Differences in French Translations of Quran
Mukhtar Zawawi, a professor of linguistics and French language at the Faculty of Literature, Languages and Arts of the University Djillali Liabes Sidi Bel Abbes in Algeria, have written two books discussing French translations of Islam’s Holy Book.
His first book on this subject is titled “Semiotics of Translation of the Text of Quran”, which was published in 2015.
He wrote the second book under the title of “Chapters in Pragmatics of Quran Translation” and published it in 2018.
Zawawi has also written a number of papers on this subject.
He says what made him interested in studying French translations of the Quran is the large number of renderings, which amounts to more than 120. He has collected and studied over 50 of them.
According to Zawawi, the existence of various translations of the Quran in French has different reasons, some of which is related to the translator while some others are due to the specialties ad capacities of the French language.
There are also differences that are due to different interpretations of the text of the Holy Book, he notes.
The Algerian scholar says that in his two books as well as papers on the subject, he has shed light on the reason for the existence of so many differences in the existing translations of the Quran into French.
He says one thing that is almost common in all of these renderings is that all of the translators, emphasizing the text, have translated each of the verses separately.
“This is wrong for different reasons”, Zawawi says. “Because it disrupts the meaning, disturbs the links between the verses and undermines the feature of Waqf (a pause in reading the verse).”
He offers a method for translation of the Quran that considers the best.
The scholar accepts the view that translation of the Quran (without changes in meaning) is impossible for different reasons.
“Nonetheless, in our studies, we began reviewing this issue (Quran translation) at the three levels of auditory, words and grammar. We believe that these three levels are merged to underline the miraculous aspect of the text of the Quran.”
