The Translators’ Background Impact on the Translation of the Noble Quran

تأثير الخلفية المعرفية للمترجمين على ترجمة القران الكريم

أسامة حميد ابراهيم

قسم الترجمة، كلية الآداب، جامعة الموصل، الموصل، العراق

المستخلص :

• تتناول الدراسة الحالية موضوعاً مهماً، ألا وهو تأثير الخلفية المعرفية التي تؤثر على جودة ترجمة الآيات المترجمة قيد الدراسة. وتبحث في مدى تدخل مترجمي القرآن الكريم في عملية الترجمة بخلفياتهم الأيديولوجية. وتفترض الدراسة أنه بمجرد أن يغرس المترجم خلفيته المعرفية (سواء كانت أيديولوجية دينية أو اجتماعية)، فإن جودة المنتج الترجمي تكون نتيجة للمعالجة وليس المراقبة. وفي هذه الحالة، يقومون بإضافة أو تغيير أو حذف بعض العناصر المعجمية أثناء ترجمة القرآن الكريم. وتشكل خمس آيات مع اربع ترجماتبيانات هذه الدراسة. وبعد التفسير والتحليل الثاقب بالاعتماد على كتب التفسير الموثوقة، أصبح من الواضح أن بعض الترجمات تتم معالجتها باستخدام كلمات وعبارات متحيزة أيديولوجيا. وأخيراً، يوصى بشدة بمراجعة هذه الترجمات بطريقة تعكس المعنى المقصود بدقة وأمانة
• الكلمات المفتاحية: الترجمة، الخلفية المعرفية، الايدلوجية ، القرآن الكريم

• Introduction

    Quran is the actual word of Allah revealed to the Prophet Mohammed in Arabic language as it is known. Quran manifestly employs a rhetorical language in a way that makes the matter of its translation, to some extent, fluctuate between untranslatability and hermeneutic (interpretative) method approached in its rendition. For a long time, the issue of translating the Quran has been debatable among translation theorists on the one hand and Islamic scholars on the other. However, The Quran has been translated by numerous individuals with various ideological dispositions amounts to myriad translations.

   The current study aims at investigating several renderings of Quranic verses finding out the translators' background impact on the process of translation of some Quranic verses. More precisely, the attempt is made to uncover to what extent the translators of the Quran intervene with their ideology and personal values in the translation. The problem discussed in this study related to the questions that the researcher tries to find suitable answers to: To what extent do the translators intervene with their ideology and personal values while translating the Quranic text?

   Furthermore, the study hypothesizes that once the translators' ideology and personal values intervene in the translation, the immediate result would be subjective rather than objective. If the case so, one can say the product has been undergone management rather than monitoring. 

    Intending to achieve the earlier mentioned items, the researcher tries to collect six verses that were translated by different people with different ideological backgrounds: Arab and non-Arab, Muslim and non-Muslim (for instance they may be Orientalists, Jews, etc). These renderings are to be compared with each other hunching on an eclectic model made of the monitoring and management proposed by De Beaugrande and Dressler (1981) (1) and Nida’s 1964 (2) formal and dynamic equivalence (with its three components: addition, alterations, and deletion). Embarking on such a study, one should demarcate himself in conducting this kind of study. Therefore, since the background impact is a broad perspective, the scope of this study will be confined to the ideological background impact on the process of translation. In this respect, a further restriction can be added to the study that is the religious ideological background impact will be our arena in order to exclude the other kinds of ideology, say, political ideology like democracy, socialism, capitalism, communism, etc.

1.2 What is Ideology ?

    The concept of ideology has become especially in recent years a hot topic among discourse analysts, and translation theorists. However, ideology has been talked about by many scholars. Thompson (1990:55) (3) claims that many people nowadays would not hesitate to proclaim that they were conservatives or socialists, democrats or republicans, feminists or ecologists, whereas few people would proudly declare themselves to be "ideologists". He adds that ideology is the thoughts of others, i.e. the thoughts of someone other than oneself. To describe a view as ideological seems to convey a negative critical sense.

