Excerpt:
The Pasila district studios of the Finnish Broadcasting Company Yle have completed an ambitious and one-of-a-kind radio project. It is a radio series in which the holy book of Islam, the Koran, will be read cover-to-cover in 60 half-hour-long instalments.
Each instalment will begin with a discussion between Imam Anas Hajjar, a leader of the Finnish Muslim community, and the translator of the text into Finnish, Professor Jaakko Hämeen-Anttila. In these introductory discussions, the two men will explore the religious and historical context of the text to be read.
"It's nice to hear my translation be read aloud. It is important that the Koran is read in its entirety, and not just select items that show that Islam is bad and violent or good and beautiful. All of the text material is served up for the listener to assess," says Hämeen-Anttila.