On February 24, at Tbilisi
Theological Academy and Seminary, a meeting was held with the
professor of Ivane Javakhishvili Tbilisi State University, the
famous orientalist Giorgi Lobzhanidze. The topic of his talk was
“Dangers of Religious Fundamentalism - Does the Quran Preach
Violence?”.
Information about the
guest:
After graduating from the Faculty
of Oriental Studies at Tbilisi State University, Giorgi Lobzhanidze
continued his studies in the Faculty of Theology at Tehran State
University. After returning to Georgia, he has been working at
Tbilisi State University since 1999. He was Head of the Eastern
Department of the Center for Cultural Relations of Georgia – “The
Caucasian House” and Head of “The Center of Islamic Culture”.
It should be noted that Mr.
Giorgi has translated many works of medieval and modern Arabic and
Persian literature, he has published 6 collections of original
poems, and he is the first Georgian translator of the Quran from
Arabic as well.
The audience had looked forward
to the meeting with the guest. At the meeting, Mr. Giorgi dwelt on
the difficulties related to the translation of the Quran, he noted
that he started work on the translation in 1994 and only completed
it 12 years later. He attached an extensive, one-hundred-page
introduction and a complete body of explanations to his
translation, and dedicated it to the memory of Ilia
Chavchavadze.
It is a known fact that Giorgi
Lobzhanidze received two important awards for the above-mentioned
translation: The literary award “Saba”, which he received in
Georgia, and the other one, which is the state award “Book of the
Year” - in Iran. The latter was awarded to him for the best work on
Quranic studies, published abroad.
Mr. Giorgi spoke extensively
about the history of Georgian-Persian political and cultural
relations. He noted that the year 2001 was of outstanding
importance in the centuries-old history of these relationships,
when His Holiness and Beatitude, Catholicos-Patriarch of All
Georgia Ilia II paid an official visit to Iran on the invitation of
the President of the Islamic Republic of Iran, Muhammed Hatemi. His
Holiness and Beatitude met with the President and the spiritual
leader of the Islamic Republic of Iran Ali Khamenei.
I, then a very young man of
twenty-four, was for the first time given the opportunity to be
with the Patriarch and interact with him as his translator - noted
Mr. Giorgi, adding that memories of those happy days of interaction
with the Patriarch still remain with him with amazing vividness.
Mr. Giorgi spoke at length about the ideological and religious
content of the Quran. Also, he explained some of the terms and
lexical units from it. An interesting question for the audience -
whether Islam and its Holy Book, the Quran preach violence, the
speaker gave the following answer: existing religious systems,
established over centuries, including Islam, cannot preach
violence, it is based on love, virtue and peace between men. A
religion which preaches enmity and hatred is temporary and
fleeting. Islam is not a religion based on violence. Although
terrorism and violence often took place and still take it in the
name of this religion, in such cases, we are dealing with
misinterpretations of the text. Any religion, not only Islam, can
be interpreted politically and even become a political tool in the
hands of certain groups, turning into a monster that has nothing to
do with religious truth. The essence of religion is inconsistent
with fundamentalism, terrorism, violence - Mr. Giorgi added at the
end of the dialogue.
The issues discussed in the talk
aroused great interest of the audience, many interesting questions
were put forth, significant opinions were also expressed. A
discourse concluded the meeting which was highly fruitful and
interesting. The Head of the Department of Liturgy of Tbilisi
Theological Academy and Seminary, Archdeacon Demetre (Davitashvili)
thanked the guest for an interesting lecture and presented gifts to
him.