The Muslim population in Indonesia now numbers some 241 million, equivalent to around 87% of the country’s total population, making it the largest Muslim population not just in Southeast Asia, but across the world. This has clearly created a huge market for Islamic goods and facilities for worship. In general, the Indonesian government provides for …
A guest contribution by Jajang A Rohmana, UIN Sunan Gunung Djati, Bandung, Indonesia Anugerah Al-Quranul-Karim Tarjamah Basa Sunda (‘A Gift from God: A Sundanese Qur’an Translation’) is the only complete translation of the Qur’an to be written by an Indonesian woman to date. Indonesia is a Muslim-majority country with the largest Muslim population in the world, …
H.B. Jassin, a prominent Indonesian writer born in 1917, began his career during the Dutch colonial period, and continued writing throughout the Japanese occupation and into the era of Indonesian independence. He was a literary critic, journalist, novelist, translator and editor, as well as the author of poetry and short stories. Jassin’s expertise in literature …
Qur’an translation as propaganda: war alliances and nation-building (3/3) On the cover of Al-Huda, a Javanese Qur’an translation first published in 1979, the author, Bakri Syahid (1918–1994), is presented as both a retired brigadier general and a former rector of the State Islamic Institute Sunan Kalijaga in Yogyakarta. As this description shows, army and state …
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 …
Qur’an Karim dan Terjemahan Artinya, a Qur’an translation published by the Islamic University of Indonesia (UII) is an interesting case study of how a translation can be seen to reflect different ideological outlooks at different times in history. One of the oldest universities in Indonesia, UII is an Islamic university and has required new students …
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 …
A guest contribution by Ulya Fikriyati, Institut Ilmu Keislaman Annuqayah (INSTIKA) Guluk-Guluk Sumenep, Indonesia The “Bhâsa Madhurâ” (Madurese) translation of the Qur’an is one of many vernacular translations of the Qur’an available in Indonesia. The Madurese (after whom the Madurese language is named) hail from the island of Madura, which is located immediately to the …
Qur’an translation of the week #42: The Bhâsa Madhurâ Translation of the Qur’an Read More »
“This work”, says the publisher, Lentera Hati, “was not named ‘The Qur’an and its Translation’, because its author, M. Quraish Shihab, was acutely aware that the Qur’an is a holy book that cannot possibly be translated into any other language. All that the exegetes can do is to reveal the meaning, not translate it!”Despite these …
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 …
Qur’an translation of the week #26: Al-Montakhab Read More »
