Q. What is the ruling on the publication of a translation of the Qur’an in English or other languages without the Arabic text? Some scholars mention that it is a dangerous step toward destroying the originality of the Qur’an. They emphasize that the translated text cannot be accepted as the word of God. They also point out that it is impossible for any human being to produce a fully correct translation of the Qur’an. Therefore, it is obligatory to publish any translation of the Qur’an with Arabic text, so that if any confusion regarding the translation arises, then it can be checked against the original Arabic text. Please comment.
Abd Al-Razzaque
A. The Qur’an is God’s message, expressed in the Arabic tongue in God’s own words. Its literary merits are superior, and its economy of word is of a standard that is unknown in any writing. All literary critics who have examined the Qur’anic style agree that it is inimitable. Should the best Arabic writer try to paraphrase the Qur’an, or rewrite its message in his own style, he cannot produce anything similar to its Arabic text. What can we expect, then, from one who tries to express the same meaning in a different language, when all translators agree that a translated text cannot be a mirror image of its original? Translation is bound to lose some aspects of the original text, due to the special features of each language and the way each community develops its usage of its language.
In the case of the Qur’an, the loss is even greater than in any other text, because of the unique qualities of the Qur’anic style. Therefore, we cannot say that its translation is the same as its original text, or that the non-Arabic, translated text is the word of God. To my knowledge, no translator of the Qur’an, whether Muslim or not, has made such a claim. Not only so, but no user of a translation makes such a claim. Such a translation is no more than the translator’s expression of his own understanding of the text. He may be mistaken in some cases, less than expressive in others, exaggerating elsewhere, or conforming to a particular viewpoint regarding some statements.
One major difficulty of Qur’anic translation is that in numerous cases, the Qur’anic text admits more than one interpretation, and all these are correct. No translation of such a statement will ever be able to render its possible meanings in full. So we must discard any notion that the translated text is a substitute for the original. It is merely an aide to understand it.
Is it permissible to publish such a translation without the original? I find no evidence to the contrary. The only proviso is that such a publication must not claim to be the Qur’an. It should bear a clear indication that it is a translation. We say this knowing that there could be some inaccuracies in any translation. But these can always be checked against the original, which will remain intact, as God has guaranteed.