Critique and Comparative Analysis of Selected English Translations of the Holy Quran by Orientalists with a Focus on the Translation by Qarai

Document Type : Research Article

Authors

1 Ph.D. (Level 4) Student of the International Institute for Islamic Studies (IIIS), Qum, Iran.

2 Professor, Al-Mustafa International University, Qom, Iran.

Abstract

Translating the Quran into English is the duty of specialists in the English language, culture, and Islamic studies to convey the knowledge of the Quran and the guidance of the Ahl al-Bayt (a) within this divine eternal miracle for truth seekers. Knowing and using an appropriate translation to convey the pure knowledge of the Quran is essential. Therefore, this research attempts a study and analysis of four famous English translations of the Quran by George Sale, Pickthall, Arberry, and Qarai in a comparative manner -focusing on style, vocabulary, grammar, and tafsīr- to analyze the strengths and weaknesses of each and help readers gain a deeper insight into choosing the desired translation. This study reveals that in addition to weaknesses in style, word translation, and phrases, Sale and Pickthall’s translations utilize an old prose style that does not seem suitable for the Quranic text; Arberry’s translation suffers from weaknesses in grammatical structure, vocabulary, and conveying meanings. Compared to the three mentioned translations, Qarai’s phrase-by-phrase translation stands out as the best translation in terms of style, structure, vocabulary, accuracy, and attention to exegetical points. Those interested in translating the Quran into foreign languages must be proficient in both the source and target languages to accurately convey the sublime teachings of the Quran.  

