Tuesday, May 4, 2010

more news on Egyptian attempts to ban the Nights

From Gulf News in the UAE comes more info on the recent call to ban the Nights.

Link: http://gulfnews.com/news/region/egypt/group-seeks-ban-on-arabian-tales-1.622442

By Ramadan Al Sherbini, Correspondent
Published: 00:00 May 5, 2010

Selected quotes:

""When I recently bought One Thousand and One Nights, published by the state-run Authority of Cultural Centres, I was shocked at the offensive phrases it contains," said Ayman Abdul Hakim, a lawyer belonging to Lawyers without Shackles, a non-governmental group that has lodged a complaint with Egypt's Chief Prosecutor demanding a ban on the book."

..................................

"Abdul Hakim said their move was prompted by the recent re-publication of the book, which is " a waste of public money".

"We have published One Thousand and One Nights many times, and the latest one is based on an old version revised by a cleric from Al Azhar [the Sunni Muslim world's prestigious institution]," said Ahmad Mejhad, the chairman of the Authority for Cultural Centres, an affiliate of the Ministry of Culture. "This version has no immoral words or illustrations," added Mejhad.

"I am stunned by the calls for confiscating" the book, which is part of the Arab heritage. "We should be proud that this literary work has influenced the world heritage in the East and the West," Majhad said."

see also original posting on this issue here: http://journalofthenights.blogspot.com/2010/04/from-egypt-1001-nights-publishers-face.html

1 comment:

  1. Thanks for the post; pingback --
    http://lovebites.blogs.chicago.timeout.com/2010/05/14/conservative-egyptian-group-seeks-to-ban-oh-so-tawdry-arabian-nights/

    ReplyDelete