Yarmouk University

Faculty of Art
Department of translation

Master Thesis Proposal

The Challenges of Translating Selected Couplets in the Holy Quran By Pikthall and Shakir

Prepared By:

YUNUS ABDULLAH NEMER SHUDEIFAT

Student Number (2012300142)

Supervised by:

Dr. AHMAD AL-HARAHSHEH

Yarmouk University, Irbid Jordan

Abstract
This paper attempts to investigate the challenges that Pickthall and Shakir
encounter when

translating certain couplets in the holy Quran the present study will

investigate the inadequacy of translation of certain couplets in several ayts. The data of the
study will be collected from different Surhs from the Quran and it includes 75 couplets
quoted from different ayts translated by two reliable translators of the holy Quran (Pickthall
and Shakir).The Data will be analyzed based on reliable interpretations of the meanings of
the Holy Quran such Al- Tabari and Ibn Katheer.

Key words: couplets, binomial pair, religious translation, the glorious Quran

1. Introduction
The glorious Quran has played a significance role in the life of the humanity
throughout history by aiming at guiding humankind to the right path. Religious translation is
one of the most challenging types of translation because it deals with sacred texts, the words
of Allah that have its own holiness. Translators face great challenges in translating its surhs
because the majority of those who translate the holy Quran and non-native speaker of Arabic.
Therefore, they may not have a good linguistic and cultural command of Arabic. For this
reason, there are some linguistic mistakes due to misunderstanding of the denotative,
connotative and the social context of these ayts.
The translation of sacred texts is an important issue for Muslim and non-Muslims. The
holy Quran is the main book of Muslims and it is considered as a constitution for all
Muslims. This is why the translators of the holy Quran should be fully aware of rendering the
meanings of the Quran accurately. Couplets are one of the challenges that translator faced
when translating the meanings of the holy Quran. Some translators could not differentiate
between the different meanings of these words. However, they are sometimes derived from
the same root and they are near synonyms; they are not interchangeable i.e. they cannot be
used instead of each other Moreover, the researcher will investigate the inadequacies of
transition selected couplets by Pickthall and Shakir .The researcher will refer back to reliable
interpretations of the holy Quran such as Al-Tabari and Ibn Katheer's to check the accurate
meanings of these couplets. Finally, this study will raise the attention of the translators who
are interested in translating the holy Quran or even the Hadiths of the prophet to be careful
about couplets as they are not complete synonyms at all.

This study attempts to answer the following questions.

1. What is the role of ontology of Quranic Concepts?
2. What are the challenges translators encountered when translating couplets?
3. Are the interpretations of Pikthall and Shakir of couplets in the holy Quran adequate?
4. Do the dialects of Arab tribes influence the interpretation of couplets?

2. Purpose of the Study

The translation of couplets in the holy Quran is challenging, as many translators deal them as
complete synonyms. However, they are near synonyms and in many cases they are not
interchangeable. This study aims to shed light on the translation of selected couplets in the
holy Quran translated by Pikthall and Shakir relying on the linguistic approach to translation.

3. Significance of the Study

The essential significance, which stands behind this study, is the rhetorical power of
couplets. This study is significant and original because it is the first, to the researcher's best
knowledge, that tackles this intriguing issue in translating the holy Quran. This study will
provide a better understanding of the concept of couplets and the best strategies to translate
them accurately. This study can be helpful for translators whose Arabic is not their native
language, in order to be aware of their different meanings when rendering them into English.

4. Methodology
4.1. Data Collection and analysis
The data of this study will include selected couplets used in several positions in the
holy Quran. The researcher will collect 75 couplets from Pikthall and Sakir's translation of
the Holy Quran. The researcher will check the accuracy of the translations of these couplets
based on the certain reliable interpretations of the holy Quran such as Al-Tabari and Ibn
Katheer.

Theoretical framework5.
The theoretical framework is the essential component of any study as it can be
considered the backbone of the study, the present study will rely on the linguistics approach
to translation; it will employ Newmark's (1988) semantic approach to translation.

