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Mistranslations of Bahai Texts

Sunday, 08 November 2015 23:36 Written by  font size decrease font size decrease font size increase font size increase font size

Mistranslations of Bahai Texts

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As detailed on this post, I plan on assembling a series of criticisms from the exbahai community which will be put into the subreddit wiki (currently empty). Here is the first post in that series

Before getting into specific criticisms, one of the biggest overall problems with Baha\'ism, seen across the board in all topics is translations. Original Bahai texts in Farsi and Arabic often have major differences than their English counterparts. Converts that do not speak the original languages do not know this, and would probably be shocked to know the actual contents.

This is inline with a larger trend seen in which Bahai teachings seem quite modern and rational from afar, but get stranger and stranger once one actual looks into the details (something that probably started with Abdu\'l Baha\'s travels to the West).

Anyway, I\'m asking those of you who have researched in these matters to go ahead and list some examples of egregious mistranslations made by official Bahai translators. Let\'s try to also provide the Farsi/Arabic text and the exact source when possible.

Here is a relevant quotation on the subject to start off:

The statements of the Universal House of Justice must be understood against a background of twentieth-century Baha’i translation practice, in which it has been the custom to limit the amount of material translated, to suppress large parts of the scriptural corpus by simply not making them available or by ensuring they stay out of print, and by translating in such a way as to build bridges to Western converts and potential converts. The purpose of such translation is not academic accuracy, but building up a seemingly seamless scriptural corpus in English that smooths over internal contradictions and supports the contemporary \'party line;\' and making the scriptural corpus bland enough and \'naturalized\' enough in English to ensure it does not pose a Public Relations problem inside or outside the community.

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