Russian

Qur’an translation of the week #182: ‘Islamizing’ an Orientalist Translation: Paratextual Transformations of Krachkovskii’s Russian Qur’an Translation during the 1990s

While we typically explore Qur’an translations authored by Muslims, today we delve into the intriguing transformations and faith-based usage of a renowned Orientalist Qur’an translation in Russian. The famous Russian Arabist Ignatii Krachkovskii (1883–1951), known in the academic world for establishing the Soviet school of Arabic studies and for his prolific publication record, is mostly …

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Qur’an translation of the week #175: The Renaissance Man of Modern Tatarstan: A Qur’an Translation by Ravil’ Bukharaev (1951–2012) et al.

Ravil Bukharaev, much like the polymaths of the Renaissance, was a multifaceted individual whose interests and expertise spanned various fields. In modern Tatarstan, a republic within the Russian Federation, he is celebrated as one of the major Tatar literary figures of the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries, and is renowned for his diverse talents …

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Qur’an translation of the week #161: From Certainty to Experimentation: A New Salafi Qur’an Translation into Russian – Salsabil by Aslan Arkhestov et al.

In 2022, a new Qur’an translation into Russian entitled Salsabil: Perevod Smyslov Velikogo Korana Tom I (‘Salsabil: A Translation of the Meanings of the Great Qur’an. Part I’) was published with a curious addendum on the cover page, to the effect that the translation is an ‘experimental edition.’ Aslan Arkhestov, also known as Shaykh Abu …

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Qur’an translation of the week #142: An Emblem of an Epoch: The Russian Qur’an Translation by the Azerbaijani Scholar Elmir Quliyev

If an ordinary Muslim for whom Russian is the mother tongue were asked today to recite Sūrat al-Fātiḥa from memory, it is very likely that their recitation would be based on Elmir Quliyev’s translation of the Qur’an. The ubiquitous presence of this Qur’an translation in print and online apps, and on peoples’ tongues, reflects the …

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Qur’an translation of the week #133: Global publishers of Qur’an translations: The Conveying Islamic Message Society from Alexandria, Egypt

The Conveying Islamic Message Society (‘Jamʿiyyat Tablīgh al-Islām’, or CIMS) is one of the oldest Islamic non-government organizations in the world, and is especially interested in Islamic missionary activity, or daʿwah. The ‘call to Islam’ has always been its main priority, and it directs its mission to both Eastern and Western audiences. Now operating from …

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Qur’an translation of the week #132: The inexhaustible drive for translation accuracy: Koran: Perevod na russkiĭ i͡azyk by Ural Sharipov and Raisa Sharipova ([Moscow: Vorobyev A.V., 2009] Moscow: Institute of Oriental Studies, Russian Academy of Sciences, 2012)

This week our attention is focused on another attempt to translate the Qur’an into Russian by translators from an academic background. Two Tatar Islamicists, Ural Sharipov (b. 1937) and Raisa Sharipova (b. 1940), published the first edition of their translation in 2009, and the second edition in 2012. Koran: Perevod na russkiĭ i͡azyk is associated …

Qur’an translation of the week #132: The inexhaustible drive for translation accuracy: Koran: Perevod na russkiĭ i͡azyk by Ural Sharipov and Raisa Sharipova ([Moscow: Vorobyev A.V., 2009] Moscow: Institute of Oriental Studies, Russian Academy of Sciences, 2012) Read More »

Qur’an translation of the week #125: Qur’an translation and ‘Tafsīr Azan.ru’: Imperial language in the digital age

The geography of the former Russian Empire and the power of its language have had lasting effects, not only on geopolitics but also on the grassroots level activities of various actors. Our thread today is about how Muslims have used the Russian language and the geography of the Empire to create a Qur’an translation and …

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Qur’an translation of the week #116: The Movarounnahr revival – An early edition of ‘Tafsīr Hilal’ in Russian

This week we present one of the very first tafsīr translations into Russian to be published after the official collapse of the USSR. ‘Tafsīr Hilal’ (Hilol), by Shaykh Muhammad Sodiq Muhammad Yusuf (d. 2015), was originally written in Uzbek and has been both partially and fully translated into some of the languages of the region. …

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Qur’an translation of the week #108: Al-Muntakhab in Russian- Egyptian daʿwa in the post-Soviet space

The turn of the millennium gifted Russian-speaking Muslim communities with a new Qur’an interpretation: al-Muntakhab: Tolkovanie Svi͡ashchennogo Korana na Arabskom i Russkom I͡azykakh (2000) [al-Muntakhab: Interpretation of the Holy Qur’an in Arabic and Russian languages]. This publication not only received official approval from Egypt’s al-Azhar University (which has a widespread policy of providing official sanction …

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Qur’an translation of the week #88: ‘Koran Slovesnost- Perevod Smyslov’ (2019) by Serik Ryszhanov

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 …

Qur’an translation of the week #88: ‘Koran Slovesnost- Perevod Smyslov’ (2019) by Serik Ryszhanov Read More »