Teamwork Translation of Holy Quran Reduces Number of Errors

Sources: www.ahl-ul-bayt.org, www.iqna.ir/en/

Teamwork Translation of Holy Quran Reduces Number of Errors

--A good teamwork effort in translation of the holy Quran can reduce the number of errors, a prominent American Muslim scholar says.

Gary Carl (Muhammad) Legenhausen, an instructor at the Imam Khomeini (RA) Education and Research Institute in Iran, told IQNA that teamwork translation would pave the way for the reduction of errors as well as preventing prejudgment and religious, ethnic and personal biases.

He continued that consultation and exchange of ideas among experts involved in translation will yield positive results.

“The translators ought to be fully familiar with both source and target languages. They should also be acquainted with various interpretation exegeses of the holy Quran”.

Referring to the purpose of translating different texts, he said, “In translation of scientific or medical texts, content needs to be taken into consideration while in a text like the holy Quran both the content and aesthetic aspects are of great importance”.

He also stressed that a perfect translation of the Quran will never be achieved for it is a Divine book.

Muhammad Legenhausen said that knowing about the purpose of translation as well as the target audience are the two prerequisites for rendering a good translation. For instance, a semantic translation is suitable for a non-Muslim individual who is not familiar with Arabic language and partially knows about Islam.

“For those who are fully familiar with Arabic language, a translation based on words and concepts would be suitable”.

He concluded that the primary objective of Quran translation into English or any other language is to get people further acquainted with the teachings of the Divine Book which show the right path.

Gary Carl (Muhammad) Legenhausen (born 1953, New York) is an American philosopher who teaches at the Imam Khomeini Education and Research Institute. He converted to Islam in 1983.

He wrote a book entitled Islam and Religious Pluralism in which he advocates "non-reductive religious pluralism". He has been an advocate of interfaith dialogue, and serves on the advisory board of the Society for Religious Studies in Qom. He holds a Ph.D. in philosophy from Rice University (1983).

He taught philosophy of religion, ethics and epistemology at the Islamic Iranian Academy of Philosophy from 1990 until 1994. Since 1996, he has been studying Islam and teaching Western philosophy and Christianity at the Imam Khomeini Education and Research Institute in Iran. He is also a founding member of the advisory board of the Shia Studies Center in Qom, and serves on the scientific board of the Human Rights Center of Mofid University, Qom.

Brought up as a Catholic, he abandoned religion shortly after beginning his academic studies at the State University of New York at Albany. In 1979, he became acquainted with Islam through Muslim students at Texas Southern University, where he taught from 1979 to 1989.

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