Introduction
"Indeed, We have sent it down as an
Arabic Qur'an that you might understand" (Quran 12:2)
The majority of Muslims are non-Arabs and
consequently they do not understand Arabic. There is therefore a need to
translate the Quran into other languages to give readers a basic understanding
of Quran. It is further important that non-Muslims too have access to this
Final Revelation, Quran.
Translation - a definition
The word "translation" means to
convert and in languages it means to convert from one language to another. The
Quran was revealed an Arabic Quran, which is the word of Allah. A translation
means the conversion of the word of Allah to another language. Thus the
converted outcome, the translation of Quran, cannot be considered the word of
Allah.
Dependence on Translations
Arabic is a rich language and it is no
co-incidence that Allah Almighty chose Arabic as the language of Quran, the
Final Divine Revelation. There are many Arabic words that cannot be accurately
captured by another language. The translator, being mindful of space and to
ensure easy reading, chooses words from his non-Arabic language to best present
his understanding of the original Arabic text. If we were to take only the
verse quoted above and present the various translations then one can already
see the differences even in an apparent simple verse as mentioned.
Before I proceed, already I have to
clarify something regarding the word "verse" - we translate the word
roughly to mean verse when in fact Allah speaks about "ayah" which
means "sign' and not "verse". For ease of reference we use the
word "verse" but it remains incorrect and we should say
"sign".
Let is quickly look at the
"ayah" in question once again
Pickthall: Lo! We have revealed it, a Lecture in Arabic, that ye may understand.
Yusuf Ali: We have sent it down as an Arabic Qur'an, in order that ye may learn wisdom.
Shakir: Surely We have revealed it-- an Arabic Quran-- that you may understand.
Muhammad Sarwar: We have revealed it in the Arabic language so that you (people) would understand it.
Mohsin Khan: Verily, We have sent it down as an Arabic Quran in order that you may understand.
Arberry: We have sent it down as an Arabic Koran; haply you will understand.
We can see that although the wording is
generally the same, Yusuf Ali uses the word "wisdom" why the others
use the word "understand".
When one does this comparison throughout
Quran one will find these and other differences. The other differences will at
times include a more descriptive translation to further attempt to get as close
as possible to the meaning.
In the next section we will highlight a
few key words that cannot be translated into another language by merely one
word replacing the Arabic word.
Already, we can get a feel that
translations is subjective to the opinion of the translator in his choice of
words. Furthermore, while we are not questioning the translator necessarily,
he/she cannot add enough comments to clarify their viewpoint since it may make
the translation unreadable. The translation may be taking as a guide but, for
the one who truly seeks more knowledge, he/she must get a basic understanding
of Arabic even if that person afterwards resorts to reading a tafsir in
English.
Rich Arabic vocabulary
Much have been written about the opening
phrase of Quran which roughly translate to "in the name of Allah, Most
Gracious, Most Merciful"
On analysis, we find the Arabic words
"Rahman" and "Raheem" in the
opening line has somewhat the same meaning. Arabic words are generally derived
from what is termed root letters and so "Rahman " and "Raheem"
share the same root letters "Raa
haa Meem" . Thus while we mostly know "Bismillahi
Ar-rahman Ar-raheem" to mean "in the name of Allah, Most
Gracious, Most Merciful", some would rather translate it as " "in
the name of Allah, Most Merciful, The Especially Merciful". Again the
English language cannot do it justice and the meanings behind it is too strong
for the English language. (this is more than a lesson on its own)
Other words of note are "Rabb"
roughly translates as "Lord" but that in itself is but one
aspect of the word "rabb" and hence the true meaning and
essence is lost in mere translation.
Also take "Subhanallah"
which we translate as "Glory be to Allah" but it means more
than that. Both these last two words "Rabb" and "Subhanallah"
are lessons on their own and no one English word can encapsulate their
meanings.
The list of words is great, but we cannot
delve into it all here.
Conclusion
For fear that this post will be too long, I have
to conclude
Translations of the Quran (which is in
Arabic only) is necessary and can play a meaningful role. The caution is to not
over-rely on translations and leave the Quran in itself, even if we only recite
it. Over-reliance may cause us to go the way of the Christians who can no longer
present their scripture in the original text and the vary many different
versions of the Bible today.
There is no doubt that being close to
Quran (and the Quran can only be called by this name when in Arabic) requires
the ability to read it and then on a higher level to understand the Arabic.
We pray Allah accepts our efforts and
make Quran our daily and lifelong companion.
And Allah knows best.
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Note:
Tafsir means to explain and describe - with reference to the ayaat
(plural of ayah meaning sign) of Quran
