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Faithfulness in the Translation of the Holy Quran: Revisiting the Skopos Theory:

Faithfulness in the Translation of the Holy Quran: Revisiting the Skopos Theory: Faithfulness and equivalence are two issues that gained the attention of many scholars in the translation field. It has always been presumed that a faithful translation is the one that could achieve equivalence at its maximum level. However, one theory of translation, namely, the Skopos theory, suggests that the aim or Skopos of a translation should be the target of a translator. Adopting such a theory, equivalence does not mean sameness; it rather means achieving the least dissimilarness. In relation to this, a translation of the Holy Quran is supposed to target conveying the primary meaning of the source text (ST) and its function rather than unachievably aiming at rendering its stylistic features. This study aims to highlight the problems faced in the translation of some verses of the Holy Quran and how they can be handled from a different theoretical and practical perspective and in regard to the Skopos theory. To this end, six verses (ayahs) from the Chapter of the Heights and the Chapter of Cattle were purposively selected and analyzed. Frequent problems and loss in translation were found in the translations of Abdel Haleem, Pickthall, Shakir, and Sarwar. This study, guided by the Skopos theory with some modifications, suggests a new perspective in the translation of the Holy Quran. It also provides a more applicable definition of faithfulness in the translation of the Holy Quran. Keywords faithfulness, equivalence, translation, the Holy Quran, Skopos theory issues related to faithfulness arise when a translator is doing Introduction a service translation. However, a good translator is likely to Faithfulness in translation has always been an issue that be faithful to the ST. preoccupied the minds of translators and readers of transla- Faithfulness, in this sense, is regarded in relation to equiv- tion (Diniz, 2003). This aspect has been given more priority alence. In other words, to be faithful to a ST, it is a requisite in practice and in evaluations of translation even over the to achieve equivalence. However, the practicability of quality of translation when the translated text is authorita- achieving such assumed equivalence might be questioned. tive in nature (Diniz, 2003). Diniz (2003) believes that Furthermore, the type of equivalence needs to be achieved, translator’s failure to keep the original wording and expres- namely, form-related (grammatical) equivalence, lexical sion at all leads to unfaithfulness to the source text (ST). equivalence, textual equivalence, stylistic equivalence, and Similarly, Nida and Taber (1982) stress the importance of so on, is still unanswered. Jakobson (1959/2000) argues that being faithful to the ST. Nord (1997) argues that translation full equivalence between any two linguistic codes (i.e., has always been more concerned with faithfulness to the ST words) is not reachable. In line with Jakobson’s views, Vinay although sometimes it results in a translation that is not and Darbelnet (1958/2004) believe that translation is possi- appropriated for the intended purpose. In relation to this, ble despite the cultural and linguistic limitations, and there- Zhongying (1990) argues that there are different interpreta- fore we should aim at attaining situational equivalence. tions about what faithfulness in translation is. Pym (2001) argues that if a target text (TT) leaves some parts of the ST out, the translation is likely to be unfaithful. In a similar University of Nizwa, Oman vein, Chesterman (2001) states that a translator should be Corresponding Author: like a mirror that reflects the ST, and he adds that without Noureldin Mohamed Abdelaal, Department of Foreign Languages, 611, faithful interpretation of the ST, the translation will be prej- University of Nizwa, Nizwa, Oman. udiced, biased, and unethical. Newmark (1988) claims that Email: nourabdelal@yahoo.com Creative Commons CC BY: This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License (http://www.creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) which permits any use, reproduction and distribution of the work without further permission provided the original work is attributed as specified on the SAGE and Open Access pages (https://us.sagepub.com/en-us/nam/open-access-at-sage). 2 SAGE Open Nida and Taber (1982) believe that correspondence in lack of a verifiable “psychological basis,” an underlying meaning must have priority over correspondence in style, if “imperialistic” agenda, and the promotion of “parochialism” an equivalent effect can be achieved. However, Baker (2004) that prefers meaning over form (Wendland, 2012, p. 95). questions the measurability of achieving an equivalent effect, Directional equivalence is an asymmetric relation, in and she concludes that this notion can be hardly verified. which equivalence may exist one way but it is not necessary Achieving faithfulness in translation is not an easy job for that it exists the other way. Contrary to natural equivalence, a translator. Zhongying (1990), for example, believes that which assumes the existence of equivalence between items achieving such a kind of faithfulness to the ST seems to be bidirectionally, this approach assumes that equivalence can challenging. In a similar vein, iÇöz (2012) claims that a exist one-directionally. This approach is likely to adopt only translator sometimes is forced to deviate from the faithful two opposed poles such as literal translation versus free translation of the ST to a less faithful translation. Similarly, translation (Wendland, 2012). Wendland (2012) sees that Vinay and Darbelnet (1995) argue that faithful translation there is no borderline between the two types of translation should not be the proper option all the time. Sometimes, a proposed by Pym (1992/2018), as natural equivalence translator needs to be unfaithful to the ST to convey the ST includes directional equivalence. In addition, there is no full message more effectively in the TT. In a similar way, Noss equivalence between any two languages unless they are cul- (1986) as cited in Nae (2004) mentions that faithfulness to an turally close. It seems that Pym’s notion of equivalence is ST might render a TT unintelligible. Thus, it is, therefore, not clear. paramount for a translator to attempt being faithful to an ST As it seems to be quite clear, achieving equivalence and without creating an unintelligible translation. Baker (2004) faithfulness in translation is challenging. Therefore, a new puts it that faithfulness to the original is related to the desir- notion of faithfulness and equivalence was needed to be pro- ability of equivalence. Baker concludes that the notion of posed, which was proposed through the Skopos theory. The equivalence is so important because other theoretical notions Skopos theory is based on the “functional equivalence” of translation are interlinked with it, and that is why the which was presented in the 1970s and 1980s (Baker, 2004). notion of equivalence should not be discarded or discredited. This notion postulates that translation should produce However, again the same argument about the perspective of “equivalent message” of the ST in TT. Skopos was estab- equivalence that should be considered as the most appropri- lished by Hans Vermeer and Katharina Reiss, whereby they ate one in translation is still arguable. There are many per- regard the target of the translation is what matters. This spectives of equivalence. Equivalence can be regarded either approach is adopted basically by functionalists such as as a semantic category, in terms of equivalence effect, or in Vermeer (1989). With few exceptions (e.g., Reiss, terms of functional equivalence. Baker (2004) explains that 1971/2000), most functionalists (e.g., Vermeer, 1989) do not the notion of equivalence as a semantic category, which is believe that equivalence between ST and TT is achievable. drawn from the representational theory of meaning, is static According to this approach, the target-side purpose, or com- and close to the interlingual synonyms. It is dedicated by the municative Skopos, is the dominant factor in the translation content of the ST rather than the communicative situation. process, and hence, one ST can be translated into different This semantic view of equivalence, as Baker (2004) states, is TTs to achieve different functions. According to Pym (2001), rejected in most disciplines, and it is not applicable or tena- “Skopos,” which means “goal,” is the key to the functionalist ble in translation. approach. In this kind of translation, the translator is more In this regard, Pym (1992/2018) believes that the notion concerned with the TT, or in other words how to translate an of equivalence is a “social illusion,” which people believe in ST communicatively, regardless of the lexis. Pym (2001) though it does not have linguistic certainty; however, he sees that, according to Skopos theory, a translator should states that we have to deal with such “equivalence beliefs.” work hard to convey the intellectual and emotional intent of Pym (2018) makes a distinction between two types of equiv- the ST. Reiss and Vermeer (1984) aimed to establish a gen- alence: natural equivalence and directional equivalence. eral translation theory for all texts. The basic underlying Natural equivalence is basically based on the paradigm of “rules” of the theory of Reiss and Vermeer (1984) as cited in equal value. In other words, what is said in one language can Munday (2008) are as follows: be translated into another language, with the same function or worth. As a result, the relation between an ST and a TT is 1. A trunslatum (or TT) is determined by its Skopos. one of equal value at the level of form, function, or anything 2. A TT is an offer of information in a target culture and in-between. For example, the English “the Friday 13th” is a target language (TL) concerning an offer of informa- natural equivalent for the Spanish “the Tuesday 13th” tion in a source culture and source language (SL). because the two terms work functionally the same, as both of 3. A TT does not initiate an offer of information in a the respective days refer to bad luck in their respective cul- clearly reversible way. tures. However, this approach was critiqued for its presup- 4. A TT must be internally coherent. position of a “nonexistent symmetry” between languages, its 5. A TT must be coherent with the ST. Abdelaal 3 The five rules above stand in a hierarchical order, with the Furthermore, a qualitative research design is appropriate for Skopos rule predominating. Thus, translation is viewed as this study because the Holy Quran translation is complex and nondirectional. In other words, reversibility is not a prerequi- cannot be deeply investigated using any other alternative site for a good translation. Vermeer and Reiss also under- approaches. Furthermore, this study does not depend on quanti- score the importance of the coherence and fidelity for a ties or numbers. This study falls under the hermeneutic or inter- successful translation. The coherence rule means that the TT pretive inquiry type of qualitative research, which involves must be interpretable as coherent with the TT receiver’s situ- “the construction (or collation) and interpretation of new (or ation (Reiss & Vermeer, 1984 as cited in Munday, 2008), existing) texts” (Higgs & Cherry, 2009, p. 10). whereas the fidelity rule merely states that there must be coherence between the trunslatum. According to the afore- Data of the Study mentioned hierarchical order of the rules, intertextual coher- ence is of less importance than intratextual coherence, which, In a qualitative inquiry, such as this study, sampling is usu- in turn, is subordinate to the skopos (Rule 1; Munday, 2008). ally purposive or nonprobability. Thus, sampling is not Thus, based on Skopos theory, the same text can be trans- intended to be statistically representative, but the selection is lated in different ways according to the purpose of the TT based on the shared characteristics of a population (Ritchie, and the commission, which is given to the translator. Lewis, & Elam, 2003). Although statistical representation is Therefore, if a text is ambiguous, according to Skopos the- not sought in qualitative research, symbolic representation, ory, it can be literally translated and then explained in a foot- which refers to the selection of units based on their features note (Munday, 2008). However, this theory is criticized as, of relevance to the investigation, is required (Ritchie et al., according to it, any translation can be justified if a translator 2003). Another important requirement as highlighted by declares his or her intention at the beginning of their transla- Ritchie et al. (2003) is the diversity of sampling. Diversity is tion process. The Skopos theory is also criticized for locating important because it optimizes the chances of identifying the coherence at the bottom of the theory rules. full range of factors or features that are associated with a Practically speaking, when the source and TLs belong to phenomenon, and because it gives access to investigating different cultural groups, it is truly difficult to find terms in interdependency between variables, and that is, to disengage the TL that express the highest level of faithfulness possible the most relevant from those of lesser importance. In prac- to the meaning of certain words (Haque, 2012). Connotations tice, six ayahs (verses) of the phenomenon under study, and associations of words in one language may differ from namely, problems related to the faithfulness of translation, those in another language, or they may have different emo- were selected from two long chapters (Surahs) of the Holy tive associations. In relation to this, Abdelaal and Md Rashid Quran. Only six examples were presented in this study, (2015) found semantic losses in the translation of Surah al- which is a part of a larger study for space reasons. These two Waqiah. Also, Abdelaal and Md Rashid (2016) found that Surahs are Surah Al-Aaraf (The Heights) and Surah Al semantic losses may be caused by grammatical losses as Anaam (The Cattle). Four famous translations were selected, well. Abdelaal (2018, 2019) found problems in rendering which are the translations of Abdel Haleem, Pickthall, qualitative and denotative meaning in the translation. In Shakir, and Sarwar. These translations were selected because regard to the discussion above, this study, therefore, aims to they are popular ones. address the following research questions: Data Analysis Research Question 1: What problems are found in the translations of Abdel Haleem, Pickthall, Shakir, and Data analysis was guided by Diniz (2003), who believes that Sarwar of some the Holy Quran’s verses? a translator’s failure to keep the original wording and expres- Research Question 2: How can these problems be han- sion at all leads to unfaithfulness to the ST, and Nida and dled from a different theoretical and practical perspective Taber’s (1982) notion of faithfulness, who stress the impor- and in regard to the Skopos theory? tance of being faithful to the ST. The STs were compared with the TTs and the failure to convey some parts of the ST meaning was highlighted and explained. Suggestions for a Method better translation were guided by the Skopos theory. Research Design Results and Discussion This study fits in the interpretive paradigm of a qualitative research, which is pertinent with the descriptive translation In this section, some examples of the samples collected are studies. A qualitative approach is appropriate for this study as analyzed to highlight the losses in translation and thus the this study focuses on a complex detailed understanding of an failure to achieve faithfulness in its outdated sense. It is also issue sought, and thus the quantitative measurements and anal- highlighted how the Skopos theory can be a guide for a more yses do not fit the research problem (Creswell, 2007). practical and modern theory of the Holy Quran translation. 