Chapter 1: The Centre for the Translation or the Qur’an

This centre which has been established in recent years by the Awqaf and Charities Organization of the Islamic Republic of Iran in the city of Qum is in the process of preparing a comprehensive study of the problems involved in the translation of the Qur’an and the frequent errors of translation and interpretation made by translators. Its long-term goal is to publish reliable translations of the Holy Qur’an in various languages of the world beginning with some of the major modern languages. Presently it is engaged in collecting all the existing translations of the Qur’an in various languages. Until now it has collected more than 200 translations and editions in nearly 50 languages. It has issued a call for the cooperation and assistance in this project of all interested scholars and institutions throughout the world so that a unique world collection of the translations of the Qur’an, complete and partial, accessible to scholars and researchers throughout the world, could be established. It has also plans to make the translations available on computer diskettes so as to make them available to researchers and scholars for future work. The Centre has also called upon Qur’anic scholars and experts throughout the world to assist it in the task of precise evaluation of the existing translations in different languages. The Awqaf Organization has also established a major publishing house in the city of Qum with considerable printing facilities, with an annual capacity of printing about 3 million copies, for the purpose of making the Qur’an and its translations available to Muslim communities throughout the world.

The field of Qur’anic studies is a vast discipline that is constantly expanding. Every year there appear numerous works dealing with diverse aspects of the Qur’an and some of the earlier works become available for the first time in print. Apart from scores of articles in various journals and theses that are written (see the Qur’anic bibliography of ‘Abd al-Jabbar al-Rafa’i, Mu’jam al- dirasat al-Qur’aniyyah [Qum: Markaz-e Farhang wa Ma’arif-e Qur’an 1372 H. Sh./1993J which has 4150 classified entries on 72 topics, there are now several scholarly journals devoted exclusively to Qur’anic studies such as:

Bayyinat, a quarterly journal in Persian published by Mu’asseseh-ye Ma’arif-e Islami-ye Imam-e Rida (a), based in Qum (P.0.Box 37185-167, Qum).

Payam-e Qur’an, a Persian quarterly published by Dar al-Qur’an al-Karim, also based in Qum (P. 0. Box 37185-151) which also publishes Risalat al-Qur’an, an Arabic journal.

Mubin, also in Persian, published by Danishgah-e Azad-e Islami (Free Islamic University), Arak (P. 0. Box 38135-1489, Arak,Iran).

Shishmahi-ye ‘Ulum al-Qur’an, a six-monthly journal published by Idareh-ye ‘Ulum al-Qur’an, based in Aligarh (P. 0. Box 99, Sir Sayyid Nagar, Aligarh, 202 002, India). AI-Tawhid, Vol. XII, No.215

The first bibliography, published by IRCICA, lists editions of complete printed translations of the Qur’an in 65 languages as well as editions of selections and partial translations published until 1980, Translations appearing after 1980 (in Ieranon, Zulu, Tegalog, Fulani and Wolof languages) have been left for a future edition. Some commentaries are also included as they also often include a translation of the Qur’an.

Included in this vast survey, unprecedented in its scope, are listed about 551 complete translations and 883 selections and partial translations in 65 languages. The complete translations, so far as the survey has recorded their different editions, were printed 829 times and the selections and partial works 409 times. The total numbers of editions listed is 2072.

A total of 135 library catalogues, national bibliographies, indices, papers, articles, as well as library collections in different centuries were researched. Prof. Ihsanoglu has written a preface and an introduction (whose Arabic version appears at the end), entitled “Introduction to the History of Translating the Meanings of the Holy Qur’an.” The introduction is followed by a mention of the rules adopted in the arrangement of the entries and the sources of reference. A name, title, and a chronological index are placed at the end.

In the introduction the author gives an outline of the views of Muslim scholars and jurists concerning the translation of the Qur’an in general and its use as a substitute for the Arabic original in prayer. The general opinion of the Islamic schools of law considers the translation of the Qur’an as legitimate or even necessary, but disapproves of its use as a substitute for Arabic in prayer.

The editions under every language are listed alphabetically according to the names of the translators and under each name, mostly, in a chronological order. The available particulars pertaining to an edition, including the title, number of volumes, number of the edition, place and year of publication, and names of publisher and printer are given. The sizes of the published work, the number of pages pertaining to every volume as well as the script of the translation are mentioned under every entry with the sources of reference.

Occasionally, there are additional remarks about the nature of the work, and the background of the translator, Translations whose authors are unknown as well as those undertaken by teams of scholars are mentioned under entries marked “Anonymous” and placed at the end of the list pertaining to a given language. Whereas the general rule followed is to list the names of the translators according to their last or family names, the rule followed elsewhere, such as in the case of Urdu, is to list them in the order of the first name. Accordingly Shah Wali Allah’s name appears under “Qutb al-Din Ahmad b. ‘Abd al-Rahim” (p. 356-464), Another similar instance is that of Husayn wa’iz Kashifi, mentioned under “Kamal al-Din,” Admittedly, it is difficult to follow a general rule when listing names of Muslim authors, especially the names of those belonging to the Indian subcontinent which often do not follow a fixed pattern, but it seems best to list famous authors by the names by which they are well- known.

As most of the bibliographical details were gleaned from the sources and the authors did not have direct access to most of the works, some errors in determining the exact nature and content of some works and their ascription to authors and translators were inevitable. For instance, a translation in Esperanto by Italo Chiussi is mentioned among Spanish translations (also mentioned under Esperanto). This is particularly true of languages in which there is a large number of works, such as Urdu and Persian. Due to problems of access some of the information given is incorrect. For instance, Abu al-Fath al-Jurjani’s Tafsir-e Shahi (p. 344) is not a translation of the Qur’an but a work on ayat al-ahkam in Persian. The Fath al-‘Aziz, or Tafsir-e .Azizi (apparently an incomplete commentary by Shah ‘Abd al-‘Aziz in Persian, whose Urdu translation is known as Bustan al-tafasir) is ascribed to Shah Rafi’ al-Din.

The IRCICA plans to update and revise this valuable bibliography every ten years if conditions permit. As promised by Prof. Ihsanoglu, the Director General of the lRCICA, in his preface, the project in its next stage will cover translations in manuscript form as well as oral translations.

The list of translations given here, except for those in Urdu, is based mainly on this bibliography. The list of Urdu translations is based mainly on the bibliography of Urdu translations by Dr. Ahmad Khan, which is more up-to- date. It has 1011 entries of editions of complete and partial translations, of which 442 pertain to complete and 569 to partial works. Of these, according to the author’s estimate, there are about 164 complete translations.