Quran in Igbo!

Quran Translated into Igbo

The Quran has been translated into Igbo! At least that what the headline says! This was in an article in IQNA, the Igwa Quran News Agency. I also found it in another article, I think in PRNet.

The man who translated the Quran, Muhammad Muritala Chukwuemeka, says he worked for five years to prepare. He devoted himself to this translation and to his speaking about it. He has invited others to attend the launching at the Federal Capital Territory in Abuja, Nigeria.

He was formerly a religious Deeper Life pastor. Since his conversion, he has held conversations with many people who have expressed interest. He has actually converted 300 people to a belief in the Quran. He wants his fellow Igbos to be sympathetic to the meaning of the Quran.

It turns out that he was not the first to translate the Quran. Another person, Professor Jumbo Ugoji, was the first, in 1988. He had translated it from English to Igbo. He is apparently still alive.

But Sheikh (his name now) Chukwuemeka translated it from Arabic to Igbo. He’s pictured in the news feature.

Back to Basics: James Baldwin

I’ve begun reading books by James Baldwin – Giovanni’s Room (1956), The Fire Next Time (1963), and If Beale Street Could Talk (1974). It’s only a very small selection, but these are what I could easily find at Norwalk Library, not far from my apartment. James Baldwin was an African-American.

He began writing in 1953. Or I should say he began publishing in 1953. I’m sure he was writing long before that! I see hints of his writing even in his teen years when he was deeply into the church.

Giovanni’s Room is heart-felt. It is the story of a young man who is in love with Giovanni. But he denies it. Yet he cannot stay away from Giovanni’s room and the hold that room has on him.

He has said goodbye to his girlfriend. When Giovanni dies, he is left alone.

The Fire Next Time starts with a letter to his nephew. Then he spends a lot of the book detailing his interest in the Honorable Elijah Muhammad. They have several conversations. Elijah Muhammad asks him what he is doing now, with the church behind him. Baldwin doesn’t defend his decision.

He later says, “If we — and now I mean the relatively conscious whites and the relatively conscious blacks . . . do not falter in our duty now, we may be able . . . to end the racial nightmare . . . and change the history of the world.”

If Beale Street Could Talk holds onto the conversation between Fonny and Tish. Fonny is in jail, and Tish visits him regularly. In the end she has to have the baby by herself. Fonny does not get out of jail in time. Yet he is innocent of the crime and working hard with the lawyer who is helping him.

I would like to read more of these books. There is a list of all the titles; I believe I should start with books between 1953 and 1963. I’d like to read Nobody Knows My Name and Another Country.