TOJET: The Turkish Online Journal of Educational Technology – November 2017, Special Issue

for INTE 2017

Translation of Selected Pun Words from the Holy Quran into English

Mohammed H. Al Aqad
Faculty of Languages & Linguistics, University of Malaya
Kulwindr Kaur
Faculty of Languages & Linguistics, University of Malaya
Ahmad Arifin Bin Sapar
Faculty of Languages & Linguistics, University of Malaya
arifin@um.edu.my
Kais Amir Kadhim
Buraimi University College – Oman
Nor Hazrul Mohd Salleh
Academy of Islamic Studies, University of Malaya, Malaysia

ABSTRACT
Qur'an is the central religious text of Islam, which Muslims believe to be a revelation from God (Arabic: ‫هللا‬,
Allah). It is widely regarded as the finest piece of literature in the Arabic language. Translation of the Qur'an has
always been a problematic and controversial issue for each translator in the Islamic theology. Furthermore,
translating Qur'anic text might raise several serious problems in translation; these problems are due to the
different translations of puns and the misinterpretations between the intended meanings of pun with their
inherent notions, which could result in a certain amount of ambiguity. The present study deals with problems of
translating the rhetorical purposes of puns in the Glorious Quran into English. The study examines Quranic text
and its four widespread English translations by Yusuf Ali (2014), Pickthall (1963, 2011), Arberry (1991), and
Shakir (1999). The research corpus is based on four verses (Ayat) selected randomly from the Holy Quran. The
objectives of this study are to determine the pun translation strategies applied by the translators in translating the
Quranic puns from Arabic into English in terms of Delabastita᾿s (1996) strategies. In addition, to find out to
what extent is the meaning of the Arabic puns has maintained in the English translation with regard to Newmark
(1988) translation methods. A descriptive method was used to analyze the data. The researcher calculated the
frequency and percentage of strategies applied by each translator. The findings of the study will pave the way for
further investigations on the translatability of different issues in the Holy Quran.
Keywords: the holy Quran, pun sentences, methods of translation, Delabastita strategies, typology of puns.

INTRODUCTION
Islam is a worldwide religion, which was sent to all humanity. Its teachings, orders, prohibitions and laws are all
found in its holy book, the Quran. The holy Quran is a unique form of Arabic speech, and is divided into
chapters (sura in Arabic), which are then divided into verses (ayah).The totality of every chapter has a special
character, with its own unique form, and its unique use of literary devices.
Pun is one of the rhetoric devices that have been frequently used in the holy Quran. The puns have brought forth
a sublime reconciliation between form and content.
Several scholars (e.g., Alexieva, 1997; Delabastita, 1996; Weissbord, 1996) used the terms wordplay and pun
interchangeably; however, since distinguishing between wordplays and puns is not the focus of this study, it will
be assumed that puns are included in the given definition of wordplay. Shaw (1905) indicated that puns have
appeared in literature since the time of Homer, 8th century B.C., states that pun is the humorous use of a word
emphasizing different meanings or associations. Some scholars (e.g. Delabastita, 1997; Leech, 1969; Newmark,
1988) emphasized the homonymous and polysemous nature of words used in pun or wordplay. According to
Newmark (1988, p. 217) one makes a pun by using a word, or two words with the same sound (piece-peace), or
a group of words with the same sound (personne alitee / personnalite) in their two possible senses. He adds that
the purpose of making a pun is to arouse laugher or amusement, and sometimes to concentrate meaning. Based
on the reason that puns depend on the structural features of a language, and that different languages have
different structures, it is believed that the task of translating them to be a very difficult one. The translation even
will be more difficult between unrelated language systems such as Arabic and English. Besides the language
distinctions, the different cultural backgrounds are also big barriers to translate Arabic puns into English.
Moreover, the translation of the Quranic puns will causes serious problems to the translators since the holy
Quran is a unique expression of the Arabic language and nothing can match its literary form.
A brief look at the studies on pun indicated that so far very little research has been done in the field. The current
study is one of the few studies that focused on the holy Quran and pun translation from Arabic into English. It is
conducted to see the strategies were applied by different translators in rendering the Quranic puns into English.

