Analyzing And Assessing the Translation of Quranic Terms based on the Tridimensional Exegetic Analysis Model, salah as a Case Study

Abstract

The study investigates the hypothesis that there are certain conceptual gaps between the source and target concepts and proposes a translation strategy to avoid that distortion of the intended meanings. It starts from the premise that producing a high-quality translation of Quranic concepts could be attained if the distinctive features of source and target concepts are delimited based on an onomasiological terminological approach and a tri-dimensional textual approach. The objective is to assess an equivalent of a Qur’anic term based on its conceptual match or mismatch with the source concept and to propose improved versions that meet the needs of readers of Quranic translations irrespective of their cultural backgrounds. Thus, after attaining the conceptual delimitation of the Quranic concept of salah, an analysis is conducted to check whether its features are well conveyed in the equivalent “prayer”. Salah is delimited in the Quran (intratextuality), Sunnah (intertextuality), and the historical sociocultural contexts (contextuality).