Dagestan

Qur’an translation of the week #54: Qur’anic Culture in the North Caucasus and the translation of the Qur’an into the Avar language

The Avar language (originally known as ‘Magarul mac’) belongs to the subgroup of Avar–Andic languages and is currently spoken by more than a million people in Russia (in western Dagestan), Azerbaijan (in the Zaqatala region), and Georgia. The oldest texts written in Avar date back to the fifteenth century and the language has survived a …

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Qur’an translation of the week #28: Forging Muslim ‘Orthodoxy’ in Russia: New Translation of Qur’anic Meanings Kalam Sharif

The most recent translation of the Qur’an into Russian, produced by the Kazan Muftiyat in 2019, can tell us much about Muslim theological polemics in contemporary Russia. Widely discussed on social media, the Kalam Sharif translation claims to be the only Sunni “orthodox” translation of Qur’anic meanings corresponding to Maturidi/Ashari theology. As well as the …

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Qur’an translation of the week #24: Translations by Magomed-Nuri Osmanov

What should the criteria be for someone aiming to translate the Qur’an? The debates around these issues surrounded the Qur’anic translation of Dr. Magomed-Nuri Osmanov (1924-2015), a Dagestani philologist and specialist in Oriental languages. Osmanov’s work represents a continuation of the Russian academic tradition of making Muslim scripture accessible for the vast Russian-speaking audience. Despite …

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