4 SAGE Open The Skopos of the translation of the Holy Quran is to practi- specific context of revelation (As-Sadi, 1999). Similarly, the cally convey the primary meaning and, if possible, the asso- present simple is used in English to express facts that are ciations of the primary meaning of the ST. Conveying the permanent (As Samarrai, 2015). Similarly, the use of the other features of the Holy Quran, such as the style, may be noun form to translate the relative clause of the ST by Sarwar sacrificed for the sake of the meaning. and Abdel Haleem seems to convey the same purpose of the ST, because nouns express stability and continuity. However, it might be argued that rendering the ST word as “disbe- Examples of Faithfulness Issues in Translation liever” is more faithful to the ST than “unbeliever.” This section aims to address the first research question, “Disbeliever” indicates the fact of rejecting faith and belief which is about the problems found in the translation of the deliberately, which might not be conveyed in the use of Holy Quran. Examples are provided with suggested transla- “unbeliever.” According to Collins Cobuild Dictionary tions in some cases (whenever needed). (2006), “unbeliever” is used to refer to a person who does not believe in a particular religion, whereas “disbeliever” is used Example 1 to refer to a person who rejects as false and does not accept what others say. Therefore, we may say that the four transla- َّ َ َ َ َ َ َ ْ َ َ َ َ َ َ َ َّ َ ST (6:7) نْ إ اورفك نَيذلا لاق ل مهي دي ْأب ه ُ و سمل ف سا طرق ي ف ابًات ك ك ي ْل ع ا نل زن ول و ُ ِ ْ ِ ُ َ ْ ِ ِ ِ َ ْ َ tions are correct and they meet the Skopos of the TT. In short, ِ ِ ِ ٍ نيِبُّم ٌرْحِس اَلِإ اَذَٰه ّ considering faithfulness in relation to the Skopos theory gives more room to a translator to look at the discrepancies TRANSL. Walaw nazzalna AAalayka kitabanfee qirtasin between an SL and a TL in an attempt to overcome the hur- falamasoohu bi-aydeehim laqala allatheenakafaroo in hatha illa dles faced. sihrun mubeen Example 2 Abdel Haleem: Even if We had sent down to you [Prophet] a book inscribed on parchment, and they had touched it with their َ َ ْ َ ْ ً ُُ َ ْ َ َ َ َّ َ َ ْ ST ۚ ارق و مهناذك يفو ه ُ و هق في نأ ة نكأ مهبول ق ىل ع ا نل عجو ۖ ك ي ْل إ عمت سي نم مهنمو ً َ ْ ِ ِ َ ُ َ ِ ْ ٰ َ َ َ َ ُ ِ ْ َ َّ ُ ِ َ ِ ِ ِ ِ own hands, the disbelievers would still say, “This is nothing َ َّ ُ ُ َ ُ َ َ َّ َّ ُ ٰ َ َ َ َّ ُ اذه َ نْ إ اورفك نَيذلا لوق ي ك نول داجُي كو ءاج اذإ ىت ح ۚ اهب اونمؤ ْ ُي ا ل ة ي ك لك اوري نإو ُ ِ َ ِ َ ُ َ ٰ َ َ ِ ٍ َ ْ َ َ َ ِ ِ ِ ِ but blatant sorcery.” نيِلَ وَأْلا ُريِطاَسَأ اَ لِ (6:25 إ ) Pickthall: Had we sent down unto thee (Muhammad) (actual) TRANSL. Waminhum man yastamiAAu ilayka wajaAAalna writing upon parchment, so that they could feel it with their AAala quloobihim akinnatan an yafqahoohu wafee athanihim hands, those who disbelieve would have said: This is naught waqran wa-in yaraw kulla ayatin la yu/minoo biha hatta itha else than mere magic. jaooka yujadiloonaka yaqoolu allatheena kafaroo in hatha illa asateeru al-awwaleena Shakir: And if We had sent to you writing on a paper, then they had touched it with their hands, certainly those who disbelieve Abdel Haleem: Among them are some who [appear to] would have said: This is nothing but clear enchantment. listen to you, but we have placed covers over their hearts– so they do not understand the Quran– and deafness in their ears. Muhammad Sarwar: (Muhammad), had We sent you a Book Even if they saw every sign they would not believe in them. on paper, the unbelievers would have touched it with their So, when they come to you, they ar gue with you: the disbelievers hands but would still have said, “It is no more than plain say, “These are nothing but ancient fables,” (p. 81). sorcery.” Pickthall: Of them are some who listen unto thee, but We have In Example 1 above, the ST phrase اوُرَفَك َنيِذَ لا was rendered placed upon their hearts veils, lest they should understand, and by Abdel Haleem as “the disbelievers,” whereas it was trans- in their ears a deafness. If they saw every token they would not believe therein; to the point that, when they come unto thee to lated by Pickthall and Shakir as “those who disbelieve.” argue with thee, the disbelievers say: This is naught else than However, it was translated as “unbelievers” by Sarwar. It fables of the men of old. seems that Pickthall’s and Shakir’s translation are the most faithful translations, among the four translations, to the ST. Shakir: And of them is he who hearkens to you, and We have The ST phrase is a relative clause, with its verb in the past cast veils over their hearts lest they understand it and a tense. However, Pickthall and Shakir opted to render it in the heaviness into their ears; and even if they see every sign they present simple, whereas Sarwar rendered it as a noun, which will not believe in it; so much so that when they come to you might be claimed to violate faithfulness to the ST. However, they only dispute with you; those who disbelieve say: This is I guess this does not violate faithfulness to the ST because naught but the stories of the ancients. the Skopos of the TT, namely, conveying the primary mean- ing, is achieved. The ST phrase refers to disbelievers through- Muhammad Sarwar: Some of them listen to you, but We have out ages, as Islamic scholars postulate that the Quranic ayahs veiled their hearts so that they cannot understand and made should be perceived in their universality rather than in their them deaf. They disbelieve all the evidence (of Our existence) Abdelaal 5 that they may have seen. They only come to you for the sake of the verb “cast” to translate the ST verb اَنْلَعَج seems to be less argument and the disbelievers say that (whatever Muhammad faithful to the ST because it suggests a forceful action, which says) is no more than ancient legends. is not the case of the ST verb. The ST verb refers to the fact that these covers are on disbelievers’ hearts due to their rejec- tion of the truth and belief. The Quranic ayah is figurative; it The ST ayah refers to that disbelievers used to listen to the shows how those disbelievers as if they had covers and veils prophet’s preaching about monotheism and call to Islam; over their hearts that prevent them from understanding the however, they do not understand or follow what has been Holy Quran. These covers are not in the sense that Allah said to them by the prophet (Alt-Tabari, 2004). As seen in Almighty forced them to be unable to perceive the Holy Example 2, the Quranic verb عمتسي was rendered as “(appear) Quran and its meanings (Ibn Ashour, 1984). It indicates that to listen” by Abdel Haleem, whereas it was translated as “lis- their evil deeds covered their hearts and made them unable to ten” by Sarwar and Pickthall. Similarly, it was translated as accept the truth. This is similar to another ayah in surah al “hearkens” by Shakir. It seems that Abdel Haleem’s transla- MutTafifeen, which reads [Kalla bal rana AAala quloobihim tion is the least faithful to the ST because it reflects a kind of ma kanoo yaksiboona]/No indeed! Their hearts are encrusted redundancy. Adding “appear” to indicate that the disbeliev- with what they have done (Abdel Haleem’s translation)/. ers listened but they did not follow what they listened is not One evidence, as mentioned by Ibn Ashour (1984), that indi- justifiable because “listen” alone could have conveyed the cates that Allah Almighty did not put such veils over the meaning because listening does not necessarily suggest hearts of the disbelievers and forced them to be disbelievers understanding and following what is listened to. “Listen” is that Abu Sufiyan (radiya Allahu anh) embraced Islam entails paying attention, but it does not necessarily designate later, after the revelation of this ayah in Example 2. However, accepting what is listened to. According to Collins Cobuild the verb انلعج refers to the nature of those disbelievers who Dictionary (2006), “listen” means to pay attention to what reject facts and faith. someone says. But we may listen to what others say without Another thing about Abdel Haleem’s translation is that he following them. This justifies Shakir and Sarwar’s transla- rendered the pro-drop pronoun in the Quranic phrase as “we” tion of the verb as “listen.” Shakir opted to translate the ST without capitalizing the pronoun. This may confuse the verb as “hearken,” which might be less faithful. “Hearken” reader of the translation because the pronoun is vague to tends to mean to listen attentively, which is not the case in the whom it refers, though it refers to Allah Almighty in the ST. ayah. The ayah refers to the situation when disbelievers lis- In contrast, all the other translations above were more faith- tened to the Holy Quran but they did not benefit from that, as ful to the ST by capitalizing the pronoun in the TT. their hearts are sealed off because of their disbelief (Ibn ّ ّ َ َ ُ ُ ْ The ST conditional clause اهب اونمؤُي ا ل ة ي ك لك اوري نإو was Kathir, 2002). The point here is that following the Skopos َ ِ ٍ َ ْ َ َ َ translated as “Even if they saw every sign they would not theory does not mean being less faithful to the ST if the believe in them” by Abdel Haleem. Similarly, it was trans- meaning can be conveyed while being faithful. Faithfulness lated by Pickthall as “If they saw every token they would not to the ST should be seen as how to convey the same message believe therein.” The two translations do not seem to show of the ST, even in different lexis or different grammar. In this faithfulness to the ST because the ST phrase is in the first regard, Nord (1997) proposed two types of functional equiv- conditional clause, that is, in the present tense or Aorist tense alence that can exist between an ST and a TT, namely, equi- (Mudareaa). The ST phrase indicates stability of the action. functional translation and heterofunctional translation. Put in other words, disbelievers throughout ages will never Equifunctional translation happens when the translation con- believe whatever pieces of evidence and proofs were given veys the same function intended in the ST, whereas hetero- to them. They share the same nature of disbelieving prophets functional translation occurs when the function of the ST throughout ages. This explains the reason behind the ST needs to be adapted by the translator to convey the aim of the clause being in the Aorist tense. However, rendering it as a sender. So, a translator needs to attempt achieving equifunc- second conditional clause makes the ST phrase applicable tional translation, and if he fails to do so, he can then attempt only to the disbelievers during the revelation of the ayah, heterofunctional translation. ً ُُ َ ْ َ َ which is not true. Scholars have established a rule in juris- In a similar vein, ة نكأ م ْ هبول ق ى ٰ ل ع ا َ نل ع َ ج َ و was translated as “we ِ َ prudence (fiqh) that states that the general meaning of the have placed covers over their hearts” by Abdel Haleem, but ayah should be considered rather than its specific meaning or it was translated as “We have placed upon their hearts veils” cause of revelation (As-Sadi, 1999). Sarwar rendered the ST by Pickthall, which seems more faithful to the ST. Pickthall clause as “They disbelieve all the evidence (of Our exis- could preserve the ST syntactic order, which affects the ST ُُ َ tence) that they may have seen,” which seems to be the least meaning. In the ST the prepositional phrase م ْ هبول ق ى ٰ ل ع َ is faithful to the ST. Sarwar opted to resolve the problem of fronted to highlight the fact that the hearts are veiled and thus translating the ST clause, that is, translating it in a first con- understanding is not possible. This is the nature of the Arabic ditional clause or a second conditional clause, by a strategy language, that is, to front the most important or underscored of avoidance. He avoided rendering it as a conditional clause facts. Similar to Abdel Haleem, Shakir and Sarwar could not and rendered it as a statement, which makes the TT lose the keep the same syntactic order of the ST in the TT. Also, using 6 SAGE Open overtones and undertones that exist in the ST. However, deception but it does not necessarily implicate telling lies. Shakir translated the conditional clause as “even if they see However, Pickthall’s use of the word “guile” seems to be every sign they will not believe in it,” preserving the tense of plausible and conveying to the meaning of the ST word the ST. It seems that Shakir’s translation of the ST clause is رورغب. As for Shakir, he translated the ST clause as “Then he ٍ ِ the most faithful one, as the translator preserved the over- caused them to fall by deceit,” which seems to be less faith- tones of the ST to a great extent. It is important in this con- ful to the ST. However, Sarwar rendered the ST clause as text to underscore that skopos of the translation does not “Thus, he deceitfully showed them (the tree),” which is the mean ignoring equivalence when it is possible to be achieved, least faithful to the ST. It is an unjustifiable divergence from and as long as the translation and the ST convey the same the ST meaning. Sarwar put it as if Satan showed them that function. tree. However, in fact, Satan convinced and lured them to eat from the tree rather than only know it (Alt-Tabari, 2004). In Example 3 total, Abdel Haleem’s and Pickthall’s translations are the most acceptable and faithful translations to the ST. Shakir’s َ َ َ ّ َ َ َ َّ َ ْ َ ُ ْ َ َ َ ُ َ قرو ن م ا مهي ْل ع نا فصخي ا ق فطو امهت كوس امهل تد َ ب ةرجشلا ا قذ ا ا مل ف ۚ رورغب امه ُ ا ل د َ ف َ َ ِ َ َ ِ َ ِ َ َ ُ ْ َ َ ُ َ َ َ َّ ُ َ ِ ِ ِ ٍ ِ translation is acceptable as well, but it is less faithful than the َ َ َ ُ َ َ ّ ُ َّ ُ ّ ُ ْ ُ َ ْ َ َ ْ َ َّ ود ُ ع ا مكلن َا طي ْشلان َّ إ امكل ل ق أو ةرجشلا ا مكل ت نع ا مكهنأ مل أ امهُّبر امه ُ ا د َ انو ۖ ة نجل ا ٌّ َ َ َ ِ َ َ َ ِ َ َ َ ْ َ ُ َ َ َ ِ َ two aforementioned translations. By contrast, Sarwar’s ٌنيِبُّم ) (7:22 translation seems to be the least faithful to the ST. ُ َ ّ َ َ ََ ْ َ َ The ST conditional clause امهت كوس امهل تد َ ب ةرجشلا ا قذ ا ا مل ف was َ ُ ْ َ َ ُ َ َ َ َّ TRANSL. Fadallahuma bighuroorin falamma thaqa translated by Abdel Haleem as “Their nakedness became alshshajarata badat lahuma saw-atuhuma watafiqa yakhsifani exposed to them when they had eaten from the tree.” Abdel AAalayhima min waraqi aljannati wanadahuma rabbuhuma Haleem translated اقاذ as “had eaten,” which is a diver gence alam anhakuma AAan tilkuma alshshajarati waaqul lakuma inna alshshaytana lakuma AAaduwwun mubeenun from the more accurate and literal meaning of the word (i.e., tasted). According to tafsir books (e.g., Alt-Tabari, 2004; Ibn Abdel Haleem: he lured them with lies. Their nakedness Ashour, 1984; Ibn Kathir, 2002), the ayah indicates that became exposed to them when they had eaten from the tree: prophet Adam and Eve were told lies and got deceived by the they began to put together leaves from the Garden to cover Satan talks, as he took an oath to them that he was telling themselves. Their Lord called to them, “Did I not forbid you to them the truth, and that eating from the forbidden tree would approach that tree? Did I not warn you that Satan was your make them angels or immortals. The ayah indicates that the sworn enemy?” (p. 95). moment Adam and Eve started to eat (literally taste) the fruit of the tree, their privates were exposed. In addition, the word Pickthall: Thus did he lead them on with guile. And when اقاذ is used in the ST to indicate that Adam and Eve did not eat they tasted of the tree their shame was manifest to them and until they became full with the fruits of the tree. Thus, trans- they began to hide (by heaping) on themselves some of the lating the ST word اقاذ into “ate” instead of “tasted,” which is leaves of the Garden. And their Lord called them, (saying): Did the literal meaning of the ST word does not convey the spe- I not forbid you from that tree and tell you: Lo! Satan is an open enemy to you? cific meaning. According to Newmark (1988), a literal trans- lation is the most proper translation in case an equivalent Shakir: Then he caused them to fall by deceit; so when they exists. Although Abdel Haleem’s selection of the verb “ate” tasted of the tree, their evil inclinations became manifest to conveys the meaning partially, it does not convey the com- them, and they both began to cover themselves with the leaves plete meaning of the ST, as it may be argued that the moment of the garden; and their Lord called out to them: Did I not forbid Adam and Eve started to eat, their private parts got exposed you both from that tree and say to you that the Shaitan is your to them. In short, Abdel Haleem could have been more faith- open enemy? ful to the ST by rendering the ST word as “tasted,” as the three other translators did. As noted, the ST word امهت كوس was َ ُ ْ َ Muhammad Sarwar: Thus, he deceitfully showed them (the rendered as “nakedness” by Abdel Haleem, which does not tree). When they had tasted (fruits) from the tree, their private show faithfulness to the ST. The ST word refers to the private parts became revealed to them and they began to cover their parts only. In other words, the ST can be a