      Similarly, Van Dijk (2006)(4)) says “Ideology has proliferated to the point where it is now widely regarded as common sense, evident beliefs, or opinions within a community. Therefore, a large portion of what are now commonly acknowledged as social or human rights, such as numerous manifestations of gender equality, were and still are the intellectual tenets of the socialist or feminist movements. Thus, as soon as these ideas are included into the Common Ground, they by definition cease to be ideological". Ideology is not confined to only one kind of attitude but rather of many types as in the upcoming sections.

2.3 Religious Ideology as A Background Knowledge

   Van Dijk (1998)  (5) defines an ideology as a system that performs the basis of the socio-political cognitions of social groups. It organizes the social group attitudes and tendencies, which consists of schematically organized general opinions about relevant social issues. For instance, to view a fighter as a rebel or terrorist is based on the belief that the translator or interpreter brings to perception which can be accepted by the TL audience and Target culture. Likewise, (6) social members apply, and share values in a wide range of situations and behaviors. They obviously serve as the foundation for all assessment processes, and by extension, for beliefs, attitudes, and opinions. As a result, if values are the foundation of a culture overall and ideologies form the basis of collective beliefs, then so must the evaluative systems of a culture as a whole. Theoretically, values monitor how ideologies and attitudes are evaluated. In other words, fundamental social beliefs are formed from values when they are applied to particular societal situations and areas.

In the same line, an ideological shift could result from any conflicting or competing religious beliefs and concepts that surface throughout the translation process. Members of a speech community's thoughts and actions are also greatly influenced by political beliefs, social norms, and conventions.  No doubt, religion has a paramount influence in certain speech communities that speak Arabic. It is acceptable to say, in general, that religion in these cultures takes precedence over all other facets of culture. Whether deliberate or not, it is the main force behind these societies. At the same time, religion has far less hold in English-speaking Western culture. It is predicted in such a setting that there will frequently be a conflict between the translator's and the writer's religious views, leading to ideological bias in the translated text (see Aziz and Latiash 2000) (7).

2.4Ideological Background and Language Representation

   In the twentieth century, ideology appears as a crucial phenomenon to be studied in connection with language. According to the traditional approach to ideology, language was taken for granted and there was a concentration on the basic features of ideology as found in the content of discourse. Linguistically, the latent structure can be assumed to be equivalent to ideology. Starting from the structural analysis of language, various views have emerged. The first view is semiological represented by the early works of Barthes and Greimas. The second view is the rejection of the concept of ideology as false consciousness represented by Barthes (1972) who describes this hidden second level as the level of connotation in opposition to the level of denotation. Thus, language as a system of signification comprises (1) a plane of expression (signifier) and (2) a plane of content (signified).

Greimas uses the term "practical level" as "denotation" and mythical level as "connotation", The mythical level can be described using a hypothetical actinia model. This model is based on a subject that desires an object of communication between a sender and a receiver. However, the desire of the subject is supported by a helper and opposed by an opponent. Greimas's mythical level can be represented by the following table.

Greimas's Mythic Level

(see Aziz and Latiash 2000 (7) Sulaimaan, 2013 (8) 185)

   Lefevere (1992)  (9)claims in this respect that ideology should come first, then linguistic considerations. As a result, one can say that ideology is most realized in political discourse using "concealment", and "legitimation" manipulation" among other aspects which are the basic functions of ideology.

    Simpson (1993) (10) is of the view that language use cannot be regarded as natural, value-free, or exempt from at least some ‘angle of telling’. Instead, an interconnected set of societal presumptions, political convictions, and institutional norms—that is, ideologies—shape it. Whereas Fairclough (1995) (11) sees that “language use, including the linguistic forms that appear in texts, is rooted in social relations and processes that systematically determine variations in its features. The fact that language is a tangible manifestation of ideology and that ideology is ingrained in language is one feature of this imbrication in the social aspect that is fundamental to the idea of discourse”. He further argues that discourse is shaped by structures. In addition to "a mediated form of political and economic structures,". These structures are most immediately of a discoursal/ideological character of discourse, codes, and its parts such as vocabularies or turn-taking procedures. According to him, the connections between discourse and these extra-discoursal structures and interconnections are fundamental. ''ideology  has  material  effects,  discourse  contributes to the creation and constant recreation of the relations, subjects and objects which populate the social world’’ (for a similar view see  (12,13).

