In the research, the verses 21 and
22 from Sūrat al-Najm are discussed. The aim is to determine the subject of
criticism in the verses. The need to make this determination is that different
meanings have been expressed in some Qur’an translations for the relevant
verses.This is because the examined Qur’an translations contain three different
opinions about the subject criticized in the verses. Shortly, the first one is
to say that Allāh had a child, while the second is to say that Allāh had
specifically a daughter instead of sons. The third opinion for the subject of
criticism in the verses is the attitudes of the meccan polytheists that
contradict both their traditions and their minds beyond to say that Allāh had
any daughter or son. This fact aroused in our minds that it may have been
caused by possible mistakes or omissions made in the relevant verses. In this
context, in order to make a choice among these views and to determine the most accurate of the possible
meanings, the other versions of the relevant verses in the Qur’an were
identified and a holistic analysis was performed by this way. Firstly, some of
the related verses have been analyzed comparatively from 33 Turkish and 3 English
Qur’an translations. Then, the subjects of which verses criticized in fact have
been evaluated by considering their style and context. We have to mention that
from the term ‘context’ we used here, we mean both the historical context and
the textual context. As a result, these assessments or evaluations have been
carried out within the framework of the verse
group in which the verses (21 and 22) are located, that is, the group of verses
thought to revealed together, in other words the verbal/textual context, as
well as the coherence of the Qur'an, the first interlocutors, the
socio-cultural structure and the conditions in which the verses had been
revealed. The examinations and evaluations showed that the main or real or
essential criticism in these two verses is not the first two views mentioned
above, but that the inconsistent behaviors of the meccan polytheists even
within themselves and their beliefs of Allah. Therefore, it can be said that in
these two verses and the verses which have similar style and content in the
Qur'an, Allāh has criticized the meccan pagans' character/personality icluding discord
and attitude mismatch or conflicting. In the conclusion part of the research,
considering that some writers/translators may have kept their meaning short for
the related verses due to some difficulties arising from the nature of translation,
not by mistake or neglect, but at least in the relevant verses, if they are to
translate the verses literally, it is suggested that they explain the main
message by giving a footnote in order not to forward Allāh’s message
incorrectly to the reader. In addition, a sample of interpretive translation (tafsīrī
meaning)
produced by us for the verses 21 and
22 of Sūrat al-Najm was presented to the discretion of the scholars.
Primary Language | Turkish |
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Journal Section | Articles |
Authors | |
Publication Date | December 27, 2019 |
Submission Date | October 23, 2019 |
Published in Issue | Year 2019 Volume: 19 Issue: 2 |