Linguistic and extra-linguistic problems in the translation of the Holy Qur'an

Abstract

This thesis is the first to study the English translations of the : Holy Qur'an, and is mainly concerned with the translators' approach in handling the linguistic (lexical & syntactic) , and extra-linguistic (variant readings & cultural ) problems of the text.

The works that are the subject of the study are those of six English translators (Sale, Rodwell, Palmer, Pickthall, Bell, and Arberry), as well as one of a non-English Muslim translator from Pakistan (Maulana Muhammad Ali).

The translators' renderings of the problematic instances are compared with) the expositions of the exegetes (whom the translators have been familiar with), in order to investigate the commentators' influence on the translators. The similarities between the translators' renderings are also checked to find out the degree of dependence between the translators. The translators are found to be heavily reliant on the exegetes. The degree of dependence between the translators is found to be considerable. Some problems have been resolved by means of- the context (i.e. the text as a whole); whereas others are left unresolved. The translations that have been studied are closer to commentaries than the text. The main conclusion is that the Holy Qur’an is untranslatable in the strict sense.