A jovial instance of modifying Quranic interpretation

Submitted by Erich W (United States), Dec 31, 2010 at 16:44

Concerning the renegade seaman, Muslim convert and Sea Jihadi (pirate), Ali Bitshnin, 17th century, as related by Adrian Tinniswood, in Pirates of Barbary:

"On one occassion, his galleys were taking in water near Oran when a Moor came up to hiim and asked if he might be allowed to kill one of the Christian slaves, "which is the most acceptable sacrifice that can be made to the Prophet." The Captain of the Sea told him he'd be happy to oblige, and then gave a sword and a dagger to his biggest, roughest galley slave and sent him to chase the Moor away. When the man summoned up the courage to come back and complain, Ali Bitshnin laughed at him, saying there was no honor in killing a man who couldn't defend himself: "Mohamet was a generous and valiant man; go and bid your sherif furnish you with a better explication of the Alcoran." A jovial captain might do more than the scholars of the ulema, forcing them to find an interpretation that does less harm.

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