Quote:
|
This is something I woiuld like to start asap, I have this idea for about 3 years now and really believe it is about time to start it
After going through many English translations in many years, I believe there is none that is accurate, this causes a lot of confusion to the non Arabic speakers, I do believe it is a responsibility on those who know Arabic to help those who don't know Arabic
|
Al-Quraishi wrote:
|
So I suppose this will be a 'Qur'an translation committee', it's a great idea:
|
Quote:
|
This is something I woiuld like to start asap, I have this idea for about 3 years now and really believe it is about time to start it
After going through many English translations in many years, I believe there is none that is accurate, this causes a lot of confusion to the non Arabic speakers, I do believe it is a responsibility on those who know Arabic to help those who don't know Arabic
|
Al-Quraishi wrote:
|
I feel exactly the same way, this will be an opportunity to translate the Qur'an as literally as possible whilst still making it understandable in English.
|
Al-Quraishi wrote:
|
Yeah, we need a set of guidlines,
|
Al-Quraishi wrote:
|
in terms of the naming translation I think if we do it on a case to case basis for some things, other things like Allah should be translated as God,
|
Al-Quraishi wrote:
|
there's no reason why it should be left untranslated,
|
Al-Quraishi wrote:
|
English has the equivalent word, every language has it, we could translate ilah as god or deity.
|
Al-Quraishi wrote:
|
Hmmm, what else, oh, and we shoud set some methods down:
|
Al-Quraishi wrote:
|
Howsabout we make a literal translation of each word in a sentence:
|
Al-Quraishi wrote:
|
For example, for La Ilaha Illa Allah - it would be literally be - No go except/but God,
|
Al-Quraishi wrote:
|
however, obviously English requires additional syntax to Arabic in terms of making it understandable/readable -
|
Al-Quraishi wrote:
|
so we would have to decide something like - There is no deity except God
|
Al-Quraishi wrote:
|
And you know, for things like Muslim, I have always thought sumbitter/sumbission wherever the words arise should be put instead of Arabic word,
|
Al-Quraishi wrote:
|
the reason simply is for the sake of the English reader's understanding.
|
Al-Quraishi wrote:
|
They will understand what being a Muslim is all about whereas too many non-Arabic (and even Arabic) speakers have forgot the best state for us to be in.
|
Al-Quraishi wrote:
|
The translation being in the English Qur'an wouldn't stop us from using the Arabic term.
|
Quote:
|
I say Allah should stay as Allah, because Allah does not mean God as far as the arabic is concerned, also I dont buy it that Allah is a combination of Al Illah, because if you look closely you will see that the letter I was removed after combined, on the other had all other names of Allah in the Quran has the two words wittout any letter ommition, like Al Aziz, Al Jabbar, etc therefore if Allah is Al Illah then it has to be Al Illah not Allah,
|
Quote:
|
We should finalise this important issue because Allah is mentioned a lot in His Quran and we should setlle on what we will do, please remember that the word Ilah was mentioned in the Quran, i.e. when we translate it, it should be "God" because Ilah in Arabic means God but not Allah
|
Quote:
|
I agree, therefore Ilah = God, and Allah = Allah, for the Muslim and other words, we can use it as is if translating it requires a sentence and not one word, then in the footnotes we explain it in as many words as possible
|
Quote:
|
Yes please, for example, when we translate a word and we meet this word again we have to use the same English word we used and be 100% consistant
Quote:
|
Al-Quraishi wrote:
Howsabout we make a literal translation of each word in a sentence:
|
This has been done by many and only causes confusion because you can't take the Quran 100% literal, we can only stick to literal as much as we can as long as there is no compelling signs that we should not take it literal
Quote:
|
Al-Quraishi wrote:
For example, for La Ilaha Illa Allah - it would be literally be - No go except/but God,
|
I totally disagree with that, "La Ilah Ila Allah" should be translated as "No god but Allah"
Quote:
|
Al-Quraishi wrote:
however, obviously English requires additional syntax to Arabic in terms of making it understandable/readable -
|
Exactly, and we can use the footnotes for that with numbering next to the words (using the forum posting superscript bbcode feature) to make it easy for the readers to follow the notes according to the ref no next to the words that left untranslated
|
Quote:
|
Yes please, for example, when we translate a word and we meet this word again we have to use the same English word we used and be 100% consistant
|
Quote:
|
I agree with that, however the word itself means to submit to any one, in the religion context it only means to submit to Allah, on the other hand we see the word used when prophet Solaiman asked the Queen of sheba to submit to him, so I say we need to somehow deffrentiate between the two actions of submitting to a human and submitting to Allah
|
Quote:
|
Sure, but I honestly believe that it should be No god but Allah, or No deity but Allah, as long as Allah stays the same because Allah is His name, this is obvious in the Bismellah
|
Quote:
|
my name is Ahmed in all languages, as you name is Quraishi in all languages,
|
Quote:
|
on the other hand if you want to make Allah god, then it has to beThe God under you logic
|
Quote:
|
my name is Ahmed in all languages, as you name is Quraishi in all languages,
|
Al-Quraishi wrote:
|
So then does that mean we will not be translating Ar-Rahman, Al Aziz or Al Jabbar?
|
Al-Quraishi wrote:
|
These are terms that describe God in his infinite qualities. It's going to be a pretty poor translation if English readers are going to be left befuddled with these descriptions-turned contextual nouns,
|
Al-Quraishi wrote:
|
or will they be forever having to refer to notes at the bottom of the page?
|
Al-Quraishi wrote:
|
There will be no ease of read and the ultimate goal of the translation will be flawed
|
Quote:
|
on the other hand if you want to make Allah god, then it has to beThe God under you logic
|
Al-Quraishi wrote:
|
Well no, that's no logic at all and most certainly not mine, I have stated that if we want to make a translation we need to be consistent with the syntax for each language, not make them mix,
|
Al-Quraishi wrote:
|
what you've just done there is apply the definite article 'al' in Arabic, and translated and applied it in English which is incorrect as the definite articles for each language don't work in the same way.
|
Al-Quraishi wrote:
|
As a matter of fact I we look at the languages comparatively, what you have done is a gross violation of English grammar and a violation of the singular concept of God in English. 'The' is the article used for members of a set or group, i.e. by stating 'The God' you are insinuating the concept is part of this, in English God must be God i.e. there is an absent article. Arabic's article is used in a much more widespread manner, both nouns and adjectives take the definite article which is not present in most languages.
|
Al-Quraishi wrote:
|
My logic states quite simply that the English word for 'Allah' is 'God' the two concepts are identical, the link I showed highlighted the difference between 'god' and 'God' it also states the concept of 'God' as being the one and only almighty God.
|
Al-Quraishi wrote:
|
I think there are many things to iron out and understand even before work on this translation begins,
|
Al-Quraishi wrote:
|
it's a big responsibility and a thorough knowledge in both languages is a fundamental requirement.
|
Quote:
|
I agree with the big responsibility and I believe I'm up to it, are you up to it?
|
Quote:
|
on the other hand I donlt agree that we need to be fluent in English, we only need to be fluent in Arabic, but if our team is also fluent in English then piece of cake of course and will come very handy
|
Come on now this is illogical! For one to make a competent English translation of the Qur'an one must be competent in both Arabic and English!
I wonder how many people in Free Islam are fluent in both, the more there are the easier and more accurate this task will be.
Salam
All times are GMT + 10 Hours
Powered by phpBB 2.0 .0.17 © 2001
phpBB
Group