According to Abd Allah ibn Amr ibn al-As, may Allah be pleased with them both, the Prophet (peace be upon him) said: “The one who knew the Quran, would be told: “Read and pronounce words clearly, like you did it in your earthly life, and truly your place will comply with the latest ayah you read” (the Hadith was told by Ahmad, Abu Dawud, at-Tirmizi).
Today, a long-awaited event in the life of Russian Muslim community has taken place –the official presentation of the edition devoted to the translation of meanings of the Quran into the Russian language “Kalyam Sharif. Translation of Meanings”, prepared by the Spiritual Board of Muslims of the Tatarstan Republic, has been held.
By tradition, the event began with the reading of the Noble Quran by the Hafiz from Yemen. As Magomed Magomedov noted during the solemn presentation, this year has become very significant for the Russian Ummah: “The first domestic Doctors of Islamic Sciences have been trained and today we are witnessing the translation of meanings of the Holy Quran into Russian”.
On the rights of the host, Mufti of Dagestan, Sheikh Ahmad Afandi Abdulaev addressed the audience, among whom there were Muslim religious, Russian public and state figures, scholars, representatives of mass media and participants of the North Caucasus Mufti Congress.
“Dear participants of the presentation, today is a special day because the presentation of meanings of the Quran is taking place in our republic. We are grateful to Mufti of the Tatarstan Republic Kamil hazrat for the fact that he expressed the desire to hold this presentation on our land. It is a great honor for us, which once again testifies to the respect of our brothers from Tatarstan. It means a lot to us. It does not just mean brotherly attitude between our peoples, but high respect personally of the Mufti of Tatarstan for their ancestors, who occupy a significant place in the history of Dagestan - we are talking about Zainullah Rasulev, Muhammad-Zakir Chistavi”.
As the Sheikh highlighted, reading of the Holy Quran is one of the most worthy and beloved worship Almighty Creator. And it is extremely important to understand that the Quran is not just simply a book, but the Creator’s speech, which includes all the sciences, everything that was and will be.
“I would like to point out that “Kalyam Sharif. Translation of Meanings” explains the complicated aspects in a short form but without losing the main content. Both scholars and ordinary people can use it due to the easy presentation of hard to understand things. Tatar scholars are the first ones who have managed to complete the work, the result of which we can observe today. We used to have nothing to offer in return, we failed to complete this work. May Allah give peace to all those who have taken part in the creation of this work”.
In his speech, Mufti of the Tatartsan Republic, Chairman of the Spiritual Board of Muslims of the Tatarstan Republic Kamil hazrat Samigullin dwelt on the peculiarities of translation of meanings, drawing attention to the main problems arising in the process of work.
“When we prepare any articles, we have to use this or that translation. It is true that there cannot be any pure translation of the Quran because in any case, there will be some distortions, interpretations are different. We can only make a rough semantic translation, which is reflected in the title of our work. The work on preparation of translations of meanings of the Quran began back in 2012 due to the observations of shortcomings in the content of the majority of modern publications, namely, semantic inaccuracies, as well as abundance of borrowings from the Church Slavonic language. The Orthodox terminology used in these works, due to the lack of established Islamic vocabulary in the Russian language, did not always correspond to the true meaning of the Quran”.
Kamil hazrat brought a number of aspects, to which special attention was drawn while working on the book. For instance, the word “lawh al-mahfuz” was translated as the “the well-preserved tablet”. But if we refer to the dictionary, we will find out that this word means 10 tablets given to Musa (may peace be upon him) and containing 10 commandments. However, it is said about different term in the Quran. There is another example of an unsuccessful translation – the word “cider”, which some authors use in their works in the sense of “lotus”: “lotus of the extreme limit”. In reality, the word “cider” is translated into Russian as “jujube” or “jojoba”, which has a pleasant smell and thorns. In the Noble Quran (the Surah “Al Waqiah”) it is said that in Jannah it will be without thorns. And lotus is a swamp plant and for lack of thorns they do not require separate mention.
“When people wondered whether it was obligatory to pray five times a day, we reminded them 114th ayah of the “Hud” Surah: “And perform the Salah, at the two ends of the day and in some hours of the night. Verily, the good deeds remove the evil deeds. That is a reminder for the mindful”. There is an answer on any question in the Quran. It is some sort of an attempt to understand our weakness and to draw us into the Holy Book for all Muslims. In the process of work we used 28 different tafsirs. In the work there were involved more than 40 people, among whom there were philologists, hafizes of the Quran, those who knew various kiraats, graduates of foreign universities and people who were aware of fiqh. We were especially helped by our colleagues from Dagestan. We called each other, discussed some questions concerning the interpretation of ambiguous words. And in the foreword you can see that it is approved by the Muftiate of the Republic of Dagestan”.
