Islamic Online University

Bachelor of Arts in Islamic Studies

Tafseer 101

Translation of the Qur’an

The whole issue of translation is central to the issue of the universality of the Islamic
message. It is clear that the original target audience were Arabs: And We never sent
a messenger except with the language of his people, that he might make (the
message) clear for them. (Surah Ibrahim 14:4) It is also clear that the message is
for all mankind until the Day of Judgment: Say (O Muhammad): O mankind!
Indeed, I am the Messenger of Allah to you all…” (Surah Araf 7:158) The
message could be conveyed to the non-Arabs by one of two means: either all the non-
Arabs learn Arabic or the message must be delivered to them in a language they
already understand.

The Legality of Translation:

Al-Nawawee, in discussing recitation of Soorah al-Faatihah in salaah, stated:

Our madh-hab is that it is not permissible to read (qiraa’ah) the Qur’an in other
than the Arabic language, whether [the person] is able to read Arabic or not, and
whether it is inside or outside salaah. If he recites the translation in his salaah
in place of the [actual] recitation, his salaah is invalid, whether or not he can
recite adequately [in Arabic].

This is our madh-hab. And it was the position of the majority of scholars,
including….But Aboo Haneefah said [recitation of the translation] is
permissible and the salaah is valid with it, without conditions…. An argument
used in support of his position is the statement of Allah, the Exalted: And this
Qur’an has been inspired in me, in order that I may warn you with it and
whomever it may reach. (Surah An’aam 6:19)

Non-Arabs cannot be warned by the Arabic Qur’an because they won’t

understand it unless it is translated into their language. And in Bukhari and
Muslim: “The Qur’an was revealed in seven ahruf.”

Also, some Persians asked Salmaan to write a portion of the Qur’an for them, so
he wrote a translation of Soorah al-Faatihah. Also, it is a form of remembrance
(dhikr) so the translation fills in for it as, for example, with the testimony of
faith. They also draw an analogy (qiyaas) between it and the permissibility of
translating hadiths of the Prophet (pbuh).
 Our colleagues argue on the basis of the hadith of ‘Umar ibn al-Khattaab when
he grabbed Hakeem ibn Hizaam by his upper garment and brought him to the
Prophet (pbuh) because he objected to his recitation of the Qur’an in a manner
other than what ‘Umar had been taught. (Bukhari and Muslim)

If translation were permissible, the Prophet (pbuh) would have expressed

disapproval of ‘Umar’s objection to something lawful. They also argue that the
translation of the Qur’an is not the Qur’an because the Qur’an is this miraculous
arrangement [of words, sentences, etc.]. Since translation causes the loss of this
miraculous aspect it is not allowed.

Our response to the use of the verse is that the warning is realized in order to be
completed by it, even if the meaning is transmitted to them. As for the hadith, it
refers to seven dialects of the Arabs, and it indicates that [the Qur’an] does not
extend past these seven, for it is well known that there are more than seven
Arabic dialects.

As for Salmaan’s act, he translated a tafseer of al-Faatihah, not its actual

[essence]. As for the pronouncement of the testimony of faith, there are two
opinions recorded from al-Shaafi’ee on that. If we accept the position that it is
invalid, then [the answer to their argument] is obvious. If we accept its validity,
it is because he is using words to inform others of his inner belief, and any
language will serve that purpose. As for their analogy with Prophetic traditions
and words of glorification, the objective of the Qur’an is [to convey] rules and
miraculous structure, which makes it different from Prophetic traditions and
words of glorification.

Another argument in favor of translation is that when the Prophet (pbuh) wrote letters
to non-Arab kings, he included Qur’anic verses in his letters with the expectation that
they would be translated. The story of Aboo Sufyaan ibn Harb regarding his audience
with Heraclius after the latter had received the Prophet’s letter makes that clear:
Heraclius called for an interpreter who read the letter to him in Greek (Bukhari and
Muslim), which included: Say: O People of the Scripture! Come to an agreement
between us and you: that we will worship none but Allah…(Surah Aal-Imraan
3:64)

A second, more distant argument is that the Jews would translate the Torah into
Arabic and read it to the Muslims. Allah’s Messenger (pbuh) did not object to the
Muslims listening to it; he merely instructed them to neither confirm or deny the
validity of its contents as conveyed to them. (Bukhari)

Also, when the Jews brought a man and woman accused of adultery to the Prophet
(pbuh), he asked them to read from the Torah the penalty for adultery. Since the Torah
was in Hebrew, he was asking them to read its translation. If it is permissible to
translate one scripture of divine origin, then, similarly, it should be permissible to
translate any of them.
Ibn al-‘Arabee found a refutation of Aboo Haneefah’s position in 41:44: And if We
had appointed it a Qur’an in a foreign tongue they would assuredly have said, “If
only its verses were expounded (so that we might understand)?” What! A foreign
tongue and an Arabian [prophet]?