hyponym for the private parts with leaves from the garden. Their Lord then TT if it is back-translated (as يرع). Pickthall attempted to called out to them saying, “Did I not forbid you to eat (fruits) from the tree and tell you that Satan was your sworn enemy?” preserve the euphemistic nature of the ST word by rendering it into “shame.” However, it affected the faithfulness to the َ َ ُ ُ The ST phrase رورغب امها ل د َ ف was rendered by Abdel Haleem as ST because it renders an explicit meaning in the ST into an ُ َ ٍ ِ “he lured them with lies,” which may convey the ST mean- implicit meaning in the TT, which may be difficult to infer. ing properly. The ST clause means, as explained by Alt- Shakir’s rendition of the ST word as “evil inclinations” Tabari (2004), to deceive and convince by telling lies in a shows a serious lack of faithfulness to the ST. The ST does way that looks to be nice. Pickthall translated it as “Thus did not refer to any evil inclinations as the translation proposes. he lead them on with guile,” which seems less accurate than Sarwar’s translation of the ST word as “private parts” seems Abdel Haleem’s because leading with guile implicates to be the most accurate and faithful to the ST word. It may Abdelaal 7 have not preserved the euphemistic nature of the ST word, TRANSL.: Ya banee adama qad anzalna AAalaykum libasan yuwaree saw-atikum wareeshan walibasu alttaqwa thalika but it could convey the primary meaning of the ST word, khayrun thalika min ayati Allahi laAAallahum yaththakkaroona which is the Skopos of the translation of the Holy Quran. The ST word لقأ was translated by Abdel Haleem as Abdel Haleem: Children of Adam, We have given you garments “warn.” However, it was translated by Pickthall and Sarwar to cover your nakedness and as adornment for you; the garment as “tell.” By contrast, it was rendered by Shakir as “say.” of God consciousness is the best of all garments– this is one of Shakir’s choice seems to be the most faithful to the ST and God’s signs, so that people may take heed. Abdel Haleem’s choice is the least faithful. Although the warning is embedded in the Quranic ST verb, a direct equiv- Pickthall: O Children of Adam! We have revealed unto you alent for the Quranic verb is “said.” If the TT word “warn” raiment to conceal your shame, and splendid vesture, but the was back-translated, it would result in a different word (i.e., raiment of restraint from evil, that is best. This is of the رذحي). Divergence from the literal and authentic meaning of revelations of Allah, that they may remember. the word to another word does not seem to be justifiable. In this light, the word “said” would be closer in meaning as it Shakir: O children of Adam! We have indeed sent down to you can be considered as a hypernym for the word “warn” and clothing to cover your shame, and (clothing) for beauty and not vice versa. The verb “said” implies a warning, as in the clothing that guards (against evil), that is the best. This is of the Oxford Advanced English Dictionary (2006); it is defined in communications of Allah that they may be mindful. one of its multiple meanings as “to give instructions to or Muhammad Sarwar: Children of Adam, We have given you direct somebody to do something with authority.” Moreover, clothing to cover your private parts and for beauty, but the robe the Quranic language is very precise, and the Arabic lan- of piety is the best. Thus is the guidance of God so that you may guage has an equivalent for the TT verb “warn,” which was take heed. not used purposefully in the ST. Pickthall’s and Sarwar’s choices seem to be acceptable because tell and say are near َ َ The verb انل زنأ was translated by Abdel Haleem and Sarwar as synonyms. “given,” which conveys the primary meaning of the ST By the same token, all the translators rendered the word, though the ST verb implies constant giving from Allah Quranic word ةنجلا as “Garden,” with initial capitalization Almighty to His servants. “Give,” however, may imply giv- only in Abdel Haleem’s and Pickthall’s translations. ing for one time as it is used in the present perfect which Although it is arguable whether al Jannah Adam and Eve indicates an action that was completed shortly. Shakir opted were asked to descend from is the Jannah all Muslims will to translate the ST word as “sent down,” which seems more enter in the Hereafter or not (cf. Ibn Al Qayem in Hadi alar- 3 4 literal approximation of the ST word and it conveys the ST wah ila biladi al afrah ), Ibn Taymyyah in Majmouaa word meaning faithfully. It, then, can be claimed that both Alfatawa, mentioned that it is agreed-on among Muslims “give” and “send down” convey the primary meaning of the and scholars of Ahlu Sunnah waljamaah that the Jannah ST word, though “send down” might be more faithful. This Adam and Eve were asked to leave is the eternal Jannah that does not imply that “give” is not a faithful translation of the believers will enter in the Hereafter. Furthermore, even if ST verb. Astonishingly, Pickthall translated the ST verb as the Jannah Adam entered was different from the Jannah in “revealed,” which might convey the general meaning of the the Hereafter, it cannot be compared with a garden, even a ST word but it is less faithful than the previous translations special garden. Thus, the eternal Jannah cannot be an equiv- because it diverges from an approximate equivalent (i.e., alent to the word “Garden.” The eternal Jannah refers to sent down) to a more general term. every kind of pleasure believers will experience in the َّ The ST phrase ىوق تلا سا ُ بَل و was translated by Pickthall as َ ِ َ Hereafter including seeing Allah Almighty’s face in a way “the raiment of restraint from evil,” which does not convey that cannot be imagined in this earthly life. Thus, the TT َّ the primary meaning of the ST word, that is, ىوق تل . The ST word conveyed a very narrow shade of the meanings of the phrase is quite semantically complex that connotes refrain- ST word, but the actual meaning of the ST word is lost in the ing from doing prohibited deeds and doing the demanded translation. I would suggest translating it as “Paradise” or and recommended deeds of Allah the Almighty. Abdel “Garden of Eden” to make the meaning clearer for readers َّ Haleem opted to translate ىوق تلا as “God consciousness,” of translation. This will also convey the skopos of the ST which seems to convey the primary meaning partly, as it does word in the TT. Transliteration can be another option to not convey the real rich meaning of the ST word. The ST translate the ST word, but in this case, a footnote may be phrase refers to faith, good deeds, modesty, fear of God (Alt- needed to explain the meaning of the word, especially in its Tabari, 2004). first occurrence in the translation. Sarwar rendered the word as “piety,” which is closer in meaning to the ST word. Shakir opted for a shift in the trans- Example 4 lation by paraphrasing the ST word as “guards (against ٰ ٰ َ َ َ َ َ ْ ً ُ ُ َ ْ َ َ َّ َ َ evil),” which does not convey the meaning of the ST word. I ك ل ذ ۚ ري ْخ ك ل ذ ى ٰ وق تل سا ا بل و ۖ اشي رو مكت كوس يراوُي ا سابل مكي ْل ع ا نل زنأ د ْ ق مد َ ك ينب اي ِ ٌ ِ َ ُ َِ َ َ ْ ِ ْ َ َ ً َِ ْ َ َ َِ َ ِ ِ َنوُرَ كَذَي ْمُلَ هَعَل ِ للا ِ هَ تاَيك ْنِم ST: (7:26) suggest that the ST word be transliterated and be followed by ّ ّ ّ 8 SAGE Open the word “piety” between brackets. I also suggest providing Haleem as “will flow under their feet,” which seems to be a a rich explanation of the word at its first occurrence in the divergence from the ST meaning. The ST refers to the rivers translation in a footnote. In a similar vein, Abdel Haleem and that will be flowing under the believers’ palaces and houses. Sarwar translated للها as “God.” Which does not convey the However, the translator rendered it to their feet, which is not ST greatest name because the ST name is a name that should accurate and, thus, faithfulness is lacking. Shakir and be transferred, without any rendition. “God” can be used if it Pickthall translated it as “flow beneath them,” which is faith- is assumed that the readers will not be able to know the word ful to the ST and it is communicative, as well. Sarwar trans- “Allah.” Otherwise, transferring the ST name للها as “Allah” lated it as “They will enjoy the flowing streams,” which is an is more appropriate. Pickthall and Shakir transferred the evident divergence from the ST. Another aspect of lack of great name of Allah as it is which is true. faithfulness shows itself in translating انّبر لسر as “The َ ُ ُ (angelic) messengers,” which is not true because the mean- Example 5 ing in the ST is the messengers and prophets who were sent to their people or to guide them to the right pathway of Allah َّ ْ ُ َ ْ ّ ْ َ َ َ َ َ ST هل ل د ُ محلا او لق او ۖ راهنألا مهت حت نم يرجت لغ نْ م مه رود ُ ص يف ام ا نع ْ زنو ِ ِ ْ َ َ ُ َ ُ ِ ْ ِ ْ ِ ِّ ِ ُ ِ َ َ ٍ the Almighty (Alt-Tabari, 2004). ِ ِ ِ ّ ْ ُ َ َّ َ َ ُ َ َّ ُ َ ْ َ ُ َ َ َ َّ َ اود ُ ونو ۖ قحلب ا ا نّبر لسر تءاج د ْ ق ل ۖ هللا ا ناد َ ه َ نْ أ ا ل ول يدت هنل ا نك امو اذهٰ ل ا ناد َ ه ي َ ذل ا َ َ َ ُ ُ َ َ ْ َ ِ ْ ِ َ َ َ ِ ِ ِ ِ ِ Sometimes translators undertranslate many words in the َنوُلَمْعَت ْمُتنُك اَمِب اَهوُمُتْثِروُ نَجْ أ ُلا ُ ةَ مُكْلِت نَأ(7:43) ST either through omission or improper selection of vocabu- lary. Mian Wang (2012) argues that both overtranslation and TRANSL. WanazaAAna ma fee sudoorihim min ghillin undertranslation result from a nonequivalence problem, in tajree min tahtihimu al-anharu waqaloo alhamdu lillahi allathee terms of meaning or style. Wang, then, identifies undertrans- hadana lihatha wama kunna linahtadiya lawla an hadana Allahu lation as the case in which the TT contains less information laqad jaat rusulu rabbina bialhaqqi wanoodoo an tilkumu than the ST. In addition, she states that both overtranslation aljannatu oorithtumooha bima kuntum taAAmaloona and undertranslation show unfaithfulness to the ST. Example 6 below indicates such a type of loss that occurs due to Abdel Haleem: We shall have removed all ill feeling from their undertranslation. hearts; streams will flow at their feet. They will say, “Praise be to God, who guided us to this: had God not guided us, We would never have found the way. The messengers of our Lord brought Example 6 the Truth.” A voice will call out to them, “This is the Garden you have been given as your own on account of your deeds.” . ّ ّ َ َ َ ُ ْ ْ َ ST ۚ قزرلا ّ نَ م ِتاَبِيَطلاَو ِه داَبعل َج رخأ يِت ّلا ِه ّللا َ نيِ ة ز َ ّر م ح ْن م ْلق ِ ِ ِ ِ َ َ َ ِ ِ َ ْ ً ْ َّ ْ ُ َ َ ْ ُ َ ُّ َ Pickthall: And We remove whatever rancour may be in their ك ل ذك ۗ ة ما َ ي َق لا م و ْ ي َ ة ص َ لا خ اي َندلا ةاي َح َ لا ي ف اونم َك نيذل ل يه لق ِ ِ ِ َ ِ ِ ِ ِ ِ َ ِ 7:32)) َنوُمَلْعَي ٍمْوَقِل ِتاَيكْلا ُ صَفُ لِ ن hearts. Rivers flow beneath them. And they say The praise to Allah, Who hath guided us to this. We could not truly have been TRANSL. Qul man harrama zeenata Allahi allatee akhraja liAAibadihi waalttayyibati mina alrrizqi qul hiya led aright if Allah had not guided us. Verily the messengers of lillatheena amanoo fee alhayati alddunya our Lord did bring the Truth. And it is cried unto them: This is khalisatan yawma alqiyamati kathalika nufassilu the Garden. Ye inherit it for what ye used to do. al-ayati liqawmin yaAAlamoona Abdel Say [Prophet], “Who has forbidden the Shakir: And We will remove whatever of ill-feeling is in their Haleem adornment and the nourishment God has breasts; the rivers shall flow beneath them and they shall say: All provided for His servants?” Say, “They are praise is due to Allah Who guided us to this, and we would not [allowed] for those who believe during the have found the way had it not been that Allah had guided us; life of this world: they will be theirs alone on certainly the messengers of our Lord brought the truth; and it the Day of Resurrection.” This is how We shall be cried out to them that this is the garden of which you are make Our revelation clear for those who made heirs for what you did. understand. Muhammad Sarwar: We shall remove all grudges from their hearts. They will enjoy the flowing streams in the garden and Pickthall: Say: Who hath forbidden the adornment of Allah will say, “God who guided us to this, deserves all praise. Had He which He hath brought forth for His bondmen and the good not guided us, we would never have been able to find the right things of His providing? Say: Such, on the Day of Resurrection, direction. The (angelic) Messengers of our Lord came to us with will be only for those who believed during the life of the world. the Truth.” They shall be told, “This is the Paradise which you Thus do we detail Our revelations for people who have have inherited because of your good deeds.” knowledge. َْ Abdel Haleem and Sarwar translated راهنألا as “streams,” ُ َ Shakir: Say: Who has prohibited the embellishment of Allah which seems to be a divergence from a more faithful word to which He has brought forth for His servants and the good the ST, that is, rivers. However, Pickthall and Shakir trans- provisions? Say: These are for the believers in the life of this lated it as “rivers,” which is more faithful to the ST. Similarly, world, purely (theirs) on the resurrection day; thus do We make َ َ The ST verbal phrase مهت حت نم يرجت was rendered by Abdel ُ ِ ْ ِ ْ the communications clear for a people who know. ِ Abdelaal 9 Muhammad Sarwar: (Muhammad), ask them, “Who has made The Quranic ST word, in the context of the ayah, refers to it unlawful to maintain beauty and to eat the pure foods which every kind of dressing whether for adornment or not. Ibn God has created for His servants? They are made for the Ashour (1984), in his tafsir, interpreted the ayah as referring believers in this world and are exclusively for them in the life to clothing including ordinary clothing. Also, Abu hereafter.” Thus do We explain Our revelations to the people Muhammed Al-Baghawi (1989) and Ibn Kathir (2002) inter- who have knowledge. preted ةنيز as “clothing.” Likewise, Abu Abdullah Al-Qurtubi (2004) mentioned that the word refers to dressing, especially As seen in Example 6, the Quranic word تابيطلا was not ren - good dressing. All these meanings are lost in the translation dered into the TT , which results in a semantic loss because as the English word “adornment” refers to things that make Allah Almighty described such food and sustenance by being someone beautiful (Collins Cobuild Dictionary , 2006), and legal “halal.” This is a kind of loss due to undertranslation. thus it does not include the basic needs of the human being. This may have been done by the translators due to lack of In addition, the ayah was revealed to refute the disbelievers’ equivalence problem. The TT does not have an equivalent assumptions that putting on clothes while circumambulating lexeme for the ST word تابيطلا, which means good and halal the Ka’ba is not legal, or that some foods are forbidden (Ibn food. However, I think that transliterating the word or pro- Ashour, 1984), which is not conveyed in the TT. viding a near synonym would have been better than omitting Another loss of connotative meaning occurred in Example the word in the TT, especially the word is an important con- 6 in translating the Quranic word قزرلا as “nourishment” by tent word in the context of the ayah. Leaving the word out in Abdel Haleem. The Quranic ST word قزرلا refers to every the TT might make a reader think that any kind of adornment type of food whether necessary for living or for enjoyment. It or nourishment is allowed, which is not true. There are sev- also refers to meat and samn (ghee) during hajj days, which eral foods which are eaten by non-Muslims, but they are not were considered illegal and forbidden during the pre-Islamic allowed for Muslims. Similarly, there are some very nice era (Al-Baghawi, 1989; Ibn Kathir, 2002). It also refers to clothes and jewelry that are not allowed for men in Islam. what has been considered as forbidden or illegal such as al 5 6 Thus, leaving the word out in the TT has affected the mean- bahirah and al saibah (Al-Baghawi, 1989). However, the ing crucially. Pickthall translated the word as “good things.” English TT word “nourishment” refers to the food that is Similarly, Shakir translated it as “good.” Both Pickthall’s and necessary for living and growth (Collins Cobuild Dictionary, Shakir’s translations attempted to render the ST word. 2006 ). Thus, the connotative meaning is lost in the TT. Although the English word is not equivalent to the ST word, Pickthall translated the ST word قزرلا as “providing,” it is still an approximation of the ST word meaning. Sarwar whereas Shakir rendered it as “provisions.” Both Pickthall’s translated it as “pure,” which