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In 🇪🇬 Egypt 🇪🇬 in May 2023, I came across an English Qur’an translation that appeared at first glance to be a reprint of an old work but, as is often the case, at second glance turned out to be much more than that. #qurantranslationoftheweek 
Right next to the entrance of the Ibn Tulun Mosque, one of the major Islamic tourist sites of Cairo, stood a big shelf that offered ‘free Islamic books’ in a variety of languages.
These were predominantly Qur’an translations, most of them published by the Cairo-based Jamʿiyyat Ḥusn al-Qawl, variably translated to English as ‘Best Speech Society’ or ‘The Best of Speech Society’ (best-speech.org/books-library/).
In 1999, al-Azhar University in 🇪🇬 Egypt published the 🇩🇪 German version of its project to standardize Qur’an translation. Has it succeeded in combining the promotion of al-Azhar’s theological doctrine with its claim to being non-divisive? #qurantranslationoftheweek
Like the versions in other languages (for English and Russian, see gloqur.de/quran-translat… and gloqur.de/quran-translat…), this German Qur’an translation was based on the concise Qur’an commentary
'Al-Muntakhab’ purports to be a simplified summary of the ‘most correct’ interpretations of the exegetical tradition – a claim that is fraught with problems.
This week we look at the first Muslim-authored translation into German, which was published during World War II by Maulana Sadr-ud-Din (d. 1981), a missionary of the Lahore Ahmadiyya movement, and caused much controversy within his community. #qurantranslationoftheweek
Sadr-ud-Din, who had previously worked as a missionary in Woking, arrived in Berlin in 1923 to promote the spread of Islam there. In 1925, he acquired a plot of land for a mosque, following which the Wilmersdorfer Moschee, the oldest mosque still standing in Germany, was built.
Sadr-ud-Din expanded his contacts with Muslim communities in Berlin, whose representatives he invited to his home. This led to an interesting encounter between Tatar intellectuals and Sadr-ud-Din, during which the subject of the translation of the Qur’an was discussed.
In another attempt to provide an 'accurate' translation of the Qur’an into Russian, the Sharipovs, two Tatar Islamicists from an academic background, published the first edition of their translation in 2009 and the second edition in 2012. #qurantranslationoftheweek
'Koran: Perevod na russkiĭ i͡azyk' by Ural Sharipov and Raisa Sharipova is associated with the Russian Academy of Sciences Institute of Oriental Studies (Iv Ran) and is intended to be useful for both an academic readership and the general public.
However, despite the fact that Ural Sharipov emphasizes the academic nature of his and Raisa Sharipova’s work, the introduction states that ‘we regard the Qur’an as Revelation of Divine origin, which corresponds to the beliefs of a billion and a half Muslims.’
In 1915, the Ahmadiyya Movement published the first part of ‘The Holy Qur-ān with English Translation and Explanatory Notes’, the first Ahmadi translation to be published in a European language. #qurantranslationoftheweek
The Ahmadiyya Movement was the first Islamic group to begin translating the Qur’an into European languages, a project they initiated at the beginning of the twentieth century. Since then, the Ahmadiyya has published more than 80 translations in different languages.
The idea of translating the Qur’an into other languages is almost as old as the movement itself. As early as 1890, a year after its inception, Mirza Ghulam Ahmad, the founder of the Ahmadiyya Movement, approached Muslims in India.
The issue of Qur’anic translatability was still a subject of debate during the 1930s in the Middle East, but some European Muslims did not regard this as a problem at all (even for the English language) – including Jakub Szynkiewicz (1884–1966). #qurantranslationoftheweek
The works of Szynkiewicz, a Muslim and Orientalist scholar who served as mufti of Poland, are a good example of a contribution to the translation movement made by an outstanding personality.
After graduating from Berlin University in 1926, having completed a thesis in Turkic philology, Jakub Szynkiewicz continued his educational activities during many trips abroad.
In the early 2000s, the 🇹🇷Turkish Directorate of Religious Affairs (TDRA, usually known as ‘Diyanet’) expanded its publication of translations of the Qur’an by, for the first time, adding Turkish to the many languages it had previously focused on.
