Folks, this is great stuff:
Reflections of Sami Hanna as recorded by Elder Russell M. Nelson, apostle for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints: (Adapted from an address given 25 June 1992 at a seminar for new mission presidents, Missionary Training Center, Provo, Utah.)
My neighbor, Sami Hanna, is a native Egyptian. He is an academic
scholar who moved into our neighborhood to accept an assignment with the
university as a specialist in Middle Eastern Studies and the Semitic
group of languages such as Arabic, Abyssinian, Hebrew, Aramaic, and
Assyrian.
Being a newcomer into our community, he felt the Mormons were a bit
of a curiosity. Upon learning the name Mormon came from our belief that
the Book of Mormon is divine scripture, he was intrigued by the
existence of the Book of Mormon. He had erroneously thought this was
American literature. When he was told that the Book of Mormon was
translated from the ancient Egyptian or modified Hebrew type of
hieroglyphic into the English language by the prophet Joseph Smith, he
became even more engrossed, for this was his native language and he
knows much about the other Semitic languages as well as the modern
languages.
So challenged was he by this book that he embarked on the project of
translating the Book of Mormon from English to Arabic. This translation
was different from other translators, for this was to be a translation
back to the original language of the book. To make a long story short,
the process of this translation became the process of his conversion;
for he soon knew the Book of Mormon to be a divine document even though
he knew virtually nothing of the organization of the Church or of its
programs. His conversion came purely from the linguistics of the book
which he found could not have been composed by an American, no matter
how gifted.
Some of these observations I think will be of interest to you, as
they were to me, for they clarify some of the unique aspects of the
book.
1. Jarom 2: “It
musts needs be…” This expression, odd and awkward in English, is
excellent Arabic grammar. Elsewhere in the book the use of the compound
verbs “did eat”, “did go”, “did smile” again awkward and rarely used in
English, are classical and correct grammar in the Semitic languages.
2. Omni 18: “Zarahemla
gave a genealogy of his fathers, according to his memory. Brother Hanna
indicates that this is a typical custom of his Semitic forbearers to
recite their genealogy from memory.
3. Words of Mormon 17: Reference
is made here as in other parts of the Book of Mormon, to the
“stiffneckedness” of his people. Brother Hanna perceives that this word
would be a very unusual word for an American youth, Joseph Smith, to
use. An American would likely prefer an adjective such as stubborn or
inflexible. But the custom in the Arabic language is to use just such a
descriptive adjective. Stiffnecked is an adjective they use in
describing an obstinate person.
4. Mosiah 11:8
“King Noah built many elegant and spacious buildings and ornamented
them with fine work and precious things, including ziff.” Have you ever
wondered about the meaning of the word “ziff” referred to in this
scripture? This word, although in the Book of Mormon, is not contained
in dictionaries of the English language. Yet it translates freely back
into the Arabic language, for ziff is a special kind of curved sword
somewhat like a scimitar which is carried in a sheath and often used for
ornamentation as well as for more practical purposes. The discovery of
the word “ziff” in the Book of Mormon really excited my neighbor,
Brother Hanna.
5. Alma 63:11
Reference is made to Helaman, son of Helaman. Why did not Joseph Smith
interpret this as Helaman, Jr., which would have been more logical for
him, bearing the same name as his father, Joseph, and being named Joseph
Smith, Jr. In Arabic, Brother Hanna explains, there is no word “junior”
to cover this circumstance. Their custom is to use the terminology
Joseph, son of Joseph; Helaman, son of Helaman, etc.
6. Helaman 1:3
Here reference is made to the contending for the judgment seat. Brother
Hanna observes that the use of the term “judgment seat” would be quite
strange to an American who might have used a more familiar noun such as
governor, president, or ruler. Yet, in Arabic custom, the place of power
rests in the judgment seat and whoever occupies that seat, is the
authority and power.
The authority goes with the seat and not with the office or the person.
So this, in the Semitic languages, connotes the meaning exactly.
7 Helaman 3:14
In this verse, there are a total of eighteen “ands.” Reviewers of the
Book of Mormon have, on occasion, been critical of the grammar in such a
passage where the use of the word “and” seems so repetitious. Yet
Brother Hanna explains that each of the “ands” in this verse is
absolutely essential to the meaning, when this verse is expressed in
Arabic, for the omission of any ” and” would nullify the meaning words.
8. Helaman 3:18–19
Have you wondered why the Book of Mormon cites a numbering system such
as this? Do we say “forty and six, forty and seven, forty and eight?”
No! Joseph Smith’s natural interpretation would more appropriately have
been forty-six, forty-seven, forty-eight without the ands”. Brother
Hanna excitedly observes that the use of “and” in forty and six” is
precisely correct Arabic. Remember they number, as well as read, from
right to left and recite their numbers with the “and” to separate the
columns.
Well, I have just cited a few of these examples. There are many more!
As Latter-day Saint leaders, we are aware of the Semitic origin of the
Book of Mormon. The fact that an Arabic scholar such as this sees a
beautiful internal consistency in the Prophet Joseph Smith’s translation
of the book, is of great interest. The Prophet Joseph did not merely
render an interpretation, but a word for word translation from the
Egyptian type of hieroglyphic into the English language. Brother Hanna
said the Book of Mormon simply flowed back into the Arabic language
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