Talk:Qur'an translations

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Hold on there a moment. Translating large documents is not something Wikipedia is about. See Wikipedia:What Wikipedia is not #s 10, 14 and 15. We are an encyclopedia first and foremost. However, Wikiquote can be used to post a great many selected translated quotes. --mav

Also, I seem to recall that, according to Islam, the Koran cannot be translated (because meaning is always lost in translation): one English-language version I have seen is therefore called "The meaning of the glorious Koran". Vicki Rosenzweig

Contents

[edit] Translators

Obviously this fits to an extent onto this page, however, if the section grows (with descriptions and attributes of their translations) then I believe it might need to be moved to a new page. Also, what should be the guideline about which translators to put? There are so many translations (which you will see if you view my link) but only a few of them are well known. Just discuss what you think the guidelines of this should be. gren

[edit] List of translators

for some reason grenavitar decided to add John Arberry twice. He did not understand that I created a new section of less well-known translators. someone should revert to my last edit or simply get rid of his name under well-known translators.

That was a while ago... I hadn't seen that you had moved the name, I thought you had deleted it. However, I do think he is well known. gren 19:14, 19 July 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Freestyle's correcting dab

The sentence reads "For Muslims, the Qur'án is an Arabic revelation, and so they always recite it in the original language during ritual prayers (salah).". You changed the disambiguation of Arab from Arabic language to Arab even when the rest of the sentence says original language... which of course was the Arabic language. I don't see how the people to whom it waws revealed matters... gren グレン 22:41, 7 August 2005 (UTC)

Uh...not sure what you're saying here...perhaps removing the link would be best as there's already a link to Arabic language...? I wasn't sure if the intention was Arabic tradition or language...but I have no idea what you're saying...freestylefrappe 22:55, August 7, 2005 (UTC)
The importance of the Qur'an is that it is in the Arabic language which is why a translation of the Qur'an is not the "real Qur'an". I really haven't found that same view with the Bible. All Muslims agree (as far as I can tell) that the Arabic writing of the Qur'an is important... but, it is commonly said that is a revelation to all mankind... not just Arab people as your link seemed to imply. If that did mean Arabic tradition (which I don't think) it should be incredibly rephrased such as... "it was revealed in 7th century Arabia" but the rest of the sentence says "so they always recite it in the original language during ritual prayers". That seems to be pointing out the importance of the Arabic langauge usage since there are usually 5 prayers a day and they are said in Arabic (well., for the most part, some people say intentions in other languages, etc. but the suras are in Arabic). Also, since this article is about translation it makes sense to focus on language and not culture. I am fine with no link... but, I don't see why it would ever be talking about the Arab people. gren グレン 23:51, 7 August 2005 (UTC)
Feel free to change the sentence; it was never mine, I merely merged the articles. The only reason I removed the link was because there was already one above it. freestylefrappe 00:33, August 8, 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Maulana Muhammad Ali

Maulana Muhammad Ali's translation should be mentioned here. KI 17:39, 27 December 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Bold

Im gonna be bold and create List of translations of the Qur'an, listing them per "date of birth".--Striver 14:37, 15 March 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Number of languages in which the qur'an has been translated

I think it would be interesting to have the total number of languages, or even better, a List of all the languages in which a qur'an translation exists. Does anybody know? --Blauerflummi 22:45, 18 May 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Removing recommendation of Saudi version

Many people regard this version as tainted by Wahhabi theology and anti-Christian and anti-Semitic sentiments. WP cannot state that this is the best version, as it is controversial. Zora 03:23, 15 September 2006 (UTC)

Zora said: It is your personal opinion that this edition is the best; other people loathe it. I say I don't quote my opinion, rather, this is the opinion of many Muslims. I did not even say all Muslims. This version is an updated version of the Abdullah Y. Ali translation, revised and edited by a committee at The Presidency of Islamic Researches. It used to be published in Saudi Arabia under Abdullah's name. Some of these modification are changing God to Allâh, etc. --Truthpedia 15:50, 20 September 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Changing the table

I will make some edits to the table: Some columns should be merged. Also Salman lived 1400 years ago. How could he make an English translation?! I will remove him. --Islamic 01:47, 20 September 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Korshid's edits -- nice!

Those were good edits, Korshid. The article flows very nicely now. However, it would be nice to have something more than personal impressions re popularity. I'm not going to complain and start putting fact after everything, since I'm aware that we may not be able to GET good figures. I'd suggest Amazon sales figures, but that wouldn't include Qur'ans sold through mosques or Islamic bookshops, which would probably seriously bias the results. Zora 06:34, 20 September 2006 (UTC)

Thank you Zora. In my opinion Amazon is not reliable because as you say it would bias the results. Vast majority of people still buy books from real stores, so maybe it is possible to consult bookseller trade report or something. There is this site: http://islam.about.com/cs/quran/tp/english_quran.htm but I don't think it's trustworthy because it says the Saudi translation is the #1. That and the #2 it lists I have never seen in bookstores or mosques. This makes it seem suspicious. But Yusuf Ali you find everywhere, even in mosques where hardly anyone speaks English! I have done some searching on Google and I am sure we can find more information, but I believe the searches show that Yusuf Ali is the "standard" among Muslims. It is interesting that there still is no 99.9% or even 99.8% accurate translation in English after all this time with all these Islamic scholars and departments in universities. Maybe is not possible, but I think a team of people would do a better job than one or two or the Saudi government! Khorshid 12:34, 20 September 2006 (UTC)
I just ordered a used copy of Haleem's translation, published by the Oxford University Press. We'll see what that is like. It is quite recent. Zora 05:15, 21 September 2006 (UTC)


[edit] Weasel-worded statement

I added a tag to indicate that the final paragraph needs sourcing. The wording of the "...many Muslims consider..." bit in particular is very weasely, especially as there's no citation for it. Keldan 16:44, 15 November 2006 (UTC)