Deconstructing the (Mis)Interpretation of Paratextual Elements in Ross’s English Translation of the Qur’ān, The Alcoran of Mahomet (1649)
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Najlaa Aldeeb
Abstract
Contemporary reviewers of Qur’ān translations such as Bruce Lawrence and Abdur Raheem Kidwai have recognized medieval and early modern Qur’ān translations as anti-Islamic. These translations were meant to make the Qur’ān accessible to the European reader to know about Islam, yet they had either missionary or political reasons. The first English translation of the Qur’ān was done by Alexander Ross, the chaplain to Charles I of England, in 1649, a time of great political and social turmoil, marked by a civil war, regicide, and suppression of voices in the press. Due to the threat of the Ottoman Empire, the Council of State considered the Qur’ān as the book of the enemy and issued a warrant to seize the copies and apprehend the printer. Whoever published or translated the Qur’ān was to be punished; therefore, Ross was obliged to add an anti-Islamic preface and appendix to his target text to satisfy the authorities and to avoid punishment. However, these additions were misinterpreted by modern scholars. Analyzing the paratextual devices of this version promises to reveal the relationship between European-Christian and Arab-Muslim countries at that time. Thus, this paper compares Ross’s translation of the Qur’ān to its French source text by André du Ryer and the second English translation by George Sale to deconstruct the claim that all Orientalists, non-Arab, and non-Muslim translators of the Qur’ān, including Ross, were anti-Islamic.
Abstract
Contemporary reviewers of Qur’ān translations such as Bruce Lawrence and Abdur Raheem Kidwai have recognized medieval and early modern Qur’ān translations as anti-Islamic. These translations were meant to make the Qur’ān accessible to the European reader to know about Islam, yet they had either missionary or political reasons. The first English translation of the Qur’ān was done by Alexander Ross, the chaplain to Charles I of England, in 1649, a time of great political and social turmoil, marked by a civil war, regicide, and suppression of voices in the press. Due to the threat of the Ottoman Empire, the Council of State considered the Qur’ān as the book of the enemy and issued a warrant to seize the copies and apprehend the printer. Whoever published or translated the Qur’ān was to be punished; therefore, Ross was obliged to add an anti-Islamic preface and appendix to his target text to satisfy the authorities and to avoid punishment. However, these additions were misinterpreted by modern scholars. Analyzing the paratextual devices of this version promises to reveal the relationship between European-Christian and Arab-Muslim countries at that time. Thus, this paper compares Ross’s translation of the Qur’ān to its French source text by André du Ryer and the second English translation by George Sale to deconstruct the claim that all Orientalists, non-Arab, and non-Muslim translators of the Qur’ān, including Ross, were anti-Islamic.
Kapitel in diesem Buch
- Frontmatter I
- Table of Contents V
- List of Illustrations IX
- Introduction: An Essay on Language, Culture, and Identity: Medieval and Early Modern Perspectives on and Approaches to Communication, Translation, and Community 1
- Ways of Communication and Mis/communication in Abū Tammām’s “Ode on the Conquest of Amorium” (838 C.E.) 95
- Proscribed Communication: The Obscene Language of the Troubadour William IX, Duke of Aquitaine and VII Count of Poitiers 109
- (Non)-Imaginary Ideal Communities in the Pre-Modern World: A Reading in the Utopian Works of al-Fārābi’, Ibn Khaldūn, Christine de Pizan, and Thomas More 159
- A Jewish Moneylender, Miscommunication, and a Lie: Gonzalo de Berceo’s Milagro no. 23 191
- Words, Signs, Meanings: William Langland’s Piers Plowman as a Window on Linguistic Chaos 209
- The Chaucerian Translator 233
- Entertainment, Laughter, and Reflections as a Training Ground for Communication in Public and Private: The Case of Heinrich Kaufringer, ca. 1400 255
- …written in my own Jewish hand 291
- Demonic Operators: Forbidden Relations in Medieval Communication 327
- Paroemiac Expressions: A Touch of Color in the Ambassadors’ Diplomatic Correspondence in the Fifteenth Century 351
- Communication and Translation in Early Modern Basque Society. The Role Played by the Public Notaries 379
- Preventing Miscommunication: Early Modern German Surgeons as Specialized Translators 393
- Reputation and Authority in the Physicians’ Communication with Patients as Reflected in the Czech-Language Sources of the Early Modern Period 415
- The Physicians’ Community in Pre-Thirty Years’ War Bohemia 439
- A Bond of True Love: Performing Courtship and Betrothal in Gower’s Cinkante balades and Spenser’s Amoretti, in Light of Christine de Pizan’s Cent balades 461
- Noble Friendship in Relation to the Community: Hamlet and The Merchant of Venice 491
- Deconstructing the (Mis)Interpretation of Paratextual Elements in Ross’s English Translation of the Qur’ān, The Alcoran of Mahomet (1649) 519
- Community and the Others: Unveiling Boundaries in Shakespeare’s The Merchant of Venice 551
- Biographies of the Contributors 617
- Index 627
Kapitel in diesem Buch
- Frontmatter I
- Table of Contents V
- List of Illustrations IX
- Introduction: An Essay on Language, Culture, and Identity: Medieval and Early Modern Perspectives on and Approaches to Communication, Translation, and Community 1
- Ways of Communication and Mis/communication in Abū Tammām’s “Ode on the Conquest of Amorium” (838 C.E.) 95
- Proscribed Communication: The Obscene Language of the Troubadour William IX, Duke of Aquitaine and VII Count of Poitiers 109
- (Non)-Imaginary Ideal Communities in the Pre-Modern World: A Reading in the Utopian Works of al-Fārābi’, Ibn Khaldūn, Christine de Pizan, and Thomas More 159
- A Jewish Moneylender, Miscommunication, and a Lie: Gonzalo de Berceo’s Milagro no. 23 191
- Words, Signs, Meanings: William Langland’s Piers Plowman as a Window on Linguistic Chaos 209
- The Chaucerian Translator 233
- Entertainment, Laughter, and Reflections as a Training Ground for Communication in Public and Private: The Case of Heinrich Kaufringer, ca. 1400 255
- …written in my own Jewish hand 291
- Demonic Operators: Forbidden Relations in Medieval Communication 327
- Paroemiac Expressions: A Touch of Color in the Ambassadors’ Diplomatic Correspondence in the Fifteenth Century 351
- Communication and Translation in Early Modern Basque Society. The Role Played by the Public Notaries 379
- Preventing Miscommunication: Early Modern German Surgeons as Specialized Translators 393
- Reputation and Authority in the Physicians’ Communication with Patients as Reflected in the Czech-Language Sources of the Early Modern Period 415
- The Physicians’ Community in Pre-Thirty Years’ War Bohemia 439
- A Bond of True Love: Performing Courtship and Betrothal in Gower’s Cinkante balades and Spenser’s Amoretti, in Light of Christine de Pizan’s Cent balades 461
- Noble Friendship in Relation to the Community: Hamlet and The Merchant of Venice 491
- Deconstructing the (Mis)Interpretation of Paratextual Elements in Ross’s English Translation of the Qur’ān, The Alcoran of Mahomet (1649) 519
- Community and the Others: Unveiling Boundaries in Shakespeare’s The Merchant of Venice 551
- Biographies of the Contributors 617
- Index 627
