Translating or Interpreting? A Lexical Approach to Translating the Qur'an
Translating or Interpreting?
A Lexical Approach to Translating the Qur’an
By
Ahmad A. A. El-Ezabi, PhD in Linguistics
Al-Azhar University, Cairo
Published at the Faculty of Arts Journal, Zagazig University, Special Studies Issue, April 2005.
1. Abstract
In the present research paper, it is proposed that, perhaps unlike the case with most other types of texts, the most precise approach to translating the Qur’an is a lexical one.1 It is argued that this is a guarantee to keep the loss of intended meaning in the SL text to a minimum in a translated version and leave the latter as flexible as it can be within the limits of the target language. Distinction is made here between translating and interpreting through the analysis of the difference between lexical meanings of some key words in the Qur 'an and the conceptual meaning they have once gained in the history of Muslim thought and since then been associated with in practice. It is suggested that translators of the Qur’an should be committed to the lexical meaning, in a necessary attempt to avoid interpreting (and possibly also misinterpreting), and therefore consciously refrain from delimiting the likely readings the allegedly flexible language of the Qur’an can offer. Analysis is conducted of relevant examples from some renowned translations of the Qur’an to show how it is that disregarding such distinction can result in damaging, or at best limiting, the meanings a reader of the Arabic text can obtain from the original Arabic Qur’an, whereas the readers of such translations are thus denied. Practical solutions to the problems resulting from such approach, in dealing with the lexical items that have gained specific cultural and conceptual meanings over the history of Islam, are suggested.
2. Statement of the Problem
The most common approach in translating the Qur 'an into a foreign language is often conducted in the light of traditional commentaries on the Qur 'an. That is also what most of the Muslim
A Lexical Approach to Translating the Qur’an
By
Ahmad A. A. El-Ezabi, PhD in Linguistics
Al-Azhar University, Cairo
Published at the Faculty of Arts Journal, Zagazig University, Special Studies Issue, April 2005.
1. Abstract
In the present research paper, it is proposed that, perhaps unlike the case with most other types of texts, the most precise approach to translating the Qur’an is a lexical one.1 It is argued that this is a guarantee to keep the loss of intended meaning in the SL text to a minimum in a translated version and leave the latter as flexible as it can be within the limits of the target language. Distinction is made here between translating and interpreting through the analysis of the difference between lexical meanings of some key words in the Qur 'an and the conceptual meaning they have once gained in the history of Muslim thought and since then been associated with in practice. It is suggested that translators of the Qur’an should be committed to the lexical meaning, in a necessary attempt to avoid interpreting (and possibly also misinterpreting), and therefore consciously refrain from delimiting the likely readings the allegedly flexible language of the Qur’an can offer. Analysis is conducted of relevant examples from some renowned translations of the Qur’an to show how it is that disregarding such distinction can result in damaging, or at best limiting, the meanings a reader of the Arabic text can obtain from the original Arabic Qur’an, whereas the readers of such translations are thus denied. Practical solutions to the problems resulting from such approach, in dealing with the lexical items that have gained specific cultural and conceptual meanings over the history of Islam, are suggested.
2. Statement of the Problem
The most common approach in translating the Qur 'an into a foreign language is often conducted in the light of traditional commentaries on the Qur 'an. That is also what most of the Muslim
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