Literature Review .2
The word couplets have become a significant topic for researchers, especially in the
field of translation, discourse analysis and syntax. Couplets show high accurate of eloquence
in the Quranic text, they are precisely composed through ayts that no one could do so.
Some couplets should be interpreted according to past culture, Translator should fully
comprehend whole ayt before conveying the meaning into TL and they should be familiar
with past culture. Nida (1964); Toury (1984) and Farghal (1998) state that language and
culture are intrinsically connected and thus cultural diversity makes translation impossible.
Nida (1982:17) points out what was clearly understood by SL audience may not be
5

understood by TL audience. In fact, cultural aspects are difficult to render between remote
languages. The translation of religious texts and social expressions constitute a challenge to
the translator. Examples of couplets are numerous in the holy Quran as in the following:
[ ]
Heaven will not be opened for them, nor will they enter Paradise until a camel enters
into the eye of a needle.
It is unacceptable to interpret the word " "into camel because it is illogical
sentence so the translators will never comprehend the meaning, because the camel is
impossible to enter into the hole of the needle. In this case, the translator should be aware of
the historical culture of tribes and their dialect, according to Hothail tribe

""

means

thick rope," " the plural of the word " "in Arabic language "
"it is mentioned in the holy Quran in (Surah Almursalt ayt 33). [Indeed, it throws
sparks as huge as a fortress, As if they were yellowish black camels] .
[ ] the meaning of the word as huge snakes "
" and the word it is also inadequate translation. It means as thick ropes
while the glorious Quran mentioned that ""and " "which are used to the animal they
are also mentioned in two positions ] ] [ Do they not look at the
Camels, how they are made[? (Al-Ghshiyah 17).
[ ] [ we shall have the extra measure of a camel load] . (Yusuf 65) In this
case, the meaning of ayts became comprehensible and clear.
Some studies have been conducted in the field of translation of sacred texts such as, AlHarahsheh( 2013), this study concentrates on studying Islamic texts written by non-Muslims
and translated by Muslim and non-Muslim students. Another study focuses on textuality in
6

near-synonyms translations of the holy Quran into English, AL-SOWAIDI (2011) however,
the study aims at examining the problems of the Quran translator encounters while translating
near-synonyms from Arabic into English. A study has been conducted, Ali (2013) which
concentrates on how utterances are produced in a particular place and at a particular time.
Much of what is said can be relevant to the place and time of the utterance. The researcher
stated an example from the glorious Quran:
[ [ " .The word " "refers not only to the construction of
the mosque as a place for worshipping, but it also refers to attendance doing prayers and
glorification in the mosque. To summarize, it refers to the moral building rather than the
materialistic building. Linguistic Ambiguity in the Holy Quran may lead to misunderstanding
in English Translations.
The term couplet is a prominent linguistic concept that is related to meaning of words.
Couplets also called binomial pair that is a sequence of two or more words or phrases belong
to the same syntactic category, have some semantic relationship and joined by some syntactic
devices. Gustafsson (1975:74) defines 'binomial expressions' as "sequences of two words
belong to the same form class, which are syntactically coordinated and semantically related".
They

also

have

different

names

such

as

'doublets'

Asensio (2003) and Garner (2001), 'doublings' Mellinkoff (1963), 'couplets' Johnstone
(1983) and 'joined lexical pairs' Bakir (1999).
Couplets are two terms used separately, and then they seem more creative and less
glued together or they may be glued together, so they seem more frozen. Lexical couplets are
used to occur in more frequently in classical Arabic than it does now. Johnstone (1983:1)
states that couplets in Arabic are the result of a still-productive semantic strategy, many are
nonce forms. Arabic binomials lend themselves to semantic analysis in a way English

binomials do not; i.e. the term 'beck' of (beck and call) means nothing at all by itself. In
Arabic, each part of the following binomial expression can be used separately:

(aid and help). She adds, "newly-created couplets involve terms which modify each other,
while older, more frozen couplets involve nearly or completely synonymous terms". Couplets
have been studied by a number of researchers, who have given them various labels. Vincent
(1960:284) calls them pleonasms.
Malkiel's (1959) article on binomials is also relevant to lexical couplets. Binomials,
according to Malkiel, are pairs of words connected with a link, which can be a preposition, a
conjunction, or a 'zero link.' The words in the pair can be the same (wall-to-wall, years and
years) or formal variants of each other (bag and baggage), or they can stand in various
semantic relationships to one another, including opposition (war and peace) and
complementarity (space and time) as well as synonymy. Malkiel's focus in that article is on
the 'irreversibility' of many binomials, on the phonological and semantic criteria which
determine which of the two items in a pair comes first.

