Criticism of Quranic Translation
Criticism of Quranic Translation
Criticism of Quranic Translation
Preface
Eternal gratitude be to God, the All-Mighty and the All-Knowing Who
granted upon us opportunity to reflect upon, translate and interpret His Book
deeming us His servants of the Quran and the Household (a).
The Glorious Quran is a comprehensive book and everyone benefits from
this divine table of blessings proportionate to his knowledge and capacity. In
this regard, translators and exegetes try to share their valuable findings with
others and satiate the thirsty for Islamic knowledge with the spring of
knowledge in the Quran.
During the last fourteen centuries, many different exegeses of the Quran in
different languages have been provided written according to different
theological and exegetical backgrounds. To know those translations and their
translators and providing new better translations, one needs to know their
approaches and their backgrounds.
Objectives
The present book pursues the following objectives:
A.
Explaining the logics of translating the Quran through analyzing
the approaches, styles and precepts so far used in the area of translating the
Quran.
Note: Logics of translating the Quran includes the approaches,
styles, precepts, principles and rules of translation, knowing which
avoids translators mistakes or reduces them.
B.
Diagnosis of the problems with different approaches, styles and
principles of translating the Quran.
C.
Reviewing the history of translations of the Quran
D.
Classifying approaches, styles and principles of translating the
Quran
Special Thanks
I would like to thank all the colleagues of the teamwork translation of the
Quran including Hujjat al-Islams: Martyr Ghulamali Homai, Hossein
Shirafkan, Mohammad Amini, Mohsen Ismaili, Mohsen Molla Kzemi and
other scholars who helped us with their suggestions and helpful criticisms
and also the secretary to the Office of Planning and Publishing Textbooks of
the Office of Education, Hujjat al-Islam wal Muslimin Izzuddin Reza
Nejhad and his colleagues who helped actualization of the final product
through their follow-ups and supports. It is wished that God, the Almighty
rewards them best.
needs to have other requirements and care about other principles and
prerequisites in translation; moreover, he needs to take a certain approach
towards translation; thus translating the Quran can be defined as following:
It is the process of transferring the message from the source language to the
target language carried out by a competent translator who takes appropriate
approaches in translation and pays attention to principles in understanding
the Quran and constantly tries to transfer the style in the context.
Reminder: the Quran has been translated to Arabic; and Shubbars Tafsir,
Muhammad Jawad Mughniyahs Tafsir Muin and Tafsir Jallayn are
examples of commentary-like translations.
Thus, according to above-mentioned point from Ayatollah Marifat in
definition of translation which suggested that difference in languages [of the
source text and the target language] need to exist, then if a concept is
restated in the same language in other ways, this can only be called mere
restatement and it cannot be considered as translation in its common sense;
therefore, such restatement of the Quran in modern Arabic is only an
explanation not translation.
Translation Elements
It can be understood from definitions of translation that its elements are as
following:
1.
Source language (comprised of words, signs, etc.)
2.
Target Language (comprised of words, signs, etc.)
3.
The meaning or message which is intended to be transferred from
the source language to the target language
4.
Style (which needs skill to be transferred)
5.
Principles and prerequisites specific to translation of sacred texts
It is to note that the last element is specific to translation of the Quran and
the Bible and the fourth element is required for perfection of translation and
if not carried out, translation would not be harmed because the translator can
fill this gap by providing extra information in parentheses and this way
convey the atmosphere and style of the original text to the reader.
Aspects of Translation
Some scholars such as Eugene Nida consider translation as a science; but
some others consider it as an art or skill. Dr. Bahrm Tsi thinks that
translation is all these three at the same time:
Translation is not per se a science to be learned through reading and
learning their facts alone such as hadiths, history or geography. It is not per
se a skill such as wrestling or carpentry either to be learned through practice
or apprenticeship so that one reaches mastery in them. It is not per se an art
either such as painting in which the artist would sit and draw his thoughts
and dreams on the canvas and receives praise for it. Translation is a
collection of those three: it is a science since it needs education, and a skill
which requires constant practice and an art because it requires an artistic
sense without which it would be fruitless.
Thus, it seems that translation has three aspects:
6.
Translation is a science; since it is the fruit of knowledge and
research and it has all the elements of science such as subject, issues,
principles, etc.
7.
Translation is a skill since it requires practice to reach mastery like
other skills;
8.
Translation is an art, because it needs taste and emotions so that the
translator can understand artistic and stylistic delicate points in the
source language and transfer them to the target language.
Theories of Translation
Every translator takes an approach in translation which at least would be
comprised of the following elements, a change in each of which may cause a
change in the mentioned approach and thus a different translation would be
made as a result.
9.
Specific method in translation
10.
Specific style in translation
11.
Exegetical principles in translation
12.
Theological principles in translation
13.
Lexical principles in translation
14.
Literary principles in translation
15.
Linguistic principles in translation
16.
Choosing an approach about principles of translation
17.
Specific approach in translation (such as the necessity of
translating all [content] words of the text or optionality of it, etc.)
Any translator needs to choose his approach towards above-mentioned
elements and state his opinion accordingly in order firstly to be able to offer
an orderly, methodical, systematic and valuable translation; secondly, to
inform the target reader of the translation to help them find what they look
for and thirdly to help critics of translation offer a fair criticism about his
translation and avoid invalid criticisms.
Note: Here, the effort is made to elaborate the above elements so that every
translator can offer a good translation by adopting his own specific
approach.