Al-Azhar Deputy Highlights Challenges in Translating Religious Texts

IQNA – The deputy head of Egypt’s Al-Azhar Islamic Center said there are many challenges to the accurate translation of religious texts, including the Holy Quran.

Mohamed al-Duwaini, speaking at a conference in Cairo, said translating Islamic texts requires surmounting many problems and issues. 

It needs a lot of skills, high precision, interactions with scholars and many precautions to avoid any distortion in the process of translation, he stated, Al-Watan reported.

As for the translation of the Quran, he said there are expressions and terms in the Holy Book that cannot be translated into other languages.

There are also some terms in Islamic thought and sciences, especially in Fiqh (Islamic jurisprudence) that have no equivalents in other languages, al-Duwaini noted.

That is why there needs to be explanations in the translation so that readers in the target language can comprehend the concepts, he went on to say.

The Al-Azhar official underlined the need for promoting Islam through proper translation of Islamic texts, saying the enemies have launched a massive campaign to prevent people in Western countries from understanding the truth of Islam.

He added that in today’s world, civilizations are engaged in confrontation not using weapons, but using thought and knowledge.

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