is an unfaithful rendition of the and Shakir’s translation seem to be more faithful to the ST ST word. “Pure” does not necessarily mean halal (permissi- because “providing” entails the different shades and aspect ble) in Islam. “Pure” means harmless and clean (Collins of Allah’s bounties such as food and clothes. Unfaithfully, Cobuild Dictionary, 2006), which is different from being Sarwar translated the ST word as “foods,” which is a poor permissible in Islam. For example, natural “silk” is pure and and unfaithful translation of the ST word because “foods” clean; however, it is not allowed to be worn by Muslim men. limit the ST word meaning to a one type of “provisions” that The problem of undertranslation results from some strate- Allah the Almighty bestowed upon us. gies adopted by translators, such as the “functional equiva- Loss of denotative and connotative meaning seems to lent” strategy (Newmark, 1988). Newmark mentioned that a have also occurred in translating هدابع as “His servants” by translator may follow the “functional equivalent” strategy in Abdel Haleem, Shakir and Sarwar. The Quranic word هدابع translation, in case she or he did not find an equivalent for a refers to “worshippers,” in this context, and to Allah word. It is a kind of cultural componential analysis, whereby Almighty’s creatures in the general meaning (Al-Baghawi, the translator deculturalizes a culture-bound word to make it 1989; Ibn Kathir, 2002). However, the word “servant” occupy a middle position between the SL culture and the TL implies serving or working for someone (Collins Cobuild culture. Newmark mentioned that one of the drawbacks of Dictionary, 2006), which seems to be a semantic loss in the this strategy is that it can result in undertranslation when the translation. Pickthall translated it as “bondmen,” which is an SL word is translated into a TL word on a one to one basis. I unfaithful and inaccurate rendition of the ST word. Although guess it should be sought only when there is no equivalent Muslims admit that they are bondmen and slaves to Allah the for the ST word; however, the translators under study have Almighty, the meaning of the ST word in this context does adopted it even when there is a near equivalent word for the not refer to this meaning. In addition, the ST word هدابع is ST word. mostly used in the Holy Quran to refer to believers, whereas َّ َ The ST noun phrase هللاة ني ز was translated by Abdel another word is used to refer to disbelievers, that is, ديبع. Haleem as “the adornment,” whereas it was rendered by Thus, bondmen or slaves can be an accurate translation of the Shakir as “embellishment,” which does not covey the precise word ديبع rather than دابع. None of the translations above meaning of the ST noun phrase. Sarwar translated it as could provide a faithful translation to the ST word, which “beauty,” which is a divergence from the ST phrase meaning. could have been rendered as “worshippers.” 10 SAGE Open of revelation. It goes beyond the mere linguistic A Proposed Model for the Holy Quran understanding of the ST to a more comprehensive Translation understanding of the meanings of the Holy Quran in This section aims to address the second research question, their contexts. A translator, then, has the commission that is, how the translation problems can be dealt with from a to decide which meaning or meanings are the more different theoretical and practical perspective and in regard accurate ones. The same Quranic text can be rendered to the Skopos theory and the functional approach in in different ways due to the fact that that one lexical translation. item can have many near synonyms. However, such Based on the thorough analysis of the data above, I pro- several renditions should not be based on a transla- pose that the translation of the Holy Quran should be guided tor’s whims or tendencies; they rather should be by its Skopos, which is conveying the primary meanings and based on established Islamic books. In the examples functions of the ST and sacrificing the less important fea- provided earlier, it has been postulated that more than tures of the ST. Nobody claims that the translation of the one translation is possible as long it conveys the Holy Quran is the Holy Quran itself; it is a mere rendition of meaning of the ST. To put it clearer, let us take the ST the meanings of the Holy Quran to convey the ST message. phrase ةلاصلا اوميقأ, which can be translated differently It is intended for those who do not know Arabic. Otherwise, based on a translator’s linguistic beliefs. Let’s make the only way to get the full comprehensive meanings of the the below assumed translations: Holy Quran is to know Arabic and to study the Holy Quran and its interpretations. Put differently, the translation of the Option 1: “establish prayers,” Holy Quran does not aim to provide the original Holy Quran Option 2: “perform prayers properly.” or to provide an exhaustive explanation of the meanings of Option 3: “perform salah properly.” the Holy Quran, which can be sought in commentary and interpretation books. It rather aims to enlighten non-Arabic- Each of the suggested translations can be considered accept- speaking Muslims or Islam-interested researchers and to pro- able as each translation is based on linguistic justifications. vide them with the simple meanings of the Holy Quran. This Option 1 might be intelligible to a target reader who does not study suggests that translation of the Holy Quran should know the transliterated term salah, and thus, translating it as attempt to be faithful to the ST by conveying its message “prayers” can approximate the ST word meaning, though it is rather than providing the ST stylistic features or its literal not absolutely an equivalent to the ST word. The word اوميقأ meaning. Achieving faithful translation does not mean to is translated as “establish” in Option 1, which does not con- achieve sameness or equivalence in its narrow meaning. It vey the ST verb meaning precisely; however, it gives the rather means to reduce differences and maximize sameness reader knowledge that prayers should be established, and and in light with the Skopos of the TT. In other words, the implicitly in a proper way. The second option seems to be translation of the Holy Quran may have different skopii in more communicative and faithful to the ST than the first the TL such as educating people on the meanings of the Holy option, as the word اوميقأ is rendered as “perform properly,” Quran, providing evidence of some scientific facts among which tends to convey the ST verb meaning. Although the others. Therefore, a translator should consider the purpose ST verb was translated into two words (verb + adverb), it is the translation is conducted for. In most cases, such as most more faithful to the ST because it expresses the intended the translations of the whole Holy Quran and like those meaning of the ST verb. In this regard, the componential examples provided in the analysis earlier, the purpose of the analysis seems to help in translating semantically complex translation is to convey the utmost possible meanings of words. Therefore, equivalence should not be regarded as an the Holy Quran, and which is the Skopos of the translation in issue of linguistics, that is, semantic and grammatical same- the TT. Having said that the Skopos of the TT should be the ness, which can be rarely achieved. Adopting such a notion main aim of a translator, this does not mean that equivalence of Skopos with the suggested modifications suggests a solu- should be ignored if it is possible to be achieved. A prompt- tion for many problems in the translation of the Holy Quran. ing question in this context is how to handle the problem of For example, the past tense in the Holy Quran that refers to lack of equivalence. Some Quranic words lack equivalents in future events can be translated to future to convey the mes- the TL, and therefore, strategies should be proposed. The fol- sage of the ST that tells about inevitable future events. A lowing steps are suggested to be followed in the translation footnote, however, can be used to draw the attention of the of the Holy Quran: reader to the fact that the ST is coined in the past tense to express the assuredness and inevitability of the occurrence of 1. The Skopos of the TT should be the bedrock of the such future occurrences. However, if the past tense is used in translation process. However, Skopos in translating the Holy Quran to express real past, it then should be ren- the Holy Quran leaves little room of commission to a dered as past tense. translator. A translator should be aware of the differ- In a similar vein, sometimes passive voice needs to be ent interpretations of the Holy Quran and the causes rendered into active voice or vice versa in the TL so as to Abdelaal 11 Figure 1. Proposed model of translating the Holy Quran (stemmed from the Skopos theory). Note. TL = target language; ST = source text. heighten the meaning intended in the ST. In general, though a. Paraphrase. grammar is an issue of meaning in Arabic and English, it b. Transliteration accompanied by an explanation should not be an impediment to render the ST meaning. of the ST lexeme meaning. Translators should admit the fact that there are many mis- c. Borrowing. matches between Arabic and English in terms of tenses, aspects, syntactic features, and stylistic features. Figure 1 summarizes the suggested approach in translating the Holy Quran. 1. A translation should aim at finding an approximate The model indicates that the skopos of translating the Holy meaning of the ST lexemes, considering a word as Quran is conveying the ST message with keeping the loss of the unit of the translation. This should not, however, meaning at a minimal level. In case of a lack of a grammatical affect the intended ST message. equivalent problem, the most communicative translation of 2. Faithfulness should be regarded as a notion that holds the ST tense, based on the Skopos of the TT and the functions a position on a scale that can start from very faithful of the ST, should be provided. Although if the problem in to unfaithful. A faithful translation is a translation in translation arises from a lack of lexical equivalent, compo- which no effort was spared to achieve equivalence nential analysis of the ST lexical item should be implemented, and to convey the ST message. It is not justified that and then the most communicative translation of the ST lexical a translator sacrifices meaning to preserve the stylis- item, based on the Skopos of the TT, should be provided. tic features of an ST. The ultimate goal should be to convey the ST message, with the highest attempt to Conclusion keep the ST stylistic features in the TT. In case a sty- listic feature contradicts the intended message, the This study aimed to highlight the problems faced in the message should win out. translation of the Holy Quran and how they can be dealt 3. In case an equivalent does not exist in the TL, a with from a different theoretical and practical perspective proper strategy should be followed, which can be the and in regard to the Skopos theory. The translation of six following: verses (ayahs) from the Chapter of the Heights and the 12 SAGE Open Chapter of Cattle was purposively selected and analyzed. translation is a translation that indicates that no effort was Several problems and losses in the four translations exam- spared to achieve equivalence and to convey the ST mes- ined were found. This study suggests that faithfulness be sage. The study also suggests that translation of the Holy considered as a notion that holds a position on a scale that Quran should be guided by its Skopos rather than unrealisti- can start from very faithful to unfaithful. A faithful cally aiming at achieving equivalence. Appendix Transliteration table based on Qur’an.com. Abdelaal 13 Declaration of Conflicting Interests As-Samrraai, F. S. (2015). At-Tabeer Al Qurani [The Quranic expression] . Amman: Dar Ammar. The author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect Baker, M. (2004). The status of equivalence in translation studies: to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article. An appraisal. In Y. Zijian (Ed.), English-Chinese comparative study and translation (pp. 63-71). Shanghai, China: Foreign Funding Languages Education Press. Chesterman, A. (2001). Proposal for a Hieronymic oath. The The author(s) received no financial support for the research, author- Translator, 7, 139-154. ship, and/or publication of this article. Collins, H. (2006). CoBuild advanced learner’s English dictionary. Glasgow, Scotland: HarperCollins. ORCID iD Çöz, N. (2012). Considering ethics in translation. Electronic Noureldin Mohamed Abdelaal https://orcid.org/0000- Journal of Vocational Colleges, 2, 131-134. 0001-7706-0413 Creswell, J. W. (2007). Qualitative inquiry and research design: Choosing among five approaches. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage. Diniz, T. F. N. (2003). A new approach to the study of translation: Notes From stage to screen. Cadernos de Traduçao, 2, 29-54. 1. This theory sees meaning as “reality” which exists in all lan- Haque, M. Z. (2012). Translating literary prose: Problems and solu- guages, and hence translation’s task is to represent the same tions. International Journal of English Linguistics, 2, 97-111. reality of the ST. Higgs, J., & Cherry, N. (2009). Doing qualitative research on prac- 2. He is one of the companions who embraced Islam when Holy tice. In J. Higgs, D. Horsfall, & S. Grace (Eds.), Writing quali- Mecca was opened by prophet Muhammed (peace be upon tative research on practice (pp. 1-12). Rotterdam, The him). Netherlands: Sense publishers. 3. One of the famous books of Ibn Al Qayem, which describes Ibn Ashour, M. (1984). Tafsir Attahrir Wattanwir [Liberation and paradise. Enlightenment Interpretation Book] (first). Tunis, Tunisia: 4. Ahmed Ibn Taymyyah is a famous Islamic scholar (661-728 Tunisian Publishing House. AH). Ibn Kathir, H. D. (2002). Tafsiru AlQur’ani Alkarim [Commentary 5. A slit-ear she-camel freed from work. on the Quran]. Beirut, Lebanon: Maktabat Nour Al’ilmijja 6. A she-camel let loose for free pasture. (Original work published in 1995). Jakobson, R. (2000). On linguistic aspects of translation. In R. A. Brower (Ed.), On translation (pp. 30-39). Cambridge, MA: References Harvard University Press. Abdelaal, N. M. (2018). Translating connotative meaning in the trans- Munday, J. (2008). Introducing translation studies: Theories and lation of the Holy Quran: Problems and solutions. Arab World applications (2nd ed.). London, England: Routledge. English Journal for Translation and Literary Studies, 2, 76-87. Nae, N. (2004). Markedness, relevance, acceptability in translation. Abdelaal, N. M. (2019). Translating denotative meaning in the Forum of International Development Studies, 26, 103-114. Holy Quran: Problems and solutions. Pertanika Journal of Newmark, P. (1988). A textbook of translation. Hatfield, UK: Social Sciences & Humanities, 27, 1-23. Pearson Education. Abdelaal, N. M., & Md Rashid, S. M. (2015). Semantic loss in the Nida, E. A., & Taber, C. (1982). The theory and practice of transla- holy Qur’an translation with special reference to surah tion (2nd ed.). Leiden, The Netherlands: E.J. Brill. Al-WaqiAAa (Chapter of the event inevitable). SAGE Open, Nord, C. (1997). Translating as a purposeful activity. Manchester, 5(4), 1-10. doi:10.1177/2158244015605880 UK: St. Jerome. Abdelaal, N. M., & Md Rashid, S. M. (2016). Grammar-related Pym, A. (2001). Introduction: The return to ethics in translation semantic losses in the translation of the Holy Quran, with spe- studies. The Translator, 7, 129-138. cial reference to Surah Al A’araf (the heights). SAGE Open, Pym, A. (2018). Translation and text transfer. Berlin, Germany: 6(3), 1-11. doi:10.1177/2158244016661750 Intercultural Studies Group. Abdel Haleem, M. A. S. A. (2005). The Qur’an. Oxford, UK: Reiss, K. (2000). Translation criticism—The potentials and limita- Oxford University Press. tions: Categories and criteria for translation quality assess- Al Baghawi, A. H. (1989). MAAlem Attanzeel: Tafsir Al Baghawi ment (E. F. Rhodes, Trans.). Manchester, UK: St. Jerome. [Al-Baghawi Interpretation of the Holy Quran]. Riyadh, Saudi (Original work published 1971) Arabia: Dar Taibah Publishing House. Ritchie, J., Lewis, J., & Elam, G. (2003). Designing and selecting Al-Qurtubi, M. S. (2004). Al JamAA liahkam al Qur’an (Tafsir Al samples. In J. Ritchie & J. Lewis (Eds.), Qualitative research Qurtubi) [Interpretationof the Holy Quran]. Cairo, Egypt: Dar practice: A guide for social science students and researchers Al-Fikr. (pp. 77-108). London, England: Sage. Alt-Tabari, M. (2004). JaamiAA Al-Bayaan AAn Ta’weel Ayil Sarwar, M. (2011). The Holy Qur’an: The Arabic text and English Qur’an [The commentary on the Quran]. Cairo, Egypt: translation online edition. Retrieved from https://en.wikipe Al-Halabi, Dar Al-Maref. dia.org/wiki/The_Holy_Quran:_Arabic_Text_and_English_ As-Sadi, A. R. (1999). Al Qawa’ed Al Hisan fi Tafsir al Quran [The translation good rules of the Holy Quran interpretation]. Riyadh, Saudi Shakir, M. (1999). The Holy Quran. New York, NY: Tahrike Arabia: Ar-Rushd Library. Tarsile Quran. 14 SAGE Open Vermeer, H. J. (1989). Skopos and commission in translational Wendland, E. R. (2012). Framing the frames: A theoretical frame- action. Readings in Translation Theory, 173-187. work for the cognitive notion of “frames of reference.” Journal Vinay, J. P., & Darbelnet, J. (1995). Comparative stylistics of of Translation, 6, 27-50. French and English: A methodology for translation (Vol. 11). Zhongying, F. (1990). Some remarks on the criteria of translation. John Benjamins Publishing. Babel, 36, 97-110. Vinay, J. P., & Darbelnet, J. (2004). A methodology for translation (trans.) by J. C. Sager & M.-J. Hamel. In L. Venuti (Ed.), The Author Biography translation studies reader (pp. 128-137). London, England: Routledge. (Original work published 1958) Noureldin Mohamed Abdelaal holds a PhD in translation and Wang, M. (2012). An analysis of over-translation and under-trans- interpretation, preceded by an MA in English applied linguistics. lation in perspective of cultural connotation. International He is an assistant professor of translation at the University of Conference on Education Technology and Management Nizwa. His research interests and publications are in the areas of Engineering, 16-17, 129-133. translation and applied linguistics. http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png SAGE Open SAGE

