Abstract
Retranslations of the Qur’an constitute an intriguing site of research with particular premises governing their production, dissemination and/or reception in Turkey. Its inherently religion-oriented context is accompanied by discussions on the sacred status of the source text, arguments on its untranslatability, translatorial human agency vis-à-vis the Holy creator, acknowledged Arabicity of the source text, etc. In this regard, each new translation of the Qur’an in Turkish is released with a motivation to justify its necessity amid abundant retranslations available in the target repertoire. Various approaches towards the conceptualization and instrumentalization of these Qur’anic translations create a meta-narrative on its own right. This study aims at exploring this particular discourse on the retranslations of the Qur’an with a bi-faceted study design composed of quantitative and qualitative analyses. The quantitative analysis focuses on the numeric changes of Qur’anic retranslations in respective decades, whereas the qualitative analysis concentrates on the statements of the translatorial agents on the motives behind their translational production. By shedding light on the discursive narrative postulated upon these retranslations, it is claimed that social, political, cultural and financial concerns have prevailingly governed the reproductions of this canonical work in Turkey.
 Keywords: Qur’an translation, religious-text translation, retranslation, discourse analysis.
Highlights
The Qur’an, holy book of all the Muslims around the world, has been partially and wholly translated into numerous languages since its revelation in Arabic in the 7th century
As one of the most retranslated works in Turkish, Qur’an translations in Turkey constitute an intriguing site of research. Ongoing interest in these retranslations derives from a number of issues, including the sacred status of the source text, arguments over its untranslatability, the claimed deficiency of the human translator to render the words of the Holy creator, particular Arabicity of the source text vis-à-vis Turkish, and the hegemonic expertise claimed by faculties of theology vis-à-vis Translation Studies departments, creating a meta-narrative on the retranslations of the Qur’an in Turkish
As shall be further explored, each retranslated text has been released with a new argument to justify its necessity among the already existing Qur’an translations. Translational agents of these retranslations put forth various claims to explain the motives behind their translations. The analysis of their statements reveals the differences in their approaches towards the conceptualization and instrumentalization of translation; and shapes the meta-narrative on the Qur’an translations in Turkey
Summary
The Qur’an, holy book of all the Muslims around the world, has been partially and wholly translated into numerous languages since its revelation in Arabic in the 7th century Translational agents (i.e. the translators, editors, and publishers) of these retranslations put forth various claims to explain the motives behind their translations The analysis of their statements reveals the differences in their approaches towards the conceptualization and instrumentalization of translation; and shapes the meta-narrative on the Qur’an translations in Turkey. By exploring this unchartered territory of Turkish retranslations of the Qur’an, this study illustrates the religion-oriented context that marks the framing of the translations with a focus on paratextual elements ( book covers and prefaces) and with reference to respective social and political trajectories that governed the production of translations
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