The Internet has always enabled individuals to project a message to a worldwide audience without the need for intermediaries. However, just a few years ago considerable knowledge, time and often more than a bit of cash was needed to get a website up and keep it running. Now, things have changed.
As an example, take a look at the website www.waaz.org. This website was created by Nadeem Qureshi in order to provide a means to allow non-Arabic speakers to understand Friday sermons.
“My site is hosted by Yahoo for about $13 per month,” he explained. “I used Yahoo’s free ‘Sitebuilder’ tool to set up the site. I’m a relative novice when it comes to the Internet, so I had to do some fast learning.”
Qureshi has started out modestly. For now his goal is to provide an audio translation of the Friday “khutba” delivered by Imam Majed Al-Shuraida from the minbar of the Khaled bin Waleed Mosque in Doha, a subdivision of Dhahran.
“For about two years, immediately after the prayers, I have been doing a translation in English of the sermon at the mosque. This is done in a corner of the mosque and anyone interested can sit in,” Qureshi said. “Recently, it was suggested that the translation should be recorded and made available over the Internet for the benefit of a broader audience. When I mentioned to Imam Majed Al-Shuraida that I was thinking of putting the audio translation on a website, the imam seemed quite pleased and said words to the effect: ‘Our job is to help in whatever way we can, yours is to execute.’”
In order to develop the best translation, on Thursday evening the imam usually makes available the text of that Friday’s sermon. This gives Qureshi the opportunity to look up any verses or Hadith whose meaning may be abstruse or subject to varying interpretation. It does occasionally happen that the imam is unable to provide a transcript until after the khutba on Friday. In that case, Qureshi must use his best judgment in regards to any ambiguity of meaning.
“It is, of course, impossible to convey the charm and eloquence of Classical Arabic in modern English,” Qureshi clarified. “And I emphasize that I am not a religious scholar. What I am trying to do is merely convey the meaning of what is said by a religious scholar whom I, and many others, have admired for a long time.”