    Wales (2001) (14) states that ideology of often simply used as in semiotics to mean any system of values based on ideas and prejudices and cultural and social assumptions which amount to a pervasive, unconscious, world-view.

Ideology, and particularly the ideology of power relations, gained prominence with the growth of deconstruction and cultural studies. Although statements regarding ideology are common in many domains, they are not always supported by sufficient evidence. This common trend is also evident in the field of translation studies. For example, Lefebvre's (1992) (9) broad claim that "on every level of the translation process, it can be shown that, if linguistic considerations enter into conflict with considerations of an ideological and/or poet logical nature, the latter tends to win out" is hardly supported by the few case studies he presents.

2.5 Ideological Background and Translation Shift

   Once the translator is involved in the translation with his/her attitude and ideology the shift is unavoidable. In this regard, Popovič (1970)  (15) argues that shifts can be formulated in negative and positive ways: "shifts are viewed as undesirable outcomes of the translation act, as something to be avoided," in terms of negative formulations. So errors, alterations, or mistranslations are defined as changes made to specific values or properties in the original text that should have remained unchanged. Shifts can be seen to work within a limited theory of translatability since they are viewed as "unnecessary deviations from the due course of the translation process" (ibid) .

    Shifts can be obligatory and optional. As for required changes, language system distinctions control the obligatory shifts, for example, a lack of the source and target languages. Optional shifts are those opted for by the translator for stylistic, ideological, or cultural reasons (16).

By the same token, The inquiries Nord (1991) (17) poses concerning a particular text that needs to be translated are applicable to translation generally, but they do so with a focus on power: What is included and what is not translated (valued and excluded)? Who oversees production (does the translation)? Who is translated for (i.e., who is granted access to resources in other languages and who is not)? What is added, removed, or changed to control the message in the translation of the material?

    Aziz (1998) (18) believes that every translation means in a sense rewriting the original text. Therefore, such rewriting invariably entails a number of changes in the ST's philosophy, particularly when the ST and the TT are from two distinct cultural backgrounds. Two general trends may be detected in ideological shifts resulting from the process of translation: (1) Alienation refers to a move away from the ST's (source culture); integration, on the other hand, is a move toward the target culture, typically leading to a more or less ideological fusion. When the writer of the ST has an ideology that is markedly different from the translator's, there is an intrusion of the translation that results in both of these basic trends. Ideological shifts may involve any type of belief although they are most commonly observed in certain areas, namely religious, social, and political fields. Integration and alienation can occur when specific message components are added, deleted, or altered. There are various degrees of realizing these three processes. For example, adding information can take the form of subtly interpolating ideas or inserting explicit comments. Moreover, deletion may be implicit or explicit. One way to think of substitution is as a type of addition followed by deletion, where some information is removed and replaced with another piece of information.

  This could involve switching out an informationally strong linguistic sign in the TT for an informationally weak linguistic sign in the ST, or vice versa.

Alvares & Vidal (1996) (19) assert that understanding the intricacy of the translation process and avoiding the oversimplified perspective that views translation as only the transference of words from one text to another will lead to an appreciation of the significance of the ideology that underlies a translation. They contend that the translator "reveals his history and the socio-political milieu that surrounds him; in other words, his own culture and ideology".  Thus, these components, namely, culture and ideology, are almost behind every decision he makes, including what to add, what to omit, which words to use, and where to put them.

In the same line, it is usually argued that ideology subconsciously or consciously impinges  on the translation process in subtle ways. Text readers process texts at all levels based on their own preconceptions, beliefs, and worldviews. There are several factors to consider, including cohesive relations, text type, theme/rheme progression, text structure, and individual word selections ( 20).

Fawcett (1998) (21) stresses the role of ideology in translation saying: "People and organizations applied their specific beliefs to the production of certain effects in translation throughout the centuries." Some of the earliest translations that humans have ever done exhibit an ideological approach to translation (for a similar view see, Abdull, 1999 (22).

   Translation refers to “the transfer of certain values of expression or content across a semiotic border; shifts are concomitant with this transfer”. Therefore, rather than focusing on the static, contrastive description of languages and cultures, the explanation and description of changes in translation as performance should be concerned with the dynamics of culture” (23).