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STATEMENT OF PROBLEM
Pun makes Arabic texts (Quranic, poetic and everyday formal expressions) more vivid and their content richer in
semantic values. Puns are not often used for daily speech, so they have gained little attention from researchers.
Puns are mainly used to attract the attention of the hearer/ speaker towards the dual meaning of the verse or
sentence for example, }‫ِيم‬ِ ‫ضالَلِكَ ْالقَد‬ ‫{قَالُواْ ت ه‬, They said: "By God, you are still persisting in your old
َ ‫َاّللِ إِنَّكَ لَ ِفي‬
delusion." Here the pun word is َ‫ضاللِك‬ َ َ which has two meaning, (1) ignorance and (2) love ‘still loving Yusuf and
don’t forget him’. This meaning may deviate from its platform to yield another new meaning for instance, the
first one is “not intended meaning”, while the second is “intended meaning”. Tanaka (1994: 68) notices, “Puns
attract attention because they frustrate initial expectations of relevance and create a sense of surprise.” The
translator stands helpless towards such expression since it has two different meanings. Thus, the translator has to
make a clear distinction in order to convey the real meaning of such an expression to the reader.
The Quran is opulent with a variety of meanings relevant to pun sentences, which are deserve an intensive study.
The present study investigates the translation of prominent types of pun sentences in the Glorious Quran, which
contain a given rhetorical purpose. It argues that each pun sentence has a particular rhetorical purpose, which
may be missed if the translator fails to capture it through translation from Arabic to the target language.
Consequently, the internal meaning of the pun sentence will be distorted and a different meaning of the original
message is produced. Furthermore, rhetorical pun sentences are associated to the feelings of the speaker thus
may be problematic issue to the translator seeking to determine how to convey that sentiment into the target
language. Besides, sometimes there is a loss of meaning since the translator uses various linguistic components,
which unrelated to the cultures involved. Although the use of pun sentences is quite common in the Glorious
Quran, there are no studies to explicate the problem from translation perspective. Hence, the current study is
intended to fill this gap. In other words, the intention of the current study is not to focus upon the amusing,
tricky, and even humorous effects produced by puns. The aim is to pinpoint pun translation as a problematic area
in Quran translation.

RESEARCH QUESTIONS OF THE STUDY

This study is an attempt to answer the following questions:
1) What are the translation strategies applied by the different translators in translating the Quranic puns
from Arabic into English in terms of Delabastita᾿s (1996) strategies?
2) To what extent is the meaning of the Arabic puns maintained in the English translation?

SIGNIFICANT OF THE STUDY

The current proposed study reserves its significance from the significance translation of the Holy Quran and the
function of puns in creating a coherent and meaningful text through utilizing different types of puns in the text.
To the best knowledge of the researcher, and although to date there has been little of literature available on the
contrasting parts between English and Arabic with regard to the Quranic pun, in each language, little work has
been done on it. As far as translation is concerned, this study is expected to be of great value in the sub-field of
rhetoric pun on Quran translation between English and Arabic as a great deal of pun meanings and functions are
found in both languages.
Furthermore, this study is hoped to contribute some important findings to the translation of Quranic text.

SCOPE AND LIMITATION OF THE STUDY

The study covers and tackles the English translation of Arabic puns in the Quranic text, and its inherent
meaning. The study will focus only on the meaning, rhetoric function and strategies used of translating Quranic
pun from Arabic into English.

LITERATURE REVIEW
Translation of Pun
According to Delabastita (2004), whether serious or comical, wordplay creates linguistic problems of
translatability because different languages have different meaning-form distributions. Delabastita (1996) also
believed that puns due to the combination of the subject-oriented (reference) and the self-oriented (self-
reference) mode of language from which puns lend their individuality, present special problems to translators.
Furthermore, he noted that a structural and typological dissimilarity of source and target language increases the
linguistic untranslatability of puns (1996).
Alexieva (1997) argued that: the difficulty of translating puns is caused by the asymmetry between world and
language manifesting itself in different ways in different languages. For example, a word, which has a set of
multiple meanings in one language, may have a corresponding word in another with only one meaning or with a
different set of multiple meanings.
As Weissbrod (1996) stated there are always subjective features relevant, including the translator’s talent,
proficiency, and willingness to spend time finding solutions in the face of hard-to-translate wordplays.