After the 1st modern ‘institutional’ TDRA translation into Turkish was published in 2001 (‘Kur’an-i Kerim Meali’ by Halil Altuntaş & Muzaffer Şahin), another project was successfully realized: ‘Kur'an Yolu Türkçe Meal ve Tefsir’ (‘The Path of the Qur’an: Translation and tafsīr’).
First published in 2006 in five volumes, this comprised not only a translation of the Qur’an (‘meal’, or ‘the meanings’ in Turkish), but also a voluminous commentary.
The turn of the millennium gifted Russian-speaking Muslim communities with a new Qur’an interpretation: al-Muntakhab: Tolkovanie Svi͡ashchennogo Korana na Arabskom i Russkom I͡azykakh (2000). #qurantranslationoftheweek 🇪🇬🇷🇺 🌏
This publication not only received official approval from Egypt’s al-Azhar University (which has a widespread policy of providing official sanction for translations it endorses), but was directly published through the Egyptian Ministry of Awqāf (‘endowments’).
In fact, this new Russian translation was a part of a larger international project initiated and lead by al-Azhar. Positioning itself as a leading center of Islamic learning in the Muslim world, in 1990 al-Azhar had produced a short tafsīr in Arabic, named al-Muntakhab.
The popular translation of the Qur’an into English widely known as ‘Hilali-Khan’ is one of the most influential Islamic texts in the world. 🌍🌎🌏 #qurantranslationoftheweek
Published in numerous editions, it gained much of its fame in the late 1990s and early 2000s, while recently it has been criticized on various grounds, some more controversial than others.
Criticisms have ranged from assertions that the often problematic grammar and style was not always suitable for native (or non-native) speakers of English…
Shahnaz Saïdi Benbetka’s 🇫🇷 French Qur’an translation, published by Maulana Wahiduddin Khan’s Goodword Books, is a prime example of 🌏 global da’wa with an at least partially feminist angle. #qurantranslationoftheweek
Khan (1925–2021), an Indian scholar, was the founder of a Goodword Books, which focuses on the distribution of Qur’an translations.
@AfsanRedwan discussed his English Qur’an translation (which was co-authored with, and probably mostly produced by, his daughter Farida Khanam on the basis of his Urdu translation) last week.
In the 2nd installment of our series on Qur’an translation as propaganda, we will look at Nejmi Sagib Bodamialisade (1897–1964), a Muslim in Cyprus, an oft-forgotten corner of the British Empire. #qurantranslationoftheweek
In the period between the two world wars, Nejmi Sagib (or in later Turkish Spelling Necmi Sagıp) started translating the Qur’an into English verse in order to gain British support for Muslim Cypriot interests.
His translations of segments of the Qur’an, published in short booklets, are among the quirkiest examples of Qur’an translation, if the term “translation” is even applicable to them.
The first instalment of our three-part series on “Qur’an translation as propaganda” is devoted to Mahmud Mukhtar Pasha, the Ottoman Ambassador in Berlin, who used Qur’an translation to foster the German-Ottoman alliance in the First World War. #qurantranslationoftheweek
The Ottoman Empire had entered the war in November 1914 on the side of Germany and Austria-Hungary. Pro-Ottoman circles in Germany were eager to sell this new alliance to a German-speaking public.
The new pro-Ottoman propaganda effort meant it was necessary to portray Islam as a religion that was neither incompatible with modernity nor inherently hostile to non-Muslims. Its supporters encouraged Mahmud Mukhtar to contribute to this effort.
The translator in this week’s thread is very much a household name for readers of the Qur’an in English, but what are the roots of that popularity? And who is the man behind the name: Abdullah Yusuf Ali?