Since ''the choice of a source text and the use to which the subsequent target text is decided by the interests, aims, and objectives of social agents'', Schäffner (2003) (24) agrees with Alvares & Vidal (1996) (25) in asserting that all translations are ideological. Then, according to Schäffner (2003) (24), an ideological aspect can be identified within a text itself at both the grammatical and lexical levels (for instance, by using passive structures to avoid expressing agency) and by carefully selecting or avoiding a particular word. In this respect Hatim and Munday, (2004) (26) state that a shift is said to occur if, in a given TT, “a translation equivalent other than the formal correspondent occurs for a specific SL element” Ideological aspects can be more or less obvious in texts, depending on the topic of a text, its genre communicative purposes, and the type of the equivalence.

2.6 Formal Equivalence

   Formal equivalence is a term used by Nida (1964) (2) to refer to a TL item that is the most similar, decontextualized version of an SL term or phrase. Not every word in one language will have a formal equivalent in another. For instance, many words that seem to be equivalent refer to slightly different objects (words for bread, for instance, even in different Western European languages), and many words refer to geographical or cultural phenomena that may not have an equivalent in another language.  Shuttleworth and Cowie (2007) (27) mention that Nida contends that, even in situations similar to the ones mentioned above, there will be a predisposition to utilize formal equivalents whenever possible in a translation that aims for a high degree of Formal rather than Dynamic Equivalence. Naturally, this will frequently lead to a translation that is difficult to understand and requires additional information. use footnotes, for instance. One way to illustrate this would be to take the Western European concept of the "heart" as the seat of the emotions and apply it to a language where the term "heart" would ordinarily refer to a different area of the body, like the liver or belly. Nida notes that some ST components, including puns and other formally defined parts, will nearly always. See also (Baker, 2005 (28)7; Koller, 1989) (29).

2.7 Dynamic Equivalence

   A situation of translation in which "the message of the been so transported into the receptor language that the response of the receptor is essentially like that of the original receptors" is known as "dynamic equivalence," as described by Nida (1964) (2). In other words, a dynamically equivalent translation will entail such procedures as substituting TL items that are more culturally appropriate for obscure ST making linguistically implicit ST information explicit. It is based upon 'the principle of equivalent effect’. The decision to translate "Lamb of God" as "Seal of God" in Eskimo is perhaps the most well-known example of a translation issue; in this case, a culturally significant object that shares at least some of the key elements of the SL expression was substituted for the unknown lamb in the polar regions. See also (Shuttleworth, and Cowie (2007) (27). For the translation to be successful, Nida and Taber (1982) (30) contend that a "high degree" of response equivalency is required; nevertheless, they also note that this reaction can never be the same as the one generated by the original.

Al-Sulaimaan (2013) (8) adds that attention is on the reader's response. According to Nida, the translator is required to provide the most similar natural translation. For instance, it is difficult to render from Arabic into English a religious text such as the Hadith of the Prophet Mohammed. Therefore, the translator should possess a broad and profound knowledge of both languages, together with a complete understanding of Islamic culture. For instance, to translate the expression عن عمر رضي الله عنه into English as on the authority of Umar (may Allah be pleased with him) the translator should add a footnote about Umar saying Umar ibn al-Khattab is the second caliph in Islam. In “to pay the Zakat” the word "Zakat" is often rendered as "alms-tax" or "poor-due" It is a tax given to the needy that is imposed on a man's wealth. And وتحج البيت rendered as "and to make Hajj to the House" would not give the meaning without an explanation that the House means The Ka'aba and The Holy Mosque in Mecca. The word رزق  is usually rendered into English as "Livelihood", whereas, The Arabic term "rizq" also has a connotation that is somewhat similar to "daily bread.", "fortune", "a lot in life" sustenance sent by Allah. The above examples illustrate that the translator's role is to substitute the meaning of the culture as far as possible. See also (As-Safi, 2007(31).

