English

Qur’an translation of the week #63: Word for word translations in English

This week’s post concerns the phenomenon of “word for word” translations in English, with a look at some examples along with the translators’ introductions. Interlinear verbatim translations have a long history, and work more naturally in languages with shared vocabulary and structure with Arabic. A three-volume work first published in 1995 by the Islamic Book …

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Qur’an translation of the week #57: The Qur’an explained to French children: recitation and meaning

Le Coran expliqué aux enfants: Juz ‘Amma is an illustrated French translation and commentary of the Qur’an for children. In many countries, there is a growing market for such books. They may take different forms, ranging from a thematic summary or arrangement of Qur’anic verses to translations of complete suras, often accompanied by additional material. …

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Qur’an translation of the week #52: Friends, helpers, leaders, allies? Muslims, interreligious relations, and the translation of Q 5:51

In celebration of the one-year anniversary of ‘Qur’an Translation of the Week’, the GloQur team today jointly looks at modern translations of a contested verse. We will discuss Q 5:51, a verse that pertains to the relations between Muslims, on the one hand, and Christians and Jews, on the other hand. How is it rendered in …

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Qur’an translation of the week #47: Chain Translations from Urdu to English

Unlike Arabic works, Qur’an commentaries in other languages have to involve or incorporate translation of the scriptural text. When those works are translated, the Qur’an translation itself may have to be rendered in the new language. Before looking at a few examples, particularly noting how this process can go wrong, let’s appreciate the value of …

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Qur’an translation of the week #41: The Rhyming Cadences of Shawkat Toorawa

The Qur’an is “not the word of a poet” but aspects of structure, rhythm and rhyme certainly evoke aspects of Arabic poetry. Can any of that carry over into translation? Should it? Shawkat Toorawa is Professor of Arabic at Yale, and his approach to teaching and translating the Qur’an draws from his broader interests in …

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Qur’an translation of the week #34: “The Qurʾān: A Reformist Translation” by Edip Yüksel, Layth Saleh al-Shaiban and Martha Schulte-Nafeh

This week’s thread looks at a translation belonging to a trend broadly known as ‘Quranism’ or ‘Qur’an-only’. Paradoxically, its members often see a need to promote their own ideas and writings, including translations of the scripture. Quranist theory may have had early proponents, but it goes against the epistemic approaches and hermeneutics of mainstream Islamic …

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Qur’an translation of the week #30: The Gracious Quran: A modern-phrased interpretation in English

We noted previously that official efforts by Egypt’s religious establishment – represented by Al-Azhar University – have been eclipsed by translations by men associated with the institution. Today’s post concerns one of those. The 1st edition (2007) of “The Gracious Quran: A modern-phrased interpretation in English” is particularly fine, in two volumes: one with the …

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Qur’an translation of the week #26: Al-Montakhab

To mark the arrival of a certain president-elect (!), this week’s post concerns another “muntakhab” – a project to standardise Qur’an translation according to the scholarship of Egypt’s Al-Azhar University. “Al-Muntakhab fi tafsir al-Qur’an” is better translated as ‘The Select Interpretation of the Qur’an’. This thread draws numerous points from Stefan Wild’s paper on “Muslim …

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Qur’an translation of the week #22: Muslim translations to English

The Qur’an famously has a recited/compiled order which differs from the order of its revelation/proclamation. Some non-Muslim translators have ‘restored’ chronology. But how about Muslim translations to English? Muslim scholars have always treated revelatory order as significant, as observed in tafsīr and subgenres of naskh and asbāb al-nuzūl. However, the challenge of constructing a detailed …

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Qur’an translation of the week #19: Pre-determined exegetical translation

Ever wondered how it would look if a great exegete wrote his own Qur’an translation? There are attempts to construct these hypothetically alongside translations of tafsir, such as this work which contains ‘A Baydawian Rendering’ of the Qur’an in English. It’s easy to show that translation is a form of tafsir (focused on words). What’s …

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