TEDxRainier
Lesley Hazleton: On reading the Koran
Lesley Hazleton: Om at læse Koranen
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Lesley Hazleton satte sig en dag for at læse Koranen. Og hvad hun fandt -- som ikke-muslim, en selv-erkendt "turist" i islams hellige bog -- var ikke, hvad hun havde forventet. Med en mængde lærdom og varm humor deler Hazleton ynden, fleksibiliteten og mysterierne, hun fandt i denne myte-aflivende tale fra TEDxRainier.
Lesley Hazleton - Writer, psychologist
Writer, psychologist and former Middle East reporter Lesley Hazleton explores the vast and often terrifying arena in which politics and religion intersect. Full bio
Writer, psychologist and former Middle East reporter Lesley Hazleton explores the vast and often terrifying arena in which politics and religion intersect. Full bio
Double-click the English transcript below to play the video.
00:15
You may have heard
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I har måske hørt,
00:17
about the Koran's idea of paradise
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at Koranens opfattelse af paradis
00:19
being 72 virgins,
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er 72 jomfruer,
00:21
and I promise I will come back to those virgins.
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og jeg skal nok vende tilbage til de jomfruer.
00:24
But in fact, here in the northwest,
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Men her i nordvesten
00:26
we're living very close
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lever vi meget tæt
00:28
to the real Koranic idea of paradise,
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på det rigtige koranske paradis,
00:30
defined 36 times
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defineret 36 gange
00:32
as "gardens watered by running streams."
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som "haver vandet af løbende strømme."
00:37
Since I live on a houseboat on the running stream of Lake Union,
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Da jeg bor på en husbåd på Lake Union,
00:40
this makes perfect sense to me.
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giver dette god mening for mig.
00:43
But the thing is, how come it's news to most people?
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Men hvordan kan dette være nyt for de fleste?
00:47
I know many well-intentioned non-Muslims
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Jeg kender mange velmenende ikke-muslimer,
00:50
who've begun reading the Koran, but given up,
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der har begyndt at læse Koranen, men givet op,
00:52
disconcerted by its "otherness."
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forvirret over dens "anderledeshed."
00:55
The historian Thomas Carlyle
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Historikeren Thomas Carlyle
00:57
considered Muhammad one of the world's greatest heroes,
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anså Muhammed for en af verdens største helte,
01:00
yet even he called the Koran
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men selv han kaldte Koranen
01:02
"as toilsome reading as I ever undertook,
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"det besværligste læsning, jeg nogensinde har gjort,
01:05
a wearisome, confused jumble."
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en trættende, forvirrende gang roderi."
01:08
(Laughter)
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(Latter)
01:10
Part of the problem, I think,
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En del af problemet
01:12
is that we imagine that the Koran can be read
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er, at vi forestiller os, Koranen kan læses
01:15
as we usually read a book --
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som vi plejer at læse en bog --
01:17
as though we can curl up with it on a rainy afternoon
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som om vi kan sætte os med den en våd eftermiddag
01:20
with a bowl of popcorn within reach,
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med en skål popcorn ved siden af
01:22
as though God --
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som om Gud --
01:24
and the Koran is entirely in the voice of God speaking to Muhammad --
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og Koranen er helt igennem Gud, der taler til Muhammed --
01:27
were just another author on the bestseller list.
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bare var endnu en forfatter på bestsellerlisten.
01:32
Yet the fact that so few people
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Og da så få
01:34
do actually read the Koran
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faktisk læser Koranen,
01:36
is precisely why it's so easy to quote --
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er præcis hvorfor, den er så let at citere --
01:39
that is, to misquote.
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dvs. at fejlcitere.
01:42
Phrases and snippets taken out of context
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Stumper og stykker taget ud af sammenhæng
01:45
in what I call the "highlighter version,"
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i, hvad jeg kalder den "fremhævede version,"
01:47
which is the one favored by both Muslim fundamentalists
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som favoriseres af både muslimske fundamentalister
01:50
and anti-Muslim Islamophobes.
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og anti-muslimske islamofober.
01:53
So this past spring,
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I det forgange forår,
01:55
as I was gearing up
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da jeg gearede op
01:57
to begin writing a biography of Muhammad,
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til at begynde en biografi om Muhammed,
02:00
I realized I needed to read the Koran properly --
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indså jeg, jeg måtte læse Koranen ordentligt --
02:03
as properly as I could, that is.
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så ordentligt jeg kunne.
