The Qur'an & Translation

The Quran & Translation
Written by Arshad Chaudhry Monday, 22 August 2011 09:17 - Last Updated Monday, 22 August 2011 09:19
ALLAHS QURAN
THE NECESSITY for the use of Multiple Translations for Understanding The Message of ALLAHS QURAN
The Qurn is Gods miraculous, matchless message that has been sent to all humanity via His last Messenger. With the Quran, God has shown humanity, one last time, a short-cut to His good pleasure. He has communicated to us about His Essence, Attributes, and Names. He has expressed in the most explicit way, leaving no room for any misunderstanding, His will to be known and recognized in the correct way, to be believed in and worshipped. Almighty God has put emphasis on the duties and responsibilities of believers, while enthusing hearts and agitating souls with His promise for punishment and reward. He has presented the Qurn as a sign for perfection and completion and as an orbit to rotate around for His good pleasure, while condescending to offer this gift to us as a compliment greater than any that has been or will ever be granted to anyone else [1].
The correct opinion, and the one held by the majority of scholars in regard to the Qurans inimitability, is that it is due to the Qurans syntax and its veracity. This is because the Almightys knowledge encompasses everything and His knowledge encompasses all forms of discourse. Thus in arranging the Qurans wording, the Almighty knew exactly which word was best suited to follow the one before it, and which word best yielded the intended meaning. The Book Of Allah is such that if a word were removed from it and the entire Arabic lexicon were searched for a better word, it would never be found [2].
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It [The Quran] was received and recorded in the Arabic language. Muslims believe that the Qur'an is inseparable from the language in which it was revealed, and for this reason, all Muslims worldwide recite it in Arabic, even though today the vast majority of Muslims are neither Arabs nor native speakers of Arabic [ 3].
Translation of the meaning of the Quran is not the same as the original Arabic Quran. You can use the book [Translation] to get at the meanings and the message of the Quran, but it is the original Arabic Text where the message truly resides [4].
The Quran itself is a miracle and cannot be imitated by man. translators duty is to distil some of the shades of meaning in the text; the end product is not Quran but just a translation (just as a shadow is merely a shadow), and so long as nothing is misquoted or taken out of context [5].
Muslim Scholars and Muslim laity are unanimous in their view that THE TRANSLATION OF THE QURAN IS NOT THE QURAN and is not a replacement for the Original Arabic Quran. Muslim scholars believe that any translation of the Quran is an approximate interpretation, intended only as a tool for acquiring a superficial understanding of the original Arabic text [6]. The translations of the Quran; e.g. into English, French, German or indeed any other language known to mankind, in principle, are regarded as mere interpretations, paraphrases, tools and aids for learning the Message of the Quran.
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Translations of the Quran cannot be, and they indeed are not, used in place of the original Arabic of the Quran for recitation as part of enjoined, supererogatory or devotional Muslim Prayers or other enjoined rituals and functions.
The words of different languages do not encompass and express all the shades of meanings of the original Arabic words, though they may express specific ideas or concepts. Hence narrowing down the meaning of the Quran to specific ideas and concepts in a language other than Arabic, would mean missing out other important dimensions of ALLAHS entire Message. While studying the translations of the Quran, one must always be cognizant of the limitations of that which is Admittedly, UNTRANSLATABLE [7].
EXAMPLE 1
[Quran - 11:7] wa- huwa alladhe khalaqa as- samaawaat wa- al- ard. fe sittah AYYAAM..
The word AYYAAM in Arabic means; days or long periods or eons or epoch. The four translations being given here differ in their interpretations:
[11:7 Asad] And it is He who has created the heavens and the earth in SIX EONS [11:7 Pickthall] And He it is Who created the heavens and the earth in SI X DAYS
[11:7 Shakir] And He it is Who created the heavens and the earth in SIX PERIODS
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[11:7 Ahmed - Samira] It is He who created the heavens and the earth In SIX SPANS,
The translation of AYYAAM as EONS appears to meet Gods Created Parameters (commonly understood as Scientific facts e.g. heat, energy, light, darkness etc.,) which were part of the Creation of the Universe and as such Asads rendering would be more to the point.
