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In Other Words, The Ethics of The Translator in 17th-Century Al-Andalus. The Perspective of A Mad Ibn Qāsim Al - Aǧarī Al-A
In Other Words, The Ethics of The Translator in 17th-Century Al-Andalus. The Perspective of A Mad Ibn Qāsim Al - Aǧarī Al-A
MODERNO
Oriente Moderno 95 (2015) 106-124
brill.com/ormo
Abstract
Keywords
This theory, with the evident ideological implications connected to the idea of
cultural imperialism, is based on the premise that translating and interpret-
ing cannot be considered solely as processes of language transfer but also as
socially and politically directed activities.2
1 Venuti, L. The Translator’s invisibility. A history of translation. London, New York, Routledge,
1995, p. 308-309. See also Berman, A. “Translation and the Trials of the Foreign”. In: Venuti, L.
(ed.). The Translation Studies Reader. New York, London, Routledge, 2000, p. 284-297.
2 Inghilleri, M., Maier C., “Ethics”. In: Baker, M., Malmkjaer, K. (eds). Routledge Encyclopedia
of Translation Studies. New York, London, Routledge, 2001, p. 100-103; see also Inghilleri,
M. “The ethical task of the translator in the geo-political arena from Iraq to Guantánamo
Bay”. Translation Studies, 1, 2 (2008), p. 212-223. As far as Arabic sources on this topic are
concerned, see among others: Āl ʿAbd al-Laṭīf, ʿAbd Allāh M. “Dirāsāt al-tarǧamah bayna
al-iǧtihād wa-l-iḫtiṣāṣ”. Http://faculty.ksu.edu.sa/Al-Abdullatif (2007); Ḥannā, S. F. “Dirāsāt
al-tarǧamah: al-bidāyāt wa-l-masārāt wa-asʾilat al-mustaqbal”. Fusul. A Journal of Literary
Criticism, 74 (2008), p. 36-48; Camera D’Afflitto, I. “Al-tarǧamah ʿan al-naṣṣ ġayr al-aṣl: su-fahm
wa iškaliyyāt”. Atti del Convegno Internazionale “al-Tarjamah wa tafa‘ul al-Thaqafat”, Il Cairo,
2004, al-Qāhirah, al-Maǧlīs al-Aʿlà li-l-Ṯaqāfah, p. 31-37.
3 Ricoeur, P. Sur la traduction. Paris, Bayard, 2004 (English Translation by Brennan, E. On
Translation. New York, London, Routledge, 2006, p. 23).
4 Taylor, J. “Translating Hospitality: Paul Ricoeur’s Ethics of Translation”. The New Arcadian review,
4 (2011), http://www.bc.edu/publications/newarcadia/archives/4/translating_hospitality/.
5 The bibliography on this subject is huge. Among the most representative works, it can be
useful to refer to Ricoeur, P. Soi-même comme un autre. Paris, Editions du Seuil, 1990 [English
Translation by Blamey, K. Oneself as Another. Chicago, The University of Chicago Press, 1992].
As far as the encounter between Islam and the West is concerned, see: Daniel, N. Islam and
the West, Making of an Image. Edinburg, Oneworld, 1960; Sénac, P. L’image de l’Autre. Histoire
de l’Occident médiéval face à l’Islam. Paris, Flammarion, 1983; Richard, B. “L’Islam et les musul-
mans chez les chroniqueurs castillans du milieu du Moyen Age”. Hespéris Tamuda, XII (1971),
p. 107-132; El Moudden, A. “The ambivalence of the rihla: community integration and self-def-
inition in Moroccan Travel Accounts”. In: Eickelman D. F., Piscatori J. (eds). Muslim Travellers.
Pilgrimage, Migration and the Religious Imagination. New York, University of California Press,
1990, p. 69-84; Matar, N. In the Lands of the Christians. Arabic Travel Writing in the Seventeenth
Century. New York, London, Routledge, 2003; Matar, N. Europe through Arab Eyes 1587-1727.
