WorldNetDaily has a piece today on a so-called "attempt to quell the rancor resulting from Newsweek's retracted Quran-desecration story," CAIR(Council on American-Islamic Relations) is giving away free copies of the Koran(I speak English, thank you, so I'll spell it as k-o-r-a-n). But CAIR just happens to choose a particular edition, "The Meaning of the Holy Quran," that has already been banned by the Los Angeles school district because "commentary notes accompanying the text were regarded as anti-Semitic." CAIR has included the edition in the Islamic book-package it offers libraries nationwide and now is giving it away to help "improve America's image" through a program called "Explore the Quran."

The issue here is not  whether  the Quran should be available in libraries, but it's  like any other book,  and the interpretations and footnoted commentary in the particular version chosen by CAIR to distribute, is so egregious that it should not be allowed in a public library system. But let's also keep in mind that in the world of Islam, there's no hierarchy to lead the way in discernment and interpretation, and anyone, particularly a Muslim cleric, can interpret the Koran to mean anything he wants it to mean. And Robert Spencer, a very knowledgeable fellow on the subject of Islam, says that "what we think of as extreme in Islam is not really extreme but mainstream."

(...) Scholars point out that Muslims believe the Quran was dictated word-for-word by Allah in the Arabic language, so any rendering in other languages is imperfect and can be seen only as an interpretation.

(...) But author and researcher Robert Spencer, director of Jihad Watch, says that while Ali's notes are particularly anti-Semitic, his rendering of the Quranic text largely is no different than any other version.

(...) "It's an indication that what we think of as extreme in Islam is not really extreme but mainstream," he told WND. "You won't find a translation that doesn't have Jews being turned into apes and pigs."

CAIR's Florida director, Altaf Ali, at a news conference in Cooper City, Fla, claims that they just "want to turn a negative image into a positive one." Using the excuse that "America's image is taking a beating, and it's affecting us all, of different faiths," he announced the project, that in fact is Islamic propaganda to apostatize and distort the Jewish faith. Telling, is the fact that  WorldNetDaily contacted Ali at his Florida office, but he refused to be interviewed for the story.

(...) CAIR's library project, begun in September 2002, was funded in part by a $500,000 donation from Saudi Prince Alwaleed bin Talal. In 2001, bin Talal's $10 million donation to New York City was rejected by then-Mayor Rudolph Guiliani after the prince suggested U.S. policies in the Middle East contributed to the Sept. 11 attacks.

(...) The Saudi-funded CAIR is a spin-off of a group described by two former FBI counterterrorism chiefs as a "front group" for the terrorist group Hamas in the U.S.

(...) Several CAIR leaders have been convicted on terror-related charges.

(...) A Florida-based group, Americans Against Hate, drew attention to CAIR's distribution project, noting the book's commentary and index makes it clear the Quran's references to "apes" and "pigs" are descriptions of Jews.

(...) Khaleel Mohammed, an assistant professor of religious studies at San Diego State University, says the Saudi-approved edition was first published by Abdullah Yusuf Ali in 1934 at "a time both of growing Arab animosity toward Zionism and in a milieu that condoned anti-Semitism."

(...) Ali, according to the professor, constructed it as a "polemic against Jews."

Read the rest of the informative WorldNetDaily article ...

Other coverage - Beth at My Vast Right Wing Conspiracy

Stop being politically correct and getting dimmied. CAIR and the Islamists figure that if you hear "holy" Koran enough, you'll believe it's "H_O_L_Y."

Isn't THAT the truth! It sure as hell isn't "holy" to me--maybe holey, but not Holy.

I'm fed up with the PC nonsense. All it does is legitimize that which is plainly evil, and I'm not going to be PC in my assessment of it as evil. Let the PC police cry about it.