Why yet another French Qur’an translation? ‘To further explore the richness and depth of the Qur’an’s Arabic vocabulary’ is the answer that Maurice Gloton (1926–2017) might have given. The astonishing outcome of his endeavour is a ‘literal translation’ that is so serious about identifying the literal meaning of Qur’anic terms that most Muslim readers would …
As is the case with the translation of the Qur’an into many European languages, the first translation of the Qur’an to be published in Balkans was not produced by a member of the Muslim community. The translator, Mićo Ljubibratić (1839–1889), one of the most prominent local political and military figures of the second half of …
Qur’an translation of the week #89: The First Translation of the Qur’an in Balkans Read More »
Is God’s scripture alone enough to provide sufficient guidance to believers? The general answer across the Abrahamic faiths has been ‘no’, however the tendency to eschew the intermediation of religious scholars and clergy and focus solely on scripture has been represented by various religious movements throughout history. They have emerged at different times and in …
Indonesia has experienced approximately 350 years of colonization, first by the Portuguese and Dutch following the arrival of the Dutch VOC (Vereenigde Oost Indische Compagnie) in the 1600s and, more recently, with three years of Japanese occupation from 1942 to 1945. The country’s struggle to achieve independence was not easy, especially given the diversity of …
One of the most populous Muslim areas of Europe, former Yugoslavia played quite a significant role in the development of Muslim revivalism and activism in the Eastern European context. This is reflected in the fact that one of the first Muslim translations of the Qur’an into the local language, ‘Kur’an Časni’ (‘The Holy Qur’an’), appeared …
This week, we present the first Muslim Qur’an translation into French, after having discussed its English equivalent last week. Both efforts had their origin in the colonial period, but there were notable differences between the contexts of the French-ruled Maghreb and British India. Before addressing them, let us take a closer look at ‘Le Coran,’ …
This week we take a close look at Abdul Hakim Khan’s (d. 1917?) ‘The Holy Qurʾan with a commentary’, which was published in 1905 and is the first English translation of the Qurʾan to be authored by a Muslim. As this post coincides with Christmas, we will focus on the way Khan treats the conception …
Bulgaria has quite a large Muslim community (of more than half million people) which traditionally has had close cultural relations with Turkey, thus attempts to ‘Bulgarizing’ the Holy Book of Islam have historically been deemed as a challenge to the Turkish language and identity. Almost all published Bulgarian translations were prepared outside the community of …
The history of the first Afrikaans Qur’an translation throws a spotlight on the afterlives of slavery and colonialism, the international movement of texts and ideas in the twentieth century, and the disruption of modern South African history. ‘Die Heilige Qur’ān’ by Imam Mohammed Armien Baker (1910–1982) was first published in 1961 by Nasionale Boekhandel, in …
Following the pattern of almost all translations of the Qur’an into Turkish, Ələddin Sultanov’s recent Azerbaijani Qur’an translation (Baku: İpəkyolu nəşriyyatı, 2020) is named a ‘translation of the meanings of the Qur’an’ (məalı, sing. məal). First appearing as a word-by-word translation intended to assist those who study the Qur’an, this text was later developed into …