New York, Columbia University Press, 2009.
6 See Butler, J. “Betrayal’s Felicity”. Diacritics, 34, 1 (Spring 2004), p. 82-87.
Everybody remembers what Roman Jakobson says about the Italian adage
Traduttore, traditore:
Jakobson’s words have obvious ethical implications since they are related to
moral qualities, i.e. fidelity versus betrayal. But what really makes a transla-
tor faithful and reliable or a betrayer? In order to answer to this question, it is
essential to refer to Walter Benjamin, who explained that “good translation is
not a matter of reproducing meaning but rather of locating echoes”:8
The task of the translator consists in finding that intended effect [inten-
tion] upon the language into which he is translating which produces in it
the echo of the original [. . .].9
7 Jakobson, R. “On Linguistic Aspects of Translation”. In: Venuti, L. (ed.). The Translation
Studies Reader. 118.
8 Euben, R. L. Journey to the Other Shores. Muslim and Western Travelers in Search of
Knowledge. Princeton, Oxford, Princeton University Press, 2006, p. 43.
9 Benjamin, W. “The Task of the Translator. An Introduction to the Translation of
Baudelaire’s Tableaux Parisiens”. In: Venuti, L. (ed.) The Translation Studies Reader. 19-20.
10 Euben, R. L. Journey to the Other Shores. 43.
writings, interviews and literary works in political contexts where the instru-
mental use of translation becomes a tool of ideological manipulation.11
In this framework, an interesting literary example is represented by the
Spanish novel Las dos orillas (The Two Shores, 1993) by Carlos Fuentes, dealing
with the tragic events relative to the Spanish conquest of Mexico and the fall
of the Aztec Empire. The story narrates the deeds of the interpreter Geronimo
Aguilar, who intentionally mistranslates Hernán Cortés’s words and provokes
the massacres and destructions that brought about the Spanish conquest of
Mexico.
After confessing to have translated, betrayed and invented, Geronimo Aguilar
affirms with a sort of regret:
11 Munday, J. “Translation and Ideology. A Textual Approach”. The Translator, 13, 2 (2007—
Special Issue. Translation and Ideology: Encounters and Clashes), p. 195-217; Hermans, T.
The manipulation of Literature: Studies on Literary Translation, London, Croom Helm,
1985; Buresi, P. “Traduttore Traditore: À propos d’une correspondance entre l’Empire
Almohade et la cité de Pise (début XIIIe siècle)”. Oriente Moderno, LXXXVIII, 2, (2008),
p. 297-309; Ḥannā, S. F. “Ḥiwār maʿ Sāmiḥ Fikrī Ḥannā: Fikrat al-ḫiyānah wa-l-amānah
fī l-tarǧamah aṣbaḥat fī ḏimmat al-tārīḫ”. Al-kalimah, 27 (2009), p. 263-269; Aksoy, N. B.
“The Relation Between Translation and Ideology as an instrument for the Establishment
of a National Literature”. Meta: Journal des Traducteurs/ Meta: Translators’Journal, 55, 3
(September 2010), p. 438-455; Ghonsooly, B.; Ashrafi, N. “The interface of Tradition and
Modernity: Ideological Manipulation of Translators”. Journal of Educational and Social
Research, 2, (3), (September 2012), p. 377-390; Al-Quinai, J. “Manipulation and censorship
in translated texts”. In: Romana Garcìa, M. L. (ed.). Actas del II Congreso Internacional
de la Asociación Ibérica de Estudios de Traducción e Interpretación. Madrid, 9-11 de febrero
de 2005. Madrid, Aieti, 2005, p. 488-525; Polizzi, A. “Traducciones y traiciones. El caso de
“Fortunata y Jacinta” en Italia”. In: López, P. C. (ed.). Actas del VI Congreso de Lingüística
General (Santiago de Compostela, 3-7 de mayo de 2004). Madrid, 2007, vol. I, p. 721-729.
