Functional Analysis of Thematic Approach to the Division of Surahs in Two English Contemporary Translations of the Qur’an

Abstract

Thematic division of Qur’anic chapters (henceforth, surahs) into paragraphs is a recent trend in translating the Qur’an. This thematic approach refers to the translation of Qur’anic surah based on their underlying themes rather than verse-by-verse translation in a bilingual text. Disregarding source text division, some translators divide each Qur’anic surah into paragraphs with subheadings while translating the surahs into English. This paper aimed to reveal how the division and chosen themes for each paragraph of the surahs often differ among translators who choose this thematic approach to the Qur’an translation. The data is collected from two modern thematic English translations of the Qur’an, namely, The Clear Quran by Khattab (2015) and The Majestic Quran by Hussain (2018). Adopting a descriptive design and qualitative research method, the paper aimed at applying Nord’s model of functionalist text analysis to compare the units of analysis selected from three Qur’anic surahs: Q. 86, Q. 87 and Q. 93. These surahs are particularly chosen because they are divided differently in the two translations. The paper queries the impact of thematic translation and text segmentation on the Qur’an translation process, especially in relation to producing loyalty and functional adequacy in the two translations. Nord’s functional model was used to explore the effect of thematic translation in conveying the functions for the intended readership without betraying their trust in that they are reading God’s word in their own language. The findings emphasise that thematic translation tends to violate rather than maintain the original intended functions (skopos) and loyalty to the source text.