Dear people,
Here is my Questionnaire. I haven't ever done something like this before, so please forgive me if I am not supposed to put this here. I can't figure out where the "Attachments" feature is that the Questionnaire talks about.
Sincerely,
Romi Elnagar
P.S. I think i "uploaded" this as an Attachment, too, but I can't figure out how I can tell for sure.:?
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Questionnaire – ( ‘If Qur’an isn’t its translation …’ )
Please type in your answers in the spaces following each question. After completion, please upload this Microsoft Word document to the thread titled ‘Translation of the Qur’an…’ found at the following link:
http://www.islamicboard.com/educatio...elp-neede.html
You may upload the file by using the ‘Attachments’ feature when posting in the thread, by using the Attachments icon (paperclip).
If the Microsoft Word file is too large to upload, please ‘zip’ the file into a compressed folder, by right clicking on the file’s icon and using the ‘Send To’ option to select ‘Compressed (zipped) Folder’.
You may then upload this smaller zipped folder into your post.
Please state how long it takes you to complete this questionnaire: Approx.20---- mins.
1) Your Age: 58
Your Nationality: American
Your Education: BA, History, UC Davis; Certificate in Teaching ESL, UC Riverside, Teaching credential (elementary), California ("Ryan Act"), Masters of Library and Information Science, Lousiana State Univ.
Languages you speak other than English: very limited ability in Spanish, French, German and Arabic.
Exposure to Arabic (e.g mother-tongue of parents / learning at school):
married 27 years to a native speaker of Egyptian Arabic
If Qur’an isn’t its translation …
1) What do you expect from a translation of the Holy Qur’an? that it be a faithful and accurate interpretation of the Word of God to Prophet Muhammed (pbuh). That the translator treat the act of translation with the highest respect for the Word of God.
2) What is it that you prefer most in any given translation? expresses in English the sense of the Arabic words and that it uses language appropriate to a sacred text (dignified, elevated, resonant and memorable)
3) Do you know how to judge a translation of the Holy Qur’an to be good or not? Not very well. I ask my husband sometimes. I suppose I could go online to Qaradawi's site (Islamonline) if I had a question about a translation. I have not bought a translation in years, ever since I got Asad twenty years ago at the Islamic Center of Southern California
4) What would you like to see in translations of the Qur’an, as it does not already exist and is lacking in current translations? A concordance, like that in Christian Bibles, where you can look up a word and find all the passages that have that word listed (for example, words like "fast," "Kaaba," "Jews,", "Pharaoh," etc.)
5) What is the Qur’an translation you use? Why? If I want an accurate translation I use Muhammed Asad's translation. I read Arberry's translation for its literary qualities, and also I like to read Pickthall's. It was Pickthall's translation that I read all the way through and then decided that no man could hve written the Qur'an, and so converted to Islam.
6) Do you prefer hard-copy (printed) versions of Qur’an, or computers’ version? Either is fine.
7) What would make you seek to buy or find a specific translation of the Qur’an? For example, you hear of a new translation, a friend told you about his favourite translation …etc. Perhaps a recommendation from a scholar like Qaradawi.
8) What do you dislike most in any given translation of the Qur’an? I don't read "translations" by non-Muslims. Some European translations by non-Muslims are okay, but some are prejudiced, hostile, biased and full of hate towards Islam and Muslim. Those translations by those people are worse than useless.
9) Have you ever decided not to use a particular translation of the Qur’an? If so, why? Sometimes I wonder if some of the translations that I see in non-Muslim bookstores are done as carefully as Asad's and Pickthall's must have been.
10) Do you think that translations and translated explanations are enough to understand the meanings of Qur’an or does one have to learn Arabic? Learning the Qur'an is a lifelong process. My husband is a native speaker of Arabic, but finds that he learns about the Qur'an by reading Asad's fine translation. As you probably know, Asad was a Polish Jew who converted to Islam and lived the Arabian desert for several years in order to understand the Arabic that is closest to the Arabic of Muhammed's day (including idioms, etc.). He was fluent in several languages (I think he served as Pakistan's ambassador to the UN after its independence.)
You really have to work at learning about the Qur'an and in the process you learn the nuances of Arabic terms, but lnaguages are hard for me to acquire. I think, though, that the answer to your question is a qualified "yes," you really need to learn Arabic to appreciate the Qur'an. I think that the language of Arabic itself may create an awareness of human relationships that is different from English, but it is hard for me to express what that is exactly, "egalitarism" comes about the closest to what I mean.