Al-Shaatibee discussed the issue by pointing out that the words of any language have
primary and secondary meanings. The primary meanings can be translated without
difficulty, whereas secondary meanings cannot unless the source language and the
transmission language have parallel means of expression. For example, qaama Zayd
would be translated into English as “Zayd stood” or “Zayd stood up”.

The primary meaning has been transmitted without difficulty. However, if an Arabic
speaker wanted to shift the emphasis of the sentence to the person doing the standing,
he would say, Zaydun qaama; i.e., by starting the sentence with the noun instead of
the verb. The problem for the translator is that English doesn’t really allow you to
structure sentences by putting the verb ahead of the subject so both Arabic sentences
would be translated into the same English sentence.

Al-Shaatibee mentioned six or seven other rhetorical issues that might affect the way
the same basic idea is expressed. English could accommodate some of those and not
others. This is particularly relevant to the Qur’an because the same basic story may be
retold in a number of different soorahs with a different emphasis in each version, and
this will be reflected by subtle differences in expression that may not be translatable.
(al-Muwaafaqaat (Beirut: Daar al-Kutub al-‘Ilmiyyah 1411/1991, 2:51-52)

The Hanafees allowed the writing of translation only if it is accompanied by the

original Arabic. This measure was stipulated to prevent the possibility that, with the
passage of time, non-Arabic Muslims might forget about the Arabic Qur’an entirely or
develop the misconception that the translation is essentially the same as the original
and, thus, can take its place.

The whole issue of translation flared up again in the 1920s when Ataturk began
secularizing Turkey. A concerted effort was directed at removing all traces of Arabic
language from the culture. In that context, the scholars of Egypt and Syria branded
translators of Qur’an into Turkish and Arabic as heretics and ordered that all copies of
translations be seized and removed from circulation.

The fact that this issue is still alive and burning for some people can be seen from the
following news article:

2 Afghans face death over translation of Quran

By HEIDI VOGT, Associated Press Writer Heidi Vogt, Associated Press Writer
AP – In this Sunday, Nov, 11, 2007 file photo, Afghan demonstrators protest
against Ahmad Ghaws Zalmai, a …

KABUL – No one knows who brought the book to the mosque, or at least no one
dares say. The pocket-size translation of the Quran has already landed six men in
prison in Afghanistan and left two of them begging judges to spare their lives.
They're accused of modifying the Quran and their fate could be decided Sunday in
court.

The trial illustrates what critics call the undue influence of hardline clerics in
Afghanistan, a major hurdle as the country tries to establish a lawful society amid
war and militant violence.

The book appeared among gifts left for the cleric at a major Kabul mosque after
Friday prayers in September 2007. It was a translation of the Quran into one of
Afghanistan's languages, with a note giving permission to reprint the text as long as
it was distributed for free.

Some of the men of the mosque said the book would be useful to Afghans who
didn't know Arabic, so they took up a collection for printing. The mosque's cleric
asked Ahmad Ghaws Zalmai, a longtime friend, to get the books printed.

But as some of the 1,000 copies made their way to conservative Muslim clerics in
Kabul, whispers began, then an outcry.

Many clerics rejected the book because it did not include the original Arabic verses
alongside the translation. It's a particularly sensitive detail for Muslims, who regard
the Arabic Quran as words given directly by God. A translation is not considered a
Quran itself, and a mistranslation could warp God's word.

The clerics said Zalmai, a stocky 54-year-old spokesman for the attorney general,
was trying to anoint himself as a prophet. They said his book was trying to replace
the Quran, not offer a simple translation. Translated editions of the Quran abound
in Kabul markets, but they include Arabic verses.

