Terrorism and sexual assault cast shadow over Japanese travelers
BY MARK SCHREIBER
SPECIAL TO THE JAPAN TIMES
JUL 16, 2016
Surely if a prize were to be awarded for the week’s most controversial article, it would go to Shukan Shincho’s piece titled “If you’re traveling abroad, here is a phrase from the Quran you should memorize.”
The passage, known in Arabic as the Shahada, is the basic statement of the Islamic faith. It translates into English as “There is no God but Allah, and Muhammad is his messenger.” Shukan Shincho transliterates the original phonetically using katakana.
The article was written in response to the militant jihadis who murdered 22 people — including seven Japanese — on July 1 but spared the lives of fellow Muslims. Shukan Shincho’s article suggests that knowing the Shahada may help Japanese survive a similar situation in the future.
“These extremely simple phrases express the basics of the faith,” Shuji Hosaka, assistant director of the Japan Association for Middle East Studies, tells the magazine. He says the equivalent in Buddhism would be “Namu Amida Butsu,” which has been translated in a number of ways, including “I take refuge in Amida Buddha” or “Homage to Amida Buddha.”
That said, the notion that reciting a short passage from a holy book will stop a suicidal terrorist from killing you probably makes less sense than avoiding travel to risky destinations in the first place. Still, Osamu Miyata, chairman of the Center for Contemporary Islamic Studies in Japan, thinks it can’t hurt.
http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2016/07/16/national/media-national/terrorism-sexual-assault-cast-shadow-japanese-travelers/#.V4rwe9QrLMp