Faithfulness in the Translation of the Holy Quran: Revisiting the Skopos Theory:

SAGE Open , Volume 9 (3): 1 – Sep 5, 2019

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Abstract

Faithfulness and equivalence are two issues that gained the attention of many scholars in the translation field. It has always been presumed that a faithful translation is the one that could achieve equivalence at its maximum level. However, one theory of translation, namely, the Skopos theory, suggests that the aim or Skopos of a translation should be the target of a translator. Adopting such a theory, equivalence does not mean sameness; it rather means achieving the least dissimilarness. In relation to this, a translation of the Holy Quran is supposed to target conveying the primary meaning of the source text (ST) and its function rather than unachievably aiming at rendering its stylistic features. This study aims to highlight the problems faced in the translation of some verses of the Holy Quran and how they can be handled from a different theoretical and practical perspective and in regard to the Skopos theory. To this end, six verses (ayahs) from the Chapter of the Heights and the Chapter of Cattle were purposively selected and analyzed. Frequent problems and loss in translation were found in the translations of Abdel Haleem, Pickthall, Shakir, and Sarwar. This study, guided by the Skopos theory with some modifications, suggests a new perspective in the translation of the Holy Quran. It also provides a more applicable definition of faithfulness in the translation of the Holy Quran. Keywords faithfulness, equivalence, translation, the Holy Quran, Skopos theory issues related to faithfulness arise when a translator is doing Introduction a service translation. However, a good translator is likely to Faithfulness in translation has always been an issue that be faithful to the ST. preoccupied the minds of translators and readers of transla- Faithfulness, in this sense, is regarded in relation to equiv- tion (Diniz, 2003). This aspect has been given more priority alence. In other words, to be faithful to a ST, it is a requisite in practice and in evaluations of translation even over the to achieve equivalence. However, the practicability of quality of translation when the translated text is authorita- achieving such assumed equivalence might be questioned. tive in nature (Diniz, 2003). Diniz (2003) believes that Furthermore, the type of equivalence needs to be achieved, translator’s failure to keep the original wording and expres- namely, form-related (grammatical) equivalence, lexical sion at all leads to unfaithfulness to the source text (ST). equivalence, textual equivalence, stylistic equivalence, and Similarly, Nida and Taber (1982) stress the importance of so on, is still unanswered. Jakobson (1959/2000) argues that being faithful to the ST. Nord (1997) argues that translation full equivalence between any two linguistic codes (i.e., has always been more concerned with faithfulness to the ST words) is not reachable. In line with Jakobson’s views, Vinay although sometimes it results in a translation that is not and Darbelnet (1958/2004) believe that translation is possi- appropriated for the intended purpose. In relation to this, ble despite the cultural and linguistic limitations, and there- Zhongying (1990) argues that there are different interpreta- fore we should aim at attaining situational equivalence. tions about what faithfulness in translation is. Pym (2001) argues that if a target text (TT) leaves some parts of the ST out, the translation is likely to be unfaithful. In a similar University of Nizwa, Oman vein, Chesterman (2001) states that a translator should be Corresponding Author: like a mirror that reflects the ST, and he adds that without Noureldin Mohamed Abdelaal, Department of Foreign Languages, 611, faithful interpretation of the ST, the translation will be prej- University of Nizwa, Nizwa, Oman. udiced, biased, and unethical. Newmark (1988) claims that Email: nourabdelal@yahoo.com Creative Commons CC BY: This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License (http://www.creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) which permits any use, reproduction and distribution of the work without further permission provided the original work is attributed as specified on the SAGE and Open Access pages (https://us.sagepub.com/en-us/nam/open-access-at-sage). 2 SAGE Open Nida and Taber (1982) believe that correspondence in lack of a verifiable “psychological basis,” an underlying meaning must have priority over correspondence in style, if “imperialistic” agenda, and the promotion of “parochialism” an equivalent effect can be achieved. However, Baker (2004) that prefers meaning over form (Wendland, 2012, p. 95). questions the measurability of achieving an equivalent effect, Directional equivalence is an asymmetric relation, in and she concludes that this notion can be hardly verified. which equivalence may exist one way but it is not necessary Achieving faithfulness in translation is not an easy job for that it exists the other way. Contrary to natural equivalence, a translator. Zhongying (1990), for example, believes that which assumes the existence of equivalence between items achieving such a kind of faithfulness to the ST seems to be bidirectionally, this approach assumes that equivalence can challenging. In a similar vein, iÇöz (2012) claims that a exist one-directionally. This approach is likely to adopt only translator sometimes is forced to deviate from the faithful two opposed poles such as literal translation versus free translation of the ST to a less faithful translation. Similarly, translation (Wendland, 2012). Wendland (2012) sees that Vinay and Darbelnet (1995) argue that faithful translation there is no borderline between the two types of translation should not be the proper option all the time. Sometimes, a proposed by Pym (1992/2018), as natural equivalence translator needs to be unfaithful to the ST to convey the ST includes directional equivalence. In addition, there is no full message more effectively in the TT. In a similar way, Noss equivalence between any two languages unless they are cul- (1986) as cited in Nae (2004) mentions that faithfulness to an turally close. It seems that Pym’s notion of equivalence is ST might render a TT unintelligible. Thus, it is, therefore, not clear. paramount for a translator to attempt being faithful to an ST As it seems to be quite clear, achieving equivalence and without creating an unintelligible translation. Baker (2004) faithfulness in translation is challenging. Therefore, a new puts it that faithfulness to the original is related to the desir- notion of faithfulness and equivalence was needed to be pro- ability of equivalence. Baker concludes that the notion of posed, which was proposed through the Skopos theory. The equivalence is so important because other theoretical notions Skopos theory is based on the “functional equivalence” of translation are interlinked with it, and that is why the which was presented in the 1970s and 1980s (Baker, 2004). notion of equivalence should not be discarded or discredited. This notion postulates that translation should produce However, again the same argument about the perspective of “equivalent message” of the ST in TT. Skopos was estab- equivalence that should be considered as the most appropri- lished by Hans Vermeer and Katharina Reiss, whereby they ate one in translation is still arguable. There are many per- regard the target of the translation is what matters. This spectives of equivalence. Equivalence can be regarded either approach is adopted basically by functionalists such as as a semantic category, in terms of equivalence effect, or in Vermeer (1989). With few exceptions (e.g., Reiss, terms of functional equivalence. Baker (2004) explains that 1971/2000), most functionalists (e.g., Vermeer, 1989) do not the notion of equivalence as a semantic category, which is believe that equivalence between ST and TT is achievable. drawn from the representational theory of meaning, is static According to this approach, the target-side purpose, or com- and close to the interlingual synonyms. It is dedicated by the municative Skopos, is the dominant factor in the translation content of the ST rather than the communicative situation. process, and hence, one ST can be translated into different This semantic view of equivalence, as Baker (2004) states, is TTs to achieve different functions. According to Pym (2001), rejected in most disciplines, and it is not applicable or tena- “Skopos,” which means “goal,” is the key to the functionalist ble in translation. approach. In this kind of translation, the translator is more In this regard, Pym (1992/2018) believes that the notion concerned with the TT, or in other words how to translate an of equivalence is a “social illusion,” which people believe in ST communicatively, regardless of the lexis. Pym (2001) though it does not have linguistic certainty; however, he sees that, according to Skopos theory, a translator should states that we have to deal with such “equivalence beliefs.” work hard to convey the intellectual and emotional intent of Pym (2018) makes a distinction between two types of equiv- the ST. Reiss and Vermeer (1984) aimed to establish a gen- alence: natural equivalence and directional equivalence. eral translation theory for all texts. The basic underlying Natural equivalence is basically based on the paradigm of “rules” of the theory of Reiss and Vermeer (1984) as cited in equal value. In other words, what is said in one language can Munday (2008) are as follows: be translated into another language, with the same function or worth. As a result, the relation between an ST and a TT is 1. A trunslatum (or TT) is determined by its Skopos. one of equal value at the level of form, function, or anything 2. A TT is an offer of information in a target culture and in-between. For example, the English “the Friday 13th” is a target language (TL) concerning an offer of informa- natural equivalent for the Spanish “the Tuesday 13th” tion in a source culture and source language (SL). because the two terms work functionally the same, as both of 3. A TT does not initiate an offer of information in a the respective days refer to bad luck in their respective cul- clearly reversible way. tures. However, this approach was critiqued for its presup- 4. A TT must be internally coherent. position of a “nonexistent symmetry” between languages, its 5. A TT must be coherent with the ST. Abdelaal 3 The five rules above stand in a hierarchical order, with the Furthermore, a qualitative research design is appropriate for Skopos rule predominating. Thus, translation is viewed as this study because the Holy Quran translation is complex and nondirectional. In other words, reversibility is not a prerequi- cannot be deeply investigated using any other alternative site for a good translation. Vermeer and Reiss also under- approaches. Furthermore, this study does not depend on quanti- score the importance of the coherence and fidelity for a ties or numbers. This study falls under the hermeneutic or inter- successful translation. The coherence rule means that the TT pretive inquiry type of qualitative research, which involves must be interpretable as coherent with the TT receiver’s situ- “the construction (or collation) and interpretation of new (or ation (Reiss & Vermeer, 1984 as cited in Munday, 2008), existing) texts” (Higgs & Cherry, 2009, p. 10). whereas the fidelity rule merely states that there must be coherence between the trunslatum. According to the afore- Data of the Study mentioned hierarchical order of the rules, intertextual coher- ence is of less importance than intratextual coherence, which, In a qualitative inquiry, such as this study, sampling is usu- in turn, is subordinate to the skopos (Rule 1; Munday, 2008). ally purposive or nonprobability. Thus, sampling is not Thus, based on Skopos theory, the same text can be trans- intended to be statistically representative, but the selection is lated in different ways according to the purpose of the TT based on the shared characteristics of a population (Ritchie, and the commission, which is given to the translator. Lewis, & Elam, 2003). Although statistical representation is Therefore, if a text is ambiguous, according to Skopos the- not sought in qualitative research, symbolic representation, ory, it can be literally translated and then explained in a foot- which refers to the selection of units based on their features note (Munday, 2008). However, this theory is criticized as, of relevance to the investigation, is required (Ritchie et al., according to it, any translation can be justified if a translator 2003). Another important requirement as highlighted by declares his or her intention at the beginning of their transla- Ritchie et al. (2003) is the diversity of sampling. Diversity is tion process. The Skopos theory is also criticized for locating important because it optimizes the chances of identifying the coherence at the bottom of the theory rules. full range of factors or features that are associated with a Practically speaking, when the source and TLs belong to phenomenon, and because it gives access to investigating different cultural groups, it is truly difficult to find terms in interdependency between variables, and that is, to disengage the TL that express the highest level of faithfulness possible the most relevant from those of lesser importance. In prac- to the meaning of certain words (Haque, 2012). Connotations tice, six ayahs (verses) of the phenomenon under study, and associations of words in one language may differ from namely, problems related to the faithfulness of translation, those in another language, or they may have different emo- were selected from two long chapters (Surahs) of the Holy tive associations. In relation to this, Abdelaal and Md Rashid Quran. Only six examples were presented in this study, (2015) found semantic losses in the translation of Surah al- which is a part of a larger study for space reasons. These two Waqiah. Also, Abdelaal and Md Rashid (2016) found that Surahs are Surah Al-Aaraf (The Heights) and Surah Al semantic losses may be caused by grammatical losses as Anaam (The Cattle). Four famous translations were selected, well. Abdelaal (2018, 2019) found problems in rendering which are the translations of Abdel Haleem, Pickthall, qualitative and denotative meaning in the translation. In Shakir, and Sarwar. These translations were selected because regard to the discussion above, this study, therefore, aims to they are popular ones. address the following research questions: Data Analysis Research Question 1: What problems are found in the translations of Abdel Haleem, Pickthall, Shakir, and Data analysis was guided by Diniz (2003), who believes that Sarwar of some the Holy Quran’s verses? a translator’s failure to keep the original wording and expres- Research Question 2: How can these problems be han- sion at all leads to unfaithfulness to the ST, and Nida and dled from a different theoretical and practical perspective Taber’s (1982) notion of faithfulness, who stress the impor- and in regard to the Skopos theory? tance of being faithful to the ST. The STs were compared with the TTs and the failure to convey some parts of the ST meaning was highlighted and explained. Suggestions for a Method better translation were guided by the Skopos theory. Research Design Results and Discussion This study fits in the interpretive paradigm of a qualitative research, which is pertinent with the descriptive translation In this section, some examples of the samples collected are studies. A qualitative approach is appropriate for this study as analyzed to highlight the losses in translation and thus the this study focuses on a complex detailed understanding of an failure to achieve faithfulness in its outdated sense. It is also issue sought, and thus the quantitative measurements and anal- highlighted how the Skopos theory can be a guide for a more yses do not fit the research problem (Creswell, 2007). practical and modern theory of the Holy Quran translation. 