EXAMPLE 2
[96:1 Abdel Haleem] Read! In the name of your Lord who created:
[96:1 Muhammad Ghali] Read: In the Name of your Lord Who created,
[96:1 Maulana Ali] Read in the name of thy Lord who creates
[96:1 Laleh Bakhtiar] Recite in the Name of thy Lord Who created.
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If one was to study Haleem, Ghali and Ali Translations on their own, it would imply that the Prophet (pbuh) was Literate whereas ALLAH, The Exalted, has informed mankind [7:158] that the Prophet (pbuh) was Unlettered (Illiterate). This is further confirmed by the History. Immediately after Prophets death (pbuh), the Companions did not carry out any searches for any heavenly sheets which Angel Gabriel might have given to the Prophet (pbuh) for reading nor did they search for any iPad which Angel Gabriel might have left behind for all to read. Instead, the Companions relied upon the memorised Quran (oral transmission) and they collected all materials, palm leaves, sheets of leather, shoulder blades of large animals and whatever else had been used for writing the revelations as they were dictated by the Prophet, during his Prophethood. The result was the Compiled Quran which is now widely known as Uthmanic Recension.
Thus it is clear that the rendering of [96:1] by Laleh Bakhtiar is consistent with the Message of the Quran and the History of Islam.
One can safely say, if any translation indicates some sort of inconsistency within ALLAHS Revelation (ALLAHS QURAN), such is entirely due to the translation limitations and translators personal views and likes and dislikes and MOST CERTAINLY NOT within the DIVINE MESSAGE [8].
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The Quran is one of the worlds classics which cannot be translated without grave loss [9].
The claimed Translations of The Holy Quran, are indeed the translations of the meanings of The Quran [in short TMQ], as understood and rendered by individuals, to the best of their understandings, ability and possible sectarian or intellectual bias [10]. [see M. Ayoub, 'Translating the Meaning of the Quran: Traditional Opinions and Modern Debates', in Afkar Inquiry, Vol. 3, No. 5 (Ramadan 1406/May 1986), pp.34 9).]
Hence the need for the multiple translations, for no single translation can adequately convey the meaning of the original ALLAHS QURAN [11].
And the humble ones say, Translation helps in approaching The Message of The Quran but it [The Translation] is not a substitute for the Original i.e. ALLAHS QURAN, revealed and recorded in, ARABIC.
[References]
[ 1] [Excerpted from: http://www.theholybook.org/ ]
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[2] - [(Ibn Atiyah) Preface, Variant Readings of The Quran - Ahmad Ali Al-Imam - 2006]
[3] - [Excerpted from: http://www.saudiaramcoworld.com/issue/201104/thomas.jefferson.s.qur.a n.htm ]
[4] - [Yahiya Emerick Preface to The Holy Quran Guidance for Life, 2000] [5] [M. M. Al-Azami Preface, The History of Quranic Text 2003]
[6] - [Excerpted from - Mahmoud Ayoub, The Awesome News (Hiawatha, Iowa: Cedar Graphics, 1997), p. xi.].
[7] [ALLAHS QURAN Untranslatable - http://www.facebook.com/topic.php?uid=11682449 8381564&topic=147 ]
[8] [Excerpted from: asadullahali.files.wordpress.com/2010/09/the-message-of-the-quran.pdf]
[9] [A. Guillaume the Life of Muhammad 1955]
[10] [Excerpted from - [see M. Ayoub, 'Translating the Meaning of the Quran: Traditional Opinions and Modern Debates', in Afkar Inquiry, Vol. 3, No. 5 (Ramadan 1406/May 1986), pp.34 9).]
[11] [Dr Laurence B. Brown Scriptural Sources and Translations, Goded 2007]
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The Qur'an & Translation

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