QURAN CAN NEVER BE TRANSLATED
Translating Quran from original Arabic loses meaning
(by Shirien Elmasraya:
selmasraya@lsureveille.com
Summarized by Dr.ZiaUllah Zia)
Quran is only in Arabic and a translation of the Quran is not the real Quran due to some problems with translations.
About 82% of Muslims aren't Arab. They claim to follow the Quran but Arabic isn't their language, which is exactly why Muslims must learn Arabic.
Muslims pray five times a day. Those prayers can only be recited in the Arabic language as much of the prayer is reciting verses of the Quran. How can Muslims get the full benefit of prayer when they don't understand what they're reciting?
The Quran was revealed to the prophet Muhammad in the Arabic language. One problem faced when anything gets translated into another language is the issue of words and meanings getting lost in translation. Anyone who studies foreign languages knows what I mean. When something is lost in translation, it's no longer the true word of the author or speaker - in this case Allah, or God.
The miraculous nature and beauty of the Quran is crystal clear through the Arabic recitation. A translation is good for people who don't know the language, and there is still a lot of beauty in it, but there is no comparison between a translation and its mother tongue. You may say this is only an opinion, but I'm now going to provide just a little evidence to prove our claim:
I took a Quranic Arabic course at an institute called Bayyinah in 2006. The course was taught by a well-known speaker on Islam and scholar of the Arabic language, Nouman Ali Khan. I recently e-mailed him about my column, and he gave me a couple of examples and evidence, all of which I wish I could explain. Because of a lack of space, I chose three of them:
1- the Quran is the true, divine word of God. Allah states explicitly 11 times that it is an Arabic Quran or "قرآناً عربیا."
"The most important of these 11 citations is 12:2, where the Arabic is directly associated with its understanding," ( Nouman Ali Khan ):
اِنَّاۤ اَنۡزَلۡنٰهُ قُرۡءٰنًا عَرَبِيًّا لَّعَلَّكُمۡ تَعۡقِلُوۡنَ (12:02)
We have reveled this Quran in Arabic only to be intellectually understood by you all.
2- Verbal and nominal idioms:
Have you ever spoken to a foreign exchange student or someone who recently came to live in the United States? You may have used terms like, "That's hot" or "Chill out" around him or her only to leave that person a little confused about your inappropriate reference to temperature. This happens in all languages. There are verbal idioms that can't be translated. Likewise, here's the transliteration for a phrase in the Quran:
"وَأْتُوا الْبُيُوتَ مِنْ أَبْوَابِھا," (2:189)
which if literally translated would say, "And enter the houses by their doors." Khan says Arabs used to say something similar for when they would do something following the appropriate protocols. So it's actually closer to the English expression "doing something the way it's supposed to be done" or "doing it right." "Expressions have cultural and historical contexts, and the Quran have well over 400 verbal expressions not even counting the nominal ones," Khan said. "This is not just a problem for English, but even Modern Arabic doesn't retain those expressions the way classical Arabic did."
3- The coherence of the Quran. "The Quran communicates Its message employing a unique methodology of dividing passages - rhyme scheme," Khan said Examples of this can be found in chapters like the 19th, 77th, 78th and many other chapters of the Quran. "Listeners know when there is a footnote, an intervention, a change of subject or, for that matter, a return to a previous subject just by the rhyme scheme of the ayaat [verses or signs] which of course is not possible in translation," Khan said.
There's tons of evidence, but unfortunately it can't all be explained because of lack of space. When the Quran was revealed in Arabia, many of the idol worshippers who were keen to poetry heard the Quran and knew that no human could produce words, and linguistic miracles such as those found in the Quran. And until today, the Quran is considered by Muslims to be the greatest miracle of all time. Click on the following title:
(by Shirien Elmasraya:
selmasraya@lsureveille.com
Summarized by Dr.ZiaUllah Zia)
Quran is only in Arabic and a translation of the Quran is not the real Quran due to some problems with translations.
About 82% of Muslims aren't Arab. They claim to follow the Quran but Arabic isn't their language, which is exactly why Muslims must learn Arabic.
Muslims pray five times a day. Those prayers can only be recited in the Arabic language as much of the prayer is reciting verses of the Quran. How can Muslims get the full benefit of prayer when they don't understand what they're reciting?
The Quran was revealed to the prophet Muhammad in the Arabic language. One problem faced when anything gets translated into another language is the issue of words and meanings getting lost in translation. Anyone who studies foreign languages knows what I mean. When something is lost in translation, it's no longer the true word of the author or speaker - in this case Allah, or God.
The miraculous nature and beauty of the Quran is crystal clear through the Arabic recitation. A translation is good for people who don't know the language, and there is still a lot of beauty in it, but there is no comparison between a translation and its mother tongue. You may say this is only an opinion, but I'm now going to provide just a little evidence to prove our claim:
I took a Quranic Arabic course at an institute called Bayyinah in 2006. The course was taught by a well-known speaker on Islam and scholar of the Arabic language, Nouman Ali Khan. I recently e-mailed him about my column, and he gave me a couple of examples and evidence, all of which I wish I could explain. Because of a lack of space, I chose three of them:
1- the Quran is the true, divine word of God. Allah states explicitly 11 times that it is an Arabic Quran or "قرآناً عربیا."
"The most important of these 11 citations is 12:2, where the Arabic is directly associated with its understanding," ( Nouman Ali Khan ):
اِنَّاۤ اَنۡزَلۡنٰهُ قُرۡءٰنًا عَرَبِيًّا لَّعَلَّكُمۡ تَعۡقِلُوۡنَ (12:02)
We have reveled this Quran in Arabic only to be intellectually understood by you all.
2- Verbal and nominal idioms:
Have you ever spoken to a foreign exchange student or someone who recently came to live in the United States? You may have used terms like, "That's hot" or "Chill out" around him or her only to leave that person a little confused about your inappropriate reference to temperature. This happens in all languages. There are verbal idioms that can't be translated. Likewise, here's the transliteration for a phrase in the Quran:
"وَأْتُوا الْبُيُوتَ مِنْ أَبْوَابِھا," (2:189)
which if literally translated would say, "And enter the houses by their doors." Khan says Arabs used to say something similar for when they would do something following the appropriate protocols. So it's actually closer to the English expression "doing something the way it's supposed to be done" or "doing it right." "Expressions have cultural and historical contexts, and the Quran have well over 400 verbal expressions not even counting the nominal ones," Khan said. "This is not just a problem for English, but even Modern Arabic doesn't retain those expressions the way classical Arabic did."
3- The coherence of the Quran. "The Quran communicates Its message employing a unique methodology of dividing passages - rhyme scheme," Khan said Examples of this can be found in chapters like the 19th, 77th, 78th and many other chapters of the Quran. "Listeners know when there is a footnote, an intervention, a change of subject or, for that matter, a return to a previous subject just by the rhyme scheme of the ayaat [verses or signs] which of course is not possible in translation," Khan said.
There's tons of evidence, but unfortunately it can't all be explained because of lack of space. When the Quran was revealed in Arabia, many of the idol worshippers who were keen to poetry heard the Quran and knew that no human could produce words, and linguistic miracles such as those found in the Quran. And until today, the Quran is considered by Muslims to be the greatest miracle of all time. Click on the following title:
Absolutely agree.
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