4 SAGE Open The Skopos of the translation of the Holy Quran is to practi- specific context of revelation (As-Sadi, 1999). Similarly, the cally convey the primary meaning and, if possible, the asso- present simple is used in English to express facts that are ciations of the primary meaning of the ST. Conveying the permanent (As Samarrai, 2015). Similarly, the use of the other features of the Holy Quran, such as the style, may be noun form to translate the relative clause of the ST by Sarwar sacrificed for the sake of the meaning. and Abdel Haleem seems to convey the same purpose of the ST, because nouns express stability and continuity. However, it might be argued that rendering the ST word as “disbe- Examples of Faithfulness Issues in Translation liever” is more faithful to the ST than “unbeliever.” This section aims to address the first research question, “Disbeliever” indicates the fact of rejecting faith and belief which is about the problems found in the translation of the deliberately, which might not be conveyed in the use of Holy Quran. Examples are provided with suggested transla- “unbeliever.” According to Collins Cobuild Dictionary tions in some cases (whenever needed). (2006), “unbeliever” is used to refer to a person who does not believe in a particular religion, whereas “disbeliever” is used Example 1 to refer to a person who rejects as false and does not accept what others say. Therefore, we may say that the four transla- َّ َ َ َ َ َ َ ْ َ َ َ َ َ َ َ َّ َ ST (6:7) نْ إ اورفك نَيذلا لاق ل مهي دي ْأب ه ُ و سمل ف سا طرق ي ف ابًات ك ك ي ْل ع ا نل زن ول و ُ ِ ْ ِ ُ َ ْ ِ ِ ِ َ ْ َ tions are correct and they meet the Skopos of the TT. In short, ِ ِ ِ ٍ نيِبُّم ٌرْحِس اَلِإ اَذَٰه ّ considering faithfulness in relation to the Skopos theory gives more room to a translator to look at the discrepancies TRANSL. Walaw nazzalna AAalayka kitabanfee qirtasin between an SL and a TL in an attempt to overcome the hur- falamasoohu bi-aydeehim laqala allatheenakafaroo in hatha illa dles faced. sihrun mubeen Example 2 Abdel Haleem: Even if We had sent down to you [Prophet] a book inscribed on parchment, and they had touched it with their َ َ ْ َ ْ ً ُُ َ ْ َ َ َ َّ َ َ ْ ST ۚ ارق و مهناذك يفو ه ُ و هق في نأ ة نكأ مهبول ق ىل ع ا نل عجو ۖ ك ي ْل إ عمت سي نم مهنمو ً َ ْ ِ ِ َ ُ َ ِ ْ ٰ َ َ َ َ ُ ِ ْ َ َّ ُ ِ َ ِ ِ ِ ِ own hands, the disbelievers would still say, “This is nothing َ َّ ُ ُ َ ُ َ َ َّ َّ ُ ٰ َ َ َ َّ ُ اذه َ نْ إ اورفك نَيذلا لوق ي ك نول داجُي كو ءاج اذإ ىت ح ۚ اهب اونمؤ ْ ُي ا ل ة ي ك لك اوري نإو ُ ِ َ ِ َ ُ َ ٰ َ َ ِ ٍ َ ْ َ َ َ ِ ِ ِ ِ but blatant sorcery.” نيِلَ وَأْلا ُريِطاَسَأ اَ لِ (6:25 إ ) Pickthall: Had we sent down unto thee (Muhammad) (actual) TRANSL. Waminhum man yastamiAAu ilayka wajaAAalna writing upon parchment, so that they could feel it with their AAala quloobihim akinnatan an yafqahoohu wafee athanihim hands, those who disbelieve would have said: This is naught waqran wa-in yaraw kulla ayatin la yu/minoo biha hatta itha else than mere magic. jaooka yujadiloonaka yaqoolu allatheena kafaroo in hatha illa asateeru al-awwaleena Shakir: And if We had sent to you writing on a paper, then they had touched it with their hands, certainly those who disbelieve Abdel Haleem: Among them are some who [appear to] would have said: This is nothing but clear enchantment. listen to you, but we have placed covers over their hearts– so they do not understand the Quran– and deafness in their ears. Muhammad Sarwar: (Muhammad), had We sent you a Book Even if they saw every sign they would not believe in them. on paper, the unbelievers would have touched it with their So, when they come to you, they ar gue with you: the disbelievers hands but would still have said, “It is no more than plain say, “These are nothing but ancient fables,” (p. 81). sorcery.” Pickthall: Of them are some who listen unto thee, but We have In Example 1 above, the ST phrase اوُرَفَك َنيِذَ لا was rendered placed upon their hearts veils, lest they should understand, and by Abdel Haleem as “the disbelievers,” whereas it was trans- in their ears a deafness. If they saw every token they would not believe therein; to the point that, when they come unto thee to lated by Pickthall and Shakir as “those who disbelieve.” argue with thee, the disbelievers say: This is naught else than However, it was translated as “unbelievers” by Sarwar. It fables of the men of old. seems that Pickthall’s and Shakir’s translation are the most faithful translations, among the four translations, to the ST. Shakir: And of them is he who hearkens to you, and We have The ST phrase is a relative clause, with its verb in the past cast veils over their hearts lest they understand it and a tense. However, Pickthall and Shakir opted to render it in the heaviness into their ears; and even if they see every sign they present simple, whereas Sarwar rendered it as a noun, which will not believe in it; so much so that when they come to you might be claimed to violate faithfulness to the ST. However, they only dispute with you; those who disbelieve say: This is I guess this does not violate faithfulness to the ST because naught but the stories of the ancients. the Skopos of the TT, namely, conveying the primary mean- ing, is achieved. The ST phrase refers to disbelievers through- Muhammad Sarwar: Some of them listen to you, but We have out ages, as Islamic scholars postulate that the Quranic ayahs veiled their hearts so that they cannot understand and made should be perceived in their universality rather than in their them deaf. They disbelieve all the evidence (of Our existence) Abdelaal 5 that they may have seen. They only come to you for the sake of the verb “cast” to translate the ST verb اَنْلَعَج seems to be less argument and the disbelievers say that (whatever Muhammad faithful to the ST because it suggests a forceful action, which says) is no more than ancient legends. is not the case of the ST verb. The ST verb refers to the fact that these covers are on disbelievers’ hearts due to their rejec- tion of the truth and belief. The Quranic ayah is figurative; it The ST ayah refers to that disbelievers used to listen to the shows how those disbelievers as if they had covers and veils prophet’s preaching about monotheism and call to Islam; over their hearts that prevent them from understanding the however, they do not understand or follow what has been Holy Quran. These covers are not in the sense that Allah said to them by the prophet (Alt-Tabari, 2004). As seen in Almighty forced them to be unable to perceive the Holy Example 2, the Quranic verb عمتسي was rendered as “(appear) Quran and its meanings (Ibn Ashour, 1984). It indicates that to listen” by Abdel Haleem, whereas it was translated as “lis- their evil deeds covered their hearts and made them unable to ten” by Sarwar and Pickthall. Similarly, it was translated as accept the truth. This is similar to another ayah in surah al “hearkens” by Shakir. It seems that Abdel Haleem’s transla- MutTafifeen, which reads [Kalla bal rana AAala quloobihim tion is the least faithful to the ST because it reflects a kind of ma kanoo yaksiboona]/No indeed! Their hearts are encrusted redundancy. Adding “appear” to indicate that the disbeliev- with what they have done (Abdel Haleem’s translation)/. ers listened but they did not follow what they listened is not One evidence, as mentioned by Ibn Ashour (1984), that indi- justifiable because “listen” alone could have conveyed the cates that Allah Almighty did not put such veils over the meaning because listening does not necessarily suggest hearts of the disbelievers and forced them to be disbelievers understanding and following what is listened to. “Listen” is that Abu Sufiyan (radiya Allahu anh) embraced Islam entails paying attention, but it does not necessarily designate later, after the revelation of this ayah in Example 2. However, accepting what is listened to. According to Collins Cobuild the verb انلعج refers to the nature of those disbelievers who Dictionary (2006), “listen” means to pay attention to what reject facts and faith. someone says. But we may listen to what others say without Another thing about Abdel Haleem’s translation is that he following them. This justifies Shakir and Sarwar’s transla- rendered the pro-drop pronoun in the Quranic phrase as “we” tion of the verb as “listen.” Shakir opted to translate the ST without capitalizing the pronoun. This may confuse the verb as “hearken,” which might be less faithful. “Hearken” reader of the translation because the pronoun is vague to tends to mean to listen attentively, which is not the case in the whom it refers, though it refers to Allah Almighty in the ST. ayah. The ayah refers to the situation when disbelievers lis- In contrast, all the other translations above were more faith- tened to the Holy Quran but they did not benefit from that, as ful to the ST by capitalizing the pronoun in the TT. their hearts are sealed off because of their disbelief (Ibn ّ ّ َ َ ُ ُ ْ The ST conditional clause اهب اونمؤُي ا ل ة ي ك لك اوري نإو was Kathir, 2002). The point here is that following the Skopos َ ِ ٍ َ ْ َ َ َ translated as “Even if they saw every sign they would not theory does not mean being less faithful to the ST if the believe in them” by Abdel Haleem. Similarly, it was trans- meaning can be conveyed while being faithful. Faithfulness lated by Pickthall as “If they saw every token they would not to the ST should be seen as how to convey the same message believe therein.” The two translations do not seem to show of the ST, even in different lexis or different grammar. In this faithfulness to the ST because the ST phrase is in the first regard, Nord (1997) proposed two types of functional equiv- conditional clause, that is, in the present tense or Aorist tense alence that can exist between an ST and a TT, namely, equi- (Mudareaa). The ST phrase indicates stability of the action. functional translation and heterofunctional translation. Put in other words, disbelievers throughout ages will never Equifunctional translation happens when the translation con- believe whatever pieces of evidence and proofs were given veys the same function intended in the ST, whereas hetero- to them. They share the same nature of disbelieving prophets functional translation occurs when the function of the ST throughout ages. This explains the reason behind the ST needs to be adapted by the translator to convey the aim of the clause being in the Aorist tense. However, rendering it as a sender. So, a translator needs to attempt achieving equifunc- second conditional clause makes the ST phrase applicable tional translation, and if he fails to do so, he can then attempt only to the disbelievers during the revelation of the ayah, heterofunctional translation. ً ُُ َ ْ َ َ which is not true. Scholars have established a rule in juris- In a similar vein, ة نكأ م ْ هبول ق ى ٰ ل ع ا َ نل ع َ ج َ و was translated as “we ِ َ prudence (fiqh) that states that the general meaning of the have placed covers over their hearts” by Abdel Haleem, but ayah should be considered rather than its specific meaning or it was translated as “We have placed upon their hearts veils” cause of revelation (As-Sadi, 1999). Sarwar rendered the ST by Pickthall, which seems more faithful to the ST. Pickthall clause as “They disbelieve all the evidence (of Our exis- could preserve the ST syntactic order, which affects the ST ُُ َ tence) that they may have seen,” which seems to be the least meaning. In the ST the prepositional phrase م ْ هبول ق ى ٰ ل ع َ is faithful to the ST. Sarwar opted to resolve the problem of fronted to highlight the fact that the hearts are veiled and thus translating the ST clause, that is, translating it in a first con- understanding is not possible. This is the nature of the Arabic ditional clause or a second conditional clause, by a strategy language, that is, to front the most important or underscored of avoidance. He avoided rendering it as a conditional clause facts. Similar to Abdel Haleem, Shakir and Sarwar could not and rendered it as a statement, which makes the TT lose the keep the same syntactic order of the ST in the TT. Also, using 6 SAGE Open overtones and undertones that exist in the ST. However, deception but it does not necessarily implicate telling lies. Shakir translated the conditional clause as “even if they see However, Pickthall’s use of the word “guile” seems to be every sign they will not believe in it,” preserving the tense of plausible and conveying to the meaning of the ST word the ST. It seems that Shakir’s translation of the ST clause is رورغب. As for Shakir, he translated the ST clause as “Then he ٍ ِ the most faithful one, as the translator preserved the over- caused them to fall by deceit,” which seems to be less faith- tones of the ST to a great extent. It is important in this con- ful to the ST. However, Sarwar rendered the ST clause as text to underscore that skopos of the translation does not “Thus, he deceitfully showed them (the tree),” which is the mean ignoring equivalence when it is possible to be achieved, least faithful to the ST. It is an unjustifiable divergence from and as long as the translation and the ST convey the same the ST meaning. Sarwar put it as if Satan showed them that function. tree. However, in fact, Satan convinced and lured them to eat from the tree rather than only know it (Alt-Tabari, 2004). In Example 3 total, Abdel Haleem’s and Pickthall’s translations are the most acceptable and faithful translations to the ST. Shakir’s َ َ َ ّ َ َ َ َّ َ ْ َ ُ ْ َ َ َ ُ َ قرو ن م ا مهي ْل ع نا فصخي ا ق فطو امهت كوس امهل تد َ ب ةرجشلا ا قذ ا ا مل ف ۚ رورغب امه ُ ا ل د َ ف َ َ ِ َ َ ِ َ ِ َ َ ُ ْ َ َ ُ َ َ َ َّ ُ َ ِ ِ ِ ٍ ِ translation is acceptable as well, but it is less faithful than the َ َ َ ُ َ َ ّ ُ َّ ُ ّ ُ ْ ُ َ ْ َ َ ْ َ َّ ود ُ ع ا مكلن َا طي ْشلان َّ إ امكل ل ق أو ةرجشلا ا مكل ت نع ا مكهنأ مل أ امهُّبر امه ُ ا د َ انو ۖ ة نجل ا ٌّ َ َ َ ِ َ َ َ ِ َ َ َ ْ َ ُ َ َ َ ِ َ two aforementioned translations. By contrast, Sarwar’s ٌنيِبُّم ) (7:22 translation seems to be the least faithful to the ST. ُ َ ّ َ َ ََ ْ َ َ The ST conditional clause امهت كوس امهل تد َ ب ةرجشلا ا قذ ا ا مل ف was َ ُ ْ َ َ ُ َ َ َ َّ TRANSL. Fadallahuma bighuroorin falamma thaqa translated by Abdel Haleem as “Their nakedness became alshshajarata badat lahuma saw-atuhuma watafiqa yakhsifani exposed to them when they had eaten from the tree.” Abdel AAalayhima min waraqi aljannati wanadahuma rabbuhuma Haleem translated اقاذ as “had eaten,” which is a diver gence alam anhakuma AAan tilkuma alshshajarati waaqul lakuma inna alshshaytana lakuma AAaduwwun mubeenun from the more accurate and literal meaning of the word (i.e., tasted). According to tafsir books (e.g., Alt-Tabari, 2004; Ibn Abdel Haleem: he lured them with lies. Their nakedness Ashour, 1984; Ibn Kathir, 2002), the ayah indicates that became exposed to them when they had eaten from the tree: prophet Adam and Eve were told lies and got deceived by the they began to put together leaves from the Garden to cover Satan talks, as he took an oath to them that he was telling themselves. Their Lord called to them, “Did I not forbid you to them the truth, and that eating from the forbidden tree would approach that tree? Did I not warn you that Satan was your make them angels or immortals. The ayah indicates that the sworn enemy?” (p. 95). moment Adam and Eve started to eat (literally taste) the fruit of the