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Delabastita strategies of pun translation:

Delabastita (1996) has presented the following translation strategies for wordplay (pun):
1. Pun to pun: the source text pun is translated by a target language pun, which may be more or
less different from the original wordplay in terms of formal structure, semantic structure, or
lexical function.
2. Pun to non-pun: the pun is rendered by a non-punning phrase, which may salvage both
senses of wordplay but in a non-punning conjunction, or select one of the senses at the cost of
suppressing the other; of course, it may also occur that both components of the pun are
translated beyond recognition.
3. Pun to related rhetorical device: the pun is replaced by some wordplay related rhetorical
device (repetition, alliteration, rhyme, referential vagueness, irony, paradox, etc.) which also
aims to recapture the effect of the source text pun.
4. Pun to zero: the portion of text containing the pun is simply omitted.
5. Pun ST= pun TT: the translator reproduces the source-text pun and possibly its immediate
environment in its original formulation, i.e. without actually „translating‟ it.
6. Non pun to pun: the translator introduces a pun in textual positions where the original text
has no wordplay, by way of compensation to make up for source text puns lost elsewhere, or
for any other reason.
7. Zero to pun: entirely new textual material is added, which contains wordplay that has no
apparent precedent or justification in the source text except as a compensatory device.
8. Editorial techniques: explanatory footnotes or endnotes, comments provided in
translator’s forewords, the anthological presentation of different, supposedly complementary
solutions to the same source text problem, and so forth.

Translation Methods
Newmark (1 988, p. 18) suggested a concrete steps and procedures in order to transfer the ST into the TL.
Newmark (1988, p. 144) confirms that there are three basic translation processes:
a. The interpretation and analysis of the SL text;
b. The translation procedures, which may be direct, or on the basis of SL and TL corresponding syntactic
structures, or through an underlying logical 'interlanguage';
c. The reformulation of the text in relation to the writer's intention, the readers7 expectation, the appropriate
norms of the TL, and so on.
Accordingly, the translator first must understand or figure out the SLT. The process of understanding involves
analyzing the text in several ways, linguistically, semantically, syntactically and culturally. The second phase is
the transformation, where the translator tries to frame the meaning of the SLT to fit, linguistically and culturally,
the TLT. The third phase is to produce the TI'.

Translation of the Holy Quran

The opponents of the illegitimacy of the holy Quran translation believe that “it is legitimate to translate all verses
of the Quran to the foreign tongue” (Baker & Saldanha, 2008, p. 201). Their rationale is that we live in an era in
which the wider demand for translations of the Quran, among Muslims and non-Muslims alike, has become far
greater than at any time in the past. Thus, “Non-Muslim audience in many different parts of the world turns to
the Quran almost always in translation in the search for the bases of deeper mutual understanding” (Morris,
2000, p. 53).
Muslim scholars take two opposing stands regarding the translation of the holy Quran: Some accept the idea of
translating it while others refuse its translation totally. In the second edition of Routledge Encyclopedia of
Translation Studies (2009), the translatability and legitimacy of the translation of the holy Quran has been
discussed. For example, it mentions that the Quran cannot be translated with the view that the book has senses,
which are exclusive to the Quranic Arabic. On the other hand, the Al-Azhar Encyclopedia states that ‘Al-Azhar
Alsharif’ (Egypt’s renowned Islamic institution, al-Azhar al-Sharif, has been serving the Islamic World for more than 1,000 years) agreed on Pickthall‟s
translation of the Quran. As long as, his 1930 translation does not carry the title of ‘The Quran’, rather it should
be ‘a translation, or interpretation of the meanings of the Quran’. According to Arberry (1998), rhetoric and
rhythm of the Koran are so distinctive, powerful and emotive that any translation seems to be just a poor copy of
the glorious original.
Many orientalists and linguists have highlighted the uniqueness and sensitiveness of the Quran as a text, making
it a genre of literary beauty (Tzortzis, 1960). As Mir (2000) states, what makes the literary repertoire of the
Quran rich is its masterful use of language on the level of words and phrases. According to him, the all-
pervading rhythm along with the rhymed prose creates, in many verses, a spellbinding effect for those who can
read the Quran in Arabic that is impossible to reproduce.

