From the Word of Allah to the Words of Men

The Qur’an and the Poetics of Translation

Authors

  • Ayaz Afsar Associate Professor, Department of English, Faculty of Languages and Literature, International University, Islamabad, Pakistan.
  • Muhammad Azmat Assistant Professor, Government Postgraduate College Haripur, Hazara, Pakistan.

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.52541/isiri.v51i2.3544

Keywords:

word of Allah, Qur’an, translation, poetics

Abstract

Although there have appeared many translations of the Qur’an in different languages of the world including English, the Qur’anic language is sui generis and does not lend to easy translation. The aim of this paper is to explore the distinctive features of various English translations of the Qur’an. The study begins with brief comments on the history of some popular English translations of the Qur’an, moves on to discuss the nature of language and some modern views and concepts of the word ‘translation’, turns on to analyze ten popular English translations of the Qur’an with respect to their use of lexical, syntactical and punctuational choices, while rendering four selected verses from Surah Yusuf, and finally closes with highlighting significant differences among the translators in terms of their underlying ideologies and translation approaches.

References

N/A

Downloads

Published

2012-06-28

How to Cite

Afsar, Ayaz, and Muhammad Azmat. 2012. “From the Word of Allah to the Words of Men: The Qur’an and the Poetics of Translation”. Islamic Studies 51 (2):193–211. https://doi.org/10.52541/isiri.v51i2.3544.

Issue

Vol. 51 No. 2 (2012): Islamic Studies

Section

Articles

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