The Sixth Conference on Translating the Meanings of the Holy Qur`an Under the theme Translation Studies and the Translation of the Holy Qur`an 2020

Faculty of Arts and Humanities- Marrakesh in collaboration with The Knowledge Integration and Translation Research Laboratory, 

Al Kindi Center for Translation and Training And Mohammed VI Institute of Qur’anic Studies

Organize

The Sixth Conference on Translating the Meanings of the Holy Qur`an

Under the theme

Translation Studies and the Translation of the Holy Qur`an

In honour of Professor Mohammed Didaoui

 Date: February 26-27, 2020. 

The Holy Qur’an was revealed to the prophet Muhammad (PBUH) in Arabic. Its translation has been an old and debatable issue among a host of scholars. In the present time, the different translations of the Holy Qur`an are of a great need to be scrutinized and examined in the light of contemporary theories in translation studies to establish a dialogue between different languages and nations. In this regard, a vital question must be raised; to what extent are these contemporary theories in the translation field of great scientific guidance to overcome all the potential barriers facing the Holy Qur`an translator?

Since its inception as a fully-fledged and independent discipline, translation has been approached by a myriad of pioneers and masters of translation theory. The controlling concept for most translation theory during the 1960s and 1970s was equivalence, and translation studies were linguistically oriented. Eugene Nida (1964) identified two fundamental measures for producing and assessing a translation: formal equivalence and dynamic equivalence. In the late seventies, Text Linguistics was created, and much attention was given to the structure of the text based on the work of Katharina Reiß (1971) text typology. Within the same decade, translation was looked at from a philosophical standpoint (the Hermeneutic Motion). Steiner (1975), as a pioneer of this approach, focused on the psychological and intellectual functioning of the mind of the translator. The latter was viewed as the understander and the interpreter of the original text. As a reaction to static prescriptive models, a dynamic culturally oriented theory (polysystem) was initiated by Itmar Even-Zohar (1978) who looked at translated literature as a system operating in the larger social, literary and historical systems of the target culture. Gideon Toury (1978), a major proponent of a comparative literature-oriented approach, shifted attention to the translated text with no comparison with the original one. For him, translation involves a set of norms as well as the translator’s alertness in manipulating the ST to make it acceptable in the target language and culture.

As the science of translation grows, more translation theories have emerged to enrich this field. First, the functional theory began to take shape in the 1980s thanks to the German scholars Hans J. Vermeer and Katharina Reiss (1984). They ascertained that the Skopos (aim and purpose) of a translation is given more importance over any other considerations. Later, it became crystal clear that it is not enough to analyse just linguistic structures but rather focus on extra linguistic features as well. In this respect, the sociolinguistic theory, a communicative oriented approach, focused on the social context that defines what is and is not translatable. This approach is associated with scholars and academicians such as Annie Brisset (1990), Even Zohar and Guideon Toury (1995). Within the same decade, Ernst-August Gutt (1991) introduced the relevance theory, a cognition-based approach, into the communication theory model. The focus of attention moved to ‘mental faculties rather than texts or processes of text production. The image of the translator has been changed by Basil Hatim and Ian Mason (1990), who viewed the translator as a communicator. They highlighted the importance many basic elements in communication theory.

A thorough study of the history of translation reveals that the concept of translation itself has been labelled with a wide range of terms by different translation specialists according to a set of principles underscoring their points of departure. Accordingly, to what extent can the translation act (“ to translate“, “ to render“, “ to replace“, “ to rewrite“, “to reproduce“, “to transfer“, and “to substitute“) be adopted as a working framework to translate the Holy Qur`an?