12 “[. . .] y me descubro ante la posteridad y la muerte como un falsario, un traidor a mi capi-
tán Cortés que en vez de hacer un ofrecimiento de paz al príncipe caído, lo hizo de cru-
eldad, de opresión continuada y sin piedad, y de vergüenza eterna para el vencido. Mas
como así sucedió en efecto, convirtiéndose mis falsas palabras en realidad, ¿no tuve razón
en traducir al revés al capitán, y decirle, con mis mentiras, la verdad azteca? ¿O fueron
mis palabras, acaso, un mero trueque y no fui yo sino el intermediario (el traductor) y
el resorte de una fatalidad que transformó el engaño en verdad? (Fuentes, 1993: 18-19)”.
Scelfo, M. G. “Lingue e culture in conflitto: tradurre, manipolare, negoziare l’alterità”. In:
Cancellier, A.; Ruta, C.; Silvestri, L. (eds). Scrittura e Conflitto. Atti del XXII Convegno del
AISPI (Catania-Ragusa 16-18 maggio 2004), 2 vols., Madrid, Instituto Cervantes Aispi, 2006,
vol. II, p. 303-318; Jay, P. “Translation, Invention, Resistance: rewriting the conquest in
Another literary genre, which offers interesting points of reflection on the sub-
ject here analysed, with particular regard to the Arab-Islamic context, is the
genre of Travel Account or, in Arabic, riḥlah.
In a remarkable essay entitled Journeys to the Other Shore and regarding
Muslim and Western travellers in search of knowledge, Roxanne Euben dedi-
cates the third chapter of the book to the problem connected to the reliability
of travellers who are authors of Travel Accounts. The aforementioned chapter,
which analyses two peculiar travellers, namely Herodotus and Ibn Baṭṭūṭah,
is significantly entitled Liars, Travellers and Theorists.13 The author makes an
explicit reference to Joseph Spence, who in 1739 pointed out that “all travellers
are a little noted for lying”.14 She also quotes Percy Adams, who in Travelers and
Travel Liars (1962) “argues and demonstrates the tradition of traveler as liar
has a long and illustrious history; indeed, a character from George Farquhar’s
the Beaux’ Strategem insults a priest by saying he tells lies as if he had been a
traveler from his cradle”.15
The explicit link between travel and translation is theorized by James
Clifford, who considers travel to be “an invaluable term of translation”.16
As clarified by Roxanne Euben, “not only is travel a term of translation,
reports of such travels are also acts of translation, practices, as François Hartog
shows, of both ‘seeing and making seen’ and—Euben adds - ‘hearing and mak-
ing heard’ ”.17
Our choice to analyse here the Travel Account Kitāb Nāṣir al-dīn ʿalà
l-qawm al-kāfirīn,18 written by the interpreter and traveller Aḥmad Ibn Qāsim
al-Ḥaǧarī al-Andalusī (d. 1051/1641), is motivated both by a personal interest19
and by a strategic reason: compared to Geronimo Aguilar, who chooses to
Carlos Fuentes’s novella ‘The Two Shores’”. Modern Fiction Studies, 43, 2 (1997), p. 405-431;
Schmitz, J. R. “When lies become the truth: rewriting the conquest of Mexico in Carlos
Fuentes’s novella The Two Shores”. Maringá (Acta Sci. Human Soc. Sci.), 28, 1 (2006), p. 1-6.
13 Euben, R. L. Journey to the Other Shores. 46-89.
14 The letter from Joseph Spence is quoted in Adams Percy G. Travel Literature and the
Evolution of the Novel. Lexington, University Press of Kentucky, 1983, p. 82. See Euben, R. L.
Journey to the Other Shores. 47.
15 Ibid. 220, nt. 14.
16 Clifford, J. “Traveling Cultures”. In: Grossberg, L., Nelson, C., Treichler, P. A. (eds). Cultural
Studies. New York, London, Routledge, 1992, p. 110.
