An Ongoing Project on Assessing the English Translation of Complete Taḍmīn (Implication of Meaning) in the Qur’an: The Seventh Sūrah (Chapter) Al-Aʕrāf

Abstract

This paper is a part of an in-progress project which investigates four English translations of complete taḍmīn in the whole Qur’an. Taḍmīn involves the presence of an explicit verb, noun or adjective, followed by an explicit preposition with which it is not standardly collocated, and the expression of additional meaning through an implicit verb, noun or adjective, which standardly collocates with the explicit preposition. This study is an extension of Nouraldeen (2020; 2021a; 2021b; 2022a ; 2022b), which have investigated six chapters so far. Using the four-element model that was put forward in Nourladeen (2020, p. 240) and modified twice in Nouraldeen (2021a, p. 293; and 2022b, p. 144), this paper proceeds by discussing, analysing and assessing four English translations of complete taḍmīn in the seventh sūrah (chapter) al-Aʕrāf. The importance, and also the challenge, of complete taḍmīn lies in its invisibility to the translator and its absence in English. The theoretical framework of this study is established within the theories of Vinay and Darbelnet (1995, p. 342) and Dickins et al. (2017, pp 48-56), which suggest ‘explicitation’ of the ST, leading to ‘loss’ and ‘gain’ in the TT. Textual analysis is applied to the ST and the TT based on two sources and three dictionaries. None of the four translators are aware of taḍmīn in translating the Qur’an, except for Abdel Haleem, Hammad and Khattab in āyah 1, who translate the four elements of complete taḍmīn, and Abdel Haleem in translating āyah 5. The Qur’anic style should be taken into consideration when translating the Qur’an unless the translation would sound awkward in English.