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Definition of Pun in English

Also, in this definition, according to Sanderson (2009): According to Delabastita (1996): wordplay is the general
name for the various textual phenomena in which structural features of the languages used are exploited in order
to bring about a communicatively significant confrontation of two (or more) linguistic structures with more or
less similar forms and more or less different meanings. (p. 128). In this definition, it is stated “the pun is based
on the confrontation of linguistic forms that are formally similar, but have different meanings” (Delabastita,
1993, p. 58).

The formal similarity is manifested in terms of spelling and pronunciation. It is therefore the
confrontation of similar forms and dissimilar meanings between linguistic structures, which rise to
ambiguity. This means that ambiguity arises because words that look and/or sound the same but
have different meanings are exploited in such a manner that an additional semantic layer is added to
the otherwise stable relationship between signifier and signified (p. 123).

Categorization of Pun in English

Several criteria can be attended to carry out a categorization of wordplay. Delabastita, (1993) applied a formal
criteria and a linguistic phenomenon as basis of his classification. According to the formal criterion, a distinction
can be drawn between two types of puns, namely vertical pun and horizontal pun. Delabastita asserted that
different types of horizontal pun are Homophony, homography, paronymy, and homonymy (lbid). He explained
the puns as the follow:
• Homophonic pun is based on the exploitation of word pairs, which sound alike, but are different in spelling.
An example of such word pair is tale and tail.
• Homographic pun indicates two expressions, spelt the same way and creating graphemic ambiguity. A word
of the same spelling as another but derived from a different root and having a different meaning (e.g., to wind
and the wind; to present and a present or bow (the front part of a ship), bow (to bend), and bow (a decorative
knot)).
• Paronymic pun exploits words that have slight differences in both spelling and pronunciation. An example
of such a word pair is adding in Salt/insult to injury.
• Homonymic pun is comprised of words that are identical in both spelling and pronunciation. The words have
different meaning, though. An example is the word bear, which can be a verb (to carry) or a noun (the animal).
• Syntactic pun is constituted by a statement, which can be analyzed syntactically in at least two different
ways.
• Morphological pun is composed by words, which can be related to other words by means of morphological
devices such as derivation or compounding.

Definition of Pun in Arabic

Originally, the Arabic rhetorical term “‫[ ”التورية‬at-Tawriyyah, lit.pun] is derived from the Arabic statement “ ُ‫َو َّريت‬
‫الخبر أَو الشىء‬َ ” [warraytu al-khabara aw al-shaya] which literally means, “I have hidden the news or the thing in
order not to be known by others”. Technically speaking, it means intentionally hiding a very subtle sense of a
spoken or written text and makes it difficult or impossible to be completely grasped by certain people in an
audience (Al-Jawhari, 1956:2523). This interpretation is clearly supported by a number of Quranic texts such as:
(1) Surah “An-Nahl, The Bee”, ayah 59.
‫القوم مِ ْن سُوءِ مابُ ه‬
‫ش َر به‬ ِ َ‫ يَتوارى مِ ن‬.
He hides Himself with shame from his people, Because of the bad news he has had.
(2) Surah “Al-Ma'idah, The Table” ayah 31.
ً‫س ْوأَة َ أَخِ یه‬ َ ‫الرض ِلیُر َيهً َكی‬
َ ‫ْف ي َُو ِاري‬ ِ َ‫ث فِي أ‬
ُ ‫غ َرابا ً َي ْب َح‬
ُ ُ‫فَبَعَثَ للا‬
Then God sent a raven that scratched the ground in order to show him how to hide the nakedness of his brother.
Rhetorically speaking, the Arabic term “‫ ”تورية‬and its English counterpart “pun” both refer to a figure of speech
which is rich in its linguistic (syntactic, semantic, morphological, and lexical) content. Pun is seen by Arab
rhetoricians as a fundamental figure of speech for its rhetorical force in texts. It has been used as a rhetorical
device and played an essential role in both poetry and prose since the pre-Islamic era. It has been frequently used
in the Glorious Quran as well as in the Prophetic Tradition to express certain semantic values in various textual
structures. Abd Ut-Tawwab (1967) defined pun “At-Tawriyyah” as:
“A word which has two meanings: Adjacent with clear reference, and far with hidden
reference. The latter is often intended. The faster that comes to the hearer’s mind is the
approximate meaning. The speaker aims at the far meaning but uses the near one to cover it”
(p. 293).
Briefly speaking, English rhetoricians mostly concentrate on a number of phonologically oriented rhetorical
figures, which have homophonic, homographic and / or homonymic nature, and consider them as major types of
pun, while the Arab rhetoricians treat these western puns as types of paronomasia, therefore they are seen as
non- puns in Arabic rhetoric.