Due to the different aspects of the source language and the target language, translators resort to some techniques in the translation process in order to achieve the equivalence of the translated works. The subject of translation techniques has been widely investigated by specialists in the field of translation studies. The major aim is to examine whether the translation techniques explored in this call for paper are helpful in the Holy Qur`an translation. The first category of translation techniques is direct translation which is used when structural and conceptual elements of the source language can be transposed into the target language. Direct translation techniques include: Borrowing, Calque and Literal Translation or a word-for-word translation. When direct translation techniques are not applicable because they are either structurally impossible, or the target language does not have a corresponding expression, the generated text would have a different meaning, no meaning or a foreign structure. The translator then seeks refuge in oblique translation techniques. These include: Transposition, Modulation, Reformulation or Equivalence, Adaptation and Compensation. Domestication and foreignization are two other opposite techniques/strategies suggested by Venuti (1995). The first one is the imitation of text features of the target culture. Whereas, foreignization is characterized by giving much emphasis to the elements that are foreign to the target culture (Venuti 1992). Domesticating practices where some source culture features are partially or totally erased may lead to the invisibility of translators. That is, the more fluent the translation, the more invisible the translator. (Venuti, 1995).

The aim of the conference is to re-raise the problem of translating the meanings of the Holy Qur’an in the light of modern theories and techniques. Accordingly, the ensuing questions arise:

• To what extent can modern theories be adopted as an intellectual framework for the translator of the meanings of the Holy Qur’an?
• To what extent can the notion of translation itself be considered as a descriptive concept of the rendering process from Arabic into other languages?
• To what extent can translation professionals rely on the various translation techniques and regard them as procedural devices to translate the meanings of the Holy Qur’an?

The conference research axes include, but are not limited to:

• Equivalence and Qur’an translation
• Discourse analysis and Qur’an translation
• Hermeneutic approach and Qur’an translation
• Literary polysystem and Qur’an translation
• Theory of norms and Qur’an translation
• Skopos theory and Qur`an Translation
• Translation as a transfer and Qur’an translation
• Translation as rewriting and Qur’an translation
• Translation as reproducing and Qur`an Translation
• Translation as rendering and Qur`an Translation
• Translation as substitution and Qur`an translation
• Translation as replacement and Qur`an translation
• Translation as communication and Qur`an translation
• Visibility / Invisibility and Qur`an Translation
• Direct translation techniques and Qur`an Translation
• Oblique translation techniques and Qur`an Translation
• Domestication / Foreignization and Qur`an Translation
• Translation terminology and Qur`an translation

Conference working languages

The working languages of the conference are Arabic, English and French.

Important dates

• Deadline for proposal submission: March 31, 2019.
•  Submission of final papers: June 30, 2019
• Notification of acceptance after blind reviewing: July 30, 2019.
•  Conference date: 26-27 Feburary 2020
• Conference venue: Faculty of Arts and Humanities, Marrakech, Kingdom of Morocco.
•  Participation proposals should be sent to: alkinditranslationconferences@gmail.com
•  Conference proceedings are to be published before the conference.
•  APA reference style required.

Participation fees

• $ 450 or equivalent (conference documents, participation certificate, accommodation, meals and coffee breaks are included)
• Travel expenses to be covered by participants

Conference general chair

Khalid Essaki

Conference coordinators

Jamaa Ouchouid

Noreddine Hanini

Noureddine Azmi

Scientific committee

Organizing committee

Overall supervision

Abdelhamid Zahid (The Knowledge Integration and Translation Research Laboratory)

Hassane Darir (Al Kindi Center for Translation and Training)

Coordinator of Master’s program: Translation Technology and Specialized Translation

Conference proposal in English

Conference proposal in French

Conference proposal in Arabic

Participation form

Formulaire de participation

استمارة المشاركة

ar.takc.org

 The Sixth International Conference on the Translation of the Meanings of the Holy Qur’an

Under the theme

Translation Studies and the Translation of the Holy Qur`an

In honour of Professor Mohammed Didaoui

Day one:

The Inaugural Session

Al Kindi Center for Translation and Training in collaboration with the Mohammed VI Institute for Readings and Qur’anic Studies and the Translation Laboratory and Knowledge Integration organized, as part of the series of international conferences, the sixth international conference on the translation of the meanings of the Holy Quran under the theme: “Translation Studies and Translation of the Meanings of the Holy Qur’an” in honor of  Professor Dr. Mohammed Didaoui on February 26-27, 2020 at the conference room – faculty of Letters and Human Sciences, Marrakesh. This conference is of a great importance particularly in the field of sacred text translation. The conference re-raises the issue of translating the meanings of the holy Qur’an in the light of contemporary theories in modern translation studies.

