A Textbook of Islamic Translation: Islamic Translation

by Abdelhamid Elewa

Islamic texts are commonly the most difficult to translate, both theologically and culturally. To do their job properly, translators should be familiar with both the Muslim and non-Muslim theology, practices, and code of ethics to be able to transfer the exact message in a manner that maintains the message of the source text and does not contradict the norms of the target language. Therefore, the issues discussed in this book include the basic features of religious texts, the issue of untranslatability of Islamic terms, and some suggested strategies to handle cases of non-equivalence. The book will also explore the different genres of Islamic the Glorious Qur'an, Prophetic Hadith, Theology, Fiqh, Exegesis of the Qur'an, Sermons, Du'a', Islamic Ethics. We break down the text into its smallest linguistic form levels to make the task a bit easier and pave the way for a gradual and more methodical process for producing religious translation. We start from the lowest level in the linguistic hierarchy, the individual units of sound. Then we move up on the linguistic cline to deal with words, phrases, sentences, and discourse. Hence, the translator may become more proficient in approximating the source language patterns of thought and style to the target language audience. Accordingly, we can help him/her produce a translation that reflects the real image of religion.

311 pages, Kindle Edition

Published January 22, 2017