« India: Islamic Seminary Prohibits Life Insurance |
| Miss World: The Trouble With Muslims And Beauty Queens »
August 31, 2006
Turkey: Classic Western Books Get Muslim Makeover
A story from today's Telegraph reports that classical western books, such as Pinnochio by Carlo Collodi, Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain, Pollyanna by Eleanor H. Porter and many others, have been Islamified by Muslim publishers in Turkey.
Even the works of Victor Hugo, La Fontaine, Oscar Wilde, Chekhov and Alexander Dumas have not escaped the forced conversion of their characters. Even the little Swiss girl Heidi, in Johanna Spyri's eponymous children's classic, is told by Ms. Sesasman that praying to Allah will make her relax.
Polyanna is not only aware of the Koran, but now says she believes it has predicted the end of the world, Tom Sawyer learns his Islamic prayers and even gets a reward for learning his Arabic words. In The Three Musketeers, an old woman says to D'Artagnan of his friend Aramis: "He is surrounded by men of religion. He converted to Islam after his illness".
These books are among mutilated versions of 100 classic stories now officially placed on the school curriculum in Turkey as part of its "Essential Reading List".
The Turkish Daily News states that the books have now created a furor that has even reached parliament.
The bastardized versions of these classic books bear the logo of Turkey's Ministry of Education, but are apparently produced by Islamist publishers exploiting the fact that the ministry has recommended the original books as reading material.
The scandal was first exposed by the daily newspaper Radical, and the Education Minister Hüsseyin Çelik has condemned the Islamic publishers for their interferences.
As well as including references to Islam in stories where Islam was never thitherto mentioned, some publishing houses have gone a step further, and have decided to include obscenities to spice up the "approved" texts.
One book of riddles, which was on the Essential Reading List, appears in one version carrying the Ministry of Education logo, and is certainly not something the Ministry approves of - has puzzles using "obscene terminology", and vulgar language describing male reproductive organs.
Çelik said recently in the eastern city of Van that he will sue publishers of books containing obscenities if they carry the Ministry of Education logo.
The Islamicized versions of western classics are mostly produced by the lkbiz Publishing House, and questions were raised in the Turkish parliament on Friday. Engin Altay, deputy of the secularist opposition party (Republican People's Party or CHP) tabled a question to Education Minister Hüsseyin Çelik, asking if the books will be removed from shelves. As well as Western classics, Altay noted that the 100 books chosen for the list had a strong emphasis towards Islam. He said that the Ministry had connived in the scandal, by recommending books and then not checking the published editions.
Emin Ekinci from the teachers' union Egitim-Sen, who is principal of the Büyük Halkali primary school has noted that the Education Ministry's Training and Education Agency had not examined the "recommended" books, and said that parents should look for this agency's logo on the published books rather than the ministry's logo.
Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan of the Islamist Justice & Development Party (AKP), who currently has his aim set at the Turkish presidency, has now ordered Çelik to take legal action against the publishing houses who have "tampered" with the recommended texts.
There may be further reason for Erdogan to be annoyed - according to the Telegraph, some adulterated books on the reading list include rude rhymes which mock the president and the prime minister.
But before the publishing houses are punished and the books are withdrawn from sale, Turkish children can still enjoy the obscenities and also the Islamist messages, such as the ones contained in that renowned Muslim classic Pinocchio, where the puppet says to his "father" Geppetto: "Give me some bread, for Allah's sake."
Someone's nose should grow by at least few inches.
Posted by Giraldus Cambrensis at August 31, 2006 2:44 PM
Comments
Post a comment
Thanks for signing in, . Now you can comment. (sign out)
(If you haven't left a comment here before, you may need to be approved by the site owner before your comment will appear. Until then, it won't appear on the entry. Thanks for waiting.)