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Categorization of Pun in Arabic

According to most Arabic rhetoricians (al-Qazwini, 1975:p.499; Al-Satiq, 1971;As-Safadi, 1987; Ibn abi
Rabiaah, 1935; Al-Jawhari, 1956) there are four main types of Arabic puns which are governed and controlled
by a logico-semantic contextual framework which determines both their immediate and far-fetched meanings.
According to this criterion, pun is divided into:
(1) Tawriyyah al-Mujaradah (stripped-off pun)
In this type of pun, devoid from duo; the lexical requirements of the punned with (al-muwarra bihi‫) المواري به‬,
which normally represents the immediate meaning, and the requirements of the punned to (al-muwarra
anhu ‫)المواري عنه‬, which are represents by the remote meaning. Consider the following Quranic text:
Surah “Taha”, ayah 5.
‫العرش اِستوى‬
ِ ‫الرحمنُ على‬.
‫ه‬
The ever merciful, established on the throne (of authority).
(2) Tawriyyah al-Murashah ̣ah (strengthened pun)
In this type of pun, there must be a lexical requirement for the punned with ‫المواري به‬, i.e. the immediate
meaning, which should be stated either before or after the punnable word. According to this definition, the
present type of pun is divided into two subtypes:
I. Pre-required Strengthened Pun
The speaker\writer should provide a lexical requirement for the “punned with ‫ المواري به‬- immediate meaning”
before the word, which carries the pun.
Consider the following Quranic text:
Surah “Adh-Dhariyat”, ayah 47.
َ‫والسما َء بنیناھَا بأيد وانها لموسِعون‬
We built the heavens by Our authority; and We are the Lord of power and expanse.
II. Post-required Strengthened Pun
The speaker\writer should provide a lexical requirement for the “punned with ‫ المواري به‬- immediate meaning”
after the word, which carries the pun.
Surah “Al-Ghashiyah”, ayah 8.
}‫اض َیة‬ َ ‫}{له‬
ِ ‫س ْع ِی َها َر‬ ِ ‫{و ُجوه َي ْو َمئِذ نَّا ِع َمة‬
ُ
Many faces will be joyous on that day

(3) Tawrriyah al-Mubayyinah (clarifying pun)

In order for this type of pun to work properly, the speaker\writer should provide a lexical requirement for the
“punned to ‫ المواري عنه‬- remote meaning” before or after the word, which carries the pun.
Thus, this type of pun is divided into two subtypes:
I. Pre-required Clarifying puns:
The speaker\writer should provide a lexical requirement for the “punned to ‫ المواري عنه‬- remote meaning” before
the word, which carries the pun such as:
Surah “Yousuf”, ayah 70.
) َ‫ارقُون‬ ِ ‫س‬ ُ ‫سقَايَةَ فِي َرحْ ِل أَخِ ی ِه ث ُ َّم أَذَّنَ ُم َؤذهِن أ َ َّيت ُ َها ْالع‬
َ َ‫ِیر ِإ َّن ُك ْم ل‬ ِ ‫(فَلَ َّما َج َّهزَ ھُم ِب َج َه‬
‫از ِھ ْم َج َع َل ال ِ ه‬
When he had given them their provisions, he put his goblet in his brother's saddlebag. Then a crier announced
"O men of the caravan, you are thieves."
I. Post-required Clarifying puns:
The speaker\writer should provide a lexical requirement for the “punned to ‫ المواري عنه‬- remote meaning” after
the word, which carries the pun such as:
Surah “Al-Rahman”, ayah 6.
{‫ان‬
ِ َ‫ش َج ُر يَ ْس ُجد‬ َ )5( }‫س َو ْالقَ َم ُر ِب ُح ْسبَان‬
َّ ‫{والنَّجْ ُم َوال‬ َّ ‫}ال‬
ُ ‫ش ْم‬
The sun and moon revolve to a computation; And the grasses and the trees bow (to Him) in adoration.
(4) Tawrriyyah al-Muhayyah (preparing pun)
In this type, the pun can only be considered if it came before or after a punnable word.
Surah “Al-Rahman”, ayah 6.
(‫(يوم تقوم الساعة يقسم المجرمون ما لبثوا غیر ساعة‬
The day Resurrection is set the sinners will swear: "We did not tarry more than an hour (and cannot be guilty)."
METHODOLOGY
In this section, the researcher is discussing the theoretical framework of investigation, as well as the
methodology, which consists primarily of description of the data collection, justification for choosing the data
and method of Analysis.
Data Collection
To achieve the purpose of the study the descriptive approach is selected. This study is focusing on the Holy
Quran as the source text (ST) and its four English translations by Yusuf Ali (2014), Pickthall (1963), Arberry

