THE TRANSLATION OF CONDITIONAL CLAUSES IN THE GLORIOUS QUR’AN INTO ENGLISH

Abstract

The present study investigates the conditional clauses in the Glorious Qur'an of the types introduced by the three conditional particles ؤذإ ,ؤن and لو and their translation into English. The aim is to see how different translators of the Glorious Qur'an have translated conditionals and to what extent those translators have succeeded to render the intended meaning of the conditionals in the Glorious Qur'an. To accomplish the aims of the study, the following hypotheses are suggested: 1. Interpretations of the conditionals in the Glorious Qur'an are semantically rather than syntactically based. 2. Most of the time, interpreters fail to provide a fully accurate rendering of the conditionals in the Glorious Qur'an. To examine these hypotheses, seven English versions of the translation of 14 verses in the Glorious Qur'an have been chosen. The selected verses represent different patterns of the conditionals introduced by the conditional particles ؤذإ , ؤن and لو . The analysis of the data has validated the first hypotheses stated above, while the second one has been refuted through the following general findings: 1. The absence of equivalence between Arabic grammatical words and those of English leads to inaccuracy in rendering the exact meaning intended by the use of the conditionals. 2. The translation of the conditionals in the Glorious Qur'an reflects the superficial meaning only. 3. Conditionals with ؤذإ have proved to be the easiest for translators, whereas those with لو are the most difficult ones. 4. Most of the translators have succeeded to give the suitable translation of the Qura'nic conditionals.