Methods of Stipulation and Explanation of the Qur’anic Verses: A Case Study of Fizol-Islam’s Translations

Abstract

Since the aim of translating religious texts is to explain religious and Islamic concepts for ordinary people and to make them clear for public, translators of religious texts must do their jobs very meticulously and with extreme care in order to respond to the needs of people. In this way, they can offer an equivalent translation of original religious texts. To achieve this objective, translators must do some modifications in their texts. In this way, they can present an understandable text to their readers. Stipulation in the process of translation is one of such modifications. This technique was initially employed by Viney and Darblenet. This type of modification is completely done by translators. This is a strategy that is intentionally employed by translators in order to disambiguate the translated text. Fizol-Islam was a religious scholar who translated a lot of religious texts, including the Quran, the Nahjolbalagheh, and the Sahifato al-Sajadieh. This study was a descriptive-analytical research that was conducted on the basis of a linguistic approach. The aim was to examine “stipulation” as one of the main characteristics of Fizol-Islam’s translations, and to show how it can improve the translation of religious texts. Using this technique, he managed to explain the meaning of unfamiliar and culturally-based words for readers. He used a number of techniques such as “deletion”, “replacement”, and “reference” to offer a coherent translation to the readers. This makes his translations understandable for readers and paves the way for them to obtain a clear understanding of the original texts. Also, this creates a coherent and disambiguated text for interested readers without being challenged by any serious complexity in the translated text. It must be added that his translations of religious texts have special characteristics. He opened new horizons in the field of translating religious texts. This can be called a “Theory of Elaboration”. In fact, his method is somewhere between stipulation and interpretation of religious texts.

Keywords

• the quran translation
• fizol-islam
• balance
• stipulation
• elaboration