(2) Western English Translators’ Reflections on Quran

Abstract

The cosmopolitan nature of the message of Islam requires the circulation of its message across the globe. The Quran is the pristine source of Islamic edifications; its propagation demands the translation into different languages of the world. Islam and Muslims have a long history of relations with the West; the westerners got the first appearance of Islam in the very early phase of Islam and the interaction in the later centuries demanded the necessity of the translation of the scripture of Islam in the European languages. This paper deals with the English translators reflections on the Quran. English translations established a peculiar picture of Islam in the West. This paper intends to trace that image and its impact on the western mind through the different English translations of the Quran, for this very purport only the views and perceptions of the translators will be presented; the linguistic merits and demerits of their translations will not be discussed in this paper.