English translation of the WASATIA book

THE USES OF LANGUAGEThe Western Arabic lexicon is growing fast and Arabic terms suchas Quran [Kuran, Koran], Fatah, Hamas, Hizballah, Jihad al-Islami,Qa’eda [base], Intifada [uprising], Muqata’a [district], etc. has becomepart of the English dictionary, as on the other side, terms such assandwich, Kleenex, computer, cinema, television, hamburger,telephone, radio, etc. has become part of the Arabic dictionary. Also, theEnglish language has been invaded by Islamic terms such as rasul[apostle], hadith [saying], caliph [successor], hijra [migration], fatwa,mahdi, mufti, sheikh [religious scholar], iman [faith], hajj [pilgrimage],masjid [mosque], shahada [testimony], ummah [community], hadith[saying], jihad [struggle], shari’a [law], shurah [consultation], hudna[armistice], tahde’a [lul]. But unfortunately the important Islamic termand concept of wasatia [wasateyyah/wasatieh] has yet to beintroduced to the western public 1 .So far, the essential dilemma between the Western communityand the Moslem ummah lies deep in the manner and ways ofcommunication. Part of the problem lies in translation. Much of theintention of the author is lost in the translation of the text. In this case,translation of the Quran does not and cannot reproduce the rhyme,1Google search results conducted in November 2006 show: 11,600,000 for Islamicterrorism; 6,040,000 for Islamic jihad; 2,830,000 for Islamic fundamentalism; 898,000for Islamic radicalism; 481,000 for Islamic shura; 2,740 for Islamic shurah; 265 for Islamicwasatiah; 83 for Islamic wasatia; 7 for Islamic wasatieh; 1,560 for wasatiah; 109 forwasatia. (November 2006). In August 2009, the search for wasatia showed: 3,490 forwasatiah; 1,870 for wasatia; 174 for wasatieh.14