Islam and the Printing Press

Printing by moveable type was invented in 1452, and by 1500 an estimated 20 million books and materials had been printed (Christopher Anderson, Annals of the English Bible, I, p. lx). The publication of Bibles exploded. The first printed book was a complete Latin Bible in 1455. By 1520, no less than 199 editions of the entire Bible had appeared, and this was just the bare beginning of the Bible printing revolution. Suddenly, for the first time in church history, common people could afford to own a Bible and they were eager to do so. The printing press was little used by Muslims, though. According to Islam, Arabic is the holy language and the translation of the Quran is discouraged. Historically, Muslim nations have not been friends of printing. Consider the Ottoman Empire (1299-1923). The Ottomans “were no friends to public education, independent news media and the printed word” (“Arab Media: The Web 2.0 Revolution,” Carnegie Reporter, Fall 2008). Books and printed matter were unknown in Turkish and Arabic before the end of the 18th century, and prior to 1840, “an average of only eleven books a year were published in the capital of Istanbul” (Ibid.). Jews, Greeks, and Armenians had printing presses in the Ottoman Empire, but they were not allowed to print materials in Turkish or Arabic. In 1900, 90% of Muslims were illiterate. In 2008, about 35% of Muslims (50% of women) were still illiterate. Only 350 books are translated into Arabic annually. Saudi Arabia did not have a high school until after 1930 and still has only 250 public libraries to serve 26 million people (and until 2006, females were not allowed to hold readers cards). There are about 550 universities among the 57 Muslim nations of the Organisation of Islamic Conference (OIC) compared with more than 5,700 in the U.S. and 8,400 in India.

(Friday Church News Notes, January 22, 2016, www.wayoflife.org, fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143)

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