Islam's relationship to Arabic language and universal religious translation

Psychology & Islam

Arabic and Islam

At first glance, it would appear that the fact that the Koran, Islam's holy book, cannot be officially translated out of its original Arabic limits Islam's ability to be a universal religion. However, such a belief ignores the fact that the ability to learn a language is, like religion, universal. Furthermore, according to its believers, Islam is more than a religion, but a way of life. This cultural approach to Islam makes the proscription against translation make more sense; translation involves interpretation, which is likely to be colored by a translator's experience with other language and the cultures surrounding them. Therefore, if the goal is to keep the words of the Prophet pure, it makes sense that his words, as captured in the Koran, never be translated out of his original language.

One need only look towards the difficulties that have occurred as a result of the translation of other religious texts to see the reasoning behind prohibiting the Koran out of its original Islam. For example, the original sources of the Bible come from various languages, including, but not limited to Biblical Hebrew, Aramaic, and possibly Greek. The Old Testament was translated into Koine Greek, and that translation became known as the Septuagint (Wikipedia). However, Jewish scholars discovered that there were variations among the translations to form a unified text, which required their own interpretation of the various texts, because the originals did not contain vowels. (Wikipedia). This addition of vowels required interpretation. Each time the text of the Bible was translated out of its original language, the translator was given an opportunity to interpret the words, and it was inevitable that the final translations would vary tremendously from the source. On the light side, this has led to an association of the apple as the Fruit of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil because the word for apple and evil were similar in one of the transitional languages. On the more serious side, this has led to serious textual differences in the scripture, depending on the interpretations used. Prohibiting the translation of the Koran eliminates translation-based interpretation errors.

The fact is that the Koran, like any religious text, is going to be interpreted by those who read it. Limiting it to one language limits the likelihood that people will interpret the text in a manner not intended by the Prophet. "In Islam...precedent is all. The principles of the Prophet- as divined from the Koran and the approved traditions- are for all time. They can be extended to cover all disciplines." (Naipaul). The Prophet was Arabic, so it follows that those approved traditions are going to be Arabic and that Islam, whether practiced in an Arabic nation or elsewhere, is going to be Arabic at its core. Furthermore, the Prophet indicated his belief that, as generations passed, Muslims would become less devote because of a dilution of faith. (Naipaul). Therefore, it makes sense that anything that could lead to further dilution of faith would be prohibited. In fact, there are several ideas in Islam which have been distorted by culture, which the devout might not be able to recognize as distortions if they were reading an interpreter's translation of the Koran. For example, the Koran's instructions about the burqua condemn male violence against women and suggest that women take cover until such men can be contained. However, that instruction has been used to oppress women, which is the exact opposite of what the Prophet appears to intend in the Koran. Furthermore, one needs to look at the context in which the Koran was written and how Islam historically spread in order to gain a greater appreciation of the proscription against translation. Islam initially spread through violence and warfare, even during the Prophet's time, and it made sense that the converted would be forced to embrace all aspects of the conquering lifestyle, which included the use of Arabic and embracing Islam. That the two would be permanently linked is unsurprising.