Post by MI-C on Jul 31, 2019 11:58:41 GMT -5
A Correction of the Grossly Erroneous term “Revert”
By MI-C
Sometime in the 90s it started to become popular within British Muslim communities to refer to non-Muslims who came into Islam as Reverts. The thinking behind the term was fanciful but far from accurate, and did not take into account the proper translations of the Arabic terms for someone who comes into Islam and for someone who leaves Islam.
The thinking behind this given term Revert was that because the Prophet is reported to have said that all children are “born Muslim”, that that therefore means that if someone who is brought up a non-Muslim accepts Islam, that he or she has in that case “reverted” to being Muslim. As beautiful and flowery an interpretation as it may be, it is nonetheless grossly incorrect.
The Arabic translation of the English word “Revert” is “Murtadd”, and this word is used to describe someone who has left Islam, not someone who has accepted it. Thus, it is far from appropriate to use it to refer to someone who has accepted Islam. But the word Murtadd, however, is almost always erroneously translated into English as “Apostate”, and this is why nobody seems to notice.
To elaborate, “Murtadd” comes from the branch root “Irtadda”, which in turn comes from the main root “Radda”. “Radda” means “To Return” and “Irtadda” means “To Return Within Oneself”. In English, the correct word for “Returning Within Oneself is “Revert”. Thus, the correct translation of Murtadd is Revert and not Apostate. And if Revert means Murtadd in Arabic, then it should be the term for someone who has left Islam and certainly not for someone who has accepted it.
All languages derive from one ancient single-syllable language, which this author has written extensively about in a soon-to-be published work. For the sake of this piece, it can be clearly seen that both the English word “Return” and the Arabic word “Radda” start with the same syllable – Rad and Ret are merely slightly different accents of what was clearly one and the same word originally.
The correct English term for someone who has accepted Islam is PeaceMaker. The term means someone who has Made his Peace with God, by recognising Him as the Only Divine Being and refusing to worship idols. It is the most accurate translation of the Arabic word “Muslim”. Muslim is sadly often mistranslated as “Submitter” and “Islam” as “Submission”. But the correct Arabic words for Submission and Submitter are Istislam and Mustaslim. Islam and Muslim are more general, and although they can mean Submission and Submitter, they do not do so in the precise sense of the words.
Note also that the term PeaceMaker refers to all who declare their Peace with God and not only to those who did so as adults (as opposed to those who were brought up so), meaning that there is no difference between the two anyway. Either one is a PeaceMaker or one is not; there is no “He is a born one and he is a new one”. One’s Peace with God is forever variable; one may be at Peace with Him one day and revert from it the next, or vice versa.
Using the correct term At Peace with God also gives meaning to the oft-asserted but difficult-to-prove notion that “Islam” was the religion of all the prophets and not just Mohammed – that all the prophets were “Muslims”. Translated correctly into English one can all of a sudden see from Bible verses that they did indeed all teach Peace with God to their followers. See Romans 5: 1, Job 22: 21, Isaiah 27: 5, Philippians 4: 7, Hebrews 12: 14, and Romans 16: 20. Note also that in John 20: 19-24 we can see Jesus greeting his followers with the words: “Peace be with you.” (No prizes for guessing how to say that in Arabic…)
It would not be appropriate to close without elaborating the word “Apostate” and its correct Arabic counterpart. The verb “To Apostate” in English means “To Go Outside of” or “To Leave”. So the correct translation in Arabic would therefore be “Khareej”. The plural of “Khareej” is – surprise-surprise – “Khawarij”, and we all know that the Prophet gave the term to those people precisely because they would leave Peace with God and be outside of the fold of Peace with God. So there could clearly be no better fitting a translation for Khawarij than Apostates.
Some other terms that could do with being properly translated are:
Salat. Currently translated as Prayer, it more accurately translates as Salutations. Indeed, the word Salat and Salute derive from the same original word, and both entail raising one’s hand/s up to one’s forehead.
Qur’an. Currently translated as Recitation, it more accurately translates as Readment – the thing that’s oft-read. The Arabic word for Recitation is Tarteel.
Mu’min. Usually translated as Believer, it more accurately translates as Entruster or Faithful. The word Believer is also accurate, and is not a bad translation, but today the word Believer has long lost its original meaning.