The country's powerful Islamic council issued an edict condemning the book.
"In all the mosques in Afghanistan, all the mullahs said, 'Zalmai is an infidel. He
should be killed,'" Zalmai recounted as he sat outside the chief judge's chambers
waiting for a recent hearing.
Zalmai lost friends quickly. He was condemned by colleagues and even by others
involved in the book's printing. A mob stoned his house one night, said his brother,
Mahmood Ghaws.

Police arrested Zalmai as he was fleeing to Pakistan, along with three other men the
government says were trying to help him escape. The publisher and the mosque's
cleric, who signed a letter endorsing the book, were also jailed.

There is no law in Afghanistan prohibiting the translation of the Quran. But Zalmai
is accused of violating Islamic Shariah law by modifying the Quran. The courts in
Afghanistan, an Islamic state, are empowered to apply Shariah law when there are
no applicable existing statutes.

And Afghanistan's court system appears to be stacked against those accused of

religious crimes. Judges don't want to seem soft on potential heretics and lawyers
don't want to be seen defending them, said Afzal Shurmach Nooristani, whose
Afghan Legal Aid group is defending Zalmai.

The prosecutor wants the death penalty for Zalmai and the cleric, who have now
spent more than a year in prison.

Sentences on religious infractions can be harsh. In January 2008, a court sentenced

a journalism student to death for blasphemy for asking questions about women's
rights under Islam. An appeals court reduced the sentence to 20 years in prison. His
lawyers appealed again and the case is pending.

In 2006, an Afghan man was sentenced to death for converting to Christianity. He

was later ruled insane and was given asylum in Italy. Islamic leaders and the
parliament accused President Hamid Karzai of being a puppet for the West for
letting him live.

Nooristani, who is also defending the journalism student, said he and his colleagues
have received death threats.

"The mullahs in the mosques have said whoever defends an infidel is an infidel,"
Nooristani said.

The legal aid organization, which usually represents impoverished defendants, is

defending Zalmai because no one else would take the case.

"We went to all the lawyers and they said, 'We can't help you because all the
mullahs are against you. If we defend you, the mullahs will say that we should be
killed.' We went six months without a lawyer," Zalmai said outside the judge's
chambers.

The publisher was originally sentenced to five years in prison. Zalmai and the
cleric were sentenced to 20, and now the prosecutor is demanding the death penalty
for the two as a judge hears appeals.
 Nearly everyone in court claims ignorance now. The mosque's mullah says he
never read the book and that he was duped into signing the letter. The print shop
owner says neither he nor any of his employees read the book, noting that it's
illegal for them to read materials they publish.

Zalmai pleaded for forgiveness before a January hearing, saying he had assumed a
stand-alone translation wasn't a problem.

"You can find these types of translations in Turkey, in Russia, in France, in Italy,"
he said.

When the chief judge later banged his gavel to silence shouting lawyers and
nodded at Zalmai to explain himself, the defendant stood and chanted Quranic
verses as proof that he was a devout Muslim who should be forgiven.

Shariah law is applied differently in Islamic states. Saudi Arabia claims the Quran
as its constitution, while Malaysia has separate religious and secular courts. But
since there is no ultimate arbiter of religious questions in Afghanistan, judges must
strike a balance between the country's laws and proclamations by clerics or the
Islamic council, called the Ulema council.

Judges are "so nervous about annoying the Ulema council and being criticized that
they tend to push the Islamic cases aside and just defer to what others say," said
John Dempsey, a legal expert with the U.S. Institute of Peace in Kabul.

Deferring to the council means that edicts issued by the group of clerics can
influence rulings more than laws on the books or a judge's own interpretation of
Shariah law, he said.

Judges have to be careful about whom they might anger with their rulings. In
September, gunmen killed a top judge with Afghanistan's counter-narcotics court.
Other judges have been gunned down as well.

Mahmood Ghaws said that even if his brother is found innocent, their family will
never be treated the same.

"When I go out in the street, people don't say hello to me in the way they used to,"
he said. "They don't ask after my family."1

The article doesn’t mention any objection to the content of the translation. The
objection seems to center on the fact that the translation was printed without the
Arabic.