17 Euben, R. L. Journey to the Other Shores. 41.
18 Sciortino, M. G. Kitāb Nāṣir al-dīn ʿalà l-qawm al-kāfirīn. Il difensore della religione contro il
popolo degli Infedeli, Roma, Aracne (Studi sull’Islam), 2011.
19 We edited the first Italian integral translation of the Kitāb. See Sciortino, M. G. Kitāb Nāṣir
al-dīn.
20 Cerqua initially identified this place with the modern Làchar, near to Granada, but the
in-depth study conducted by Van Koningsveld, Al-Samarrai and Wiegers showed that it is
more plausible that the place was Hornachos. See Van Koningsveld, P. S.; Al-Samarrai Q.;
Wiegers, G. Kitāb Nāṣir al-dīn ʿalà l-qawm al-kāfirīn (The Supporter of Religion against the
Infidel). Historical study, critical edition and annotated translation. Madrid, Consejo Supe-
rior de Investigaciones Científicas, 1997, p. 18-21. On this subject see also Pons Bernabé,
F. “Una nota sobre Ahmad Ibn Qasim al-Hayri Bejerano”. Sharq al-Andalus, 13 (1996),
p. 123-128; Wiegers, G. “A life between Europe and the Maghrib: The writings and Travels
of Ahmad b. Qâsim ibn Ahmad ibn al-faqîh Qâsim ibn al-shaykh al-Hajarî al-Andalusî
(born c. 977/1569-70)”. In: Van Gelder, G. J., De Moor, E. (eds). The Middle East and Europe.
Encounters and Exchanges. Amsterdam, Atlanta, Rodopi, 1992, p. 87-115.
21 See Saʿīdūnī N. Min al-turāṯ al-tārīḫī wa-l-ǧuġrāfī li-l-Maġrib al-islāmī. Beirut, Dār al-Ġarb,
1999, p. 344.
including a very interesting and attentive description of the West, France and
the Netherlands in particular, with a special attention to the intellectual and
cultural disputes and dissertations with Jewish and Christians scholars (priests,
monks and judges).
The Kitāb is ideally divided into two parts: the first concerns al-Ḥaǧarī’s life
and experiences when he was still in al-Andalus and the second begins with
his departure from al-Andalus and includes the diplomatic mission to Europe
and some interesting reflections connected to the problem of self and other
representation.22
The first part of the book is the most interesting for our purposes since it
regards al-Ḥaǧarī’s translation activity, started among 1595 and 1597. While he
was still in Granada, al-Ḥaǧarī was asked to read some Arabic manuscripts,
among which the Torre Turpiana parchment and the libri plumbei.23
About these documents he refers:
You should know—may God have mercy upon you! - that in the year 996
of the Hijra (according to the calculation of the Christians in the year
1588) the archbishop in the City of Granada ordered an old tower which
was located within the Great Mosque to be demolished. Before Islam it
22 On this subject see Sciortino, M. G. “Identity and Self-representation in al-Ḥaǧarī’s Travel
Account”. In: Cilardo, A. (ed.). Islam and Globalisation. Historical and Contemporary
Perspectives. (Proceedings of the 25th Congress of the Union Européenne des Arabisants et
Islamisants, Naples September 8-12, 2010), Orientalia Lovaniensia Analecta, 226, Peeters,
2013, p. 411-417.
