The Holy Qur'an is a guide for every Muslim and helps him in every aspect of life. Qur'an has been translated in over 40 languages, including English, to spread the message of Islam across the world. But translating the Holy Qur'an is not as simple as translating a story or a play. It takes a very keen translator to translate the highly difficult text in the Holy Qur'an and unfortunately some translators commit mistakes while translating Qura'nic text. In an exclusive interview, Dr. Muhammad Fawzi Alghazi, Assistant Professor at King Abdul-Aziz University, who wrote his masters and Ph.D. thesis on the problems of translating the Holy Qur'an, highlighted the fact that translating the Holy Book is not an easy task. “The problem in translating the Holy Qur'an is that the Qur'anic text itself is highly rutted and it is difficult to translate the Holy Qur'an without understanding the cultural linguistic backgrounds. That is why translators commit mistakes since most of them or many of them as a matter of fact are native speakers of English,” he said. Alghazi is also the author of ‘On Translating The Qur'an: Towards Understanding Hidden Meanings beyond the Quranic Syntactic Construction (An-nazm)' Q) Are there any benefits of translating the Qur'an? If yes, what are they? A) Firstly, we must keep in mind that Qur'anic text retains its true beauty and meaning in its original form, which is the Arabic text, but when we translate it into English, it loses a part of its beauty because the Holy Qur'an contains the words of God and the translation is done according to the choice of words of the translator. Therefore, we should differentiate between the original text of Qur'an and its translation. Of course, there many benefits of the translation because, for instance, if an American or a British accepts Islam at the age of 60, it wouldn't be possible for him/her to learn Arabic, so language would be a barrier for them to read and learn Qur'an. Therefore, in order to convey the message of God, translating Qur'anic text is the best solution. Even Arab students, who study English language and read the translated text reap several benefits because they can gain Islamic information, Quranic interpretation, and at the same time they can improve their English language. Q) What is the right way of translating the Holy Qur'an? A) Translating the Holy Qur'an is a complex process. Understanding the source of text does not come by merely looking at it. One should study different meanings, interpretations, grammatical rules and structures in different ways before translating the text. The next step is searching for suitable English words that appeal to the native speakers, based on readership. For instance, one must be careful with choice of words and must find out if readers are Americans or British or both. Q) Is the translation of the Prophetic sayings (Ahadith), as difficult as translating the Holy Qur'an? A) Translating Prophetic sayings is of course comparatively flexible, because the Qur'an is the direct speech of God, while the sayings belong to Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him). One can narrate the literal meaning of Prophetic sayings, even if the exact words are not retained but translating the Holy Qur'an, which contains words of Almighty Allah, is much more difficult. Q) What is your opinion on using electronic translators to translate the Holy Qur'an? A) Although electronic translation is a sub branch of knowledge, but in my opinion, there are some dangers in using electronic translation, because a machine cannot translate like a human. It's very difficult for a machine to translate the words of God, because sometimes one verse may have more than a thousand interpretations. So it is almost impossible in my point of view for a machine to translate the Holy Qur'an and cannot replace humans in carrying out this task. Q) Can you tell us the names of some prominent translators whose translations are authentic? A) Abdullah Yousef Ali is a native speaker of both English and Arabic, and his translations are the most popular in the world. His Qur'anic translation in 1939 attained comprehensive acceptance throughout the world. However, researchers later found some mistakes in the style of English because the translation was done according to the old style of English and researchers said there is a need for new translations. Arthur John Arby also offers one of the best translations. He is a native English speaker and a professor of Arabic language and literature. Muhammad Mahmood Gahli's translations are also well-known. He is a professor of linguistics and translation in Alazhar University. __