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(1991), and Shakir (1999) as target texts (TT). The data of four (Ayah) verses is gathered from the holy Quran
and their equivalents in the selected English translations.

Method of Analysis
To fulfill the aim of the study, 4 Ayat from the holy Quran is selected randomly. The selected Ayat in the
original Arabic source text, the holy Quran, is read. 4 texts out of the puns under study is selected and
underlined. The correctness of some examples is considered by using the commentaries of Tafsir ibn Kathir (AH
759). Then, the same Ayat in the four English target texts is read to identify those parts of the texts, which
corresponded to the original puns and underlined them. After that, Delabastita᾿s (1996) strategies is used as the
theoretical framework in the study to identify which strategies are applied in translating each original pun by the
translators. Then, Newmark’s (1981, 1988) methods of translation is used to see how the four translators
translated the pun sentences into English. Having identified each translator’s strategies, the frequency and
percentage of each strategy is calculated and presented in a table of four translators to identify the most
frequently used strategy by each translator. Finally, conclusions are drawn based on the data analysis.

Justification of Data and Methodology

The Justification for use of this methodology is to investigate translation of puns expressions in the holy Quran
from semantic, pragmatic, and rhetoric perspective that has been recognized by several scholars (Mark, 2014;
perry, 1999; Abdul karim, 2006). This study is based on a PhD research project that concerned with four English
versions of translation of the Holy Quran, and the selection of forty pun words from the holy Quran.
The case study approach is a highly appropriate method for investigating the precise translation of Holy Quran
for non-Arabic speakers.

DATA ANALYSIS
In this section, 4 data out of the puns under study is gathered and analyzed according to Delabastitaʼs (1996)
strategies. Then, the frequency and percentage of each strategy is calculated. The results are presented in a table.
Some more prominent examples are presented below as better illustration of the pun translation strategies.

Text 1:
(Data 1) Surah “Taha- Ta Ha”, ayah- verse 5.
ST: ٰ‫ٰٰعلىٰالعرشٰٰاِستوى‬
ِ ‫الرحمن‬
ّ
BT: al rahman ala al arish istawa
TT-1: The most Gracious (Allah) rose over (Istawa) the (Mighty) Throne (in a manner that suits His Majesty),
rose over (Istawa) the throne (of authority) (Ali, 2006)
TT-2: The Beneficent One, Who is established on the Throne. (Pickthall, 1963)
TT-3: the All-compassionate sat Himself upon the Throne; to Him belongs (Arberry, 1991)
TT-4: The Beneficent Allah is firm in power. (Shakir, 1999)
According to the commentary of Tafsir ibn Kathir (AH759 ) the underlined pun is" ‫ " استوي‬is a noun which has
two meaning, first; (sitting) which is immediate and non-intended meaning and second, (power of authority)
which is remote and intended meaning.
Neither of Pickthall, Arberry and Shakir managed to convey the pun to the target text since the pun has been
translated by the pun to non-pun strategy. However, Yusuf Ali has managed to translate the source text pun into
target text pun “rose over (Istawa)” and quoted the same Arabic word with footnote indication. Pickthal has
translated source text pun into “who is established” while Arberry has translated it into “sat Himself upon”, and
Shakir has translated it into “firm in power”. Most of translators Pickthall, Arberry and Shakir have conveyed
only the sense of the puns into the target text.
Hence, the aesthetic effect of source text pun has lost in the process of translation. The type of pun used in this
text is Tawriyyah al-Mujaradah (stripped-off pun) due to it is devoid from any lexical requirements of the
punned with (al-muwarra bihi ‫)المواري به‬, which normally represents the immediate and non-intended meaning,
and the requirements of the punned to (al-muwarra anhu‫) المواري عنه‬, which represents the remote and intended
meaning.
Rhetorically, the word (‫ )استوي‬could be interpreted in two different meanings as in the following:
A. Sit.
B. Rose over (Istawa) the throne of authority.
The analysis of these instances has different sense. The word ‫اِستوى‬, Istawa has been translated differently by the
translators. Pickthall translated as established, while, Arberry translated as sat Himself upon, then Shakir
translated as firm in power. Unluckily all of them used the literal translation method to deliver the meaning and
represent the non-intended meaning whereas Yousuf Ali has used the faithful translation method and translated it
as Rose over (Istawa) the throne of authority, which convey the meaning, represents the remote and intended
meaning. The pun in (Istawa) cannot be grasped by native speakers of Arabic unless they are acquainted with
some religious aspects. Theoretically speaking, any word “which has two completely different senses, and can