tree, their privates were exposed. In addition, the word Pickthall: Thus did he lead them on with guile. And when اقاذ is used in the ST to indicate that Adam and Eve did not eat they tasted of the tree their shame was manifest to them and until they became full with the fruits of the tree. Thus, trans- they began to hide (by heaping) on themselves some of the lating the ST word اقاذ into “ate” instead of “tasted,” which is leaves of the Garden. And their Lord called them, (saying): Did the literal meaning of the ST word does not convey the spe- I not forbid you from that tree and tell you: Lo! Satan is an open enemy to you? cific meaning. According to Newmark (1988), a literal trans- lation is the most proper translation in case an equivalent Shakir: Then he caused them to fall by deceit; so when they exists. Although Abdel Haleem’s selection of the verb “ate” tasted of the tree, their evil inclinations became manifest to conveys the meaning partially, it does not convey the com- them, and they both began to cover themselves with the leaves plete meaning of the ST, as it may be argued that the moment of the garden; and their Lord called out to them: Did I not forbid Adam and Eve started to eat, their private parts got exposed you both from that tree and say to you that the Shaitan is your to them. In short, Abdel Haleem could have been more faith- open enemy? ful to the ST by rendering the ST word as “tasted,” as the three other translators did. As noted, the ST word امهت كوس was َ ُ ْ َ Muhammad Sarwar: Thus, he deceitfully showed them (the rendered as “nakedness” by Abdel Haleem, which does not tree). When they had tasted (fruits) from the tree, their private show faithfulness to the ST. The ST word refers to the private parts became revealed to them and they began to cover their parts only. In other words, the ST can be a hyponym for the private parts with leaves from the garden. Their Lord then TT if it is back-translated (as يرع). Pickthall attempted to called out to them saying, “Did I not forbid you to eat (fruits) from the tree and tell you that Satan was your sworn enemy?” preserve the euphemistic nature of the ST word by rendering it into “shame.” However, it affected the faithfulness to the َ َ ُ ُ The ST phrase رورغب امها ل د َ ف was rendered by Abdel Haleem as ST because it renders an explicit meaning in the ST into an ُ َ ٍ ِ “he lured them with lies,” which may convey the ST mean- implicit meaning in the TT, which may be difficult to infer. ing properly. The ST clause means, as explained by Alt- Shakir’s rendition of the ST word as “evil inclinations” Tabari (2004), to deceive and convince by telling lies in a shows a serious lack of faithfulness to the ST. The ST does way that looks to be nice. Pickthall translated it as “Thus did not refer to any evil inclinations as the translation proposes. he lead them on with guile,” which seems less accurate than Sarwar’s translation of the ST word as “private parts” seems Abdel Haleem’s because leading with guile implicates to be the most accurate and faithful to the ST word. It may Abdelaal 7 have not preserved the euphemistic nature of the ST word, TRANSL.: Ya banee adama qad anzalna AAalaykum libasan yuwaree saw-atikum wareeshan walibasu alttaqwa thalika but it could convey the primary meaning of the ST word, khayrun thalika min ayati Allahi laAAallahum yaththakkaroona which is the Skopos of the translation of the Holy Quran. The ST word لقأ was translated by Abdel Haleem as Abdel Haleem: Children of Adam, We have given you garments “warn.” However, it was translated by Pickthall and Sarwar to cover your nakedness and as adornment for you; the garment as “tell.” By contrast, it was rendered by Shakir as “say.” of God consciousness is the best of all garments– this is one of Shakir’s choice seems to be the most faithful to the ST and God’s signs, so that people may take heed. Abdel Haleem’s choice is the least faithful. Although the warning is embedded in the Quranic ST verb, a direct equiv- Pickthall: O Children of Adam! We have revealed unto you alent for the Quranic verb is “said.” If the TT word “warn” raiment to conceal your shame, and splendid vesture, but the was back-translated, it would result in a different word (i.e., raiment of restraint from evil, that is best. This is of the رذحي). Divergence from the literal and authentic meaning of revelations of Allah, that they may remember. the word to another word does not seem to be justifiable. In this light, the word “said” would be closer in meaning as it Shakir: O children of Adam! We have indeed sent down to you can be considered as a hypernym for the word “warn” and clothing to cover your shame, and (clothing) for beauty and not vice versa. The verb “said” implies a warning, as in the clothing that guards (against evil), that is the best. This is of the Oxford Advanced English Dictionary (2006); it is defined in communications of Allah that they may be mindful. one of its multiple meanings as “to give instructions to or Muhammad Sarwar: Children of Adam, We have given you direct somebody to do something with authority.” Moreover, clothing to cover your private parts and for beauty, but the robe the Quranic language is very precise, and the Arabic lan- of piety is the best. Thus is the guidance of God so that you may guage has an equivalent for the TT verb “warn,” which was take heed. not used purposefully in the ST. Pickthall’s and Sarwar’s choices seem to be acceptable because tell and say are near َ َ The verb انل زنأ was translated by Abdel Haleem and Sarwar as synonyms. “given,” which conveys the primary meaning of the ST By the same token, all the translators rendered the word, though the ST verb implies constant giving from Allah Quranic word ةنجلا as “Garden,” with initial capitalization Almighty to His servants. “Give,” however, may imply giv- only in Abdel Haleem’s and Pickthall’s translations. ing for one time as it is used in the present perfect which Although it is arguable whether al Jannah Adam and Eve indicates an action that was completed shortly. Shakir opted were asked to descend from is the Jannah all Muslims will to translate the ST word as “sent down,” which seems more enter in the Hereafter or not (cf. Ibn Al Qayem in Hadi alar- 3 4 literal approximation of the ST word and it conveys the ST wah ila biladi al afrah ), Ibn Taymyyah in Majmouaa word meaning faithfully. It, then, can be claimed that both Alfatawa, mentioned that it is agreed-on among Muslims “give” and “send down” convey the primary meaning of the and scholars of Ahlu Sunnah waljamaah that the Jannah ST word, though “send down” might be more faithful. This Adam and Eve were asked to leave is the eternal Jannah that does not imply that “give” is not a faithful translation of the believers will enter in the Hereafter. Furthermore, even if ST verb. Astonishingly, Pickthall translated the ST verb as the Jannah Adam entered was different from the Jannah in “revealed,” which might convey the general meaning of the the Hereafter, it cannot be compared with a garden, even a ST word but it is less faithful than the previous translations special garden. Thus, the eternal Jannah cannot be an equiv- because it diverges from an approximate equivalent (i.e., alent to the word “Garden.” The eternal Jannah refers to sent down) to a more general term. every kind of pleasure believers will experience in the َّ The ST phrase ىوق تلا سا ُ بَل و was translated by Pickthall as َ ِ َ Hereafter including seeing Allah Almighty’s face in a way “the raiment of restraint from evil,” which does not convey that cannot be imagined in this earthly life. Thus, the TT َّ the primary meaning of the ST word, that is, ىوق تل . The ST word conveyed a very narrow shade of the meanings of the phrase is quite semantically complex that connotes refrain- ST word, but the actual meaning of the ST word is lost in the ing from doing prohibited deeds and doing the demanded translation. I would suggest translating it as “Paradise” or and recommended deeds of Allah the Almighty. Abdel “Garden of Eden” to make the meaning clearer for readers َّ Haleem opted to translate ىوق تلا as “God consciousness,” of translation. This will also convey the skopos of the ST which seems to convey the primary meaning partly, as it does word in the TT. Transliteration can be another option to not convey the real rich meaning of the ST word. The ST translate the ST word, but in this case, a footnote may be phrase refers to faith, good deeds, modesty, fear of God (Alt- needed to explain the meaning of the word, especially in its Tabari, 2004). first occurrence in the translation. Sarwar rendered the word as “piety,” which is closer in meaning to the ST word. Shakir opted for a shift in the trans- Example 4 lation by paraphrasing the ST word as “guards (against ٰ ٰ َ َ َ َ َ ْ ً ُ ُ َ ْ َ َ َّ َ َ evil),” which does not convey the meaning of the ST word. I ك ل ذ ۚ ري ْخ ك ل ذ ى ٰ وق تل سا ا بل و ۖ اشي رو مكت كوس يراوُي ا سابل مكي ْل ع ا نل زنأ د ْ ق مد َ ك ينب اي ِ ٌ ِ َ ُ َِ َ َ ْ ِ ْ َ َ ً َِ ْ َ َ َِ َ ِ ِ َنوُرَ كَذَي ْمُلَ هَعَل ِ للا ِ هَ تاَيك ْنِم ST: (7:26) suggest that the ST word be transliterated and be followed by ّ ّ ّ 8 SAGE Open the word “piety” between brackets. I also suggest providing Haleem as “will flow under their feet,” which seems to be a a rich explanation of the word at its first occurrence in the divergence from the ST meaning. The ST refers to the rivers translation in a footnote. In a similar vein, Abdel Haleem and that will be flowing under the believers’ palaces and houses. Sarwar translated للها as “God.” Which does not convey the However, the translator rendered it to their feet, which is not ST greatest name because the ST name is a name that should accurate and, thus, faithfulness is lacking. Shakir and be transferred, without any rendition. “God” can be used if it Pickthall translated it as “flow beneath them,” which is faith- is assumed that the readers will not be able to know the word ful to the ST and it is communicative, as well. Sarwar trans- “Allah.” Otherwise, transferring the ST name للها as “Allah” lated it as “They will enjoy the flowing streams,” which is an is more appropriate. Pickthall and Shakir transferred the evident divergence from the ST. Another aspect of lack of great name of Allah as it is which is true. faithfulness shows itself in translating انّبر لسر as “The َ ُ ُ (angelic) messengers,” which is not true because the mean- Example 5 ing in the ST is the messengers and prophets who were sent to their people or to guide them to the right pathway of Allah َّ ْ ُ َ ْ ّ ْ َ َ َ َ َ ST هل ل د ُ محلا او لق او ۖ راهنألا مهت حت نم يرجت لغ نْ م مه رود ُ ص يف ام ا نع ْ زنو ِ ِ ْ َ َ ُ َ ُ ِ ْ ِ ْ ِ ِّ ِ ُ ِ َ َ ٍ the Almighty (Alt-Tabari, 2004). ِ ِ ِ ّ ْ ُ َ َّ َ َ ُ َ َّ ُ َ ْ َ ُ َ َ َ َّ َ اود ُ ونو ۖ قحلب ا ا نّبر لسر تءاج د ْ ق ل ۖ هللا ا ناد َ ه َ نْ أ ا ل ول يدت هنل ا نك امو اذهٰ ل ا ناد َ ه ي َ ذل ا َ َ َ ُ ُ َ َ ْ َ ِ ْ ِ َ َ َ ِ ِ ِ ِ ِ Sometimes translators undertranslate many words in the َنوُلَمْعَت ْمُتنُك اَمِب اَهوُمُتْثِروُ نَجْ أ ُلا ُ ةَ مُكْلِت نَأ(7:43) ST either through omission or improper selection of vocabu- lary. Mian Wang (2012) argues that both overtranslation and TRANSL. WanazaAAna ma fee sudoorihim min ghillin undertranslation result from a nonequivalence problem, in tajree min tahtihimu al-anharu waqaloo alhamdu lillahi allathee terms of meaning or style. Wang, then, identifies undertrans- hadana lihatha wama kunna linahtadiya lawla an hadana Allahu lation as the case in which the TT contains less information laqad jaat rusulu rabbina bialhaqqi wanoodoo an tilkumu than the ST. In addition, she states that both overtranslation aljannatu oorithtumooha bima kuntum taAAmaloona and undertranslation show unfaithfulness to the ST. Example 6 below indicates such a type of loss that occurs due to Abdel Haleem: We shall have removed all ill feeling from their undertranslation. hearts; streams will flow at their feet. They will say, “Praise be to God, who guided us to this: had God not guided us, We would never have found the way. The messengers of our Lord brought Example 6 the Truth.” A voice will call out to them, “This is the Garden you have been given as your own on account of your deeds.” . ّ ّ َ َ َ ُ ْ ْ َ ST ۚ قزرلا ّ نَ م ِتاَبِيَطلاَو ِه داَبعل َج رخأ يِت ّلا ِه ّللا َ نيِ ة ز َ ّر م ح ْن م ْلق ِ ِ ِ ِ َ َ َ ِ ِ َ ْ ً ْ َّ ْ ُ َ َ ْ ُ َ ُّ َ Pickthall: And We remove whatever rancour may be in their ك ل ذك ۗ ة ما َ ي َق لا م و ْ ي َ ة ص َ لا خ اي َندلا ةاي َح َ لا ي ف اونم َك نيذل ل يه لق ِ ِ ِ َ ِ ِ ِ ِ ِ َ ِ 7:32)) َنوُمَلْعَي ٍمْوَقِل ِتاَيكْلا ُ صَفُ لِ ن hearts. Rivers flow beneath them. And they say The praise to Allah, Who hath guided us to this. We could not truly have been TRANSL. Qul man harrama zeenata Allahi allatee akhraja liAAibadihi waalttayyibati mina alrrizqi qul hiya led aright if Allah had not guided us. Verily the messengers of lillatheena amanoo fee alhayati alddunya our Lord did bring the Truth. And it is cried unto them: This is khalisatan yawma alqiyamati kathalika nufassilu the Garden. Ye inherit it for what ye used to do. al-ayati liqawmin yaAAlamoona Abdel Say [Prophet], “Who has forbidden the Shakir: And We will remove whatever of ill-feeling is in their Haleem adornment and the nourishment God has breasts; the rivers shall flow beneath them and they shall say: All provided for His servants?” Say, “They are praise is due to Allah Who guided us to this, and we would not [allowed] for those who believe during the have found the way had it not been that Allah had guided us; life of this world: they will be theirs alone on certainly the messengers of our Lord brought the truth; and it the Day of Resurrection.” This is how We shall be cried out to them that this is the garden of which you are make Our revelation clear for those who made heirs for what you did. understand. Muhammad Sarwar: We shall remove all grudges from their hearts. They will enjoy the flowing streams in the garden and Pickthall: Say: Who hath forbidden the adornment of Allah will say, “God who guided us to this, deserves all praise. Had He which He hath brought forth for His bondmen and the good not guided us, we would never have been able to find the right things of His providing? Say: Such, on the Day of Resurrection, direction. The (angelic) Messengers of our Lord came to us with will be only for those who believed during the life of the world. the Truth.” They shall be told, “This is the Paradise which you Thus do we detail Our revelations for people who have have inherited because of your good deeds.” knowledge. َْ Abdel Haleem and Sarwar translated راهنألا as “streams,” ُ َ Shakir: Say: Who has prohibited the embellishment of Allah which seems to be a divergence from a more faithful word to which He has brought forth for His servants and the good the ST, that is, rivers. However, Pickthall and Shakir trans- provisions? Say: These are for the believers in the life of this lated it as “rivers,” which is more faithful to the ST. Similarly, world, purely (theirs) on the resurrection day; thus do We make َ َ The ST verbal phrase مهت حت نم يرجت was rendered by Abdel ُ ِ ْ ِ ْ the communications clear for a people who know. ِ Abdelaal 9 Muhammad Sarwar: (Muhammad), ask them, “Who has made The Quranic ST word, in the context of the ayah, refers to it unlawful to maintain beauty and to eat the pure foods which every kind of dressing whether for adornment or not. Ibn God has created for His servants? They are made for the Ashour (1984), in his tafsir, interpreted the ayah as referring believers in this world and are exclusively for them in the life to clothing including ordinary clothing. Also, Abu hereafter.” Thus do We explain Our revelations to the people Muhammed Al-Baghawi (1989) and Ibn Kathir (2002) inter- who have knowledge. preted ةنيز as “clothing.” Likewise, Abu Abdullah Al-Qurtubi (2004) mentioned that the word refers to dressing, especially As seen in Example 6, the Quranic word تابيطلا was not ren - good dressing. All these meanings are lost in the translation dered into the TT , which results in a semantic loss because as the English word “adornment” refers to things that make Allah Almighty described such food and sustenance by being someone beautiful (Collins Cobuild Dictionary , 2006), and legal “halal.” This is a kind of loss due to undertranslation. thus it does not include the basic needs of the human being. This may have been done by the translators due to lack of In addition, the ayah was revealed to refute the disbelievers’ equivalence problem. The TT does not have an equivalent assumptions that putting on clothes while circumambulating lexeme for the ST word تابيطلا, which means good and halal the Ka’ba