A Review of Arthur Arberry's Translation of the Holy Qur'an

The miracle of the Qur'an lies partly in its uniquely eloquent language. This miracle was revealed to the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) in the seventh century CE, and the message was then offered to all nations, tribes and races. This act of conveying the message of God to different people in different corners of the world requires translation. There is always a need to translate the infinite meanings of the Qur'an into other languages. However, the point of departure in any discussion concerning the translations of the Holy Qur'an is the fact that the translation of the Qur'an is definitely not equal to the Qur'an itself and the translated piece does not have the status of a divine miracle, because translation is a human endeavor and inevitably different and incomplete, as so it has sometimes caused a change or ambiguity in understanding the true meaning of the Holy Quran, and this is where the need to analyze translations comes to the fore—the need to discover possible slips of translators in order to achieve more accurate translations. This article examines one of the most famous English translations of the Holy Qur'an attempted by the British scholar Arthur John Arberry (۱۹۰۵-۱۹۶۹) in order to reveal the weakness and strength of his English rendering.

کلیدواژه ها:

The Holy Qur'an ، Semantic Translation ، Communicative Translation ، Arthur Arberry