Öz
This research examines and evaluates the Turkish translations of the Qurʾān in terms of transferring the art of hasr (restriction) in the Qurʾān into Turkish. Thus, it aims to identify and solve the language and style problems seen in the translation of the literary arts of the Qurʾān, and thus to increase the language and style quality of the Qurʾān translations in a positive way.
Restriction is an important literary art in Turkish rhetoric as much as it is in Arabic rhetoric. It is often referred to as “kasr” and sometimes “tahsis” in literature. “Restriction (Hasr)” is a rhetoric scientific term meaning “something exists only in a certain thing and not in any others”, in other words, “to allocate something to a certain thing and to make it belong only to it.”
Restriction is a literary style that is concise than two sentences by stating the meanings expressed in two different sentences in one sentence; stronger than single-judgment sentences with two judgments; and a literary style that contains two opposite judgments together. Thanks to this style, it is stated that something exists in a certain thing and not found in any other, in other words, something is allocated to a certain thing and belongs only to it.
Studies on the restriction style in Turkish rhetoric are almost nonexistent. The lack of information caused by this situation causes significant language and expression problems in the Turkish translations of the Qurʾān. There is a loss of meaning in the translations of the verses that include the meaning of hasr (restriction), and the divine wisdom and purpose that require a certain form of restriction are lost.
There are some studies examining the Turkish translations of the Qurʾān in terms of restriction style. The difference of this research is that it is more solution-oriented rather than identifying the problem. In this respect, it has a quality that complements and improves previous studies.
In the research, twenty Turkish translations of the Qurʾān were examined and evaluated in terms of reflecting the restriction style. Turkish translations of the Qurʾān were selected from different categories such as “Classical Turkish Translations of the Qurʾān”, “The translations of the Qurʾān belonging to academics working in the field of Arabic language or tafsir science”, “The Qurʾān translations of academicians working in other fields”, and “the Qurʾān translations read by groups and communities with a certain social layer in the society”. In determining and explaining the restriction in the verses, the basic classical tafsir sources of Islam and rhetoric books are used. In the evaluation of the Turkish translations of the Qurʾān, important basic sources of Turkish rhetoric, Turkish grammar books and books on certain subjects of the Turkish language as well as Ottoman Turkish and Turkish dictionaries are benefited. After the explanation of the meaning of restriction in the verses, the translations of the Qurʾān were handled and evaluated one by one. At the end of each evaluation, a Turkish translation was suggested by us as an example.
As a result of the research, it was seen that most of the Turkish translations of the Qurʾān did not translate the hasr in the verses into Turkish. In addition, it was revealed that although the restriction in the verses are different from each other, they are conveyed with similar patterns in translations. We think that the aforementioned language and style errors are caused by the insufficient knowledge of the ways of restriction in Turkish rhetoric.
Some of our proposals for the solution of the language and style problems seen in the translation of the restriction in the verses are as follows:
• Scientific and literary publications on hasr style and especially the ways of hasr in Turkish rhetoric should be increased.
• The differences of the ways of restriction in Turkish rhetoric should be tried to be determined as much as possible by benefiting the usage of the literati.
• Turkish equivalent or close equivalents of the restriction ways of the Arabic language should be determined as much as possible, and translations should be based on these equivalents.
• The way of restriction in the Arabic rhetoric -> The response we propose in the Turkish rhetoric
o Use of negation and exception together -> Bringing together the preposition of exception and the negative verb.
o إِنَّمَا preposition -> Restriction through words denoting restriction.
o Restriction through atf letters (لا، بل، لكن) -> Restriction through conjunctions.
o Restriction through introduction-postponement -> Replacing the elements in syntax.
o Fasl pronoun -> Repeating one of the elements of the word.