A Study of the Translation of the Figurative Language of the Holy Qur’an by Ayati, Elahi, Fouladvand, and Khorramshahi

Abstract

The Holy Qur’an is a multilayered fantastic text and the translation of its verses requires great care and attention. This is why many translations of the Holy Qur’an have been criticized on different grounds. Due to the high frequency of the instances of figurative language in the Holy Qur’an, these types of phrases need special consideration in related research. The purpose of the present study is to explore some of the translations offered for the figurative language of the Holy Qur’an within the scope limits of an article. Four translations of the same text have been selected, including those by Ayati, Elahi, Fooladvand, and Khorramshahi. They are famous translators of the Holy Qur’an and, at the same time, differ in their methods of translation. Works on Quranic interpretation like al-Mīzan, Jawame’ al-Jame’, and Mafātīh al-Ghaib and others have been used to look at the language of the first ten chapters of the Holy Qur’an. The results of this study indicate that the four translators offer very different translations of the same figurative language. They seem not to have followed any particular translation style. Sometimes, they have used figurative language of the target forms and sometimes they have tried to offer explanations instead. In some other cases, some of the nuances of the meanings of the figurative language have been ignored and the translations have become literal, not expressing the meaning intended by the verses.

Keywords

• the holy qur’an
• translation
• figurative language
• ayati
• elahi
• fooladvand
• khorramshahi