#qurantranslationoftheweek 🌏🇮🇳🇵🇰🇬🇧
#qurantranslationoftheweek 🌏🇮🇳🇵🇰🇬🇧
It is commonly stated that Abdullah Yusuf Ali’s “The Holy Qur’an” has been printed more than any other in English, and is most sought after. One site provides an indicative graph that may support this claim:
quranyusufali.com/what-is-the-mo…
quranyusufali.com/what-is-the-mo…
A.R. Kidwai, in his bibliography of English translations, managed to identify over 200 editions of Yusuf Ali’s translation up to the year 2002. (NB: some are filed under earlier years than their actual publication.)
Is God’s scripture alone enough to provide sufficient guidance to believers? This week’s thread is about a recent Quranist Qur’an translation into Russian, made in Kazakhstan. #qurantranslationoftheweek 🇰🇿🌏
The general answer across the Abrahamic faiths has been ‘no’, however the tendency to eschew the intermediation of religious scholars and clergy and focus solely on scripture has been represented by various religious movements throughout history.
They have emerged at different times and in different religions, as can be seen by the example of groups such as the Karaites in medieval Judaism, or the sola scriptura approach to the Bible in the Christian context.
🇿🇦 The history of the first Afrikaans Qur’an translation throws a spotlight on the afterlives of slavery in South Africa, the international movement of texts and ideas in the twentieth century, and the disruption caused by the apartheid regime. #qurantranslationoftheweek 🇿🇦
‘Die Heilige Qur’ān’ by Imam Mohammed Armien Baker (1910–1982) was first published in 1961 in Cape Town. Baker was the imam of the Noorul Islam Mosque in Simon’s Town (Afrikaans: Simonstad), a naval settlement near Cape Town, and also principal of the Muslim primary school.
Typical of the Western Cape region, it was home to a large number of people who were classified as ‘coloured.’ In the South African context, this was a legal category that comprised anyone who was not classified as white, black or ‘Indian’ (e.g., mixed race; Malay).
What role does modern science play in our understanding of the Qur’an? This week we will look at the Urdu translation/exegesis of Sayyid Ahmad Khan (d. 1898), who tried to bridge the gap between ancient Islamic tradition and modern science. #qurantranslationoftheweek
Sayyid Ahmad Khan was born in Delhi in 1817 into an Ashraf family. After the death of his father, he decided to work for the British, becoming part of the colonial legal administration.
After the failed mutiny in 1857, he wrote a work on the possible reasons that led to the uprising against British rule. Sayyid Ahmad Khan's attitude towards India’s colonialist, Christian rulers was mainly one of peaceful coexistence.
Today, in the 70th installment of "Qur'an translation of the week", we discuss an Uyghur translation of the Qur'an. 🌏 #qurantranslationoftheweek 🌏
The history of Qur’an interpretation in Eastern Turkic areas has its roots in the medieval era while Qur’an translations, in the modern sense of independent books containing the translated text of the Qur’an, have appeared only recently.
The few twentieth-century Qur’an translations that have been published in the area were more like tafsīrs than translations.
Recently, the Ahmadiyya Muslim Jamaat has published a new revised German translation of the Qur’an titled ‘Der Heilige Qur’an’. In this post, I will take a close look at this new edition and discuss some of the things that have been changed. #qurantranslationoftheweek 🌍🇩🇪
The Ahmadiyya Movement has been translating the Qur’an into different languages for more than 100 years, with the goal of making the meaning of the Qur’an accessible in all languages of the world.
The community began translating the Qur’an into European languages as early as the beginning of the twentieth century. The main impetus behind this endeavour was the aspirations of Mirzā Ghulām Aḥmad (d. 1908), the founder of the Ahmadiyya movement.
Unlike Arabic works, Qur’an commentaries in other languages have to involve or incorporate translation of the scriptural text. When those works are translated, the Qur’an translation itself may have to be rendered in the new language.
#qurantranslationoftheweek 🌍🇬🇧
#qurantranslationoftheweek 🌍🇬🇧
Before looking at a few examples, particularly noting how this process can go wrong, let’s appreciate the value of Qur’an translation for an exegete: they can show concisely how they are reading the verse.
Previously we discussed the process of translating the Qur’an in accordance with a particular exegesis, e.g. Baydawi: but of course Baydawi didn’t actually translate the Qur’an.