Technical Issues Related to Translation:

Translation inevitably involves a loss of information:

1
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090206/ap_on_re_as/as_afghan_translation_on_trial
Sounds: rhymes and rhythm

Verb forms: e.g. active /passive

Four types of translation

• Ultra-literal, word-for-word, preserves the source language forms and

structures at the expense of clarity in the transferred language
• Less literal but still preserves too many source language structures to flow in
the transferred language
• Relatively faithful to the gist of the original but favors structures of the
transferred language in order to facilitate fluency and readability.
• The focus is so heavily upon fluidity and fluency in the transferred language
that substantial loss and change of the original meaning result.

Problems related to translation of Arabic and Qur’an

• Mudaari‘ verbs indicate the present and the future: a translator has to decide
which of the two tenses to choose and which to leave out.
• Iltifaat: pronoun shifts
• Ellipsis

A History of Qur’an Translation into English:

The first translation of the Qur’an into a European language was commissioned by the
Abbot of Cluny and completed in 1143. It was a consequence of and sidebar to the
Crusades. The translation was done by an Englishman, Robert Ketton, with help from
an Arabic speaker named Muhammad, into Latin, the universal language of educated
Europeans at that time. The translation was published in 1543. A new Latin translation
was completed in 1698 by a priest named Marraci. The intent was, as with the first
translation, for use in propaganda wars against Islam.

The first English translation, that of Alexander Ross, was published in 1649. It was a
translation of a French translation. He characterized the Qur’an’s contents as “poyson,
that hath affected a very great…part of the universe.”

George Sale was dissatisfied with all previous translations of the Qur’an into
European languages for being “unfair” in that they “entertained too favourable an
opinion of the original”.

A whole genre of orientalist translations have been produced that rearrange the text
chronologically. J. M. Rodwell (1861) did so on the basis of soorahs. N.J. Dawood
(1956) was an Iraqi Jew who settled in England. His soorah arrangement was roughly
chronological.

He was the first translator to produce a version in modern English, but his ordering
has been criticized as arbitrary. The most egregious assault on the Qur’an’s
arrangement was perpetrated by Richard Bell (1937). He completely rearranged verses
as well as soorahs on a subjective basis. He even went so far as to move parts of
verses from one location to another.

The best of the orientalist translations is generally acknowledged to be that of A.J.

Arberry (1955), a professor of Persian and Arabic at Cambridge and the University of
London.

The Qadyanis published a number of Qur’an translations in English, the most famous
being that of Muhammad Ali (1916), the leader of the Lahore faction of the group.
The Nation of Islam used to use this translation for a long time. All the Qadyani
versions come with footnotes and are “so saturated with [Qadiyani] doctrine that they
can hardly be viewed as anything more than [Qadiyani] propaganda.”2

Muhammad Marmaduke Pickthall (1875-1936)

He was the first native-speaking convert to Islam to produce a translation, which he

completed in 1930. At least 48 editions of it have been published. He spent 3 years in
the Near East, accepting Islam in 1914. In 1919 the founder of the Woking Mosque
went back to India and asked Pickthall to take his place as imam. He found all existing
translations hopelessly inadequate when preparing sermons, so he would do his own
translations.

People began asking him where they could get a copy of the translation he was
quoting, so he began to seriously consider producing an entire translation of his own.
He became editor of a newspaper in Bombay in 1920. After quitting that job in 1924,
he mentioned to the manager of AP in India that he was considering an English
translation of the Qur’an.

The next day, the news was published in every newspaper in India. His comments
attracted the interest of the Nizam of Hyderabad, who gave him a job as headmaster of
a high school as a first step to subsidizing the project. In 1929 the Nizam granted him
a 2-year leave of absence with full salary to complete his work. Due to the difficulties
and expense of preparing a bilingual edition, printing was delayed. Pickthall died
before the first printed edition was published in 1938.

Abdullah Yusuf Ali (1870-1953)

He studied at the University of Bombay and then at St. John’s College, Cambridge
and Lincoln’s Inn, London. He joined the Indian civil service in 1894, retiring after 20
years. He became a lecturer of Hinustani Language and Indian Religious manner in
the School of Oriental Studies at the University of London 1917-1919. He also served
the Nizam of Hyderabad as his revenue minister (1921-1922) and the Islamic College,
Lahore as its principal (1935-1937). He produced his translation while living in
Lahore. It was published juz’ by juz’ from 1934-1937.

