Unit 2 Evaluation of English translation of the Quran (1) Evaluation of English translation of the Quran English translation of the Quran began in 9461, some of famous translators as follows: Alexsander Ross , his translation is named The Alcoran of Mahomet George Sale his translation is named The Alcoran of Mohammed Arberry A.J his translation is named the koran Interpreted Pikthall Mohammad Marmaduke his translation is named The Meaning of the glorious Quran Irving T.B. his translation is named The Quran : The First American Version Mohammad M. H. his translation is named The Quran Qarai Ali Quli The Quran With a Phrase-by-Phrase English Translation Glorifying of translation era has been proliferated in the second half of twentieth century. We are presenting the Evaluation of English translation of the Quran according to the book, "Translating the Untranslatable" within two lessens (unit 2 & unit 3). Ross, Alexander The Alcoran of Mahomet, Translated Out of Arabic for the Satisfaction of All That Desire to Looking into Turkish Vanities (1649) _______ Alexander Ross was a leading public figure of his day and enjoyed fame as a polemical writer, man of letters, historian and chaplain of King Charles I. Born in Aberdeen, Scotland, he was a student of divinity and philosophy. His interest in Turkey and Islam, which he dubs as “Turkish” religion, grew as a result of the increasing diplomatic, trade and travel links between Britain and the Ottoman empire, the latter being the superpower of the day. A few clays before its publication, his translation of the Quran, which happens to be the first one in English, the Council of State, England banned its publication on 2 March 1649, fearing that “the Quran, backed by the powerful empire of the Ottomans might... implant itself in English society.” In order to allay this apprehension Ross added to his work two prefatory flotes: “A summary of the Religion of the Turks, and The translator to the Christian Reader.” Both of these assert that the “Turkish” religion being a mere heresy “could not shake Christian faith.” In pursuance of the same objective he appended to his work, even after it had been printed, two more pieces: “A Needful caveat or Admonition for them who desire to know what use may be made of, or if there be danger in reading the Alcoran,” and The Life and Death of Mahornet.” The polemical intent of the former is evident from its title. As to the latter, it is downright abusive, teeming with imaginary scandalous stories and calumny directed against the Prophet (peace be UOfl him). His other works on history too, betrayhis anti-Islam bigotry. His poor understanding and distortion of things Islamic corne out even in the title of his translation: “The Akoran of Mahorne4 Translated out of Arabic for the satisfaction of all that desire to looking into Turkish vanities.” (italics mine). Not only its patently polemical, some of its other features are equally odd. First, contrary to its claim, it is not a translation from Arabic. Rather, it is a poor English version of Sieur Du Ryers French translation of the Quran which had appeared in 1647. This French translation, as Henry Stubbe observes “is very corrupt, altering and omitting many passages.”° Among all the English translators of the Quran, Ross alone has perhaps the unenviable, rather unimaginable distinction of being a translator of the Quran, who did not know any Arabic. Sale, Stubbe and Zwerner are among several Orientalists who testify to Ross’s lack of knowledge of Arabic. Sale’s comment is highly instructive: Ross’s English version is no other than a translation of Du Ryer’s, and that a very had one; for Alexander Ross who did it, being utterly unacquainted with Arabic, and no great master of the French, has added a number of fresh mistakes of his own to those of Du Ryer, not to mention the meanness of his language, which would make a better book look ridiculous.2 Nabil Matar elaborates the above point further: Ross did not know Arabic and relied completely on tht French translation by Andrew Du Ryer... He translated word for word from the French.0 Owing to his total unfamiliarity with Arabic and Islamic (extS. Ross does not cite even a single Muslim source in his notes on the Quran. Worse, he attributes to Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) such statements which he never made. tintil the publication of George Sale’s translation in 1734, i.e. for more than a century, however, this extremely defective translation served as the main source of the study of the Quran and Islam in English. Notwithstanding its markedly polemical tenor, it stands out as the first English translation, which paved the way for the study of the Quran in England on a wider scale in the years to corne. Though it was eclipsed by Sale’s