02:06
My Arabic's reduced by now
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Mit arabiske var da reduceret til
02:08
to wielding a dictionary,
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at bære en ordbog,
02:10
so I took four well-known translations
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så jeg tog fire kendte oversættelser
02:12
and decided to read them side-by-side,
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og besluttede at læse dem sideløbende,
02:14
verse-by-verse
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vers for vers
02:16
along with a transliteration
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med en gendigtning
02:19
and the original seventh-century Arabic.
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og den originale 7. århundrede arabiske.
02:23
Now I did have an advantage.
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Jeg havde en fordel.
02:27
My last book
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Min sidste bog
02:29
was about the story behind the Shi'a-Sunni split,
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handlede om, historien bag shi'a-sunni splittet,
02:32
and for that I'd worked closely with the earliest Islamic histories,
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og da havde jeg arbejdet med de tidligste islamiske historier,
02:35
so I knew the events
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så jeg kendte begivenhederne,
02:37
to which the Koran constantly refers,
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Koranen konstant refererer til,
02:39
its frame of reference.
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dens referenceramme.
02:41
I knew enough, that is, to know
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Jeg vidste nok til at vide,
02:43
that I'd be a tourist in the Koran --
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at jeg ville være en turist i Koranen --
02:46
an informed one,
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en informeret,
02:48
an experienced one even,
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selv en erfaren,
02:50
but still an outsider,
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men stadig en udenforstående,
02:52
an agnostic Jew
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en agnostisk jøde,
02:54
reading some else's holy book.
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der læser en andens hellige bog.
02:56
(Laughter)
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(Latter)
02:58
So I read slowly.
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Så jeg læste langsomt.
03:00
(Laughter)
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(Latter)
03:04
I'd set aside three weeks for this project,
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Jeg havde sat tre uger af til dette projekt,
03:07
and that, I think, is what is meant by "hubris" --
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og jeg tror det, er hvad man mener med "hybris" --
03:09
(Laughter)
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(Latter)
03:13
-- because it turned out to be three months.
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-- for det viste sig at tage tre måneder.
03:18
I did resist the temptation to skip to the back
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Jeg modstod fristelsen til at hoppe til sidste del,
03:20
where the shorter and more clearly mystical chapters are.
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hvor de kortere og tydeligvis mere mystiske kapitler er.
03:23
But every time I thought I was beginning
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Men hver gang, jeg troede, jeg var ved
03:25
to get a handle on the Koran --
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at få fod på Koranen --
03:27
that feeling of "I get it now" --
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den følelse af "jeg forstår den nu" --
03:29
it would slip away overnight,
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smuttede det i løbet af natten,
03:31
and I'd come back in the morning
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og jeg ville komme tilbage om morgenen
03:33
wondering if I wasn't lost in a strange land,
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og overveje om ikke, jeg var fortabt i et underlig land,
03:36
and yet the terrain was very familiar.
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hvor terrænet dog var kendt.
03:40
The Koran declares that it comes
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Koranen deklarerer, at den kommer
03:42
to renew the message of the Torah and the Gospels.
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for at forny Torahens og Evangeliernes budskab.
03:44
So one-third of it
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Så en tredjedel
03:46
reprises the stories of Biblical figures
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genkalder historierne om bibelske personer
03:48
like Abraham, Moses,
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som Abraham, Moses,
03:50
Joseph, Mary, Jesus.
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Josef, Maria, Jesus.
03:53
God himself was utterly familiar
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Gud selv var letgenkendelig
03:56
from his earlier manifestation as Yahweh --
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fra sin tidligere manifestation som Jahve --
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jealously insisting on no other gods.
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misundeligt insisterende på ingen andre guder.
04:03
The presence of camels, mountains,
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Tilstedeværelsen af kameler, bjerge,
04:06
desert wells and springs
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ørkenbrønde og kilder
04:08
took me back to the year I spent
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bragte mig tilbage til året, jeg brugte
04:10
wandering the Sinai Desert.
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på at vandre i Sinai Ørkenen.
04:12
And then there was the language,
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Og så var der sproget,
04:14
the rhythmic cadence of it,
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dets rytmiske kadence
04:16
reminding me of evenings spent listening to Bedouin elders
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mindede mig om aftener brugt på at lytte til ældre beduiner,
04:19
recite hours-long narrative poems
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der reciterede timelange episke digte
04:22
entirely from memory.
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blot ved hukommelsen.
04:25
And I began to grasp
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Og jeg begyndte at forstå,
04:27
why it's said
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hvorfor det siges,
04:30
that the Koran is really the Koran
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at Koranen virkelig er Koranen
04:33
only in Arabic.
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kun på arabisk.
