View source for Question: Did Elder Russell M. Nelson talk of a friend who translated the Book of Mormon into Arabic?

{{Main Page}}
<onlyinclude>
==Question: Did Elder Russell M. Nelson talk of a friend who translated the Book of Mormon into Arabic?==
===Elder Nelson had a neighbor named Sami Hanna, who was an Arabic scholar and a member of the Church===

At one time Elder Nelson had a neighbor named Sami Hanna, who was an Arabic scholar and a member of the Church. Based on his knowledge of Arabic and his experience translating the Book of Mormon into Arabic, Sami thought there were numerous things in the Book of
Mormon text that were consistent with a Semitic original of that book. <ref>Russell M. Nelson, "A Treasured Testament," ''Ensign'', July 1993.{{link|url=http://www.lds.org/ensign/1993/07/a-treasured-testament}}</ref>

===Elder Nelson has alluded to Sami a few times in talks, but he has never given a talk specifically on Sami===

Elder Nelson has alluded to Sami a few times in talks, as he has to others of his extensive network of friends who can read Hebrew. But he has never given a talk specifically on Sami. The internet article that circulates under his name was not written by Elder Nelson. <ref>There are copies of the spurious transcript on various web sites which can be acquired using Google.</ref>

===Sami left the Church some time ago and is now some sort of a fundamentalist Christian. He now repudiates his former comments on the Book of Mormon===

According to Sami's son, Mark, Sami left the Church some time ago and is now some sort of a fundamentalist Christian. He now repudiates his former comments on the Book of Mormon. <ref>A copy of Mark Hannah's email regarding his father is available here: {{link|url=http://www.ancientamerica.org/library/media/HTML/7m8thtdi/Feed%20Back%20of%20Sami%20Hanna%20article.htm?n=0}}</ref>

Such a repudiation is not, however, terribly significant.  Sami's material on the Book of Mormon was never a part of mainstream LDS scholarship on the subject. It was linguistically naive in a number of important respects. <ref>{{FARMSReview|author=John A Tvedtnes|article=Little Known Evidences of the Book of Mormon|vol=2|num=1|date=1990|start=258|end=259}}{{link|url=http://maxwellinstitute.byu.edu/publications/review/?vol=2&num=1&id=49}} ''The material relating to Hanna starts about halfway down.''</ref>

There is an extensive literature dealing with Hebraisms in the Book of Mormon. A good introductory article is {{BYUS|author=John Tvedtnes|article=Hebraisms in the Book of Mormon: A Preliminary Survey|vol=11|num=1|date=Autumn 1970|start=50|end=60}}[http://byustudies.byu.edu/showTitle.aspx?title=4936 *]

</onlyinclude>
{{endnotes sources}}

<!-- PLEASE DO NOT REMOVE ANYTHING BELOW THIS LINE -->

[[pt:Pergunta: Será que o Élder Russell M. Nelson conversa de um amigo que traduziu o Livro de Mórmon para o árabe?]]
[[Category:Questions]]