Why Arberry

بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم

To my brothers, السلام عليكم و رحمة الله و بركاته

There is increasing albeit sporadic interest in the Qur'an on this board, yet it is plagued by half-hearted pretenses to troll both Muslims and infidels, and, like sinewy weeds, disinformation chokes luscious discussion. Those lacking any serious knowledge about the Qur'an or Arabic can't be expect enlightenment in such environment, so I am taking the trouble to furnish a lengthy guide to appreciation of the Qur'an for those with little or no knowledge of Arabicor Islam. This series will be in seven threads Insha'Allah, one a week: Aesthetics, Narrative, Jurisprudence, Theology, Traditionalism vs Fundamentalism, Arabic, and Current Events (including the role of politics in sectarianism and contemporary translations). I begin with the aesthetics as that is what /lit/ is mostly interested in, then I will go into substance for those interested in appreciating the deeper elements.

Before delving into the nitty gritty, let's get one thing out of the way: there is no prohibition in Islam on translating or reading a translated Qur'an, it's just that it's referred to as tafsir (exegesis), in fact that's how it started long ago, commentary explaining the meaning in another language was written beside the Arabic. Now only the Arabic is valid for certain things, such as the formal prayer (supplication can be in any language) and other things, but reading the meaning in another language has always been permissible.

On style: there is a widespread misconception that the Qur'an is "poetry": it's not, in fact it explicitly states it's not (36:39). The idea it is stems from two factors, firstly the anachronistic conception of poetry. Today poetry can be just about anything so the fact that the Qur'an has a rhythm and literary discourse makes it sound very poetic, but poetry then meant songs, just as poetry in Homer's time was sung, often with instrumental accompaniment (Islam does prohibit instruments but permits singing in the tradition of poets).

Secondly, the use of rhyme in the Qur'an can give the impression that it's poetry. Well, this device was common in Arab rhetoric, it lended a sort of formality to words (notice in Shakespeare's earlier plays, like Richard II, lofty speech uses rhyme), and it also aided memorization, this is vital in a largely illiterate society, and the Qur'an itself is fundamentally an oral work. Also Arabic rhymes much more easily than English, which is why it's not a good idea to ever try to mimic that aspect of it in English. So other than that what's the English that best imitates the Arabic style? That would without a doubt be Arberry's.

Some confused souls would assert Pickthall or Ali, but that is incorrect as there is a significant difference between a "literary" translation, and a translation that actually seeks to imitate the Qur'an's style. Ali and Pickthall are beautiful stylists but it's not going to give you an idea of the Quranic style. Let's compare Arberry and Nasr (the author of The Study Quran) to give a couple of example from al-Fatiha (the first Surah, or chapter) of Arberry's attention to style. There's a phrase for Allah, Rabbee al-'alaameen (if you are interested in more precise pronunciation, a guide to Arabic alphabet pronunciation will be in the pertinent thread): Arabic uses quantitative stress, like Greek and Latin, rather than qualitative like English, here it's pronounced Rabbeel 'alameeeen (the definite article is typically either turned into a contraction, as with al-Shams letters--contracted as as-Shams--or pronounced as the last syllable of the preceding words, as in what you see here, called al-Qamar). The Study Quran renders this Lord of the worlds. Arberry renders it The Lord of "all Being" (this is actually a fair translation of العلمين which in this context refers to everything), which we can see more neatly reflects the sound of the Qur'an. Another phrase is Yowmee al-Deen (pronunciation of the definite article is both attached to the end of the first word and al-Qamar, which renders it silent here; Deen is extended in tajweed to deeeeeeen). This phrase refers to judgement day, The Study Quran translates it as the Day of Judgement. Arberry opts for the Day of Doom, using Doom in its older sense of judgement or reckoning (ultimately comes from Old English for fate but by Middle English meant judgement), and indeed this day was referred to be Christians as Doomsday. Certainly Doom functions more like Deen in rhythm and sound. Deen in Arabic refers etymologically to debt, it's the word for religion but also the word for reckoning as here, connoting the settling of accounts. If you're interested in seeing more about how Arberry approached translation see his introduction.

In future threads in this series I will go over other English tafsirs of the Qur'an, including the Study Quran, so stay posted.

Questions and comments welcome.