04:35
Take the Fatihah,
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Tag Al-fatiha,
04:37
the seven-verse opening chapter
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det syv vers lange åbningskapitel,
04:39
that is the Lord's Prayer and the Shema Yisrael of Islam combined.
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der både er Herrens Bøn og Shemá Jisrael af islam.
04:44
It's just 29 words in Arabic,
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Det er blot 29 ord på arabisk,
04:46
but anywhere from 65 to 72 in translation.
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men alt fra 65 til 72 oversat.
04:50
And yet the more you add,
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Og desto mere man tilføjer,
04:52
the more seems to go missing.
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desto mere synes at mangle.
04:55
The Arabic has an incantatory,
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Den arabiske har en besværgende,
04:58
almost hypnotic, quality
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næsten hypnotisk egenskab,
05:00
that begs to be heard rather than read,
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der tigger om at blive hørt frem for læst,
05:03
felt more than analyzed.
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følt frem for analyseret.
05:06
It wants to be chanted out loud,
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Den vil messes højt
05:08
to sound its music in the ear and on the tongue.
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for at lade sin musik lyde i øret og på tungen.
05:11
So the Koran in English
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Derfor er Koranen på engelsk
05:13
is a kind of shadow of itself,
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en art skygge af sig selv,
05:16
or as Arthur Arberry called his version,
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eller som Arthur Arberry kaldte sin version,
05:19
"an interpretation."
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"en fortolkning."
05:22
But all is not lost in translation.
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Men alt tabes ikke i oversættelse.
05:25
As the Koran promises, patience is rewarded,
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Som Koranen lover, belønnes tålmodighed,
05:28
and there are many surprises --
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og der er mange overraskelser --
05:30
a degree of environmental awareness, for instance,
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en grad af miljømæssig opmærksomhed
05:33
and of humans as mere stewards of God's creation,
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og af mennesker som forvaltere af Guds skabelse,
05:36
unmatched in the Bible.
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uden lige i Biblen.
05:39
And where the Bible is addressed exclusively to men,
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Og hvor Biblen udelukkende er henvendt til mænd,
05:42
using the second and third person masculine,
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ved at bruge anden- og tredjeperson maskulin,
05:44
the Koran includes women --
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inkluderer Koranen kvinder --
05:47
talking, for instance,
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omtalende for eksempel
05:49
of believing men and believing women,
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troende mænd og troende kvinder,
05:51
honorable men and honorable women.
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ærværdige mænd og ærværdige kvinder.
05:56
Or take the infamous verse
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Eller tag det berygtede vers
05:58
about killing the unbelievers.
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om at dræbe de vantro.
06:00
Yes, it does say that,
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Ja, den siger det,
06:02
but in a very specific context:
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men i en meget specifik kontekst:
06:05
the anticipated conquest
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den forudsagte besættelse
06:07
of the sanctuary city of Mecca
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af den hellige by Mekka,
06:09
where fighting was usually forbidden,
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hvor kamp normalt var forbudt,
06:12
and the permission comes hedged about with qualifiers.
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og tilladelsen gives omringet af betingelser.
06:15
Not "You must kill unbelievers in Mecca,"
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Ikke "Man skal dræbe vantro i Mekka,"
06:18
but you can, you are allowed to,
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men man kan, må gerne,
06:21
but only after a grace period is over
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men kun efter en tidsfrist,
06:25
and only if there's no other pact in place
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og kun hvis ingen anden pagt er i stand,
06:28
and only if they try to stop you getting to the Kaaba,
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og kun hvis de prøver at afholde en fra at komme til Ka'baen,
06:31
and only if they attack you first.
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og kun hvis de angriber først.
06:34
And even then -- God is merciful;
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Og selv da -- Gud er barmhjertig;
06:37
forgiveness is supreme --
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tilgivelse er uforlignelig --
06:40
and so, essentially,
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og derfor er det
06:42
better if you don't.
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bedst at lade være.
06:44
(Laughter)
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(Latter)
06:47
This was perhaps the biggest surprise --
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Dette var nok den største overraskelse --
06:50
how flexible the Koran is,
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hvor fleksibel Koranen er
06:52
at least in minds that are not
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i det mindste i sind, der ikke er
06:54
fundamentally inflexible.
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fundamentalt ufleksible.
06:57
"Some of these verses are definite in meaning," it says,
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"Nogle af disse vers er endelige i betydning," siger den,
07:00
"and others are ambiguous."
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"og andre er tvetydige."
