Taḍmīn (Implication of Meaning) in the Qur’an with Reference to Ten English Qur’an Translations

Abstract

Taḍmīn is the use of a verb followed by a preposition with which does not standardly collocate to indicate rhetorically another verb, thus bringing about a deep, double meaning with few words. The Qur’an contains numerous examples of taḍmīn. Answering three research questions, this descriptive-prescriptive study aims at analysing and discussing ten English Qur’an translations of taḍmīn in two āyāt (verses) out of approximately 270 which involve taḍmīn, using a resource to identify taḍmīn and applying the four elements of it. The study concludes that not all four elements of taḍmīn are taken into consideration by the ten translators. They did, however, translate two different elements of taḍmīn, i.e. the majority of them rendered an explicit verb followed by an implicit preposition; some others translated an implicit verb followed by an explicit preposition and one translator in one āyah (verse) out of the two rendered the explicit verb and the explicit preposition. I suggested an improvement to the translations by including the four elements of taḍmīn in order to understand the āyāt (verses) deeply. I also suggest a further investigation that would assess more translations of taḍmīn and carry out interviews with Qur’an translators to reveal the reason(s) why the four elements of taḍmīn are not translated. This investigation might be conducted by me in the future.