a non-Quranic aside

In Lojban a gismu can have one, two, three, four, or five sumti, or arguments; like the variables of a mathematical function. I have long thought to separate out "conjugations" or 'the five classifying colors' LE MU TE KLESI SKARI as follows: 1 sumti = NARJU XARJU (Orange Pig); 2 sumti = GRUSI GUNSE (Gray Goose); 3 sumti = CRINO CINFO (Green Lion); 4 sumti = BLABI SMANI (White Monkey); and 5 sumti = NUKNI JUKNI (Magenta Spider).

Gismu for each of these could be printed in the appropriate color. (I would do my Quran translation that way--perhaps on buff paper.) --As an additional flourish, i can imagine poets working to organize their colors in patterns, somewhat in the manner of Chinese versification...

on Ramazan

2:183
REKI'O PABICIMO'O

O ye who believe!
DOI SE LACRI
('faithful' rather than KRICI 'believers')

Fasting is prescribed for you
.i DO BILGA LEDU'U CE'U BRODA CEI DI'IZE'A RIVBI LENU CITKA
(still not entirely sure about RIVBI)

even as it was prescibed for those before you
.I BRODA BILGA DZENA
(after rejecting ...MU'U LENU LE DO DZENA PU BRODA BILGA)
(DZENA not PURCE)

that ye may ward off (evil).
.I TCATI .I SE JALGE LENU BANDU FI LO PALCI

2:184
.I REKI'O PABIVOMO'O

(Fast) a certain number of days
KO BRODA JI'E SO'O DJEDI .I (SO'O 'several' is maybe not the best--)

and (for) him who is sick among you or on a journey, (the same) number of other days
DA'I BILMA JA LITRU JI'E LE DUNLI JE DRATA DJEDI

and for those who can afford it there is a ransom--the feeding of a man in need--
.I JI'A LENU BRODA FA LE RICFU KA'E SE BASTI LENU CE'U DUNDA LE CIDJA PA PINDI JI'E ZU'I

but whoso doeth good of his own accord, it is better for him:
.I KU'I ZUKTE LE XAMGU ZI'O KUKU .I'ECAI

and that ye fast is better for you [,] if ye did but know.
.I LE BRODA TCACI CA'A BANZU .EINAI SEKI'UNAI LEDU'U DO'O NA DJUNO

2:185.

2:186.
LI'O .I REKI'O PABIXAMO'O
And when My servants question thee concerning Me, then surely I am nigh.
.IJECALENU PRETI MI LEMI FUZME KEIKU MI BA'E JIBNI

2:187.
LI'O .I REKI'O PABIZEMO'O LI'O

...eat and drink until the white thread becometh distinct to you from the black thread of the dawn.
.I .E'A DO CITKA JE PINXE JI'E LE MOKCA POI LO BLABI CILTA LO XEKRI CILTA NA SIMSA LE SKARI BEFOKE'A KU'O VI LE CERNI
(or CERNI MOKCA...)

(via Wikipedia: "Khidr")

gardens (a frequent phrase)

(e.g. 9:72)
"...gardens that rivers flow under..."

LE PURDI POI FLECU LE RIRXE NI'A KE'A

but 'flow' is redundant

...POI LE RIRXE CU CNITA KE'A

simplifying

...POI SE CNITA LE RIRXE

actually, 'adjacent' is better

...POI LAMJI LE RIRXE

as a tanru

RIRXE LAMJI PURDI

vopa ki'o rebi

41:28 ...That is the reward of Allah's enemies: the Fire. Therein is their immortal home, payment forasmuch as they denied our revelations.

'Reward' is VE CNEMU. However, SFASA 'punish' (with the same place values) is what is meant.

LI'O DAPOI BRADI LE MUSYCEI ZO'U

'All who oppose Allah.' At first i followed this with: CNEMU DA FO TU'A LE FAGRI, because 'fire' stands for something more elaborate involving screaming, burning, & repentance.

FO TU'A LE FAGRI BA SFASA DA

--adds the future tense BA & ends on the satisfyingly final DA. (Note that the tense marker also eliminates the need for a KEI or a KU which had me scratching my head.)

.I RI BA CIMNI RANJI ZDANI DA

Also in the future tense.

.i SFASA FILE ZU'O DA NATFE LE NOTCI BEFI MI'A

Confirming the TE SFASA (thing being punished) is an activity ZU'O not just a one-time denying, or state of denial (NU NATFE)--which was, though, a consideration. NOTCI may seem insufficient for 'revelation' (adding CENSA 'holy'?),

LE NOTCI POI CENSA KU'O BEFI MI'A

but the Quran is often referred to as a 'message' with Muhammad being the 'messenger'. MI'A is more problematic. Is this Allah speaking, M., or Allah speaking through M.?

camel absences & absent camels

Borges memorably mused on a slightly unfounded assertion by Gibbon concerning the absence of camels in the Quran. Lojban has the word KUMTE which also covers llamas & alpacas. Curiously, the Lojban word for 'empty' is almost the same--KUNTI. So a 'camel-empty book' would be KUMTE KUNTI CUKTA. Meanwhile another blogger suggests that "the presence of camels in the Qu'ran demonstrates its inauthenticity" but finds the sentence in question by Gibbon who, it turns out, said no such thing.

la musycei

zasti cevni co muslo po'o .i

muslo falo zasti cevni .i

drata naje muslo zatcei .i

da poi zatcei zo'u da la musycei du

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> > zasti cevni co muslo po'o

this means "(observative) Only-Muslim existing-god!"

> > muslo falo zasti cevni

this means "Any existing god is Muslim."

> > drata naje muslo zatcei

this means "(observative) Muslim-&-no-other existing-god!"

> > da poi zatcei zo'u da la musycei du

this means "For every thing that is an existing-god, it is The Muslim-God."

>roda cevni gi'o me la ala'ax

but this would mean "Everything is a god if & only if it pertains to
Allahagh." (including the muezzin tower, the prayer mat, & the Quran
itself).

i think a descriptive sobriquet like LA MUSYCEI is entirely
appropriate for names that cannot be transliterated without
mangling them beyond recognition. in any case, let's leave it
to the first MUSLO LOBYPRE...

(lojban list, 1 June 2001)

[according to xod, "in Lojban, it is 'jegvo cevni' "]

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BTW a Lojban rhyming dictionary appears subsequently.