23 When, in 1588, in order to build a Cathedral, the old minaret of the former Friday Mosque
of Granada, called Torre Turpiana, was demolished, they found a box containing a little
table with an image of the Virgin Mary, a cloth, a bone and a parchment with a text in Latin,
Arabic and Spanish. Then, in the Valparaiso Hills, they found also the “Libri Plumbei” (the
Lead Books), metal foils written in strange characters, in addition to other relics. After a
long trial, the relics (ashes and bones of Saint Cecilius and his disciples) were declared
authentic, and the Bishop of Granada, Don Pedro Castro, founded, where the Roman
city of Ilipula once stood, the Sacromonte’s Abbey in order to guard and take care of the
relics of the evangelists martyred at the time of the Emperor Domiziano. Since they were
discovered, the place became a centre of pilgrimage. On this subject see among others
Rodríguez, Cabanelas, D. El morisco granadino Alonso Del Castillo. Granada, Patronato de
la Alhambra y Generalife, 1965; Cabanelas, D. “Intento de supervivencia en el caso de una
cultura: los libros plúmbeos de Granada”. Nueva Rivista de Filología Hispánica, 30 (1981),
p. 334-358; Wiegers, G. “The ‘Old’ or ‘Turpiana’ Tower in Granada and its Relics according
to Ahmad b. Qâsim al-Hajarî ”. In: Gyselen R. (ed.). Sites et monuments disparus d’après
les témoignages de voyageurs. Res Orientales, VIII, Leuven, Peeters Publishing, 1996,
p. 193-207.
was called “Turpana”.24 This [happened] after they had built a very high
tower near it. After they had demolished the old one, they found in its
walls a box of stone, and within it a box of lead in which they found a large
parchment written in Arabic and in the Spanish [language] (ʿaǧamiyyah)
used in the country of al-Andalus, together with a small veil of Saint
Mary—peace be upon her!—, the mother of our lord Jesus—peace be
upon him! - and bones of the body of Stephen, who is considered to be a
saint among them. The Spanish text of the parchment was deciphered. In
order to read the Arabic parts [of the text], they summoned al-Ukayḥal
al-Andalusī, who was a licensed interpreter, for the pious šayḫ al-Ǧabbis,
as well as for other aged Andalusians who knew how to read Arabic. The
priest ordered them to translate the contents of the parchment from
the Arabic. Each of them [had to do so] individually, though sometimes
he would bring them together. However, they did not succeed in grasping
it completely. The archbishop had learned to read Arabic [as well].25
Due to the widespread growing interest in deciphering the Arabic part of the
parchment, a priest, who had realized, by chance, that al-Ḥaǧarī was able to
read Arabic, asked him to “enter into the presence of the archbishop” in order
to read the parchment:
One of the priests who belonged to the close circle of the archbishop was
studying to read Arabic. For this reason he used to accompany the ḥakīm
Muḥammad Ibn Abī l-ʿĀṣī (the grandson of the said pious šayḫ al-Ǧabbis,
of whom it was already said that he used to translate letters) - because of
his grandfather he used to read Arabic in the presence of the Christians.
[. . .] While he was reading the book, they hesitated at the correct reading
some words. So I said to them: “Maybe it means this!” They found that
this was true. Thereupon the priest looked at me and said: “You know
how to read Arabic? Do not be afraid, because the archbishop is looking
for someone who knows something of reading Arabic, so that he may
explain something written in that language which has come to light”.26
24 Tarbbi’ana in the original Arabic version. Sarnelli Cerqua makes some interesting linguis-
tic remarks on the use of double b in order to reproduce the sound p. See Sciortino, M. G.
Kitāb Nāṣir al-dīn. 30, nt. 14.