The opening session, chaired by Dr. Noureddine Hanini – Cadi Ayyad, Marrakesh, Morocco, was inaugurated by a recitation of verses from the Holy Qur’an. After that, Dr. Abderrahim Benali, , the Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Humanities in Marrakech, welcomed the participants from inside and outside the country, and praised the efforts made by  the Translation and Knowledge Integration Laboratory in organizing a series of international conferences and national seminars that aim at moving further the scientific research. The dean also praised the important role that the faculty of letters and human sciences is playing in the continuous development of such events.

After that, Dr. Khalid Al-Saki, Director of the Mohammed Al-Sad Institute for Readings and Qur’anic Studies in Rabat, addressed a thank-you speech to the organizing committee of the conference; he also praised the activities made by the Translation Laboratory and Integration of Knowledge and Al Kindi Center for Translation and Training, most of which are in the field of scared text translation, especially the translation of the meanings of the Holy Qur’an. He mentioned that this conference is an extension of the last conferences that tackled the topic from different angles.

At the end of the session, Dr. Hassane Darir, Director of the Translation and Knowledge Integration Laboratory at the Faculty of Arts and Humanities in Marrakech, welcomed the participants, professors and students. Dr. Darir thanked the scientific committee, reviewers, and linguistic proofreaders. He also thanked the organizing committee of the conference. Added to that, he emphasised on the objective of the conference which is to re-raise the issue of translating the meanings of the Holy Quran in the new contemporary theories in translation studies.

Then, Dr. Noureddine Hanini concluded this session by praising the celebrated international translator, His Excellency Dr. Muhammad Didaoui, on the occasion of his honoring, as well as thanking the organizing and the scientific committee, and welcoming the participants and the audience.

Scientific session 1

Dr. Khaled Saqi, Director of the Mohammed VI Institute for Recitation – Rabat – Kingdom of Morocco, chaired the session in which he praised the scientific and academic achievements of professor Dr. Muhammad Didaoui. After that, Dr. Muhammad Didaoui, an international expert and academic researcher in translation and terminology, and the head of the Arabic translation department at the United Nations in Vienna and Geneva,  inaugurated the session with a lecture entitled: “The eloquency of the Holy Qur’an: Translation is Reading, Interpretation and Pluralism in the Singular Form”. Dr. Didaoui thanked the organizing committee of the conference. Then, he introduced his last book which is entitled: “The Jurisprudence of Translation, the Miracle of Systems and the Mystery of Understanding” that has been recently published, in light of a set of honorable visions for the translation of the Noble Qur’an. From these visions, he emphasized the importance of Qura’nic rhythm in translating the Noble Qur’an, based on the fact that translation theorists at the American Bible Society made reading the translated text openly one of the most important stages of efficient translation, in order to test its style and rhythm. Therefore, it is mandatory to know more about the Qur’anic text not only from the exegetical works but also from the sound and the tone in order to reach its effective effect.

Dr. Muhammad Didaoui emphasized on the importance of knowing the seven letters from the translation perspective, in order to adopt the sound and rhythm in reading the Noble Qur’an, to clarify that the Holy Qur’an was revealed on one letter, while the rest of the letters are a reading or phonetic translation in the Arab languages and other languages. This will help ​​to clarify the meaning of the key words because of the similarities between these languages.

He confirmed that the congruent translation, which is based on text congruence, has many qualities that can be employed to determine a well-constructed translation closer to the meaning of the original and completed by the interpretive translation. It is divided according to chapters (Surahs) of the Qur’an (السور) or topics and dependent on the availability and validity of the rational exegeses, the related studies and researches and the authentic Hadith. It is, also, dependent on an integrated and multidisciplinary system, taking into account all the supporting elements of interpretation such as; the language and religious, jurisprudential (فقهية), semantic and interpretive sciences.

          -Dr. Boukhalef Faiza

Prof. Faiza Boukhalef, who works in Hassiba Benbouali University of Chlef-Algeria, gave an intervention entitled “The Translation of the Meanings of the Qur’an and the Functional Approach from Transfer to Interpretation”. It was, basically, pivoted on the fundamental characteristics that form a barrier against the possibility of the literal translation of the Holy Qur’an. The presenter perceived that the impossibility of this kind of translation stems from the difference of the Arabic language from other languages and the inimitability of the Holy Qur’an as well. As a solution, she examined the most significant principles of the ‘Skopos theory’ in order to explore the possibility of narrowing the huge gap between the untranslatability of the Holy Qur’an and the important pressing need for it.