   In the same line, Nida goes on to mention subcategories that are three: addition, deletion, and alteration. In addition in cases where the destination text has a higher linguistic content than the source. It "may legitimately be incorporated into a translation" only if it makes explicit information that is implicitly present in the original language and does not alter the semantic meaning of the message (1964: 227). For example, by changing the word class from event noun to verb or by translating a passive sentence as an active clause. Adding more concrete expressions in place of pronouns would be another kind of addition. By contrast, deletion makes explicit information that was previously implicit without really lessening the message's semantic meaning. They may entail "structural losses due to the receptor language's grammatical or semantic patterns" (1964: 231). Likewise, there is a residual category known as "alterations." Among these are, for example, sound level modifications that should be done if a legitimate name is transliterated simply and would be misleading (Nida provides an example where translating "Messiah" literally would mean "death's hand"). This includes modifications to word class, word order, sentence structure, directness of discourse, and grammatical categories including number, tense, and voice. Additionally, exocentric expressions such as proverbs or metaphors that are substituted with other target expressions serving a similar purpose are considered adjustments, as are semantic changes at the word level brought about by a new lexicon structure (ibid.).

2.8 Monitoring, Management, and Ideological Background 

   The term "managing" was first used by De Beaugrande and Dressler (1981) (1), who viewed it as intrinsically linked to argumentation, where the purpose of scenario of managing is to steer the text in a way that furthers the goals of the text creator. By contrast, exposition exhibits monitoring of the situation. (Farghal, 1993)(32) reiterates this view saying: "Monitoring becomes visible when the discourse is mainly to give an account of the context; conversely, managing happens when the content serves primarily to direct the assessment of the circumstance toward one's objectives".  Shunnaq (1992) (33) sees that “if a text producer manipulates the element of his text in an attempt to steer the situation towards a certain goal it can be said that the situation is being managed. This means that the text producer may induce beliefs in text receivers to assist him in achieving his object. If the translator of such texts is unaware of the text type, it might be difficult for him to recognize whether the text producer is monitoring or managing, and as a result, the text might not be rendered appropriately(ibid.). Nevertheless, if the translator "intervenes in the message of the source language text, he will be managing, whereas if he conveys it neutrally, then he will be monitoring" (Shunnaq, 1994) (34).

Farghal (1993) (32) applied the terms managing and monitoring to translating as the translator rather than the author becoming the controller. He further argues that controlling the translation process will change the text to meet the translator's objectives. The text is directed toward achieving the translator's objectives rather than the text producer's, whether it be through argumentation or exposition. Farghal (1993) (32) views extrinsic meaning as "makes up the other side of the coin whereby the translator comes in to manage the text not intrinsically, but rather extrinsically through applying a specific directionality to the content.". Therefore, extrinsic managing is strictly the ideological interference of the translator in the source language. It is international and conscious, much like intrinsic managing. However, it is unlike the intrinsic management which is meant to facilitate things for the reader via bringing about natural translations, extrinsic managing intends to "delude the reader by bringing about a world different from that intended in the SL text, hence it is being condemnable". Then, he goes on to give examples of extrinsic managing of culture whereby the orientalists try to distort the actual choices made throughout the translation process, which are separated into textual-linguistic and matricial standards. The target text's distribution and segmentation of textual elements are governed by matricial standards. The selection of materials to create the target text or to replace the original textual and linguistic materials with is governed by textual-linguistic standards. (Toury, 2000) (16).

To illustrate the above argument, let us consider the following   example:

1.لا إله إلا الله is rendered as: “There is no God but God”

In this Glorious aya, the type of translation adopted appears to be the Arabic equivalence of الله in both a formal and practical sense. However, a closer examination of these two lexical terms shows that the Christian and Islamic understandings of الله are distinct. For example, since Christianity emphasizes the Trinity, the idea of "oneness" is a fundamental quality of الله rather than God. So the word الله here has undergone some intrinsic managing when rendered as God in English (32).

   The two components of norms that make up another differentiation are normative force and norm content. A socially accepted idea of what is right, as well as customs and norms that are closely related to values, make up norm content. The power dynamics within a society are reflected in its dominant values. This means that there can never be value-free translation. According to Schaffner (1999) (36), translations are classified as cultural and historical processes that are opaque and lack transparency or neutrality.