is not legal, or that some foods are forbidden (Ibn food. However, I think that transliterating the word or pro- Ashour, 1984), which is not conveyed in the TT. viding a near synonym would have been better than omitting Another loss of connotative meaning occurred in Example the word in the TT, especially the word is an important con- 6 in translating the Quranic word قزرلا as “nourishment” by tent word in the context of the ayah. Leaving the word out in Abdel Haleem. The Quranic ST word قزرلا refers to every the TT might make a reader think that any kind of adornment type of food whether necessary for living or for enjoyment. It or nourishment is allowed, which is not true. There are sev- also refers to meat and samn (ghee) during hajj days, which eral foods which are eaten by non-Muslims, but they are not were considered illegal and forbidden during the pre-Islamic allowed for Muslims. Similarly, there are some very nice era (Al-Baghawi, 1989; Ibn Kathir, 2002). It also refers to clothes and jewelry that are not allowed for men in Islam. what has been considered as forbidden or illegal such as al 5 6 Thus, leaving the word out in the TT has affected the mean- bahirah and al saibah (Al-Baghawi, 1989). However, the ing crucially. Pickthall translated the word as “good things.” English TT word “nourishment” refers to the food that is Similarly, Shakir translated it as “good.” Both Pickthall’s and necessary for living and growth (Collins Cobuild Dictionary, Shakir’s translations attempted to render the ST word. 2006 ). Thus, the connotative meaning is lost in the TT. Although the English word is not equivalent to the ST word, Pickthall translated the ST word قزرلا as “providing,” it is still an approximation of the ST word meaning. Sarwar whereas Shakir rendered it as “provisions.” Both Pickthall’s translated it as “pure,” which is an unfaithful rendition of the and Shakir’s translation seem to be more faithful to the ST ST word. “Pure” does not necessarily mean halal (permissi- because “providing” entails the different shades and aspect ble) in Islam. “Pure” means harmless and clean (Collins of Allah’s bounties such as food and clothes. Unfaithfully, Cobuild Dictionary, 2006), which is different from being Sarwar translated the ST word as “foods,” which is a poor permissible in Islam. For example, natural “silk” is pure and and unfaithful translation of the ST word because “foods” clean; however, it is not allowed to be worn by Muslim men. limit the ST word meaning to a one type of “provisions” that The problem of undertranslation results from some strate- Allah the Almighty bestowed upon us. gies adopted by translators, such as the “functional equiva- Loss of denotative and connotative meaning seems to lent” strategy (Newmark, 1988). Newmark mentioned that a have also occurred in translating هدابع as “His servants” by translator may follow the “functional equivalent” strategy in Abdel Haleem, Shakir and Sarwar. The Quranic word هدابع translation, in case she or he did not find an equivalent for a refers to “worshippers,” in this context, and to Allah word. It is a kind of cultural componential analysis, whereby Almighty’s creatures in the general meaning (Al-Baghawi, the translator deculturalizes a culture-bound word to make it 1989; Ibn Kathir, 2002). However, the word “servant” occupy a middle position between the SL culture and the TL implies serving or working for someone (Collins Cobuild culture. Newmark mentioned that one of the drawbacks of Dictionary, 2006), which seems to be a semantic loss in the this strategy is that it can result in undertranslation when the translation. Pickthall translated it as “bondmen,” which is an SL word is translated into a TL word on a one to one basis. I unfaithful and inaccurate rendition of the ST word. Although guess it should be sought only when there is no equivalent Muslims admit that they are bondmen and slaves to Allah the for the ST word; however, the translators under study have Almighty, the meaning of the ST word in this context does adopted it even when there is a near equivalent word for the not refer to this meaning. In addition, the ST word هدابع is ST word. mostly used in the Holy Quran to refer to believers, whereas َّ َ The ST noun phrase هللاة ني ز was translated by Abdel another word is used to refer to disbelievers, that is, ديبع. Haleem as “the adornment,” whereas it was rendered by Thus, bondmen or slaves can be an accurate translation of the Shakir as “embellishment,” which does not covey the precise word ديبع rather than دابع. None of the translations above meaning of the ST noun phrase. Sarwar translated it as could provide a faithful translation to the ST word, which “beauty,” which is a divergence from the ST phrase meaning. could have been rendered as “worshippers.” 10 SAGE Open of revelation. It goes beyond the mere linguistic A Proposed Model for the Holy Quran understanding of the ST to a more comprehensive Translation understanding of the meanings of the Holy Quran in This section aims to address the second research question, their contexts. A translator, then, has the commission that is, how the translation problems can be dealt with from a to decide which meaning or meanings are the more different theoretical and practical perspective and in regard accurate ones. The same Quranic text can be rendered to the Skopos theory and the functional approach in in different ways due to the fact that that one lexical translation. item can have many near synonyms. However, such Based on the thorough analysis of the data above, I pro- several renditions should not be based on a transla- pose that the translation of the Holy Quran should be guided tor’s whims or tendencies; they rather should be by its Skopos, which is conveying the primary meanings and based on established Islamic books. In the examples functions of the ST and sacrificing the less important fea- provided earlier, it has been postulated that more than tures of the ST. Nobody claims that the translation of the one translation is possible as long it conveys the Holy Quran is the Holy Quran itself; it is a mere rendition of meaning of the ST. To put it clearer, let us take the ST the meanings of the Holy Quran to convey the ST message. phrase ةلاصلا اوميقأ, which can be translated differently It is intended for those who do not know Arabic. Otherwise, based on a translator’s linguistic beliefs. Let’s make the only way to get the full comprehensive meanings of the the below assumed translations: Holy Quran is to know Arabic and to study the Holy Quran and its interpretations. Put differently, the translation of the Option 1: “establish prayers,” Holy Quran does not aim to provide the original Holy Quran Option 2: “perform prayers properly.” or to provide an exhaustive explanation of the meanings of Option 3: “perform salah properly.” the Holy Quran, which can be sought in commentary and interpretation books. It rather aims to enlighten non-Arabic- Each of the suggested translations can be considered accept- speaking Muslims or Islam-interested researchers and to pro- able as each translation is based on linguistic justifications. vide them with the simple meanings of the Holy Quran. This Option 1 might be intelligible to a target reader who does not study suggests that translation of the Holy Quran should know the transliterated term salah, and thus, translating it as attempt to be faithful to the ST by conveying its message “prayers” can approximate the ST word meaning, though it is rather than providing the ST stylistic features or its literal not absolutely an equivalent to the ST word. The word اوميقأ meaning. Achieving faithful translation does not mean to is translated as “establish” in Option 1, which does not con- achieve sameness or equivalence in its narrow meaning. It vey the ST verb meaning precisely; however, it gives the rather means to reduce differences and maximize sameness reader knowledge that prayers should be established, and and in light with the Skopos of the TT. In other words, the implicitly in a proper way. The second option seems to be translation of the Holy Quran may have different skopii in more communicative and faithful to the ST than the first the TL such as educating people on the meanings of the Holy option, as the word اوميقأ is rendered as “perform properly,” Quran, providing evidence of some scientific facts among which tends to convey the ST verb meaning. Although the others. Therefore, a translator should consider the purpose ST verb was translated into two words (verb + adverb), it is the translation is conducted for. In most cases, such as most more faithful to the ST because it expresses the intended the translations of the whole Holy Quran and like those meaning of the ST verb. In this regard, the componential examples provided in the analysis earlier, the purpose of the analysis seems to help in translating semantically complex translation is to convey the utmost possible meanings of words. Therefore, equivalence should not be regarded as an the Holy Quran, and which is the Skopos of the translation in issue of linguistics, that is, semantic and grammatical same- the TT. Having said that the Skopos of the TT should be the ness, which can be rarely achieved. Adopting such a notion main aim of a translator, this does not mean that equivalence of Skopos with the suggested modifications suggests a solu- should be ignored if it is possible to be achieved. A prompt- tion for many problems in the translation of the Holy Quran. ing question in this context is how to handle the problem of For example, the past tense in the Holy Quran that refers to lack of equivalence. Some Quranic words lack equivalents in future events can be translated to future to convey the mes- the TL, and therefore, strategies should be proposed. The fol- sage of the ST that tells about inevitable future events. A lowing steps are suggested to be followed in the translation footnote, however, can be used to draw the attention of the of the Holy Quran: reader to the fact that the ST is coined in the past tense to express the assuredness and inevitability of the occurrence of 1. The Skopos of the TT should be the bedrock of the such future occurrences. However, if the past tense is used in translation process. However, Skopos in translating the Holy Quran to express real past, it then should be ren- the Holy Quran leaves little room of commission to a dered as past tense. translator. A translator should be aware of the differ- In a similar vein, sometimes passive voice needs to be ent interpretations of the Holy Quran and the causes rendered into active voice or vice versa in the TL so as to Abdelaal 11 Figure 1. Proposed model of translating the Holy Quran (stemmed from the Skopos theory). Note. TL = target language; ST = source text. heighten the meaning intended in the ST. In general, though a. Paraphrase. grammar is an issue of meaning in Arabic and English, it b. Transliteration accompanied by an explanation should not be an impediment to render the ST meaning. of the ST lexeme meaning. Translators should admit the fact that there are many mis- c. Borrowing. matches between Arabic and English in terms of tenses, aspects, syntactic features, and stylistic features. Figure 1 summarizes the suggested approach in translating the Holy Quran. 1. A translation should aim at finding an approximate The model indicates that the skopos of translating the Holy meaning of the ST lexemes, considering a word as Quran is conveying the ST message with keeping the loss of the unit of the translation. This should not, however, meaning at a minimal level. In case of a lack of a grammatical affect the intended ST message. equivalent problem, the most communicative translation of 2. Faithfulness should be regarded as a notion that holds the ST tense, based on the Skopos of the TT and the functions a position on a scale that can start from very faithful of the ST, should be provided. Although if the problem in to unfaithful. A faithful translation is a translation in translation arises from a lack of lexical equivalent, compo- which no effort was spared to achieve equivalence nential analysis of the ST lexical item should be implemented, and to convey the ST message. It is not justified that and then the most communicative translation of the ST lexical a translator sacrifices meaning to preserve the stylis- item, based on the Skopos of the TT, should be provided. tic features of an ST. The ultimate goal should be to convey the ST message, with the highest attempt to Conclusion keep the ST stylistic features in the TT. In case a sty- listic feature contradicts the intended message, the This study aimed to highlight the problems faced in the message should win out. translation of the Holy Quran and how they can be dealt 3. In case an equivalent does not exist in the TL, a with from a different theoretical and practical perspective proper strategy should be followed, which can be the and in regard to the Skopos theory. The translation of six following: verses (ayahs) from the Chapter of the Heights and the 12 SAGE Open Chapter of Cattle was purposively selected and analyzed. translation is a translation that indicates that no effort was Several problems and losses in the four translations exam- spared to achieve equivalence and to convey the ST mes- ined were found. This study suggests that faithfulness be sage. The study also suggests that translation of the Holy considered as a notion that holds a position on a scale that Quran should be guided by its Skopos rather than unrealisti- can start from very faithful to unfaithful. A faithful cally aiming at achieving equivalence. Appendix Transliteration table based on Qur’an.com. Abdelaal 13 Declaration of Conflicting Interests As-Samrraai, F. S. (2015). At-Tabeer Al Qurani [The Quranic expression] . Amman: Dar Ammar. The author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect Baker, M. (2004). The status of equivalence in translation studies: to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article. An appraisal. In Y. Zijian (Ed.), English-Chinese comparative study and translation (pp. 63-71). Shanghai, China: Foreign Funding Languages Education Press. Chesterman, A. (2001). Proposal for a Hieronymic oath. The The author(s) received no financial support for the research, author- Translator, 7, 139-154. ship, and/or publication of this article. Collins, H. (2006). CoBuild advanced learner’s English dictionary. Glasgow, Scotland: HarperCollins. ORCID iD Çöz, N. (2012). Considering ethics in translation. Electronic Noureldin Mohamed Abdelaal https://orcid.org/0000- Journal of Vocational Colleges, 2, 131-134. 0001-7706-0413 Creswell, J. W. (2007). Qualitative inquiry and research design: Choosing among five approaches. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage. Diniz, T. F. N. (2003). A new approach to the study of translation: Notes From stage to screen. Cadernos de Traduçao, 2, 29-54. 1. This theory sees meaning as “reality” which exists in all lan- Haque, M. Z. (2012). Translating literary prose: Problems and solu- guages, and hence translation’s task is to represent the same tions. International Journal of English Linguistics, 2, 97-111. reality of the ST. Higgs, J., & Cherry, N. (2009). Doing qualitative research on prac- 2. He is one of the companions who embraced Islam when Holy tice. In J. Higgs, D. Horsfall, & S. Grace (Eds.), Writing quali- Mecca was opened by prophet Muhammed (peace be upon tative research on practice (pp. 1-12). Rotterdam, The him). Netherlands: Sense publishers. 3. One of the famous books of Ibn Al Qayem, which describes Ibn Ashour, M. (1984). Tafsir Attahrir Wattanwir [Liberation and paradise. Enlightenment Interpretation Book] (first). Tunis, Tunisia: 4. Ahmed Ibn Taymyyah is a famous Islamic scholar (661-728 Tunisian Publishing House. AH). Ibn Kathir, H. D. (2002). 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Venuti (Ed.), The Author Biography translation studies reader (pp. 128-137). London, England: Routledge. (Original work published 1958) Noureldin Mohamed Abdelaal holds a PhD in translation and Wang, M. (2012). An analysis of over-translation and under-trans- interpretation, preceded by an MA in English applied linguistics. lation in perspective of cultural connotation. International He is an assistant professor of translation at the University of Conference on Education Technology and Management Nizwa. His research interests and publications are in the areas of Engineering, 16-17, 129-133. translation and applied linguistics.

Journal

SAGE OpenSAGE

Published: Sep 5, 2019

Keywords: faithfulness; equivalence; translation; the Holy Quran; Skopos theory

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