Comic-Book Version of Koran Splits Muslim Scholars

A colorful, easy-to-read version of the Koran in comic book form has won approval from some Islamic authorities, but one scholar has condemned it, calling the author “a new Salman Rushdie.”

“Si Le Coran M’etait Conte”-- “If the Koran Were Told to Me,” is geared to readers ages 12 to 16, said its author, Youssef Seddik.

The Koran is the sacred book of Islam. According to Islamic belief, it contains the words of God as revealed to the prophet Mohammed.

The comic books, which cost about $10 each, have been approved and even encouraged by some religious authorities, such as the Ayatollah Mehdi Rouhani, spiritual leader of the Shiite Muslim community in Europe.

“I don’t see any problem with the comic books, as long as you know there is a precedent--an illustrated version of the Koran published in Iran 15 years ago,” Rouhani said in an interview at his Paris home.

Rouhani called comic books “the language of the 20th Century.”

“I’m all for comic books, and would encourage them if they do, in fact, get across the idea of God to young people,” he said.

But Mohammed Faidallah, head of Islamic Jurisprudence at Kuwait University’s Islamic Studies faculty, was quoted recently as saying the comic books could spark a furor like that over Rushdie’s novel, “The Satanic Verses.”

In February, 1989, the Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini of Iran said Rushdie should die because his novel blasphemed Islam. Rushdie has been in hiding since.

Faidallah said the comic books constituted a “criminal act that ridicules the sanctity of the holy Koran,” and called for their condemnation, the Kuwait newspaper Al-Qabas reported.

He was quoted as calling Seddik “a new Salman Rushdie recruited to carry out this ugly task.”

Seddik, a Tunisian-born journalist who has written extensively on Arab culture, said he was “deeply saddened” by Faidallah’s reaction.