/lit/ - Literature

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=x2cZ6i0Y6VU

Last time I said Sahih International was the translation for conveying the clarity of the Qur'an, as clear as the purest stream. The objections were poor, one about past tense being translated as present tense in one example (which I pointed out us because Arabic uses past for imperfect tense, whereas English uses present, so to translate imperfect tense present tense should be used unless it's obvious from context, e.g., "O you who have believed"). Another contention was it used the form "expander" for Allah with the universe instead of the form of other translations using "vastness". This is in fact more literal, the older translations, prior to the big bang being widely accepted, used vastness and so forth because that was what it seemed to mean as an expanding universe was taken as a way of saying expanse.

Now as for Arberry, I said he conveys the eloquence of the Qur'an the best because his style is closest to the Arabic. Arabic words uses a much greater variety of cosonants, contractions and portmanteau than English (when spoken; in writing there isn't often a change, but Arabic writing is extremely economical, for example Muhammad is spelled محمد , mhmd). Therefore the rhythm is difficult to translate as English is much more long-winded (of course in recitation, specific vowels, more often cosonants, are elongated--it's called tajweed, similar to Catholic liturgical cantillation)

Here is Arberry's Fatiha. You can compare the rhythm to the Arabic linked below with Sahih International translation (the innovation against Satan at the beginning is customary, not part of the text).

>In the Name of God, the Merciful, the Compassionate.
>Praise belongs to God, the Lord of all Being,
>the All-merciful, the All-compassionate,
>the Master of the Day of Doom.
Compare the above verse to the Arabic rhythm
>Thee only we serve; to Thee alone we pray For succour.
>Guide us in the straight path, the path of those whom Thou hast blessed,
>not of those against whom Thou art wrathful,
>nor of those who are astray.

The line breaks mostly signify pauses in recitation, which is between each ayah.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=-PqP0BCiTlE