Misunderstanding of English thought to be reason behind controversial ‘Turn Back Quran’ t-shirts sold online

Remember the “Turn Back Crime” T-shirts that were all the rage last year, and, to some extent this year as well (at least with the many wannabe cops in Indonesia)?

Well, some T-shirt makers thought it would be a good idea to add an Islamic spin on the famous phrase and sell the t-shirts online for profit. The problem is, it appears that they didn’t really understanding the meaning of the phrase “turn back.”

Recently,T-shirts featuring the logo “Turn Back Quran” (in a style emulating the Turn Back Crime design) were sold on e-commerce websites like Bukalapak for around IDR100,000 (US$7.40) each. Kumparan also reported that there were other variants using the “turn back” phrase, such as “Turn Back Muslim” and “Turn Back Allah.”

While the tees understandably stirred controversy in the Muslim-majority nation, many netizens did not immediately assume that the makers had any blasphemous intent (which is illegal in Indonesia), instead theorizing that the t-shirt makers, not being English speakers, thought that the phrase “turn back” has the same meaning as “back to”, which is more applicable in the context of the Quran or Allah.

The Indonesian Ulema Council (MUI), the nation’s highest clerical body, has not jumped to conclusions on the matter either.

“This must be investigated. Was this a factor of misunderstanding or a factor of provocation. If it’s because of misunderstanding, then they must be informed. But if this is provocation, then legal steps must be taken,” said KH Asrorun Niam, secretary of the Fatwa Commission of the MUI, as quoted by Kumparan today.

There are no reports of any criminal investigation into the T-shirts, and they are no longer available on Bukalapak or other local e-commerce websites.

Surprisingly, this is not the first time someone has inappropriately used the “turn back” phrase in a Quranic context.

Representatives of a vocational school in the city of Bandung issued an apology on Tuesday after a photo of a poster for an Islamic event at their school entitled “Turn Back Quran” went viral online recently. In their apology, they admitted that they thought “turn back” is synonymous with “returning to”.