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represents remote and intended meaning” can be used as a pun by linguistically and rhetorically competent
native speaker.

Text 2:
(Data 2) Surah “Adh-Dhariyat- the Winnowing Winds”, ayah- verse 47.
ST: ٰ‫والسماءٰٰبنیناھاٰبأیدٰٰوانّاٰلموسِعون‬
BT: wa alsama’a banainaha bi ayd wa ina la mowaseoun
TT-1: We built the heavens by our authority; and we are the Lord of power and expanse (Ali, 2006)
TT-2: We have built the heaven with might, and we it is who make the vast extent (thereof). (Pickthall, 1963)
TT-3: And heaven - We built it with might, and we extend it wide. (Arberry, 1991)
TT-4: And the heaven, we raised it high with power, and most surely, we are the makers of things ample.
(Shakir, 1999)

In this verse, the pun is “‫ ”بأيد‬which has translated differently by several ways. Pickthall, Arberry, Shakir have
translated the source text pun literally “with might or with power” and transmitted only the sense of original pun
by applying the pun to non-pun strategy. While, Ali has translated as “by our authority” and sustains the same
effect of aesthetic and meaning in both texts by adopting the faithful translation method of Newmark. In fact, he
has transmitted the source pun from Tawriyyah al-Murashaḥah (strengthened pun) into morphological pun. In
this sentence the punned with is “‫ – بنیناھَا‬we built it” is associated with the close meaning “we built it by our
hands” because the building fits the hand, however, this is not right translation and does not fit at all with the
power of Allah almighty. The underlined pun " ‫ " بأيد‬is an Arabic noun which has two meaning, first; (with
hand) which is called an immediate meaning “with hand” but non-intended and the second; (authority) which is
remote and intended meaning.

Text 3:
(Data 3) Surah “Najm- The Star”, ayah- verse 1-3.
ST: }3{ٰٰ‫}ٰوماٰی ْنطِ قٰٰع ِنٰٰا ْلهوى‬2{ٰٰ‫}ٰماٰضلٰٰصاحِ بك ْمٰٰوماٰغوى‬1{ٰٰ‫والنجْ ِمٰٰ ِإذاٰھوى‬
BT: wa alnajim eza hawa, ma dal sahibakum w ma ghawa, w ma yantiq an al hawa
TT-1: By the Star when it goes down, (1) Your Companion is neither astray nor being misled. (2) Nor does he
say (aught) of (his own) Desire. (3) (Ali, 2006)
TT-2: By the Star when it set, (1) Your comrade erred not, nor is deceived ;( 2) Nor doth he speak of (his own)
desire. (3) (Pickthall, 1963)
TT-3: By the Star when it plunges (1) your comrade is not astray, neither errs (2) nor speaks he out of
caprice(3) (Arberry, 1991)
TT-4: I swear by the star when it goes down (1) Your companion (PM) does not err, nor does he go astray (2)
Nor does he speak out of desire (3) (Shakir, 1999)

