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> Boko Haram, whose name literally (yes, literally) means “Western education is sinful.” Not the point I know, but from what I have read that translation seems
by Joeboy 13y ago
> Boko Haram, whose name literally (yes, literally) means “Western education is sinful.”
Not the point I know, but from what I have read that translation seems pretty suspect. And even if it were accurate, I'm not sure why it's particularly relevant.
- qdot76367 13y agoHere's an article on the point about the name translation: http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Security-Watch/Backchannels/2014/0506/Boko-Haram-doesn-t-really-mean-Western-education-is-a-sin http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Security-Watch/Backchannels/2...
- thathonkey 13y agoSo you could say that it loosely means "Western Education/Thinking is a sin" - just not a literal translation?
- rkuykendall-com 13y agoTitle: 'Boko Haram' doesn't really mean 'Western education is a sin' Article: I mean, it actually pretty much does... but umm... language is complicated?
- aroman 13y agoIt's extremely relevant. It answers the most basic question about the tragedy: motive. This wasn't an isolated incident committed by a rogue individual. It was done by an organized militant terrorist organization, whose primary goal is to establish Islamic Sharia law through terrorism. As for your question about the translation, I am not an expert either, but there is an entire section of the relevant Wikipedia article about the etymology of the name: "In the town of Maiduguri, where the group was formed, the residents dubbed it Boko Haram. The term "Boko Haram" comes from the Hausa word boko figuratively meaning "western education" (often said to be literally "alphabet", from English "book", but the Hausa expert Paul Newman says it derives from a Hausa word with meanings such as "fraud" and "inauthenticity")[35][36] and the Arabic word haram figuratively meaning "sin" (literally, "forbidden").[37][38][39][40] Loosely translated, the name could mean "western education is sinful", which might symbolizes its strong opposition to anything Western, which it sees as corrupting Muslims.[41] However, this interpretation of the name is disputed.[42] Locals who speak the Hausa language are also unsure what it actually means.[43]" http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boko_Haram#Etymology http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boko_Haram#Etymology
- talltofu 13y agoAnd they believe what they are doing is not a sin? What a disgusting organization
- tzakrajs 13y agoNot sure they have the foresight to see the blowback that will result from their actions.
- Dewie 13y ago> It's extremely relevant. It answers the most basic question about the tragedy: motive. It doesn't answer why they only targeted girls, though. Unless it was a girls-only school. EDIT: To be specific: The name “Western education is sinful.” says nothing about why they only targeted girls. This group's history and background might suggest their motivation, but here, in this subthread, only the exact name (or rather, translation) was under question as a possible explanation for their motive.
- DanBC 13y agoThe group Boko Haram believes that girls should not be educated.
- tptacek 13y agoThe point at which an HN thread includes a direct evocation of "Islamic Sharia law", as if that string of tokens was by itself sufficient to inform the general HN reader of the context of any issue, is the point at which we can probably include the whole thread wasn't well suited to HN.
- ishener 13y agoI don't support any terrorism of any kind, but I do feel sometimes that western education is sinful.
- osazuwa 13y agoIt is relevant because it speaks to Boko Haram's ideology. Are they anti-Western culture? Or are they particularly excited about issues involving children, such as education? This group previously worked hard to stop vaccinations in the North (of Nigeria) as well.