2
Mufakhar Hussain Khan, “English Translations of the Holy Qur’an,” in Colin Turner (ed.) The
Koran: Critical concepts in Islamic Studies (London and New York: RoutledgeCurzon), 33.
His translation is considered to be quite good as far as its faithfulness to the original.
The language, like Pickthall’s, is highly archaic, although revised editions have been
printed of both, which have modernized some of the more glaring archaicisms. Some
subsequent editions of Ali’s translation have also completely revised his footnotes,
which are marred by the typical 19th-century conquered colonial’s eagerness to
embrace British concepts of scientific truth. He explains away miracles and has a
many other strange comments.

The Muhammad Hilali/Muhsin Khan translation (1974) includes footnotes that

largely consist of hadiths from Saheeh al-Bukhaaree. The language is fairly modern
English, but the inclusion of comments in the text makes it more difficult to have
reasonably direct access to the original text. The inclusion of repetitive explanations
of recurring terms every time they appear in the text makes for very tiresome reading.
Some of these problems have been addressed in later editions of the book.

Muhammad Asad was an Austrian Jew who accepted Islam in the 1920s. In 1980 he
published a translation with footnotes entitled The Message of the Qur’an. Many of
his turns of phrase are quite fine, but he is criticized for his excessive rationalism. Not
only does he deny miracles, he considers most of the stories to have no historical
basis; i.e., they were teaching stories that contained fantastic features because of the
mentality of the original audience. Examples of strange translations that reflect his
rationalism:

Pickthall’s version: When the two Receivers receive (him), seated on the right
hand and on the left. (50:17) This is widely understood to refer to recording angels.
Asad rendered the two Receivers as: “the two demands of his nature”. Hameem in
56:93 is rendered as “burning despair” rather than scalding water.

M.A.S. Abdel Haleem, who translated Muhammad Draz’s Introduction to the

Qur’an, produced a new translation of the Qur’an in 2004. It has many positive
features. The language is modern English. It organizes the verses in paragraphs to
emphasize the thematic unity of the passages, yet each verse is numbered as
unobstrusively as possible with a small superscript. Care is taken to translate recurring
terms with English terms appropriate to the context in which they occur, not relying
upon a single equivalent across the board.

Pronouns

Care is taken to convey pronoun distinction as much as possible; e.g. In whatever

matter you [Prophet] may be engaged and whatever part of the Qur’an you are
reciting, whatever work you [people] are doing, We Witness you when you are
engaged in it. (10:61)

Iltifaat is downplayed by breaking up the original sentences, sometimes with dashes,

sometimes with periods:

Compare Pickthall: 27:61 Is it not He Who created the heavens and the earth, and
sends down for you water from the sky wherewith We cause to spring forth
joyous orchards, whose trees it never has been yours to cause to grow. Is there
any God beside Allah?

Abdel Halim: Who created the heavens and earth? Who sends down water from
the sky for you―with which We cause gardens of delight to grow: you have no
power to make the trees grow in them―is it another god beside God?

Pickthall: 36:21: “For what cause should I not serve Him Who has created me,
and to Whom you will be brought back?”

Abdel Halim: “Why should I not worship the One who created me? It is to Him
you will be returned.”

Pickthall: 2:17 Their example is that of one who kindled a fire, but when it
illuminated what was around him, Allah took away their light and left them in
darkness [so] they could not see.

Abdel Halim: They are like people who [labour to] kindle a fire: when it lights up
everything around them, God takes away all their light, leaving them in utter
darkness, unable to see.

Original meanings

Also, attention is paid to the meanings of words at the time of revelation; for example
walad originally meant child, although it now refers exclusively to a son. Pickthall
translates 2:116

And they say, “Allah has taken unto Himself a son.” Perhaps that was because of
his Christian background, but the Arabs identified the angels as the daughters of
Allah. Therefore, Abdel Halim translate the passage: They have asserted, ‘God has a
child.’

Idiom: The phrase tajree min tahtihaa al-anhaar is frequently used to refer to the
gradens of Paradise. The phrase literally means “under which rivers flow”. This gives
the impression of underground rivers, but the image is more one of a shady garden
watered by many streams.

