Finnish Public Broadcasting to Read Entire Quran in New Series
Radio 1, the radio arm of broadcaster Yle, will begin reading Islam's holy book on March 7 in 60 installments of a half-hour each.
The readings will begin with a discussion between Anas Hajjar, an imam from the Islamic Society of Finland, and professor Jaakko Hameen-Anttila, who translated the Quran into Finnish.
"In these introductory discussions, the two men will explore the religious and historical context of the text to be read," Yle said in a story on its website.
"It's nice to hear my translation be read aloud. It is important that the Quran is read in its entirety, and not just select data-x-items that show that Islam is bad and violent or good and beautiful," Hameen-Anttila told Yle.
He said that he and Hajjar discussed "everything between heaven and Earth" while recording the series.
"We haven't been at loggerheads, but Imam Anas Hajjar and I have often read the same passage and approached it from a very different point of view," he told Yle. "Imam Hajjar reads practical, contemporary meanings into the text and I see it as an historic work that is tied to the time in which it was created."
Fewer than 50,000 Muslims live in Finland, which has a population of about 5 million, the Pew Research Center says.
