Don't be surprised if English translations of the Osama bin Laden videotape differ, University of Cincinnati scholar Elizabeth B. Frierson warned Friday.

        That happens when anyone deals with Arabic, an ancient, nuanced and often poetic language.

Frierson

        “Compare those texts and see if they ring true, not just how bin Laden presents himself to an audience,” she said.

        Then wait to hear if Islamic scholars concur on Mr. bin Laden's use of law and sayings attributed to the prophet Muhammad because that will suggest how seriously his words will be taken in Muslim communities, Dr. Frierson added.

        The tape, obtained and released by the U.S. government, appears to have been recorded by an amateur at an informal gathering where Mr. bin Laden and associates spoke candidly.

        The White House says Mr. bin Laden's statements prove he was behind the attacks Sept. 11.

        Dr. Frierson is a specialist in the Middle East and assistant professor of history. She recommends this Internet site for a reliable translation: http://groups.
       colgate.edu/aarislam/response.htm.

        After listening to broadcasts of the tape Thursday, she called her initial translation “speculative.”

        Typical of any translator's problem is the many ways a single Arabic word root with three consonants can change form and meanings. For instance, the same three-letter group can change from “cut” to “bind together.”

        Then consider the English word “cleave” with its similarly contradictory meanings, and the translator's burden becomes clearer.

        Further complicating the task is the translator's English, Dr. Frierson said. A word used by Mr. bin Laden could be translated “a hit” with its traditional or gangland meaning, “a blow,” or “a strike.”

        Dr. Frierson has worked for 20 years in Modern Standard Arabic, much like Mr. bin Laden's Saudi dialect and the equivalent to English spoken by American or British network news anchors.

        Referring to the bin Laden tape, she said, “A translator will be listening for the Saudi dialect or the influence of Pashtu,” the dominant language in southern Afghanistan, because they would inspire “extra care.”

        Dr. Frierson said the tape may have been intended for Mr. bin Laden's allies because he demonstrates “that he is manifestly a propagandist” and called his comments da'wa, which can refer to political or religious missionary effort.

        “He chose verses from the Quran and sayings from the hadith (sayings attributed to Muhammad) that date to the time that the prophet Muhammad was at war with his bitterest enemies.” Those enemies rejected Islam and drove Mohammed from Mecca.

        Similarly, Dr. Frierson said, he cleverly linked mujahadeen warriors and al-ansar helpers; al-ansar were second only to the companions of Muhammad, and it suggests the Afghans were Mr. bin Laden's helpers.

        “It's very high praise, and it's very good propaganda.”

        The hadith, or sayings of Muhammed, that he uses need to be certified by hadith scholars as “sound” before they have any legal force, she continued.

        Furthermore, Dr. Frierson said, Mr. bin Laden refers to the ""fiqh of Muhammad.”

        Fiqh is the science of jurisprudence, based on the cleanest, most sound hadith, the Quran, some legal precedent and pure logic, she said. She likened it to the weight given U.S. Supreme Court proceedings in this country.

        “He is over-reaching his authority here and, if accurate, this part of the translation should get him in trouble with educated Muslims around the world.”

        In the last bits of poetry recited, she noted, Mr. bin Laden quotes from or adopts the style of pre-Islamic Arabian poetry and oral tradition, the very matrix from which the language of the Quran is believed to have sprung.

        In reciting poetry in this style of Arabic in a public setting, she said Mr. bin Laden is accomplishing several things:

        • Reminding everyone that he is an Arab from Saudi Arabia and therefore in propagandist terms a “pure Arab” or a “true Arab.”

        • Reminding everyone that early Muslims were people of war and honorably so.

        • Showing his mastery of the cultural/literary basis from which the Quran and the hadith sprang.

        “I think this may be one way he attempts to get around the fact that he is not qualified as a mufti or a faqih or in any way qualified in the classical and most current Muslim religious traditions to issue a fatwa or any kind of religious or legal ruling.”

        Dr. Frierson said this was clever and “will probably work on many people who are predisposed to support him for any number of reasons.”

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