Hermans (1999) (37) relates norms with values saying “translation must take into account the norms and values that are prevalent in the social domains that those discourses support, as it inevitably accommodates different discourses. This implies that translation cannot provide representations and reenactments that are transparent or ideologically natural”. Let us consider the following example:

1. 1. in Ramadan, Muslims awake in the night or just before dawn to have “as-suhur”, thus preparing themselves for a long day before breakfast is permitted at sunset. Having had As-sahur, most men make for the mosque to have their dawn prayer (Farghal, 1993) (32).

     This SL text may undergo extrinsic cultural managing, by which an intolerant translator offers a distorted rendering like the following one:

2. 2. In Ramadan, Muslims awake in the middle of Before a meal is allowed at sunset, people eat during the night or shortly before dawn to stuff themselves with food that may sustain them for the entire day. Even worse, after supplying themselves with the necessary fuel (meal), the majority of men head to the mosque to do their dawn rites (32).

   The extrinsic cultural management in (2) shows the biased translator who has presented a distorted world of the culture concerned basing this on his own cultural values or religious bias. For instance, people do not wake up to eat at night in Western culture, thus, an activity of this sort is deemed eccentric by those intolerant of other cultures' values. By the same token, the rendering of the meal of "As-suhur” as “stuffing themselves with food” and “supplying themselves with ammunition” reflects bias and the hybridization of the concept of “dawn prayer” by rendering it as “dawn ritual” unmistakenly expresses a lack of tolerance towards the SL culture on the part of the translator (32).

Shunnaq (1994) (34) explains the role of the biased or prejudiced translator saying they are able to meticulously choose only those things that fulfill their goals and objectives, disregarding the rest. They can pick imprecise, generalized descriptions to lessen the effect. …  they can intervene in the original text …to manage its impact… They can use words with the right meanings to intensify the emotion.

    Hatim and Mason (1997) (26) believe that in this area of the translator's intervention and the impact of the mediation on the SL "the translator, as processor of texts, filters the text world of the source text through his/her world-view/ideology, with differing results”. The analyst may claim to detect an underlying motivation or orientation on the part of the translator. The "discernible trend may be seen in terms of degrees of mediation, that is, the extent to which translators intervene in the transfer process, feeding their knowledge and beliefs into their processing of a text" (ibid).

   To sum up, one can say: First, "its lack of transparency, i.e. its opacity and complicity," is what draws attention to translation as a cultural phenomenon. Second, it becomes challenging to maintain the idea of equivalency in critical thinking about translation if translation "always puts a slant on representation." Third, "why it has played and continues to play such a key part in the common perception and the self-presentation of translation" needs to be answered if equivalency is shown false.

2.9 Data Analysis

    As far as the distribution of the practical aspect of the study is concerned, data, six verses from the Quran have been selected, and each has four translations. The translations are those made by Sale (1881) (38), Pickthal, (1930) (39), Ali (1934-1937) (40), and Dawood (2006)  (41) respectively.  The researcher creates detailed tables that are used to analyze the data. These tables consist of the following: SL text, TL text, the type of equivalence, etc. To save space, some items are contracted where CoC= Component of Change, EQ=Equivalence,F=formal,D=dynamic, Add=addition, Alt=alteration, Del=deletion, Mon= monitoring, and Man= management. It is to be known that the dictionary consulted is the Concise Oxford English Dictionary (42). If no suitable translation is identified, a new rendering will be proposed.

SL Text:(1)

"يَا أَيُّهَا النَّاسُ اعْبُدُوا رَبَّكُمُ الَّذِي خَلَقَكُمْ وَالَّذِينَ مِنْ قَبْلِكُمْ لَعَلَّكُمْ تَتَّقُونَ"   البقرة : 21

TL Text:(1)

Sale: “O men of Mecca! Serve your Lord who hath created you and those who have been before you”.

Dawood: “you people! Serve your Lord, who has created you, and those who have gone before you”.

