Quran Translation Feedback and Comments - The Arabic Quran Dictionary Project
- Tue 09 Dec, 2008 9:26 am Post subject: The Arabic Quran Dictionary Project
Salam All
Yesterday I was at one of my clients fixing her computer, she is a very nice lady, she is also a Muslim from India, so while sitting in front of the computer I found a book on her desk which is titled: A Dictionary and Glossary of the Quran, so I went through its pages quickly (251 pages exactly), I was very impressed actually, I fond it very accurate
Simply it is exactly as any dictionary, the words are sorted in alphabetical order, then list all the words that appeared in the Quran with their meaning, I loved it, I realized quickly how valuable this book will be for many non Arabic speakers Muslims, however it is not a book for a read, rather a reference as any other dictionary with all these abbreviations which do not help in making the picture clear, later on I told the lady that this book is great and I want to buy one, so she gave it to me and insisted that I take it, I was so delighted indeed, now I can start a new web project based on such book, the only objective is to make those non Arabic speakers familiar with the Arabic Quran, so we will deal only with the Arabic words that appeared in the Quran.
This is going to be a very long project which I will run in parallel with the Quran translation project inshaallah, not sure when I will start, but it will happen in the next 1 to 2 months inshaallah, I will do it without abbreviation though as well bring the verses that were referenced in the book and highlight the words explained, then add any other information that were not included in the book
Let me first tell you more about the this book:
It is written by someone named John Penrice then checked and edited by someone named Duraid Fatouhi
The editor Duraid Fatouhi written a 2 pages introduction, in it he said a few things that I would like to highlight:
1) The Quran beautifully blends historical accounts, theological arguments, moral exhortations and social injunctions
2) The Quran contains 1800 and odd basic root words which have been repeated in a variety of grammatical forms, some of these words convey more than one meaning. All these words add up to 200 and odd words.
3) Ernest Renen (1823-1894). Who studied extensively Semitic languages and wrote a book about their vocabularies, had this to say about the Arabic language:
The Arabic language is the most astonishing event of human history. Unknown during the classical period, it suddenly emerged as a complete language. After this, it did not undergo any noticeable changes, so one cannot define for it an early or a late stage. It is just the same today as it was when it first appeared.
4) Many attempts in various languages have been made to compile dictionaries and glossaries of the Quran to help non-Mulsims or non-Arabic speaking people understand the language of the Quran, However, no translation of the Quran Arabic text can ever convey exactly or fully its meaning, as the Quran words have many meanings. The Quran can not be translated like other books.
Ahmed says: I slightly disagree with point 4 (the bolded part above), this is due to the fact that after reaching sura 17 in my attempt at translating the Quran, I stumbled into too tough Arabic sentences/words to be translated, however interpretation should suffice in these cases, because the objective is transferring a message not transferring exact words, therefore even if interpreting a single tough word takes 2 pages, it should be ok, as long as the message is understood by the listener.
5) John Penrice (the author of the book), was one of those who compiled a dictionary of the Quran, he did it more than 130 years ago, he relied on an old English translation of the Quran by Fluegel, which was printed in 1834
6) Fluegel was one of the few translations available at the time. Penrice had good knowledge of the Arabic language and its grammar, but he lacked sympathetic understanding of Islam. He relied on a translation of the Quran that had many errors and consequently distorted the meanings of many verses. Nevertheless, Penrice did a great job, compiling a dictionary that, despite its many mistakes, is still being reprinted and published by many publishers.
7) The editor Duraid Fatouhi had his first look at Penrice Quran dictionary a few years ago when he was in India, and he was impressed by the amount of work Penrice put into it, however it contained many mistakes, some grammatical and some due to misunderstanding, and other related to typesetting.
8) Like most Christians do, John Penrice looked at some concepts of Islam from a Christian point of view, often resulting in misunderstanding the actual meaning of the word or verse, so, in this revised edition of Penrice�?????�????�???�??�?�¢??s book, the editor tried his best to fix all these errors, instead of using Fluegel translation, Yusuf Ali, Shaker, and Pickthal translations were used instead..
Ahmed says: Great work by the editor Duraid Fatouhi, however I still believe that the three translations above have many mistakes, some that should have never been committed from the first place, therefore, this is what this project is all about, it is exactly like what brother Duraid Fatouhi did with more accuracy added, but I also have to say that after going through the revised dictionary by brother Duraid Fatouhi, I was even more impressed, in fact I could not even find one mistake so far, therefore the objective if this project is simple to present a Quran cyber dictionary in a more presentable manner, and add further info to the already great info by brother Duraid Fatouhi, if needed. As I also stated that there will be no abbreviations, as well all the referenced verses will be added in both texts with the related words highlighted.
In the next comment inshaallah, I will summarize, the original Quran dictionary author John Penrice introduction
Salam all
- Tue 16 Dec, 2008 8:41 pm Post subject:
Salam all
This is part of the introduction by John Penrice, the author of the Quran dictionary; let�?????�????�???�??�?�¢??s have a read of part of what he had to say:
That a competent knowledge of the Quran is indispensable as an introduction to the study of the Arabic literature will by admitted by all who have advanced beyond the rudiments of the language. From the purity of its style and elegance of its diction it has to come to be considered as the standard of Arabic even by those who have no belief in its divine origin, while so great is its authority among the followers of Prophet Mohammed, that it would be difficult to name a work by any Muslim writer which does not abound in allusions to its precepts or in quotations from its pages.
It is not to be expected that all of the transcendent excellencies and miraculous beauties discovered in the Quran by its commentators and others should immediately unveil themselves to our cold and unsympathizing gaze; beauties there are, many and great; ideas highly potential are clothed in rich and appropriate language, which not infrequently rises to a sublimity far beyond the reach of any translation; but it is unfortunately the case that many of those graces which present themselves to the admiration of the finished scholar are but so many stumbling-blocks in the way of the beginner, the marvelous consciences which adds to so greatly to the force and energy of its expressions cannot fail to perplex him, while the frequent use of the ellipse leaves in his mind a feeling of vagueness not altogether out of character in a work of its oracular and soi-disant prophetic nature.
It has been the privilege of the Quran rather to impose its own laws upon grammar than to accept them from other sources; and as it was written originally without vowel points, it is not surprising that a good deal of difficulty has been experienced in framing rules to meet the various readings that have hence crept in.
The following pages have been compiled in the hope that they may prove of service to the beginner in mastering some of the difficulties to which I have referred; they will be found to contain much, which to the more advances student may appear trivial or unnecessary, but which will not be without value it it lighten the labors of those for whose use the book is principally designed; it has no claim to originality, it merely presents to the reader in a succinct form that which the writer has culled for the benefit from the works of others.