Tidbits of Arabic News translated into English

Thursday, December 12, 2013

The BBC forgot the mosque

(December 7, 2013)

Check out this article. There's a paragraph in it that says:

Sunday has been designated an official day of prayer and reflection and President Jacob Zuma urged South Africans to to go to stadiums, halls, churches, temples or synagogues.

Isn't that odd? Stadiums, halls, churches, temples, synagogues, and no mention of a mosque. I thought, how strange, because when I heard the interpretation of the live speech on the BBC Arabic, the interpreter definitely included 'mosque'. So was the interpreter making things up to suit his vision of the world, or did the BBC in English forget about mosques?

I went to the original source, the speech transcripts as released by the government of South Africa. In it, the president is quoted as saying:

We call upon all our people to gather in halls, churches, mosques, temples, synagogues and in their homes for prayer services and meditation, reflecting on the life of Madiba and his contribution to our country and the world. (Jacob Zuma)

Isn't that crazy? I searched for the phrase "stadiums, halls, churches, temples, or synagogues" and that exact string was used in lots of news articles on the topic. I don't understand why they all just dropped the 'mosque' and added 'stadium' as a replacement. I mean, I know we're annoying, but really?

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