All for one and one for Allah

[KiwiCoromandel]

Pinocchio, Tom Sawyer and other characters have been converted to Islam in new versions of 100 classic stories on the Turkish school curriculum.

"Give me some bread, for Allah's sake," Pinocchio says to Geppetto, his maker, in a book stamped with the crest of the ministry of education.

In The Three Musketeers, D'Artagnan is told he cannot visit Aramis. The reason would make the author, Alexandre Dumas, turn in his grave. An old woman explains: "He is surrounded by men of religion. He converted to Islam after his illness."

Tom Sawyer may have shirked his homework, but he is more conscientious with his Islamic prayers. He is given a "special treat" for learning Arabic words.

Other books altered include Johanna Spyri's Heidi and Victor Hugo's Les Miserables.

The clumsy insertions by Islamic publishing houses have caused controversy in Turkey, which has been a strongly secular state since the 1920s.

The Education Minister, Huseyin Celik, blasted publishers and threatened legal action for use of the ministry's logo without approval. The Government only approved the book titles, not the altered versions, he said.

"If you like Heidi, then write your own Heidi. Don't work to Islamicise her," Celik said in a Turkish newspaper.

source:Telegraph/London

image:kitaabun.com.....Pinocchio, Tom Sawyer and other characters have been converted to Islam in new versions of 100 classic stories on the Turkish school curriculum...