AWEJ for Translation & Literary Studies, Volume 6, Number3. August 2022 Pp.99 -112
DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.24093/awejtls/vol6no3.7
The Phenomenon of (Un)translatability Dilemma of Translating the Qur’anic Heart Words
into English in( Repentance) Sūrat Al-tawbah
Ali Albashir Mohammed Alhaj
College of Sciences and Arts
King Khalid University, Dhahran Aljanoub Kingdom of Saudi Arabia
Email: alalhaj@kku.edu.sa
Received:06/05/2022 Accepted: 08/04/2022 Published:08/24/2022
Abstract:
Translating the Qur’anic heart words into English has always been a strenuous and immense challenging task. Being the most rhetorical text, the Quranic heart words operate with clear-cut intent and cannot be replaced by what may be reflected as the corresponding word. The recent research paper mainly studies the (un)translatability phenomenon and the dilemma of translating the Qur’anic heart words into English in Sūrat Al-tawbah(Repentance) and investigates their rendition losses The key significance of this study is how the translators had attempted to attain cultural equivalence when rendering implied meaning and hidden meaning of Quranic heart words into English in Sūrat Al-tawbah. The main question of this study is: what is the phenomenon of (un)translatability dilemma of translating the Qur’anic heart words into English in Sūrat Al-tawbah? Moreover, three selected English translations of the Holy Qur’an are used by the researcher to accomplish this purpose: Marmaduke Pickthall’s (1996), Muhammad Muhsin Khan’s, Muhammad Taqiudin Al Hilali’s (1996), and M. A. S Abdul Haleem’s (2004). Furthermore, the research purports to identify the apt translation procedures and methods manipulated in translating these intended words. The study evinces that persistent, existing challenges and untranslatability dilemma, and translation loss were found. The study also reveals that translation of untranslatable Qur’anic heart words into English may cause translation losses which is a common occurrence and prevalent in the English translation of the Holy Quran in general and Sūrat Al-tawbah in particular.
Keywords: English, dilemma, Sūrat Al-tawbah, Qur’anic heart words, (un) translatability
Cite as: Alhaj, A. A.M. (2022). The Phenomenon of (Un)translatability Dilemma of Translating the Qur’anic Heart Words into English in( Repentance) Sūrat Al-tawbah. Arab World English Journal for Translation & Literary Studies 6 (3) 99 -112.
DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.24093/awejtls/vol6no3.7
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