IQNA

A Brief Look at History of Quran Translation into Turkish

23:06 - September 18, 2024
News ID: 3489931
IQNA – The Quran was first translated into the Turkish language in full almost a century after Islam was introduced to the land known today as Turkey.

A Quran translation in Turkish

 

But some verses and small chapters of the Holy Book had already been translated by the Turks with the arrival of Islam. 

This is according to a book by Sadreddin bin Omar Kumush on the history of Quran rendering in Turkish.

The book says it is not known who first embarked on the Turkish translation of the Holy Book.

The old translations now available in libraries and museums are not original versions but are copies that are not dated.

According to the world’s first comprehensive bibliography of Quran translations, by 1980 there were 107 Turkish translations of the entire Quran and 197 partial translations of the Quran.

The translations were either word for word or conceptual translation.

The second type included explanations about meanings of words and verses.

The conceptual translation was mostly used for small chapters and Surahs read frequently like Surah Yaseen, Surah al-Kahf and Surah Al-Mulk.

During the Ottoman Empire, there was a decline in Quranic translation due to fawtas (religious edicts) and legal prohibitions on translation.

A Brief Look at History of Quran Translation into Turkish

But the Ottoman era scholars started writing Quran interpretation with explanations about Quranic concepts. Copies of these Quran interpretations in Turkish are now in libraries in Turkey, Russia and elsewhere.

Ottoman ruler Sultan Abdul Hamid II (1842-1918) gave permission to many Turkish scholars to translate the Quran.

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In the 20th century, there was a new wave of Quran translations into Turkish.  

Among the Turkish thinkers known for their Quran translations is Mehmet Hamdi Yazar (1878-1942) who was a scholar in the field of theology, Qurn interpretation, Fiqh (Islamic jurisprudence) and philosophy.

 

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