Pickthal: “O mankind! Worship your Lord, Who hath created you and those before you, so that ye may ward off (evil)”.Ali: “O ye people! Adore your Guardian-Lord, who created you and those who came before you, that ye may have the chance to learn righteousness”

Interpretation: A call from Allah to all humankind: Worship God who raised you with His blessings, fear Him, and do not dissent from His religion. He created those before you. So that you may be among the righteous with whom God is pleased and pleased with Him. Ibn Katheer (1994:)  (43)and Qurtuby(ud:102) (44)

Discussion:

   Reviewing the above-mentioned renditions made by various translators, one can notice that translator no. 1 confines the Prophet Mohammed's message of Islam only to the people of Mecca which is against the signification of the verse, that is, a public call for all mankind to accept Islam. As for translators 2 and 4, they have used neutral descriptive equivalence that does show the publicity of the phrase يا ايها الناس This meaning is evident in rendition no. three.

SL Text:(2)

 "صِبْغَةَ اللَّهِ وَمَنْ أَحْسَنُ مِنَ اللَّهِ صِبْغَةً وَنَحْنُ لَهُ عَابِدُونَ" البقرة : 138

TL Text:(2)

Sale: “The baptism of God have we received, and who is better than God to baptize? Him do we worship”.

Dawood: “We take on God’s dye. And who has a better dye than God's? Him we will worship”

Pickthal: “(We take our) colour from Allah, and who is better than Allah at colouring. We are His worshippers”.

Ali: “(Our religion is) the Baptism of Allah: And who can baptize better than Allah? And it is He Whom we worship”.

Interpretation: Adhere to the religion of God that He created you with, for there is nothing better than the nature of God that He created people with, so adhere to it and say, “We are submissive and obedient to our Lord in following the religion of Abraham.” Ibn Katheer (1994:(43)

Discussion:

Reflecting on the above table of renditions, one can recognize that most translators have dealt with the verse only formally. Translator no. 1 has used the word baptism which is not the exact equivalence. If we consult any dictionary, one can find that this word means: ceremonial immersion into water as a means of purification, initiatory rite of the Christian church. Similarly, translators no. 2 and 3 have used the words dye and colour respectively. They are the material denotation of the word صبغة which is not intended here since it refers to human innate tendency to Allah's religion of Islam. Finally, translator no. 4 could have succeeded in achieving an accurate equivalence but without the word baptism.

The proposed translation: “the religion of ALLAH; and who is better than ALLAH in teaching religion….”

SL Text:(3)

"وَكَذَلِكَ جَعَلْنَاكُمْ أُمَّةً وَسَطًا لِتَكُونُوا شُهَدَاءَ عَلَى النَّاسِ وَيَكُونَ الرَّسُولُ عَلَيْكُمْ شَهِيدًا وَمَا جَعَلْنَا الْقِبْلَةَ الَّتِي كُنْتَ عَلَيْهَا إِلَّا لِنَعْلَمَ مَنْ يَتَّبِعُ الرَّسُولَ مِمَّنْ يَنْقَلِبُ عَلَى عَقِبَيْهِ وَإِنْ كَانَتْ لَكَبِيرَةً إِلَّا عَلَى الَّذِينَ هَدَى اللَّهُ وَمَا كَانَ اللَّهُ لِيُضِيعَ إِيمَانَكُمْ إِنَّ اللَّهَ بِالنَّاسِ لَرَءُوفٌ رَحِيمٌ "  البقرة : 143

TL Text:(3)

Sale: “Thus have we placed you, O Arabians, an intermediate nation, that ye may be a witness against the rest of mankind, and that the apostle may be a witness against you”.

Dawood: “thus have we made you a just community, so that you may testify against mankind …..”

Pickthal: “Thus We have appointed you a middle nation, that ye may be witnesses against mankind….”

Ali: “Thus, have We made of you an Ummat justly balanced, that ye might be witnesses over the nations…..”

Interpretation: So that you would be witnesses over the people and the Messenger could be a witness over you, We have created you into a reasonable and just nation Katheer, Ibn (1994:146).  (43)

Discussion:

    Reviewing the above translations, one can notice that translator no. 1 has confined the attribute of being a moderate nation only to the Arab people which is not the case in the verse. The translator no. 3 has conveyed the formal meaning represented by the word "middle". Furthermore, no. 4 has opted for the transference method which is the word "ummat". Finally, the most appropriate rendering seems to be the translation no. 2. since it conveys the intended meaning.

