PHC asks Board to correct Quranic verse translation in textbook

PESHAWAR: The Peshawar High Court (PHC) on Thursday expressed anguish over mistranslation of a verse of the Holy Quran in the textbook of Islamiyat and directed the Textbook Board Khyber Pakhtunkhwa to rectify it till September 12.

A division bench comprising Justice Qaiser Rashid Khan and Justice Lal Jan Khattak directed Secretary, Textbook Board KP to rectify the misinterpretation and ensure distribution of the corrected books among the students across the province before the next hearing of the case.

The bench issued the direction in a writ petition filed by lawyers Ibrar Hussain, Sara Ali and others against the translation given in the textbook for 9th and 10th grades and termed it tantamount to tarnishing Islamic history.

The lawyers Ibrar Hussain and Sara Ali contended that in the controversial translation of a verse related to the collection of bounties during war by the Muslims at the time of Holy Prophet Mohammad (PBUH) had been termed as “loot and plunder”. They argued it was distortion of Islamic history. They stated that the mistake had been committed in the Islamiyat course book for 9th and 10th grades in schools being run under the supervision of different education boards in the province.

When the bench took up the case for hearing, Secretary and Member Textbook Board explained before the bench that it was a mistake and the board had started publishing the books after rectifying the mistake.

Interestingly, the deputy attorney general representing the federal government earlier stated that after 18th Amendment it was the responsibility of the provinces to take care of such issues and the federal government had nothing to do with it. However, the secretary and member Textbook Board KP said the same translation and mistake had been carried out since 2012 when the federal government was overseeing the matter.

Justice Qaiser Rashid observed that the government had taught the wrong interpretation of the Holy Quran for the last six years. He noted that the person who did this interpretation was an illiterate person, not a religious scholar, and had followed the Western agenda.

He told the secretary and representatives of the Textbook Board who appeared in the case that it was shameful on the part of the board and education department that such mistranslation was done and remained unnoticed.

It was stated that the translation was taken from Tafseer (interpretation of the Holy Quran) written by a prominent religious scholar.

The bench observed how come a religious scholar was doing wrong interpretation of Islamic practices. It inquired how collection of “Mal-i-Ghaneemat” could be termed as “loot and plunder.”After arguments, the court issued direction to the Textbook Board KP to ensure distribution of the rectified books to all the students before September 12.