Gallivanting with Ghalib, Islamic Culture, NewAgeIslam.com

Islamic Culture

Gallivanting with Ghalib

By Saif Shahin

A new translation introduces the master of Urdu romantic poetry to 21st century readers

Many have tried to walk down this path before, but that hasn’t made it any easier to traverse. Poetry, after all, is what is lost in translation and Niazi is acutely aware of the illogicality of his undertaking. But he makes a bold attempt to sneak past the language barrier by beginning the book with a glossary of unusual words, historic characters and incidences, and peculiar idioms found in Ghalib’s poetry.

This helps him convey “the meaning of a thought and a scene created through the elements of language, of cultural, social and religious nuances, and of rare culture-specific idioms” to the 21st century reader. Sample this:

“Besides Qais, no one else entered in the field of action,

The desert was perhaps as narrow as a jealous eye.”

Without the knowledge that Qais was the real name of Majnun, the star-crossed lover of Laila in the Arabic story tradition, it will be difficult for a reader to grasp that ‘field of action’ here refers to being in love and the ‘desert’ to the despair of lost love. Men are also known to go crazy searching for a way out of deserts, just as Majnun went crazy in his love for Laila – another evocation that will easily be lost on an ignorant reader.

http://newageislam.com/gallivanting-with-ghalib/islamic-culture/d/2297

The Qur'an: A New Translation - The eternal present tense,

Books and Documents

The Qur'an: A New Translation - The eternal present tense

The Qur'an: A New Translation

by Tarif Khalidi

530pp, Penguin Classics, £25

We look for two things in any new translation of the Qur'an. How close does it get to communicating the meaning of the original, that inimitable oral text, the very sounds of which move men and women to tears and ecstasy? And does it offer something more: a new perspective, perhaps; or an innovative rendering?

Tarif Khalidi, a professor of Islamic studies at the American University of Beirut, scores high on both these criteria. He manages to capture the allusiveness of the text, as well as something of its tone and texture. While being faithful to the original, he succeeds in conveying linguistic shifts, from narrative to mnemonic, sermons to parables. And there is an innovative component: it is the first translation that tries to capture both the rhythms and the structure of the Qur'an.

The best way to demonstrate its newness, and how close it is to the original text, is to compare it with an old translation. The translation I have in mind is Khalidi's predecessor in the Penguin Classics: The Koran, translated with notes by NJ Dawood. First published in 1956, Dawood's translation has been republished in numerous editions. It has been a great source of discomfort for Muslims, who see in it deliberate distortions that give the Qur'an violent and sexist overtones. It is the one most non-Muslims cite when they tell me with great conviction what the Qur'an says.

http://newageislam.com/the-qur-an--a-new-translation---the-eternal-present-tense/books-and-documents/d/195