Comments on: Doing It in a Foreign Language

By: Jayantha

Jayantha — Wed, 07 Apr 2010 13:32:24 +0000

I agree with Suriya.. I think nazeeya faarooq meant tamil language as opposed to arabic. sermons are not given in arabic in Sri Lanka but in tamil… this is the side effect of the internet.. too much “bullshit” gets heard.. there is a lack of quality in the publications. nevertheless, these pseudo intellectuals are lucky that there is a medium for them to dump their junk on… back in my day there was a process of quality control.. anyway, before i get branded as being old fashioned, let me end by saying,
nice try Mahesan Niranjan, but next time please try to write something that is relevant and please get your facts right…

By: jiva

jiva — Wed, 07 Apr 2010 06:12:17 +0000

You dont seem to understand the structure of each religion and seem to analyze it using the same barometer which doenst do any justice.

The “priest” in Hindu and Buddhist religions have a diferent function altogether that those of Abrahamic religions( Christianty, Islam) and shouldnt be confused.

The role of the priest in Christianity is to:
Convene with God – mass
Conduct ritual functions( weddings etc)
Pastoral care( counselling included)
Preach

When we say priest in Tamil Hinduism we mean an Iyer or poojari

The role of the “priest”/poojari/Iyer is to

Convene with God( poojas etc)
Conduct ritual functions ( weddings etc)

He does not preach or provide pastoral care. This function is decentralised and done by diffrent persons of the of the religion.
Pastoral care – Swamis, Gurus, Brahmacharis etc – eg – Ramakrishna mission, trained counsellors from Sai Samitis, Bramacharis from Chinmayannada mission, Ammachi, Rishi Thondunathan from Saiva Sidhhanta Mission etc
Preaching – the above shall also preach in the form of satsangs(am) . But other traditionally appointed people shall also preach eg – LATE Thangamma Appakutty, Achrayas like VAsudevacharya who teaches Bhagavat Gita class. This ca take the form of Katha Prasangam
They teach/preach in their native toungue and in Sri Lankas case it is in Tamil

The problem arises when we take on a Enlish word like “priest” with its historical meaning embedded in Christianity and then assume the same role for other religions

In Tamil we call a Hindu priest an Iyer not a podhahar/ paadhiri
Podhahar( preacher) Paadhiri( from Italian Padre’) has been appropriated by Tamil Christians to exactly define the function of Christian priest in Tamil. they dont call him a Iyer.
There fore we should use an appropriate word in English to denote Hindu/Buddhist ‘priests’ than use the Anrahamic religions as a yardstick.
EG- The Buddhist “priest” doesnt conduct marriages because he is a renunciate. S.o he is not a priest in the Christian sense

When we hear “bana’ in Pali or mantrams in Sanskrit we are not there for the exact meaning. The repetion and the concentratin on the sound acts as a form of sound meditation. Anyhow when the priest is reciting his mantras at the sanctum one says his own prayers in Tamil( Tevaram)
The temple pooja is not the same as a Christian service where the preacher talks at the congregation- therefore speaking in Latin will be pointless. The worship pattern in Agamic Hindu temples is not congregational. It is more inividualised. One can come and go as one pleases and say ones own pryayers in private. tbere is no group singing

So I dont see what is the fuss about Bana in Pali or Mantras in Sanskrit.

By: azath

azath — Mon, 05 Apr 2010 22:57:50 +0000

If the author meant to deliver the sermon in the language that one understands it is perfect, the Jummah sermon are done in the language of the majority of the attendees and some mosques do have sinhala, tamil and english in colombo, so, I do not understand the problems of author or the so called Nazeeya.
The quran is in arabic an international language still very well alive, whereas the Language the author said sancrit is almost dead. and she misunderstood the language of Jesus who spoke Aramic which is dead now, and bible is written by some unrelated persons in unrelated language to Jesus and so, it is translated into many language. My point here is Qur an as brother Rushdi explained is in original form and very rich in knowledge and it is very difficult to translate into a single format. My question, as for all of us, the author, so called Nazeeya, me is that the english is our second language we learnt that language, so why do the concerned people learn the language of Arabic, it is still very much alive in today’s world and understand the quran in its original form and it is spoken in more than one third of the world. I request the author to explain the truth behind her article citing the Jummah sermons are totally irrelevant. Have you been to a Jummah I hope you not, By the way Jummahs are broad casted in SLBC at 1.00 pm every Friday Listen to them. you are free to point out any irrelevance after that.

By: longus

longus — Mon, 05 Apr 2010 19:36:15 +0000

The same dilemma exist in Buddhism too.But the reluctance in translating the ‘Suthras’ and Stanzas to Sinhala has something to do with the reverence as well.May be the learned monks think-as well as the desciples!-that if you chant the same thing in Sinhala it might be valued less! Sometimes the entire faith of some illiterarte faithfulls depends on the “reapectfull owe” they have for the doctrine,though this is totally against the Buddha’s teachings.

It’s the Buddha who taught, to use his teachings as a raft in order to get across the sea of suffering,not to keep worshiping the ‘raft’!

If we Buddhists understand the real meaning of what Buddha preached,I think a lot of hatred and greed that we see can be avoided.

By: Sabarullah

Sabarullah — Mon, 05 Apr 2010 14:31:10 +0000

Quite interesting article (not INTERESTING!).

When my wife’s grandma passed away, the alims were reciting prayers in Arabic. A friend of mine asked when would the ‘bana’ finish?. Other friends protested saying it was not ‘bana’ but ‘dua’. He replied that he cannot differentiate them as he cannot understand either of them.

I heard during my childhood days that one gets rewards for reciting Quran even if he doesn’t understand the meaning. And the same rule applies to Jumma sermon also. I do not know whether it is correct. Otherwise, the Ulamas could find a solution to this issue quickly.

By: Rushdi AL Ayad

Rushdi AL Ayad — Mon, 05 Apr 2010 11:21:30 +0000

Just a very important point
Quran was in arabic because it cannot be adultrated so many Arabic words have more than one meaning thhat is the reason why the quran we readtoday is authentic therefore the sermon is allways translated into English, Tamil, Sinhalese but the main text of the quran is preserved

By: Suriya

Suriya — Mon, 05 Apr 2010 07:06:07 +0000

I think Naazeeya meant the language Tamil when she said “in a language they don’t understand.” These days many Sri Lankan Muslims are Sinhala speaking, and there are many who have studied in the Sinhala medium. Others use English as their first language. I think Nazeeya was pointing out that many Muslims do not understand the sermons because they are given in Tamil, instead of Sinhala or English. However I think this imbalance is getting rectified through groups such as Tanweer Academy who are engaged in creating alims who give sermons in Sinhala.