Quran Translations

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

Sahih International: Indeed, We have sent it down as an Arabic Qur'an that you might understand.
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