Arabic-bound Grammatical Features as a Challenge in Rendering the Holy Qur’an: A Study of Three Translations of the Meanings of Selected Ayahs

Document Type : Academic research papers

Authors

1 Department of English Language and Literature, Faculty of Women for Arts,Science & Education, Ain shams university,Cairo,Egypt.

2 Department of English Language and Literature,Faculty of Women for Arts, Science &Education, Ain Shams University, Cairo, Egypt.

3 Department of English Language and Literature, Faculty of Arts,Cairo University, Cairo,Egypt.

4 Department of Arabic language and literature, Faculty of women, Ain shams university, Cairo, Egypt.

Abstract

This study investigates some of the grammatical features peculiar to Arabic found in the Holy Qur’an. They form a challenge in the translation of the Holy Qur’an as they lead to inevitable grammatical losses. Grammatical loss, in the context of this study, refers to any departure from the ST grammatical norms. The study also explores the extent these grammatical losses lead to partial or complete losses of the ST meanings. The works by three translators of different linguistic backgrounds (Marmaduke Pickthall (1930), Abdullah Y. Ali (1938) and Mohamed Abdel Haleem (2005)) are examined to see how they tackle these Arabic-bound grammatical features. For this study, their translations of selected ayahs are descriptively analyzed. For the analysis of the data, the present study adopts the compensation strategies postulated by James Dickins, Sandor Hervey and Ian Higgins (2002). The study results revealed various types of grammatical loss in the three examined translations and different compensation strategies adopted by the translators to approximate the effects of the ST peculiar grammatical features.

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Buhūth
Volume 1, Issue 9
The ninth issue, part three, languages and literature
September 2021
Pages 44-80

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