TRANSLATION OF THE FEMININE-RELATED EXPRESSIONS IN THE HOLY QUR’AN BY LALEH BAKHTIAR IN LIGHT OF THE INFLUENCE ON THE TRANSLATOR’S FEMINIST IDEOLOGY: SURAT AN-NISA’ AS A CASE STUDY
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Date
2023-08-20
Authors
Tasneem Jamal Fayez Sa'd
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Publisher
جامعة النجاح الوطنية
Abstract
Translating the Holy Qur’an is difficult and complex due to the necessity of translating it with the highest level of accuracy and authenticity. It is considered the guiding book for all aspects of Muslims' lives worldwide, not just for Arabic-speaking Muslims. Additionally, the Holy Qur’an is distinguished by a unique and high-level Arabic language with linguistic features. Therefore, the translator must take all these factors into consideration when translating it.
There have been several attempts to translate the Qur’an in different ways and using various strategies. However, none of these translations have taken gender into consideration when translating expressions related to females mentioned in the Qur’an. This has led to the emergence of feminist translation that is concerned with the issue of gender and takes into account matters related to females when translating feminine expressions in the Qur’an into the target language. This study compares the feminist translation by Laleh Bakhtiar (2007) with two other different translations by well-known translators: Pickthall (1992) and Amina Wadud (1997), in order to examine the gender-related issues faced by the feminist translator in translating feminine expressions in Surah An-Nisa from Arabic to English.
The study used the comparative-qualitative approach. The syudy involves analyzing the given examples by comparing feminist translation with two other translations to find the ratio of differences and variations between them. The analysis of these differences is based on the methodology of feminist translation according to Flotow (2016).
The study summarized that feminist translation of the Holy Qur’an emerged due to previous translations that neglected the concept of gender while translating the feminine expressions mentioned in the Holy Qur’an. Additionally, translators cannot intervene much in the translation of the Holy Qur’an, which led to the decision of not fully adopting Flotow's strategies for feminist translation during the translation of the Holy Qur’an.
This research recommends the necessity of justifying the feminist translator's different translation of some verses and terms, based on logical justifications relying on the Hadith and the noble Sunnah, not just superficial linguistic justifications. This is to ensure that the translation is complete, logical, and acceptable to readers as well as to protect the translator from attack )verbal aggressiveness) and criticism from readers.
Description
This Thesis is Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of Applied Linguistics and Translation in the Faculty of Graduate Studies, An-Najah National University, Nablus, Palestine.
2023