          -Dr. Taghzaoui Youssef

Dr. Youssef Taghzaoui is a professor in the Multidisciplinary Faculty of Nador-Morocco. His presentation; “The Visibility and Invisibility and the Translation of the meanings of the Qur’an: Aspects and Manifestations”, is a research of one of the problematic issues that impedes the translation of the Holy Qur’an; which is the the visibility and invisibility in the Glorious Book. An issue that aims at transferring the comprehensible meaning from the syntactic verbal construction. Thus, the translational problematic issue faced here is: How can we successfully transfer the meaning and replace the term? The presenter confirmed that the visibility and invisibility translation is faced with various obstacles. In the end of his research, he elaborated on the obstacles and suggested solutions to overcome these difficulties and the translation problems.

-Dr. Hanini Noureddine

The intervention of Prof. Hanini Noureddine was in French ande was entitled “The Translation of the Qur’anic metaphor between the Literary and the Literal” (“La traduction de la Métaphore Coranique entre Littérarité et Littéralité”). The main focus was on the difficulty of the translation of the Qur’anic Text because it is a Sacred Text; which means a Divine Speech. The major question presented focused on how we can regain the original message in the target language without addition or loss? The peculiarity of the Qur’anic Text is that it is characterized by its openness to different readings and varied exegeses, in addition to its metaphor-oriented nature. The latter aspect, enriches the meaning of a certain term with the metaphorical symbolic principles.

This research paper suggests that the Qur’anic metaphor should be perceived from a translation angle because it is a tremendous challenge for the translator. Dr. Hanini chose a comparative study of four translations of the Holy Qur’an into French; Denis Mason 1976, André Chouraqui 1990, Abdellah Dominique Penot 2004 and Muhammad Hamidullah 1959, respectively. He aimed at making a comparison between these translations and find out the strategies of the metaphor translation used by every translator separately.

Based on the data collected, the researcher came to a conclusion that the translation of the metaphor presented two strategies: the first strategy is based on an expression far from the metaphor. Whereas, the second strategy allowed the production of the same image in the target language without losing the meaning or the metaphorical intensity.

– Professor Lahcen Bouzidi

During this session, Professor Researcher Lahcen Bouzidi from Cadi Ayyad University in Morocco delivered a presentation under the title: «Le dit et le non-dit dans l’introduction de la traduction du Saint Coran» “The said and the unsaid in the introduction to the translation of the Holy Quran ” , where he dealt with the problem of what is said and what is allegedly said in the introductions to translations of the Noble Qur’an, by answering the following questions:

• Why did we study the introductions of translations of the Holy Quran?
• What is the context of the translation of the Holy Quran?
• What is the purpose of this study?
• History of the translation of the Holy Quran.
• What is said about the introductions of the translations of the Holy Qur’an:
• Concerning the Holy Quran and its translation.
• Whether the Holy Quran is Translatable or not.
• The purpose of translating the Holy Quran.
• Why are there several translations of the Holy Quran? Is there a better translation of the Holy Quran?

-Professors Ms. Kaddosh Zainab and Ms. Saghir Maryam

The two Algerian researchers, Ms. Qudosh Zainab and Ms. Saghir Maryam addressed the strategies of domestication and foreignization and their efficacy in translating the Holy Qur’an in their article entitled “Translating the terms of worship in the Holy Qur’an between satisfying the reader and perpetuating the miraculous aspect of the original,” as they presented the arguments for each of the proponents of the two strategies while showing the pros and cons of each strategy separately. If there is a group that insists on using foreignization in translating the Holy Qur’an in order to preserve the peculiarity of the Qur’anic text and pushes the reader to understand its meanings. There is, on the other hand, a group that is in favor of the use of domestication in the Qur’an translation; their excuse is that the reader needs translations that domesticate and explain the meaning to some extent in the target language.1

Finally, the two researchers concluded that the translation that should be adopted is a combination of the two techniques Domestication and Foreignization, as this type of translation satisfies the reader, consecrates the miraculous aspect of the original, and maintains its originality at the same time.

