as Mr Mabaso, in the 1980s.
Sema’s nephew and head of the IIRI, Rafeek Hassen, said his ailing uncle told him about the translation and asked him to get it published.
“It needed a lot of work because Mr Mabaso was not a Muslim and did not understand the Islamic context of the Qur’an, plus they had translated it from English,” said Mbongiseni Khumalo who edited the text by cross-referencing it to the Arabic Qur’an.
In 2009 they released a second edition with Zulu and Arabic alongside each other, like the 1993 version.
While Mbhele ka Ncanywa has criticised the IIRI versions, saying they use words that are allegedly offensive to Zulu women, Hassen and Deedat say sincerity is a priority.
“Our intention was never to insult anyone but use the words that we believed were appropriate and as close to the source text as we could get,” said Khumalo.
The Mercury