Translating the Past: Openness and Diversity in Islamic Intellectual History

Reviewed by: F. Redhwan Karim, Markfield Institute of Higher Education, UK

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Book Reviewed

Key Terms of the Qurʾan: A Critical Dictionary, by Nicolai Sinai. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2023, 840pp. ISBN: 978-0691241319.

History of the Arab Invasions: The Conquest of the Lands - A New Translation of al-Baladhuri’s Futuh al Buldan, by Ahmad b. Yahya al-Baladhuri (English translation & historical commentary by Hugh Kennedy). London/New York: I.B. Tauris, 2022, 569pp. ISBN: 978-1788314190.

Exonerating the Distinguished Jurists: Ibn Taymiyya’s Rafʿ al-Malām ʿan al-Aʾimma al-Aʿlām in Translation, by Abdul-Karim al-Matroudi. Sheffield: Equinox Publishing Ltd., 2023, 170pp. ISBN: 978-1800501713.

Select Chapters of Itqān on the Language of the Qurʾan: Being the second quarter of the famed compendium of Quranic sciences al-Itqān fī ‘Ulūm al-Qurʾān, by Jalāl al-Dīn al-Suyūṭī (translated, annotated and introduced by Dr Sohaib Saeed). Glasgow: Ibn Ashur Centre for Quranic Studies in association with the Muhammad Bin Hamad Al-Thani Center for Muslim Contribution to Civilization, 2023, 272pp. ISBN: 978-1739457907.

The translation of texts from Arabic into English is a vital portal into both understanding the past and contextualising the present. On one side, translation allows the broader spread and dissemination of a particular religion and culture, which would otherwise remain solely within the remit of those already acquainted with the language. Despite questions on the extent to which ideas can be accurately expressed from one culture to another, translations are a first and essential starting point. This is particularly important within the Islamic context where Arabic holds pride of place as a liturgical language, being the language of the Qurʾān and the most crucial foundational Islamic texts such as hadith, tafsīr, history, law and theology.

This review essay looks at the recent publication of four translations from Arabic, in the fields of history (History of the Arab Invasions: The Conquest of the Lands), law (Exonerating the Distinguished Jurists), and Qurʾānic Studies (Select Chapters of Itqān on the Language of the Qurʾan and Key Terms of the Qurʾān: A Critical Dictionary). Aside from the approach and practicalities of translation, what is particularly striking in these works is the level of openness and diversity, which is characteristic of scholarship in the past and challenges the monolithic portrayal of Islam often found in popular discourse. We see from such works a candidness in articulating and considering positions and ideas that may, in the modern world, be placed within a binary of right and wrong, and lacking in nuance and contextualisation. In fact, some of the ideas adopted and articulated by such prominent scholars of the past are in stark contrast to the way the past is presently perceived. Hence, these translations are not only valuable for the content they portray but also for the attitude to knowledge they imbibe. This ultimately allows us to appreciate the rich diversity and complexity of Islamic civilisation and the Islamic intellectual heritage.