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An intimate conversation with Sheikh Ibrahim Sawada, a Japanese cleric and convert to Islam, focusing on Quranic topics:<\/strong><\/p>\n Ibrahim Sawada is a 38-year-old Japanese translator who has translated the 30th part (Juz’) of the Holy Qur\u2019an. He is a Shia Muslim and has studied at the seminary in Qom for seven years. We had an interview with him, which you can read below:<\/p>\n <\/p>\n I translated the 30th part (Juz’ 30) of the Holy Qur\u2019an into Japanese, a process that took six months.<\/p>\n Yes, I studied at the Islamic Seminary in Qom for seven years, and I completed the equivalent of a Master’s degree in seminary studies three years ago. Since then, I have returned to Japan.<\/p>\n (He laughs) I am a Muslim, and naturally, I wanted to become familiar with the rulings of Islam. My curiosity about the religion, along with my father\u2019s advice, led me to pursue studies in the Shi’a seminary.<\/p>\n My father encouraged me to translate the Qur\u2019an because he had written the entire Qur\u2019an in his own style.<\/p>\n Yes, I read Persian translations of the Qur\u2019an, as well as \u201cTafsir al-Mizan\u201d and \u201cTafsir-e-Nemuneh\u201d.<\/p>\n Unfortunately, no.<\/p>\n The Japanese government is indifferent \u2014 it neither encourages nor prevents such activities.<\/p>\n Spiritually, it has deepened my connection with God. At the same time, it has also made me feel distant \u2014 the more I study and research about Islam and God, the more I realize how small and insignificant I am before Him.<\/p>\n Yes, absolutely. I can confidently say that I have truly grasped and experienced the religion of Islam, and I have come to realize that it is one of the most rational and logical religions.<\/p>\n One of the main challenges was the lack of collaborators who were both fluent in Japanese and familiar with Islamic sciences. Financial issues were also present in the background. But one of the most significant difficulties I faced was the difference in linguistic structure between Arabic or Persian and Japanese.<\/p>\n For example, in Arabic and Persian, imperative (command) forms are commonly used. However, in Japanese, this structure is not common, and Japanese people often find such expressions inappropriate or unnatural.<\/p>\n Also, in Iran, Muslims typically learn about religious duties and Qur\u2019anic meanings from scholars and elders, so understanding the translation is not difficult for them. But in Japan, people have virtually no awareness of Islam \u2014 they don\u2019t even know what the Day of Judgment is, and such concepts are completely unfamiliar to them.<\/p>\n In my opinion, Qur\u2019anic translations should be explained and interpreted for the Japanese audience. Therefore, I have decided to start working on a tafsir (exegesis) of the Qur\u2019an to help them fully understand Islam.<\/p>\n In 1972, after the oil crisis, the name of Islam spread for the first time across many countries. At that time, some Japanese people became curious about Islam, and my father was among those who researched and studied the religion. Fortunately, after his investigations, he concluded that he should become a Muslim, and he was particularly drawn to the Holy Qur\u2019an.<\/p>\n I also followed my father and converted to Islam as a child. Since then, we have been observing Islamic traditions, such as reading the Qur’an during Ramadan.<\/p>\n It was in English, translated by a Shia scholar. A person from India sent it to us, and that\u2019s how it came into our hands.<\/p>\n I should also mention that some people believe Islam is a very strict and difficult religion. I personally disagree with that view.<\/p>\n In my opinion, it may be because they feel that Islam is different from other religions.<\/p>\n In Islam, religious duties apply equally to everyone \u2014 ordinary people and religious scholars alike have the same obligations. But in religions like Christianity and Buddhism, the responsibilities of ordinary followers and clergy are separate. I think that\u2019s why people from other countries sometimes view Islam as hard and complicated.<\/p>\n In Japan, we have established a center called “Ahl al-Bayt.” There, I conduct classes on the Qur\u2019an and Islamic rulings. I am also continuing the translation of Qur\u2019anic verses. In addition, if someone wants to learn the Persian language, I also teach Persian.<\/p>\n An intimate conversation with Sheikh Ibrahim Sawada, a Japanese cleric and convert to Islam, focusing on Quranic topics: Ibrahim Sawada is a 38-year-old Japanese translator who has translated the 30th part (Juz’) of the Holy Qur\u2019an. He is a Shia Muslim and has studied at the seminary in Qom for seven years. We had […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[2435,2512,129,34,2511,2369,250,39,2510],"class_list":["post-13997","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-perspective","tag-cleric","tag-conversation","tag-converted-to-islam","tag-converted-to-shia","tag-ibrahim-sawada","tag-japanese","tag-japanese-cleric","tag-mostabserin","tag-sheikh-ibrahim-sawada","has-post-title","no-post-date","has-post-category","has-post-tag","has-post-comment","has-post-author",""],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/al-mostabserin.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13997","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/al-mostabserin.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/al-mostabserin.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/al-mostabserin.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/al-mostabserin.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13997"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/al-mostabserin.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13997\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13999,"href":"http:\/\/al-mostabserin.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13997\/revisions\/13999"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/al-mostabserin.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13997"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/al-mostabserin.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13997"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/al-mostabserin.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13997"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}\n
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