In this example, the pun in the words "‫ هوي‬- ‫"هوي‬. According to the commentary of Tafsir ibn Kathir (AH 759),
the first word is a verb and means, “goes down” and the second word is a noun and means “desire”. None of
Pickthall and Arberry took into account the existence of pun in these two verses since they have translated the
source text pun literally and have tried to transmit only the sense of pun by applying the pun to non-pun
strategy. Arberry has selected the words “plunges-caprice” and Pickthall has selected the words “set-desire”
which all of them divert from the source text pun. However, Shakir and Yusuf Ali have selected the words
“goes down- Desire” for source text puns, by using pun-to-pun strategy. Therefore, Pickthall and Arberry have
failed to transmit the sense of source text into target text, while Shakir and Yusuf Ali have sustained to transmit
the aesthetic and rhetoric effect of source text into the target text. Consequently, the meaning of the source text
is sustained in the target text after applying the faithful translation method.

Text 4:
(Data 4) Surah “Rahman- The Gracious”, ayah- verse 7-8.
ِٰ ‫}ٰأّلٰٰت ْطغ ْواٰفِيٰا ْلمِ یز‬7{ٰٰ‫والسماءٰٰرفعهاٰووضعٰٰا ْلمِ یزان‬
ST:ٰ}8{ٰ‫ان‬
BT: wa alsamaa rafaa’ha wa wadaa’ al mizan, ala tatghaw fi al mizan
TT-1: And the Firmament has He raised high, and He has set up the Balance (of Justice), (7). In order that ye
may not transgress (due) balance. (8) (Ali, 2006)
TT-2: And the sky He hath uplifted; and He hath set the measure, (7) That ye exceed not the measure, (8)
(Pickthall, 1963)
TT-3: and heaven He raised it up, and set the Balance (7) Transgress not in the Balance (8) (Arberry, 1991)
TT-4: And the heaven, He raised it high, and He made the balance (7) that you may not be inordinate in respect
of the measure (8) (Shakir, 1999)
These two verses are considered clear examples for pun “Tawrriyah al-Mubayyinah (clarifying pun)” in the holy
Quran. According to the commentary of Tafsir ibn Kathir (AH759 ), the underlined words in the translated texts
hold different meanings from the original Arabic texts. In the Arabic text, the word " ‫ان‬ ْ al mizan" means
ِ َ‫المِ یز‬,
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justice while the second one means “balance‟. However, these two words have been translated by four different
strategies. Arberry and Pichthall have applied the strategy of pun to related rhetorical device through repeating
the equivalent word. Shakir has applied the strategy of pun to non-pun due to transmitting only the sense of the
source text pun into the target text, while, Yusuf Ali has used the strategy of pun-to-pun and replaced the
original pun with a pun in the English. The pun produced in target text is called “homonymic” pun, which is the
equivalent to pun called “Tawrriyah al-Mubayyinah” in the source text. Linguistically, Yousuf Ali has managed
to convey the rhetorical and pragmatic sense of the Arabic pun into English without changing the meaning.
Thus, the meaning of the source text is sustained in the target text after applying Newmark’s (1981) faithful
translation method.

CONCLUSIONS
From the analysis, it can be realized that the occurrence of the pun in the Quran generates a significant problem
for the translators since several words in the Quranic verses are pun. Consequently, if the Quran translators are
not aware of the factors that help them to capture the deep meaning, they will not be able to transfer the intended
meaning effectively.
Obviously, the analyses show that the translators do not have a certain strategy in solving the problem of the
pun in the Quran. Furthermore, it seems that depending on numerous commentaries is an important strategy to
define the meaning of the pun words, but this will confound the translators the more because, in some cases,
there are several interpretations for one word or for one case in the Quran. Consequently, it is recommended for
the translators to relay on at least two of the authorized commentaries and employ them.
In terms of style of translation, Ali’s translation is in a modern style and plain English that flows softly and it is
easy to read and comprehend. He also opted for contemporary language usage of sentence structure and he
avoided confusing phrases. He transliterated many Arabic words and provided their meanings in parenthesis.
The selected translators did not treat the problem of the pun in the Holy Quran carefully. They transferred most
of the samples of the pun words into primary, sense by using literal and formal translation. Only in a few
instances did they transfer by using paraphrase strategies.

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