-Sixth Scientific Session

This session was chaired by Dr. Malika El-Ouali – Cadi Ayyad University, Marrakesh – Morocco, and included two interventions:

-Dr. Sahar Ahmed Shamila:

Dr. Sahar Ahmed Chéméla presented her research paper is in French, and she entitled it: “ Etude de la traduction de quelques attributs divins dans la Sourate AL-Ḥaŝr“ (A semantic study of the translation of some divine attributes in Surat Al-Hashr), which is an analytical study of the translation undertaken by Dennis Mason and Zainab Abdel Aziz into the French language, especially the divine names of Allah in Surat Al-Hashr. Denise Mason and Zainab Abdel Aziz were chosen because they are the only women who have done this mighty work in the French language, and they represent two different cultures; in addition to that, Zainab Abdel Aziz is a professor working at Al-Azhar University and Denise Mason’s translation was adopted by Al-Azhar. Dr. Sahar Shamilah relied on Eugene Nida`s Equivalence Theory and justified her choice that equivalence allows one to determine the extent of the translation effect in the target language on the target reader.

Through her study, she sought to examine the linguistic, semantic, and translational levels of the Divine Names of Allah in Surat Al-Hashr in the original text and compare them with the translations that were adopted, and she concluded that these translations have emptied most of Divine Names from their semantic load.

-Dr. Kalthoum Al-Drafoufi

Then Dr. “Kalthoum Al-Drafoufi”, from Abdel Malek Al-Saadi University, Morocco, gave an intervention entitled: ” Translation Processes of “Isti’ara” in the Quran and syntactic issues: Case of verse 97 of Sura “Al-An’am”. She started by presenting the problem, which revolves around studying the difficulties that the translator may encounter in the process of his/her translation of the Qur’anic rhetoric, especially the rhetoric of metaphor, from a theological point of view. As an example of this study, she chooses verse 97 of Surat Al-An’am which bears witness to monotheism and cosmic verses such as night and day.

قال تعالى: ﴿إِنَّ اللَّهَ فَالِقُ الْحَبِّ وَالنَّوَى يُخْرِجُ الْحَيَّ مِنَ الْمَيِّتِ وَمُخْرِجُ الْمَيِّتِ مِنَ الْحَيِّ ذَلِكُمُ اللَّهُ فَأَنَّى تُؤْفَكُونَ   (96) فَالِقُ الْإِصْبَاحِ وَجَعَلَ اللَّيْلَ سَكَنًا وَالشَّمْسَ وَالْقَمَرَ حُسْبَانًا ذَلِكَ تَقْدِيرُ الْعَزِيزِ الْعَلِيمِ 97﴾

Allah the Almighty said: “ He it is that cleaveth the day-break [from the dark]: He makes the night for rest and tranquillity, and the sun and moon for the reckoning [of time]: Such is the judgment and ordering of [Him], the Exalted in Power, the Omniscient“.96
“It is He Who maketh the stars [as beacons] for you, that ye may guide yourselves, with their help, through the dark spaces of land and sea: We detail Our signs for people who know.“ 97. Yusuf Ali

Then she moved to the analysis of the root “falaq” “فلق” to highlight from the syntactic and semantic aspects that the translator’s failure to translate the Qur’anic metaphor will negatively affect the correct reception of the teachings included in the verse.

Then she concluded her intervention with several recommendations, most notably:

• The Qur’anic metaphor concerns cosmic verses drawn from semantic fields of cosmic natural phenomena that we know.
• Metaphor plays an important role in understanding the cosmic event related to creation, provided it is not tainted by any distortion.
• Analyzing grammatical structures and examining rhetorical phenomena, in particular understanding the rules of universal signs.
• Whatever skills the translator possesses, he/she cannot achieve full competence, so he/she is required to know the limits of his/her awareness in parallel with the difficulty of the task that awaits him/her.
• Teamwork is essential for expertise mastering.

