Introducing his work, Dr. Nazeer told the
media-persons, the translation is in simple American English and is primarily
meant to introduce its message to the Americans whose minds had been abused by
the misleading propaganda by vested interests linking Islam to terrorism.
The first copy was released by Maulana
Riyazur Rahman Rashadi, Imam at the Jama Masjid in Bangalore city. He presented
the first copy to A. Jayaram, a veteran journalist, and formerly resident
editor of . Speaking on the occasion, Jayaram said Islam was a
religion of peace and its image has been greatly maligned in the recent days in
the wake of 9/11 attack on the WTC. He said people confuse several of the
cultural norms prevalent in various lands with the scriptural text and
interpret the religion. He said Burkha was not exclusive to Muslims, and even
Hindu, Jain, Jewish and Christian women observe hijab in varied forms and in
various regions of the world.
Nazeer Ahmed said the translation was
specifically targeted for American audiences and is an attempt to convey the
message in the simplest of language. “It stays true to the literal words of the
Arabic text and captures the loving, spiritual appeal of the Book,” he added.
He said, being from the field of science, he had tried to elaborate upon
certain scientific clues and themes of the Qur’an.
Nazeer, born in Tumkur near Bangalore had
joined the NASA in 1973 and had worked on devising Landrover for Moon under
Apollo space mission and was later chief engineer in the laboratory assembling
the Hubble Telescope during the 1980s under Perkin Elmer Corp. Having won two
doctorates on advanced composites from Caltech and Cornel Universities, he has
been associated with various space missions for nearly 40 years. He had
migrated to the US in 1961 soon after earning his bachelor of engineering from
Mysore University and has been living in California. In 1978, he returned to
India for a short while and won the Assembly election for Karnataka Assembly.
He, however, resigned after a year and resumed his main calling as the space
scientist. He has authored nearly half a dozen books on science, religion and
philosophy. He has even compiled an which can be accessed
on . It
runs into 9,000 pages.