translation, it was reprinted at regular intervals in the US in the nineteenth century. Since 1948, however, it has not been re- issued. Ross’s work is a telling example of all the characteristics of an Orientalist writing on Islam — sheer hostility and bigotry towards all things Islamic which Muslims regard as sacred; polemical/missionary motive behind the writing; shockingly Insufficient knowledge of Islamic texts and serving the sole objective of misguiding and prejudicing readers against Islam. The narrowness of Ross’s stance is betrayed by his labelling Islam as a “Turkish” religion. His audacity in having translated the Quran without possessing any knowledge of Arabic is Outrageous. REFERENCES 1. Heruy Stubbe, AnAaouniof the RAie €md Progress of Mahometan As,’, uith the Lije of Ma/jomet, ed. Hafiz Mahmud Khan Shirani. Lahore, Sh. Muhammad Ashraf, 1954-1959. 2. George Sale. The Koran. London, Fredreick Warne, 1734. vii. 3. Nahil Matar, “Alexander Ross and the First English Translation of the Quran,” Muslim W’&88:1 (January 1998), 82 and 85. Publication details of the first edition: LOndo, 1649. &O3 pages The Koran, Commonly called the Alcoran of Mohammed George Sale (1734) George Sale, the son of a London merchant, studied law and Arabic. In view of his mastery over Arabic, the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge (SPCK), London, selected him as a member of the team entrusted with the job of producing the Arabic translation of the New Testament for promoting Christianity among the Arabic- speaking people. Prompted by his own interest in the Quran and by his close association with the SPCK, Sale decided to undertake the English translation of the Qui-an. He was aware of the deficiencies in the European translations of the Quran. However, his main motive behind his venture was polemical, as is evident from his own statement of intent: ،imagine it almost needless either to make an apology for publishing the following translation, or to go about to prove it as a work of use as well as curiosity.., it is absolutely necessaty to undeceive those who, from the ignorant or unfair translations which have appeared, have entertained too favorable an opinion of the original, and also to enable us effecnially to expose the imposture... For the Koran being so manifest a forgery! The Protestants alone are able to attack the Koran with success, and for them, I think Providence has reserved the glory of its overthrow.° Not content with even this, he offers detailed instructions to Christian missionaries as to how they should COflvCit Muslims to Christian faith. Unlike his predecessor in the field, Alexander Ross, Sale was conversant with both the Arabic language and tajuir corpus. Yet his translation suffers from every conceivable type of defect — omissions, mistranslations and interpolation of extraneous material into the body of the translation. In his brilliant critique, Ghulam Sarwar identifies numerous instances of the unpardonable liberties taken by Sale: just as Sale distorts the meaning of the Holy Quran by substitution of “O Men of Mecca” for the general expression ‘O men” or “O mankind” in the same he puts in (y. 143, ch. 2) “You O Arabians,” whereas God means “Ye” (Muslims). The words “O Arabians” or “of Mecca” are not in the text hut Sale’s interpolations. In verse 191, chapter 2 “And persecution in faith is worse than war,” is rendered by Sale, “For temptation to idolatry is more grievous than slaughter.” The interpolation of the words “to idolatry” being intended by Sale to insinuate the intolerance of Islam to other religions. In verse 12, chapter 5, “And sent forward to Goci a g sending,” is rendered by Sale, “And lend unto God on usury.” This is simply ridiculous. In y. 43, ch.15, fourteen words of the original enlarged into forty-seven in the translation. Let all the readers of the Holy Quran be aware of forgeries. The following is a most wilful rnistransI1 of Sale’s (ch. 22, v.52): “We have sent no prophet bef thee, but when he read, Satan suggested sorne error in reading.” All Christian writers have harped upon this” and the fancied occasion on which it is said to have revealed, ... the translation given above is entirely for the words “read” and “reading” are not in the text.2 nave Sale is guilty also of having mistranslated a/-gha)’b as “mysteries of faith” and bi is,,, Al/ab a/-Rahmm a/-Rabee,,, as “In the name of the most merciful God.” In the latter instance he tends to take aI-Rahma,i and a/-Rriheem as perfect synonymous and lumps the two together under his loose rendering, “the most merciful.” Throughout his Preliminary Discourse and his explanatory notes he aims at pressing home that the Quranic text is imperfect and that Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) erred in composing it.