25 Van Koningsveld, P. S.; Al-Samarrai, Q.; Wiegers, G. Kitāb Nāṣir al-dīn. 68-70.
26 Ibid. 72.
At this stage, al-Ḥaǧarī underlines that he was at first worried and hesitant
because he knew “the sentence of punishment they usually passed upon those
who appeared to read Arabic” but he finally agreed to visit the archbishop:
He [the priest] took me to his house. He had books of every art and lan-
guage. He brought me books in Arabic. I read and translated for him
some words which he was unable to read. Then he met me another day
and told me: “The archbishop has ordered me to bring you with me to his
presence”. I said to myself: “How shall I save myself, as the Christians kill
and burn everyone on whom they find an Arabic book or about whom
they know he reads Arabic?” As for the two afore-mentioned Andalusian
interpreters, they were old men and had the excuse that they had learnt
Arabic in their youth, close to the Islamic period. The physician Abū
l-ʿĀṣī, on the other hand, was able to read Arabic because his grandfather
was an interpreter, as I said earlier. “But what shall I say, when he asks me
about my teacher?”.27
The religious factor is, without any doubt, one of the most important elements
characterizing al-Ḥaǧarī’s identity.28 From the very first pages of the riḥlah,
he defines himself as a “muslim in the land of the Infidels” (muslim fī bilād
al-kuffār), emphasizing the sense of diversity he feels towards the reality sur-
rounding him:
[. . .] After this, I dealt with the situation of Muslims among the Christians
after they had forced them to embrace their religion. They were serv-
ing two religions: the religion of the Christians openly and that of the
Muslim secretly. The Infidels imposed a harsh penalty on whoever mani-
fested any Islamic practice; they even burned some of them. This was
their situation, as I witnessed it during more than twenty years before my
departure from it [. . .].29
Despite being born and bred in Spain, al-Ḥaǧarī was feeling like an outsider
to such an extent that he wanted to risk his life in order to escape to a Muslim
community (dār al-islām):
The diffidence towards the other and the fear and worry about punishment
forced al-Ḥaǧarī to lie to the archbishop about his origins:
Al-Ḥaǧarī is so sorry about his lying that he claims his ethic seriousness by
appealing to al-Ġazālī’s words on lying:
lies or, rather, omitted truths, when these latters are necessary to prevent
greater evil.
Let’s turn to the parchment’s translation:
The translations of all those who had preceded me—among whom there
were people more learned than myself—contained the commentary
only, while its meaning had not been understood. It was related to me
that some of them had read the word al-multabībah as if [the line in
which it figured actually read:] “In the name of the venerable threefold
(al-muṯallaṯah) essence”. This, however, was misleading, because the let-
ters of al-muṯallaṯah are five, whereas those of al-multabībah are seven.
[. . .] On the way the priest said to me: “Tell the great master that the inter-
preters do not know anything!” I said to myself: “I shall tell him exactly
the opposite, because those who put forward false claims shall certainly
be put to shame!”.34
“From the adversities of the very East comes a king gleaning the spread of
his power”.
I translated the meaning of these verses. The meaning they had understood
was that the king was in fact the Prophet—may God bless him and grant him
peace!—, because they said that he was born in the year 621 after the birth of
Jesus—peace upon him! I am convinced, however, that he was born before
that—may God bless him and grant him peace!—in the fifth century, whereas
his religion became known during the sixth [century]. I saw the horoscope of
his birth fixed in the book of ʿAlī ibn Abī Riǧāl by the date of his birth—may
God bless him and grant him peace!—in a verified manner.36
At this point al-Ḥaǧarī enters into the merits of the translation process, by
explaining the reasons of some personal translation and interpreting choices.
In this regard, it should be observed that although most of these choices seem
to be largely influenced by his personal convictions and religious beliefs—
mostly the Quran—it is also undeniable that this latter represents a referential
text concerning not only Islamic religion but also Arabic language. The refer-
ence to the Quran as a linguistic tool appears then admissible:
The interpreters disagreed about the meaning of the word al-ǧānī [in
the first verse] because it has two meanings. The pious šayḫ al-Ǧabbis
and my own translation said: this is an active adjective of the verb ǧanā,
which appears in the Noble Quran in the words of the Exalted Lord: “Wa
ǧanā al-ǧannatayn dān”.37
what it has previously been affirmed, that in the translation process the trans-
lator is involved with cultures and ideologies:
When I translated that “his religion will proceed against those who
fill it with vices”, the priest said: “How do you reach this translation?”
