Description
A Master of Arts Thesis in Translation and Interpreting(English/Arabic/English) by Iman Najim Entitled, "The Meaning of Huda in the Qur'an with Reference to Three English Translations," July 2010. Available are both Hard and Soft Copies of the Thesis.
Abstract
Translation of the Holy Qur'an has been a difficult topic for discussion and research by translators and research specialists because of its sacred status. The wording of the Qur'an is so precise that no word is out of place, redundant or used haphazardly in a way that serves no purpose. Available translations of the Qur'an are often being judged as imprecise and looked at out of its context (i.e., the Qur'an). To overcome this ambiguity in Qur'an translation, translators have adopted strategies such as transliteration, explication, cultural substitution, and using footnotes. This thesis intends to go a step further by looking at the concept of huda within the Qur'an. To do this, the concept of huda is explored in Arabic dictionaries and in exegetical texts. Also, thirteen examples with reference to three English translations by Khan and Hilali (1996), Pickthall (1997), and Abdel Haleem (2005) are discussed. The analysis indicates that the concept of huda is, in general, decontextualized in these three English translations of the Qur'an.