May the Peace and Mercy of the Almighty be with you.
MI-C
By MI-C
Sometime in the 90s it started to become popular within British Muslim communities to refer to non-Muslims who came into Islam as Reverts. The thinking behind the term was fanciful but far from accurate, and did not take into account the proper translations of the Arabic terms for someone who comes into Islam and for someone who leaves Islam.
The thinking behind this given term Revert was that because the Prophet is reported to have said that all children are “born Muslim”, that that therefore means that if someone who is brought up a non-Muslim accepts Islam, that he or she has in that case “reverted” to being Muslim. As beautiful and flowery an interpretation as it may be, it is nonetheless grossly incorrect.
The Arabic translation of the English word “Revert” is “Murtadd”, and this word is used to describe someone who has left Islam, not someone who has accepted it. Thus, it is far from appropriate to use it to refer to someone who has accepted Islam. But the word Murtadd, however, is almost always erroneously translated into English as “Apostate”, and this is why nobody seems to notice.
To elaborate, “Murtadd” comes from the branch root “Irtadda”, which in turn comes from the main root “Radda”. “Radda” means “To Return” and “Irtadda” means “To Return Within Oneself”. In English, the correct word for “Returning Within Oneself is “Revert”. Thus, the correct translation of Murtadd is Revert and not Apostate. And if Revert means Murtadd in Arabic, then it should be the term for someone who has left Islam and certainly not for someone who has accepted it.
All languages derive from one ancient single-syllable language, which this author has written extensively about in a soon-to-be published work. For the sake of this piece, it can be clearly seen that both the English word “Return” and the Arabic word “Radda” start with the same syllable – Rad and Ret are merely slightly different accents of what was clearly one and the same word originally.
The correct English term for someone who has accepted Islam is PeaceMaker. The term means someone who has Made his Peace with God, by recognising Him as the Only Divine Being and refusing to worship idols. It is the most accurate translation of the Arabic word “Muslim”. Muslim is sadly often mistranslated as “Submitter” and “Islam” as “Submission”. But the correct Arabic words for Submission and Submitter are Istislam and Mustaslim. Islam and Muslim are more general, and although they can mean Submission and Submitter, they do not do so in the precise sense of the words.
Note also that the term PeaceMaker refers to all who declare their Peace with God and not only to those who did so as adults (as opposed to those who were brought up so), meaning that there is no difference between the two anyway. Either one is a PeaceMaker or one is not; there is no “He is a born one and he is a new one”. One’s Peace with God is forever variable; one may be at Peace with Him one day and revert from it the next, or vice versa.
Using the correct term At Peace with God also gives meaning to the oft-asserted but difficult-to-prove notion that “Islam” was the religion of all the prophets and not just Mohammed – that all the prophets were “Muslims”. Translated correctly into English one can all of a sudden see from Bible verses that they did indeed all teach Peace with God to their followers. See Romans 5: 1, Job 22: 21, Isaiah 27: 5, Philippians 4: 7, Hebrews 12: 14, and Romans 16: 20. Note also that in John 20: 19-24 we can see Jesus greeting his followers with the words: “Peace be with you.” (No prizes for guessing how to say that in Arabic…)
It would not be appropriate to close without elaborating the word “Apostate” and its correct Arabic counterpart. The verb “To Apostate” in English means “To Go Outside of” or “To Leave”. So the correct translation in Arabic would therefore be “Khareej”. The plural of “Khareej” is – surprise-surprise – “Khawarij”, and we all know that the Prophet gave the term to those people precisely because they would leave Peace with God and be outside of the fold of Peace with God. So there could clearly be no better fitting a translation for Khawarij than Apostates.
Some other terms that could do with being properly translated are:
Salat. Currently translated as Prayer, it more accurately translates as Salutations. Indeed, the word Salat and Salute derive from the same original word, and both entail raising one’s hand/s up to one’s forehead.
Qur’an. Currently translated as Recitation, it more accurately translates as Readment – the thing that’s oft-read. The Arabic word for Recitation is Tarteel.
Mu’min. Usually translated as Believer, it more accurately translates as Entruster or Faithful. The word Believer is also accurate, and is not a bad translation, but today the word Believer has long lost its original meaning.
May the Peace and Mercy of the Almighty be with you.
MI-C