He uses instead “graced with flowing streams”. “Graced” is used to convey the
generosity of God’s gift to the people of Paradise implicit in the Qur’anic text; the
adjective “flowing” is taken from the Arabic tajree, used in connection with these
“rivers”; while “streams” was chosen above the more general “rivers” as the
impression is one of many small rivulets coursing through the garden, keeping it
watered, beautiful and fresh.

In classical Arabic, the term nahr applies to any body of running water, from the
smallest of stream to the widest of rivers. In modern Arabic the term has become
restricted to rivers, and this may lead in some cases to misunderstanding of the term.3

3
M.A.S. Abdel Haleem, The Qur’an, xxxii.
The minimal footnotes are based on al-Fakhr al-Raazee, Aboo Hayyaan and al-
Baydaawee.

Tafseers in English:

‘Abdul Majeed Daryaabaadee

He is an Indian scholar who translated the Qur’an into Urdu. After that he translated it
into English with extensive commentary (1940s?). The language is fairly archaic. The
Arabic verses are placed in a block at the top of the page. The English translation
follows with each verse placed separately within a section. His notes have frequent
comparisons with Biblical passages and quotes from English-speaking writers, such as
William James and Charles Marston. He uses cryptic abbreviations to refer to some of
his sources. In commenting on 2:115, he affirms the idea that Allah is everywhere.

Ibn Katheer (Dar as-Salam)

Basically good, but some of the editing is ideologically driven rather than just to avoid
repetition. For example:

And if, when they had wronged themselves, they had but come to you and asked
forgiveness of Allah, and asked forgiveness of the messenger, they would have
found Allah Forgiving, Merciful. (4:64)

They left out Ibn Katheer’s citation of the well-known narration by Maalik al-Daar
regarding a Bedouin who came to the grave of the Prophet (pbuh) during a period of
severe drought in the caliphate of ‘Umar and asked him to pray to Allah on behalf of
his Ummah for rain. He then went to sleep beside the grave and saw the Prophet
(pbuh) in a dream telling him that they would receive rain but telling him to convey to
‘Umar that he had considered him more intelligent than he was showing himself to be
in his policies regarding the drought. ‘

Umar had been sending to governors in the recently conquered lands asking them to
send caravans of grain to the Hijaz, which was undergoing a famine. When the
Bedouin informed ‘Umar, he began to weep, saying, “I have tried everything that is in
my capacity to do.” Then he realized, or someone reminded him, that they hadn’t
prayed salaat al-istikhaarah.

He ordered that it be performed and asked the Prophet’s uncle, ‘Abbaas, to make
supplication on their behalf, whereupon it started to rain. This story is constructed
from more than one narration, but the one in question ends with ‘Umar’s statement.
Ibn Katheer classified the isnaad of this report to be good (as did Ibn Hajr). Perhaps
the editors disagreed with the judgment that the narration is at least hasan. At any rate,
they found it easier to leave it out than to try to respond to it.

Tafseer Ishraaq al-Ma‘aanee (Bangalore: Iqra Welfare Trust, 2000) by Syed

Iqbal Zaheer.
An Indian scholar, is a fairly well done traditional style commentary that draws upon
tafseers from the classical heritage, such as al-Tabaree, Ibn Katheer, al-Zamakhsharee,
al-Raazee, Ibn Taymiyyah, Ibn al-Qayyim, al-Shawkaanee and al-Aaloosee, as well as
some famous contemporary tafseers such as Muhammad Ameen al-Shinqeetee’s
Adwaa’ al-Bayaan, Rasheed Ridaa’s Tafseer al-Manaar, the works of al-Saaboonee,
Sayyid Qutb and Mawdoodi.

He also draws upon a number of Urdu tafseers, such as Muftee Muhammad

Shaafi‘ee’s Ma‘aarif al-Qur’aan, Shabbir ‘Uthmaani’s Tafseer ‘Uthmaanee, and
Ashraf ‘Alee Thanwee’s Bayaan al-Qur’aan. He also relies on the most important
hadith commentaries such as Ibn Hajr’s Fath al-Baaree, Al-Nawawee’s commentary
on Saheeh Muslim, al-‘Azeem Aabaadee’s ‘Awn al-Ma‘bood (a commentary on Sunan
Aboo Daawood), and al-Mubaarakpooree’s Tuhfat al-Ahwadhee (a commentary on
Sunan al-Tirmidhee).