SL Text:(4)

"وَكَيْفَ تَكْفُرُونَ وَأَنْتُمْ تُتْلَى عَلَيْكُمْ آَيَاتُ اللَّهِ وَفِيكُمْ رَسُولُهُ وَمَنْ يَعْتَصِمْ بِاللَّهِ فَقَدْ هُدِيَ إِلَى صِرَاطٍ مُسْتَقِيمٍ" ال عمران : (101)

TL Text:(4)

Sale: “And how can ye be infidels, when the signs of God are read unto you, and his apostle is among you”.

Dawood: “But how can you disbelieve when God's revelations are recited to you, and His own Apostle is in your midst? He that holds fast to Allah he shall be guided to a straight path”.

Pickthal: “How can ye disbelieve, when it is ye unto whom Allah's revelations are recited, and His messenger is in your midst? He who holdeth fast to Allah, he indeed is guided unto a right path”.

Ali: “And how would ye deny Faith while unto you are rehearsed the Signs of Allah, and among you Lives the Messenger? Whoever holds firmly to Allah will be shown a way that is straight”. Interpretation: How can you disbelieve in God - O believers - when the Qur'anic verses are read to you and Muhammad, God's Messenger, is present among you, may God bless him and grant him peace, conveying them to you? Whoever relies on God and adheres to the Qur’an and Sunnah has been guided to a clear path and a straight path. Ibn Katheer (1994)  (43)and Qurtuby(ud:205) (44).

Discussion: we can notice the first two translators have used the lexeme “apostle” seems to stand as an equivalence for the Arabic word رسول. If one consults any dictionary to find this word. One will find that 'apostle' means:  missionary of the early Christian church; the one who spreads the teaching of Christianity. Being so the meaning, it far away from the word رسول. The other two translations are more appropriate since they convey the meaning.

SL Text:(5)

(احْشُرُوا الَّذِينَ ظَلَمُوا وَأَزْوَاجَهُمْ وَمَا كَانُوا يَعْبُدُونَ)  الصافات : 22

TL Text:(5)

Sale: “Gather together those who have acted unjustly, and their comrades, and

the idols which they worshipped”

Dawood: “Call the sinners, their spouses, and the idols which they worshipped besides God”.

Pickthal: “(And it is said unto the angels): Assemble those who did wrong, together with their wives and what they used to worship”.

Ali: “Bring ye up", it shall be said, "The wrong-doers and their wives, and the things they worshipped”.

 Interpretation: The angels are told to assemble those who

disbelieve in God and their counterparts and their gods that they used to worship instead of God, and drive them violently to Hell. Ibn Katheer (1994) (43) and Qurtuby (ud:575) (44)

Discussion:

     Going through the above renditions, one can see that translators no. 2, 3, and 4 have given the lexical items ‘spouses, and wives’ respectively as a formal equivalence for the word  . ازواجهم it is worth mentioning that the meaning of the verse is not confined to wives if and only if they are wrongdoers. They are considered as one class among others. It happened that a wife may be righteous and her husband is a wrongdoer as in verse 11 of Surat Al-Tahreem God gave an example of the situation of Pharaoh’s wife, who was in the protection of the most ardent disbelievers in God, and she believed in God, as she prayed, "My Lord, build me a house in Paradise with You" He delivered me from Pharaoh's authority, his temptations, and his bad acts. that came from him, and from the people who followed him in oppression and misguidance, and from their torment. Finally, it can be said that the first translator has conveyed the intended meaning accurately.

Conclusions:

    Throughout this paper, many Quranic verses that contain ideologically loaded items have been the focal point of the current study. Analyzing the translations of the Glorious Qur'an written by Sale, Dawood, Pickthal, and Ali respectively, it is found that the majority of their translations are ideologically charged with different percentages using their social and cultural background knowledge whether consciously or unconsciously. As far as the research question is concerned, it is evident that the translators intervene ideologically to a considerable degree while translating, in particular, the translation done by Dawood. Therefore, the study hypothesis is truly verified, i.e. they introduced a management-based translation rather than monitoring. This management is achieved by using both dynamic and formal equivalence with variant degrees of Nida’s subcomponents of (addition, deletion, and alteration).

 Thus, revising and revisiting these translations is strongly recommended. As far as the components of the analytical tables are concerned, They are shown diagrammatically as follows:

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