Qur’an Translation and Sub-Continent Analysis of Selected Urdu Qur’an Translations
Abstract
As Quran is the word of ALLAH, it is a divine word. The Quran was revealed in the Arabic language. The Arabs were very much familiar with this language linguistically, semantically, culturally, and from all other aspects of linguistics and non -linguistics. As Islam spread beyond the Arab boundaries, the non-Arabs were not able to understand this language with totality. The same was the case of the subcontinent, people here were not so familiar with Arabic that they understand it without translation so there was a dire need to translate the meaning of the Quran to the lingua franca of the subcontinent. Shah Waliullah Muhadis Dehlawi (R.A) contributed to this a lot and after him, his descendants were keenly interested in serving the people of the sub-continent and in which they became successful. The Quran was translated into Persian and after that the lingua franca of the subcontinent i.e. Urdu. This paper deals with the history of Qur’an translation in the Sub-continent particularly Urdu and will analyze some selected translations from the initial stage of Qur’an translation and some translations from the 20th century which is known as a golden era for Urdu Qur’an translation. The researcher will also try to answer what kind of strategies have been used by translators in their translations and which methodology has been adopted by the translator in transferring the meaning of the Holy Qur’an into the target language.
