WASHINGTON, Aug 5 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) - A highly respectable Muslim scholar refuted Monday, August 4, an article by a U.S. magazine claiming the Muslim Glorious Book was "mistranscribed."

Even though attempts to smear Islam are not new, the article by the massively-circulated Newsweek caused an uproar among Muslim scholars, officials and the public, prompting the banning of the magazine in Pakistan and Bangladesh.

The Newsweek, in its July 28 edition, published an article entitled "Challenging The Qur’an", based on what the article’s writer claimed were "academic findings by a German scholar."

"The article claims Professor Luxenberg's is ‘likely to be the most far reaching scholarly commentary on the Qur’an’s genesis, taking this infant discipline far into uncharted and highly controversial territory." Who is Luxenberg? An unknown scholar writing under a pseudonym.

"The ‘scholar’ is hiding his name for fear of repercussions, despite the fact that several people have written on the same subject in the past and present without taking such a precaution," Dr. Maher, also spokesman for the Islamic Center of Southern California, said, in his article entitled "Response to "Challenging the Qur’an" Article in Newsweek", published Monday, August 4, on IBN News website.

"The professor works at an unnamed "leading German university" and his research is acclaimed by "Moudher Sfar" - probably another pseudonymed scholar from Tunisia we've never heard of. So much for academic credibility."

Hathout, then, used point-by-point analysis style to refute the points raised by the article’s writer.

"Describing Luxenberg as one of a small but growing group of scholars studying the language and history of the Qur’an is amazingly wrong. For 1400 years, there have always been groups in the East and West of Muslims and non-Muslims, faithful and skeptical, who wrote volumes about the history and language of the Qur’an. The unknown author here is neither a pioneer nor a hero," he wrote.

"The article surmises that "translations of the Qur’an are never considered authentic." Translations are judged as either accurate or inaccurate. No translation is authentic. When you translate Shakespeare to French or Voltaire to English, you may be accurate or not but the work will never be authentic, simply because it is not what was said by the original author. To make this sound like a peculiarity for the Qur’an or a particular thinking of Muslims lacks academic objectivity," he went on.

"Luxenberg's chief hypothesis is that the original language of the Qur’an was not Arabic, but "something close" to Aramaic. What is the meaning of "something close?" What is it? Where is it? Who would understand it? Who will understand something close to English or German? These are questions that any semi-academic mind would ask.

"He asserts that Arabic as a language and system of writing was not developed until 150 years after the death of Prophet Muhammad. This strange assertion contradicts the major volume of pre-Islamic poetry, which is used even today to help in understanding and interpreting the Qur’an.

"This poetry includes seven famous pieces that students study in middle schools throughout the Arab world, known as "Al Muallaquat." This refers to poems that were hung on the walls of the Kaaba as exhibitions of the best literary work in the pre-Islamic era. (The Kaaba, a cubic temple, has always been attributed by Arabs to the patriarch prophet, Abraham.)

"It also contradicts the Encyclopedia of Literature by Merriam-Webster, which states, "The intermittent revelations to Muhammad were first memorized by followers and used in ritual prayers, although verses were later written down during the Prophet's lifetime."

"We have in Al-Azhar library a manuscript "explaining the unusual styles in the Qur’an" written by Imam Sagistani 153 years after the migration to Medina, in perfect classical Arabic. When we look to what is known as Christian Aramaic, we notice that Jesus spoke in Aramaic, while the gospels are written in Greek. It is far fetched that the Gospel would be written in Greek while the Qur’an would be written "in Aramaic," Hathout added.

The Muslim scholar concluded the point saying, "So, the process upon which the rereading of the verses in Aramaic is false and as Muslim jurists wisely say, "what is built on fallacy is false."

Dr. Hathout then went on to explain some concepts used by the Newsweek writer, showing complete lacking of understanding the meanings and concepts dealt with, throwing deep doubts over the writer’s objectives behind writing the article in the first place.

"Then he talks about "houris," which are allegorically symbolic beings of bliss in paradise, as being raisins and fruits. It is his prerogative but this does not provide anything supernatural to look forward to the life of eternity.

"It seems that what he was referring to as raisins is "kawaib." He challenges what he claims as the Arabic meaning of "beings with swollen breasts," while if he had known Arabic, he would have understood the term as "beings of distinction."

For this translation, we refer him to a real Austrian scholar on the language of the Qur’an, later known as Muhammad Asad. (Review The Message of the Quran).

"The claim that the Qur’an's commandment to women in surah 24 to "snap their scarves over their bags" becomes in Aramaic "snap their belts around their waists." I challenge the professor to show us where he brought this verse of snapping from? Qur’an is available and surah 24 is easy to read, " Hathout explained.

Last week, Bangladesh banned the Newsweek July 28 issue for containing "confusing and objectionable" information about the Qur’an.

"The government has banned sale, distribution and preservation" of the issue "as it might hurt Muslim religious sentiments," an official statement said.

Even though the statement did not specify which part of the magazine it was referring to, but it was clear "Challenging the Qur’an" was the reason.

Dhaka's ban came four days after Pakistan imposed a similar ban on the same weekly issue for carrying material likely to incite Muslim religious sentiments.

"We have ordered the customs authorities to seize all copies of the Newsweek issue as it contains material which can incite religious sentiments," Minister Sheikh Rashid said, adding that the objectionable article on page 40 was about the (Muslim holy book) Qur’an.

Bangladeshi authorities later allowed copies of the magazines onto news stands with the offending pages ripped out.

It is not the first time that Newsweek has been banned in Bangladesh. Copies of its February 11, 2002 issue were confiscated because they contained an image of the Prophet Mohammed.

In September 2000, an issue which included an article on Islam was also banned.

Bangladesh, which has a population of 130 million, is the world's third largest Muslim-majority country.