Keywords

References

  1. The Holy Quran, translated by Makārim Shīrāzī, Nāṣir, Qum: Dār al-Qur’an al-Karim, 1373 Sh.
  2. The Holy Quran, translated by Anṣāriyān, Ḥusayn, Qum: Uswah Publications, 1383 Sh.
  3. The Holy Bible: King James Version. (Original work published 1611). Hendrickson, 2011.
  4. The Holy Bible [in Arabic]. Beirut: Dār al-Mashriq, 1994.
  5. ʿAbduh, Muḥammad, Tafsīr al-Qur’ān al-Ḥakīm commonly known as Tafsīr al-Manār (2nd ed.), Cairo: Al-Manār Press, 1366 AH / 1947.
  6. Abdul-Ḥakīm, Al-ʿAbd, translated by Murtiḍā Karīmī-Niyā, “Orientalists’ Misunderstandings in Translating the Noble Quran and an Overview of Several English Translations,” Tarjumān-i-Waḥy, 25, Spring and Summer, 1388 Sh, 85-94.
  7. Ālūsī, Sayyid Maḥmūd, Rūḥ al-Maʿānī fī Tafsīr al-Qur’ān al-ʿAẓīm, Beirut: Dār al-Kutub al-ʿIlmiyyah, 1415 AH.
  8. Arberry, Arthur J, The Koran Interpreted, London: Oxford University Press, 1964.
  9. Ardistānī, Maryam, “Familiarity with Correctors and Researchers: Arberry and Indexing Islamic Manuscripts,” Āyinih Mīrāth, 15, Winter, 1380 Sh, 85-88.
  10. ʿArūsī Ḥuwayzī, ʿAbdul ʿAlī ibn Jumuʿah, Tafsīr Nūr al-Thaqalayn (4th ed.), Qom: Ismāʿiliyān Publications, 1415 AH.
  11. Baḥrānī, Hāshim ibn Sulaymān, Al-Burhān fī Tafsīr al-Qur’ān, Tehran: Bunyād-i Baʿthat, 1416 AH.
  12. Bayḍāwī, ʿAbdullāh ibn ʿUmar, Anwār al-Tanzīl wa Asrār al-Ta’wīl, Beirut: Dār Iḥyā al-Turāth al-ʿArabī, 1418 AH.
  13. Burhān, Muḥammad Ḥusayn b. Khalaf, Farhang-i Fārsī-ye Burhān-i Qāṭiʿ, Tehran: Nīmā, 1380 Sh.
  14. Cambridge Learner’s Dictionary, UK: Cambridge University Press, 2004.
  15. Dihkhudā, ʿAlī Akbar, Lughat-Nāmih: Farhang-i Mutiwassiṭ-i Dihkhudā, Tehran: Mu’ssisah-ye Intishārāt wa Chāp, 1390 Sh.
  16. Fakhr al-Rāzī, Muḥammad ibn ʿUmar, Mafātīḥ al-Ghayb (3rd ed.), Beirut: Dār Iḥyā’ al-Turāth al-ʿArabī, 1420 AH.
  17. Farāhīdi, Khalīl ibn Aḥmad, Kitāb al-ʿAyn (2nd ed.), Qum: Hijrat Publications, 1410 AH.
  18. Fayḍ Kāshānī, Mullā Muḥsin, Tafsīr al-Ṣāfī (2nd ed.), Tehran: Ṣadrā Publications, 1415 AH.
  19. Ḥasakanī, ʿUbaydullāh ibn Aḥmad, Shawāhid al-Tanzīl li Qawāʿid al-Tafḍīl, Tehran: Organization of Printing and Publications of the Ministry of Islamic Guidance, 1411 AH.
  20. Ibn ʿĀshūr, Muḥammad Ṭāhir, Al-Taḥrīr wa al-Tanwīr, Beirut: Institute of History, 1420 AH / 2000.
  21. Ibn Fāris, Abu al-Ḥussayn, Muʿjam Maqā’īs al-Lughat, Qum: Publications of Daftar Tablighāt Islāmi, 1404 AH.
  22. Ibn Manẓūr, Muḥammad ibn Mukram, Lisān alʿArab (3rd ed.), Beirut: Dār al-Fikr_Dār Ṣādir, 1414 AH.
  23. Karīmī-Niyā, Murtiḍā, (1378Sh/1999), “Marmaduke Pickthall: Translator of the Noble Quran into English,” Tarjumān-i-Waḥy, 5, 1378 Sh, 87-93.
  24. Khuramshāhī, Bahā’uddin, “A Solid and Enduring Translation of the Noble Quran by Professor Qurayshi,” Tarjumān-i-Waḥy,14, Autumn and Winter, 1382 Sh, 59-77.
  25. Kulaynī, Muḥammad ibn Yaʿqūb, Al-Kāfī (4th ed.), Tehran: Dār al-Kutub al-Islāmiyyah, 1407 AH.
  26. Longman English Dictionary, UK: Pearson Education Limited, 2009.
  27. Makārim Shīrāzi, Nāsir, Tafsīr Nimūnih (2nd ed.), Tehran: Dār al-Kutub al-Islāmiyah, 1374 Sh.
  28. Muṣṭafavī, Ḥasan, Al-Taḥqīq fī Kalimāt al-Qur’ān al-Karīm (6th ed.), Beirut: Dār al-Kutub al-ʿIlmiyah, 1442 AH.
  29. Nafīsī, ʿAlī Akbar, Farhang-i Nafīsī, Tehran: Khayyām, n.d.
  30. Oxford English Dictionary, Prepared by J. A. Simpson and E. S. C. Weiner, UK: Oxford University Press, 1989.
  31. Pickthal, Muhammad M, The Glorious Qur’an, Alavi Foundation, New York, 2001.
  32. Qarai, Ali Quli, The Qur’an: With a Phrase-by-Phrase English Translation (2nd ed.), ICAS, London, 2005.
  33. Qarashī, Seyyed Ali Akbar, Qāmūs al-Qur’ān (6th ed.), Tehran: Dār al-Kutub al-Islāmiyyah, 1412 AH.
  34. Qummī Mashhadī, Muḥammad ibn Muḥammad Riḍā, Tafsīr Kanz al-Daqā’iq wa Baḥr al-Gharā’ib, Tehran: Printing and Publishing Organization of the Ministry of Islamic Guidance, 1368 SH.
  35. Qummī, ʿAlī ibn Ibrāhīm, Tafsir al-Qummī (3rd ed.), Qom: Dār al-Kitāb, 1363 SH.
  36. Rāghib Esfihāni, Ḥusayn ibn Muḥammad, Mufradāt Alfāẓ al-Qur’ān, Lebanon-Syria: Dār Al-ʿIlm-Al-Dar Al-Shāmiyah, 1412 AH.
  37. Riḍā’ī Iṣfahānī, Muḥammad ʿAlī, and Colleagues, Translation of the Qur’ān, Qom: Cultural Research Institute Dār al-Dhikr, 1383 SH.
  38. Riḍā’ī Iṣfahānī, Muḥammad ʿAlī, Manṭiq-i Tarjumah-ye Qur᾽ān (2nd ed.), Qum: Al-Muṣṭafā International Publications, 1391 Sh.
  39. Riḍā’ī Iṣfahānī, Muḥammad ʿAlī, Tafsīr-i Qur’ān Mihr, Qom: Researches in Tafsir and Quranic Sciences, 1387 SH.
  40. Ṣādiqī Tihrānī, Muḥammad, Al-Furqān fī Tafsīr al-Qur’ān bi al-Qur’ān (2nd ed.), Qom: Cultural Publications of Islam, 1365 SH.
  41. Sale, George, The Koran, commonly called The Alcoran of Mohammad, with a Memoir of the Translator (by R. A. Davenport). London: William Tegg & Co, 1844.
  42. Shubbar, Sayyid ʿAbdullāh, Tafsīr al-Qur’ān al-Karīm, Beirut: Dar al-Balāghah for Printing and Publishing, 1412 AH.
  43. Suyūṭī, ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Abī Bakr, Al-Durr al-Manthūr fī Tafsīr al-Maʿthūr, Qom: Ayatollah Marʿashī Najafī Library, 1404 AH.
  44. Swan, Michael, (1995), Practical English Usage (2nd ed.), Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1995.
  45. Ṭabarī, Abu Jaʿfar Muḥammad ibn Jarīr, Jāmiʿ al-Bayān fī Tafsīr al-Qur’ān, Beirut: Dār al-Maʿrifah, 1412 AH.
  46. Ṭabarsī, Faḍl ibn Ḥasan, Majmaʿ al-Bayān fī Tafsīr al-Qur’ān (3rd ed.), Tehran: Nāṣir Khusraw Publications, 1372 SH.
  47. Ṭabāṭabā’ī, Sayyid Muḥammad Ḥusayn, Al-Mizān fī Tafsīr al-Qur’ān (5th ed.), Qum: Daftar Intishārāt Islāmī, 1417AH.
  48. Ṭurayḥī, Fakhr al-Dīn b. Muḥammad, Majmaʿ al-Baḥrayn (3rd ed.), Tehran: Murtaḍawī, 1375 Sh.
  49. Ṭūsī, Muḥammad ibn Ḥasan, Al-Tibyān fī Tafsīr al-Qur’ān, Qom: Islamic Publishing Institute affiliated with the Society of Teachers in Qom, 1371 SH.
  50. Zamakhsharī, Maḥmūd, Al-Kashshāf ʿan Ḥaqā’iq Ghawāmiḍ al-Tanzīl (3rd ed.), Beirut: Dār al-Kitāb al-ʿArabī, 1407 AH.
  51.  
Contemporary Quranic Studies
Volume 3, Issue 9 - Serial Number 9
December 2024
Pages 8-44

Files

Share

How to cite

Statistics