Translation almost Impossible
Any translation of the original will not be the word of God but the work of human beings. Keep in view the imperfect human knowledge, and remember that Arabic is the widest and richest of all languages. Then you will have to admit that no translation of the Qur'an would be perfect enough to carry the true meanings and to fulfill the spiritual purposes.
Sayyid Sa'eed Akhtar Rizvi writes on this subject:
Praying in English: First of all, translation of any work of literature from any language into another is considered by all men of literature as almost impossible. Of course, you will find thousands of translations of literary works, but they represent only the body of the original; the spirit is always lost.
Secondly, Arabic language, in particular, is so comprehensive that, for example, it is just impossible to convey the complete idea of a word (let alone a 'sentence') into English. Take for example, the most common phrase الحمد لله which is generally translated as All praise be to God. Now ال conveys in Arabic the following shades of meaning:
1. Each and every individual of the thing mentioned, taken separately;
2. All the individuals of the thing mentioned taken jointly;
3. The species of the thing mentioned taken as an abstract idea etc.
Now if you want to translate ال in such a way as to convey all the meanings mentioned above you will have to say 'Each and every, all and the.'
Then comes حمد . There is not a single word in English to convey its idea. 'Praise' is translation of مدح not حمد ; Thanks' is translation of شكر not حمد.
Hamd means to praise and thank someone because he deserves to be praised whether he has done you any favour or not provided that his qualities are not given to him by someone else.
How can anybody convey this idea in translations?
Now comes (L) of الله It conveys the idea of 'For', 'Of, 'Belonging to' etc. No single English preposition can cover the whole range of its meanings. الله is generally rendered as 'God'. But, first of all 'god is not translation of الله because الله means 'One who deserves to be loved' and 'Into whom every one seeks refuge.'
Secondly الله has no plural and no feminine. So this name itself reflects light upon the fact that He is one and only one and that He has no partner nor any equal. But god has plural (gods) and feminine (goddess).
This short explanation should be sufficient to show that it is impossible to translate the Qur'an in such a way that the translation conveys all the shades of meanings of the original.
In the words of A. J. Arbury, the Qur'an is a foreign idiom, for the Qur'an is God's revelation in Arabic, and the emotive and evocative qualities of the original disappear almost totally in the most skilful translation.[2]
It is clear, therefore, that no translation can replace this, divine literary work at all. Of course, a number of English translations of the Qur'an have been published; but it has always been felt that yet another effort for better translation is necessary, because all existing translations appear inadequate or carrying misleading meanings of certain verses. This feeling is not restricted to English translations; but it affects also those in other languages. Under the circumstances, should one make use of the defective translation and leave aside the perfect original, particularly when he is addressing the Almighty Allah?