Honorary session:

At the end of this scientific ceremony, a final session was held in honor of His Excellency Dr. Mohamed Al-Didawi. The session was led by Professor Dr. Molay Mustafa Abu Hazem –Qadi Ayyad University – Morocco. In his speech, he praised Dr. Mohamed al-Didawi, who is considered one of the most prominent researchers in the field of translation in Morocco, and emphasized that he deserves this honor and celebration of this distinguished scientific forum since he contributed to the development and dissemination of his academic scientific experience in translation in Arabic.

Professor Hassan Darir from the Faculty of Arts and Human Sciences in Marrakech, took the floor; he spoke enthusiastically about Dr. Mohamed al-Didawi. Although he has only known him for four years, it was sufficient for Dr. Darir to realize that the honored professor is of a great value scientifically and ethically. He affirmed his gratitude to Dr. Al Didawi after inviting him few years ago to give lectures to Master students: “Translation Technology and Specialized Translation” – Faculty of Arts and Human Sciences, Marrakech -, he said that the honored professor showed how modest he is and shared his knowledge and experience in the United Nations with the Master students. During that period, Dr. Hassan Darir got to know Dr. Al Didawi closely; he has seen the extent of his kindness and spontaneity, in addition to his seriousness, and scientific generosity. Dr. Hassan Darir highly appreciated all what his honor has done and stated that he deserves gratitude, love and sincerity.

Then Dr. Hanan Wasnwan, – Translation and Knowledge Integration Laboratory, Faculty of Arts and Human Sciences, Marrakech-, praised the knowledge of his honor, his ethics, and the nobility of his biography, and confirmed in her speech that Dr. Al Didawi is one of the best scientist who lead research in Morocco by writing in the field of translation. He taught her when she was a Master student at King Fahd School of Translation, where he showed his exploration in the field of translation in both theoretical and practical aspects. He gave lectures on translation studies (Traductologie) for the school’s students in all majors: French, English, Spanish and German. He also organized practical workshops to translate texts that were written in the United Nations. Dr. Hanan Wasnwan paid tribute to this great Professor whose morals, kindness and generosity are peerless.

Then the floor was given to Professor Abdellah Ghazi, from Faculty of Arts, Ouajda. In his speech, he spoke about his personal and scientific relationship with the honored Professor. He mentioned that he was fortunate to have met him when he gave lectures to his Master’s group. In his testimony, he focused on the scientific and academic qualifications, qualities, and morals of Dr. Mohamed Al-Didawi, and also highlighted that he is distinguished by his seriousness and sincerity in teaching and training. Finally, at the end of his speech, he invited the honorable attendees to stand in honor and appreciation of this great scientist.

After that, Dr. Leila Al-Ghazwani -Translation and Integration of Knowledge Laboratory, Faculty of Arts and Human Sciences, Marrakech- took the floor, she talked about the solid relationship of the honored professor with translation, as it is an eternal relationship that never ends, as translation constitutes his whole life. He lectures, translates and writes in translation. He has never ending efforts in translation. She emphasized that Dr. Mohamed Al-Didawi taught all his students and researchers, in the European or in the Arabic Universities, and trainees in the United Nations, the values of science, morals and sublime principles.

Closing session

This session was chaired by Dr. Molay Mustafa Abu Hazem, and he gave the floor to Dr. Abdel Aziz Ait Baha – Al-Kindi Center for Translation and Training- to read the conference recommendations proposed by the participants.

This was followed by reading the guests’ speech, which was assigned to Dr. Fayza Boukhalf from Hassiba Ben Bouali University in Chlef – Algeria, who thanked in her name and on behalf of all the participants in the conference the Dean of the Faculty of Arts, the honored Professor, Translation and knowledge integration Laboratory, Al-Kindi Center for translation and training, and all the attendees as well as the organizers of this joyful scientific forum.

Dr. Mohamed Al-Didawi took the floor; he expressed in his speech his deep thanks and gratitude to the Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Human Sciences, to the translation and knowledge integration laboratory, Al-Kindi Center for Translation and Training, the participants in the conference, the attendees and all those who contributed to the success of this scientific forum. He also expressed his happiness and gratitude for the words of thanks and gratitude he had heard from all the participants.

This closing session was concluded by giving the shield honor to Dr. Mohamed Al-Didawi, from Dr. Hassan Darir – Faculty of Arts and Human Sciences, Marrakech.