07:03
The perverse at heart
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Den fordærvede
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will seek out the ambiguities,
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vil søge de tvetydige
07:07
trying to create discord
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og prøve at skabe strid
07:09
by pinning down meanings of their own.
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ved at fastslå egne betydninger.
07:12
Only God knows the true meaning.
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Kun Gud kender den sande betydning.
07:16
The phrase "God is subtle"
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Sætningen "Gud er subtil"
07:18
appears again and again,
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dukker op igen og igen,
07:20
and indeed, the whole of the Koran is far more subtle
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og hele Koranen er virkelig meget mere subtil,
07:22
than most of us have been led to believe.
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end de fleste af os er blevet forledt til at tro.
07:24
As in, for instance,
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Som ved eksempelvis
07:26
that little matter
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den lille sag
07:28
of virgins and paradise.
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med jomfruer og paradis.
07:31
Old-fashioned Orientalism comes into play here.
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Gammeldags orientalisme spiller ind her.
07:35
The word used four times
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Ordet, der bruges fire gange,
07:37
is Houris,
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er hourier,
07:39
rendered as
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gengivet som
07:41
dark-eyed maidens with swelling breasts,
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mørk-øjede møer med svulmende bryster,
07:44
or as fair, high-bosomed virgins.
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eller som blonde, høj-bærmede jomfruer.
07:48
Yet all there is in the original Arabic
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Men alt, der er i den originale arabiske,
07:50
is that one word: Houris.
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er det ene ord: Hourier.
07:54
Not a swelling breast nor a high bosom in sight.
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Ikke et svulmende bryst eller høj barm i sigte.
07:57
(Laughter)
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(Latter)
07:59
Now this may be a way of saying
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Dette kan være en måde at sige
08:01
"pure beings" -- like in angels --
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"rene skabninger" -- som engle --
08:03
or it may be like the Greek Kouros or Kórē,
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eller det er ligesom det græske kouros eller kórē,
08:06
an eternal youth.
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en evig ungdom.
08:08
But the truth is nobody really knows,
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Men sandheden er, at ingen ved det,
08:11
and that's the point.
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og det er pointen.
08:13
Because the Koran is quite clear
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For Koranen er ret tydelig,
08:15
when it says that you'll be
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når den siger, at man vil være
08:17
"a new creation in paradise"
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"en ny skabning i paradis"
08:20
and that you will be "recreated
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og at man vil være "genskabt
08:22
in a form unknown to you,"
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i en form ukendt for dig,"
08:25
which seems to me a far more appealing prospect
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hvilket synes en meget mere tiltalende udsigt
08:28
than a virgin.
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end en jomfru.
08:30
(Laughter)
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(Latter)
08:38
And that number 72 never appears.
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Og tallet 72 dukker aldrig op.
08:41
There are no 72 virgins
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Der er ingen 72 jomfruer
08:43
in the Koran.
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i Koranen.
08:45
That idea only came into being 300 years later,
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Den idé kom først 300 år senere,
08:48
and most Islamic scholars see it as the equivalent
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og de fleste islamiske lærde anser det som ækvivalent
08:51
of people with wings sitting on clouds
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til folk med vinger, der sidder på skyer
08:53
and strumming harps.
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og spiller harper.
08:56
Paradise is quite the opposite.
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Paradis er ret modsat.
08:59
It's not virginity;
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Det er ikke jomfruelighed;
09:01
it's fecundity.
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det er frugtbarhed.
09:03
It's plenty.
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Det er overflod.
09:05
It's gardens watered
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Det er haver vandet
09:07
by running streams.
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af løbende strømme.
09:10
Thank you.
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Tak.
09:12
(Applause)
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(Bifald)
ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Lesley Hazleton - Writer, psychologistWriter, psychologist and former Middle East reporter Lesley Hazleton explores the vast and often terrifying arena in which politics and religion intersect.
Why you should listen
Lesley Hazleton has traced the roots of conflict in several books, including compelling 'flesh-and-blood' biographies of Muhammad and Mary, and casts "an agnostic eye on politics, religion, and existence" on her blog, AccidentalTheologist.com.
Her newest book, Agnostic: A Spirited Manifesto, celebrates the agnostic stance as "rising above the flat two-dimensional line of belief/unbelief, creating new possibilities for how we think about being in the world." In it, she explores what we mean by the search for meaning, invokes the humbling perspective of infinity and reconsiders what we talk about when we talk about soul.
Hazleton's approach has been praised as "vital and mischievous" by the New York Times, and as "a positive orientation to life, one that embraces both science and mystery ... while remaining intimately grounded and engaged."
Lesley Hazleton | Speaker | TED.com