I answered: “You know how to read. I translate each single word for you,
so that it correctly represents what [the text] says”. He disliked this very
much because according to my translation, in fact the unbelievers, are
the ones who would fill it with vices. The religion of the Prophet—may
God bless him and grant him peace!—proceeded against them. This cor-
responds to the words of the Exalted Lord in the Noble Quran: “He sent
him with the Guidance and the Religion of Truth to proclaim it over the
whole of religion, even though the polytheists dislike this”. This [leads us
to the following] meaning (though God knows best!): the religion of the
Prophet—may God bless him and grant him peace!—proceeds against
the polytheists who have filled it [sc. religion] with vices.38
The description is accurate and detailed and the interpretative key related
to the imagological discourse assumes an ethical connotation. The author in
fact traces a sort of demarcation line, a binomial between good and bad, truth
and lie and emphasizes his honesty and trustworthiness in opposition to the
Other’s unfaithfulness and iniquity:
At the bottom of the parchment was written in Arabic: [This is] the first
thing which John wrote at the beginning of the Gospel [. . .] But when
I had translated the beginning of the Gospel and the contents of what
was written, the priest said to me: “Have a look at this word! Does it have
another meaning?” I answered: “It has only this meaning!” He said: “[In
that case], leave the space of this word blank, because it contradicts the
Gospel we possess!” I said to myself: “This, which has been written in the
time of our lord Jesus or shortly afterwards, is in my opinion more correct
than what they possess nowadays”.
There was also a passage in the divination which said: “From the
remotest West people shall soon come over the water of the sea to the
country of the Christians and the rabble will reach Rome!” It also related
a lot of evil and depravity which befell the Christians. About this and the
sign [of its appearance] it said (I mean: about the misfortune and con-
quering which will fall upon them): “When the time of Judgement comes,
the Easterner (al-šarqī) will take hold of the City of the Sea absolutely!”
No one who heard this [passage] doubted that the Easterner was the
Sultan of the East and that he was [in fact] the Sultan of the Turks—may
God make him victorious! The priest asked me: “Which city is called in
Arabic the City of the Sea?” I Answered: “I do not know, but it seems to
me it is Venice, because it was built in the sea”. He than gave me the geog-
raphy book in Arabic entitled Nuzḥat al-muštāq fī iḫtirāqʿ al-āfāq, which
was one of the books produced in printing by the Christians, and said:
“Look whether you can find this name in it!”. I read it all but did not find it.39
On the basis of the elements thus far analysed, it is possible to make some final
considerations concerning the ethics of the translator. From al-Ḥaǧarī’s point
of view, the translator’s deontological seriousness seems to be essential. In fact,
he affirms to be honest, morally irreproachable and ethically unimpeachable
and to perform faithful translations. Nevertheless, he shows to admit lying in
some particular circumstances, in order, for example, to save oneself or some-
one else’s life or to prevent hurting someone. As far as the translator’s objec-
tivity is concerned, al-Ḥaǧarī affirms to be truthful, but it clearly appears that
his ideological, and more specifically religious, convictions often influence his
translation choices, as in the case of the term al-ǧānī that he translate by refer-
ring to the Quran or in the case of the word multabībah that he derives from
lubb al-šayʾ. Nonetheless, he shows to have a solid ethic sense, a perception of
good and evil, wright and wrong, which impels him, for example, to avoid lying
in order to pursue a personal advantage. In fact, when he is directly invited to
give unfaithful false translations, in view of a probable personal gain, he cat-
egorically refuses to do it:
As for the remark in the parchment that the sign of the disaster that
would befall the Christians would be the capture of the City of the Sea by
the Easterner (al-šarqī), I did in fact show a copy of the said parchment
to Mawlāy Aḥmad, the sultan of Marrakesh—may God have mercy upon
him! [On that occasion] one of his commanders said to me: “Why do you
not change the qāf to fāʾ, so that it reads al-šarīf will take hold of the City
of the Sea? The Sultan would be happy by this!” I said: “God willing, I shall
not change anything!”.40
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