Morphological features of couplets

Ryding (2014) deals with the structure of words, how they are formed and the identity
and character of their component features. Sometimes words consist of solid stems (such as
the Arabic noun, Yad handor the English word book), but more often (especially in
Arabic). Words are composed of more than one morpheme (such as the English words books,
bookshelf, booked; or the Arabic word maktab office consisting of the lexical root
morpheme.

The meaning of morphological sharing in couplets is a particular case in the Holy

Quran that may not be found in English this example illustrates that
[( ] " Kahf 67)

The other said: Verily thou wilt not be able to have patience with me!

[
( ] Al-Kahf 82)

Such is the interpretation of those things over which thou wast unable to hold
patience.
The two forms are not sequenced to have the meaning of sharing morphologically and

that the form " " gives the meaning of sharing covered with the strength of its meaning
since the strength of the verb and the exaggeration in this form of meaning inherent in it,
whereas " "gives only the meaning of sharing, without its strength. This is the
fundamental difference between the two forms in meaning. Couplets can be classified as:
1-Morphologically Derivational they have the same the morphological root. In linguistics,
internal plural is an irregular plural form of a noun or adjective formed by changing the
pattern of consonants and vowels inside the singular form. In Arabic, systematic derivation of
words from lexical roots is at the heart of the word-creation system, and remains the
distinctive feature of Arabic morphology. Under this category lies what grammarians called
(jam' Al-qiullah ) Sparseness of plural "" . This kind of morphology indicates to few
number from three but no more than ten, it has four morphological forms. One of its
morphological forms (fa3al) this example illustrates this rule ""

2- Non-morphologically derivational (inflectional), the couplets have different roots such

as "" .
(Mariam: 14)) [And dutiful toward his parents. And he was not arrogant, rebellious]
[
]

[ ]

And hath made me dutiful toward her who bore me, and hath not made me
arrogant, unblest.

10

References
Ali, A. H. (2013). The Pragmatic Use of Quranic Verses in Specific Situations . Academic Scientific
Journals, AlMamon University College.
Asensio, M. (2003). Translating Official Documents. Manchester and Northampton: St Jerome.
Bakir, M. (1999). Ordering Principles in Conjoined Lexical Pairs. Linguistic Research, Volume 4.
DIXON, R. (2012). Basic Linguistic Theory (Vol. 1). Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Farghal, A. S. (1998). The Translatability of Technical Terms in Islamic Court Documents from
Arabic into English A Case Study. Journal of Applied Linguistics , 13.1,57-69.
Garner, B. (2001). Legal Writing in Plain English. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press.
Gustafsson, M. (1975). Binomial Expressions in Present-day English: A Syntactic and Semantic
Study. Turku: Yliopisto.
Johnstone, B. (1983). Arabic lexical couplets and the evolution of synonymy. Mass: Carnegie Mellon
University.
Malkiel, Y. (1959). Studies in irreversible binomials. Lingua.
Mellinkoff, D. (1963). The Language of the Law. Boston. Boston: Little Brown and Co.
Nida, E. (1964). Toward a science of Translating. Leiden: E.J. Brill.
Nida, E. (1982). Translating Meaning . San Dimas: English Language Institute .
Ryding, K. C. (2014). Arabic A Linguistics introduction. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Shunnaq, A. (2012). Papers and Studeis in Arabic Translation . Irbid: Yarmouk University.
Toury, G. (1984). Descriptive Translation Studeis and Beyond. Amesterdam & Philadelphia: John
Benjamin .
Vincent, M. (1960). L'arabe moderne. Paris: Librairie C.

11