‘Fatḥ al-Raḥmān bi-tarjamat al-Qurʾan’, the Persian translation by the famous Indian scholar Shāh Walī Allāh Dihlawī (1703–1762), was the first work to have a substantial influence on the genre of Qur’an translation in the Indian subcontinent.
#qurantranslationoftheweek 🌏🇮🇳
#qurantranslationoftheweek 🌏🇮🇳
Shāh Walī Allāh was born into a religous family who lived near Delhi. He began learning the Qur’an at an early age, and by the time he was ten he was already studying works written in Arabic and Persian.
When he was 17, he assumed the responsibility of running the Madrasa-yi Raḥīmiyya, an Islamic seminary founded by his father in Delhi, where he worked as a teacher for the next twelve years.
The “Bhâsa Madhurâ” (Madurese) translation of the Qur’an is one of many vernacular translations of the Qur’an in Indonesia.
#qurantranslationoftheweek 🌏🇮🇩
Guest thread by Ulya Fikriyati, Institut Ilmu Keislaman Annuqayah (INSTIKA) Guluk-Guluk Sumenep
#qurantranslationoftheweek 🌏🇮🇩
Guest thread by Ulya Fikriyati, Institut Ilmu Keislaman Annuqayah (INSTIKA) Guluk-Guluk Sumenep
The island of Madura is located immediately to the northeast of Java. The Madureseconstitute the fifth most populous of Indonesia’s 1,340 recognised ethnic groups, and Madurese is the second most widely spoken language in East Java.
The majority of Madurese people identify as Muslim. Most of the older generation are able to read the Qur’an even if they do not know the Roman alphabet. Unfortunately, the ability to read the Qur’an doesn’t necessarily entail the ability to understand it.
South Asian Muslims have been translating the Qur’an into Urdu for over two centuries. The first complete Urdu translations emerged at the end of the 18th and the beginning of the 19th centuries.
#qurantranslationoftheweek 🌏🇮🇳
#qurantranslationoftheweek 🌏🇮🇳
“Mūḍiḥ al-Qurʼān”, which is arguably the first full Qur’an translation to be written in idiomatic Urdu, was authored by Shāh ʿAbd al-Qādir Dihlawī and completed in 1790.
ʻAbd al-Qādir was a descendent of the illustrious Shāh family, which pioneered the first translations of the Qur’an into Persian and Urdu.
This week’s thread looks at a translation belonging to a trend broadly known as ‘Quranism’ or ‘Qur’an-only’. Paradoxically, its members often see a need to promote their own ideas and writings, including translations of the scripture.
#qurantranslationoftheweek 🌎🇺🇸
#qurantranslationoftheweek 🌎🇺🇸
Quranist theory may have had early proponents, but it goes against the epistemic approaches and hermeneutics of mainstream Islamic schools. Its proponents are often explicit in rejecting the religion of ordinary Muslims, who are beholden to hadiths attributed to Prophet Muhammad.
Modern founding figures Ghulam Ahmed Parwez (d. 1985) and Rashad Khalifa (d. 1990) argued that the Prophet was tasked only with delivering the divine message intact. See, respectively: A.Y. Musa, Ḥadīth as Scripture, 14; J.M.S. Baljon, Modern Muslim Koran Interpretation, 17-19.
“This work”, says the publisher, “was not named ‘The Qur’an and its Translation’, because its author, M. Quraish Shihab, was acutely aware that the Qur’an is a holy book that cannot possibly be translated into any other language.” #qurantranslationoftheweek 🌏🇮🇩
Nevertheless, Muhammad Quraish Shihab’s (MQS)“Al-Qur’an dan Maknanya” (“The Qur’an and its Meanings”, first published in 2010) comes across as a Qur’an translation, rather than a qur’anic commentary.
Published in a single 650-page volume, which includes both the Arabic text of the Qur’an and an appendix that summarizes the content of all surahs, the work renders the meaning of the Qur’an into Indonesian verse by verse.