In addition to it, according to Kamil hazrat, the working group came across a number of problems connected with language translations of canonical nature.
“Thus, in the works of modern authors there are some cases of giving Allah the inappropriate qualities - cunning and deceit, as well as giving Him the meaning of body - hands, eyes, sitting on the throne, etc. In the description of the prophets, the qualities were also used, with which they could not be described according to the Muslim doctrine. Thus, it is admissible to make a conclusion that all the main Russian-language tafsirs and translations were prepared without sufficient knowledge of the Shariah Law, and perhaps even by atheists. I can prove it by giving you an example from one such work. It is known from the Islamic aqidah that the Prophets are "masum", which means sinless. Allah protected His messengers from committing sins; otherwise these acts could have become a Sunnah for the followers”.
At the end of his speech, Kamil hazrat quoted Imam Rabbani’s “Maktubat”, as saying about the peculiarities of the translation and the demands on the person who took on such responsibility.
“On behalf of the Head of the Dagestan Republic, let me welcome you on the hospitable land of Dagestan”,Minister for National Policy and Religious Affairs of the Republic of Dagestan Enrik Muslimov addressed the audience at the House of Friendship in Makhachkala. “Today is a historical day for us all because here, in Dagestan, theologians of our country have gathered together and the first in history presentation of the translation of meanings of the Noble Quran into Russian is being held. We are very grateful and proud that You, Kamil hazrat has made a decision to acquaint the Muslim and general public of Russia with such a significant work here, in Makhachkala. President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin pays special attention to the revival of the theological school of Muslim peoples of Russia. Islam is an important part of the historical cultural code of the Russian people. The edition “Kalyam Sharif. Translation of Meanings” is also the fulfillment of the relevant task that scholars face, as it will play its role in education in Islamic educational institutions”.
Many questions and words of gratitude were addressed to the working group, the work of which had resulted in the translation of meanings. In Dagestan, the working group was represented by Head of the Department of Sharia Affairs of the Spiritual Board of Muslims of the Tatarstan Republic Bulat hazrat Mubarakov and a professor of the Russian Islamic Institute, a specialist in akida and Hanafi madhhab Abu Yahya al-Hanafi, who took the opportunity to elaborate on some of the subtleties of the work.
“I would like to tell you about the preface in particular because there we tried to answer the question why, although the fact that there were at least 15 translations of meanings of the Quran into Russian, there was made a decision to do this work again”, Abu Yahya said. “What is the main idea? All the existing translations are divided into two groups: poetic and prosaic (the latter have always been literal). There is a significant number of translations made by supporters of sects and heretical teachings. Our goal was to give a translation that would meet the teachings of Ahlu Sunna Waljama. A separate section in the preface was devoted to explaining our approach to unclear ayahs. In the translation we tried to avoid the mistakes that had been already made. The main focus was on comprehensibility - a simple translation of meanings into modern Russian. That is true that we have got used to high vocabulary but in this case it was more important for us not to try to imitate sublimity of the Holy Quran (which is simply impossible to do and even not worth trying), but to make it as clear as possible for the Russian-speaking audience. We relied only on the classical tafsirs and did not use any dubious or unreliable books”.
In addition to the information said by the colleague, Bulat hazrat also highlighted the fact that the most complicated test was the burden of responsibility to the Almighty Creator, to the Messenger of Allah (may peace be upon him and the blessing of Allah be upon him), to the companions of the Prophet and to Muslims in general.
“There was a need to show an alternative to existing translations. If we refer to the history, we will find out that orientalists were the first to translate the Quran. They wanted to introduce the word of Allah to people, at least a little bit, in order to make them understand. However, those people did not fully understand the concept because of their ignorance of the language peculiarities. It is not just a book, but the Creator’s speech. There can be no literal translation of the Noble Quran”.
It is known that the Quran is a miracle of Allah, where he challenges the poets of that time. And it imposes another obligation - to show the beauty and melodiousness of this language, not to impoverish the language, while avoiding any sectarian and radical views, which are now, unfortunately, gaining popularity. Bulat hazrat also expressed his hope that today would be a day marked by the appearance of another source for all Muslims.
“May the Almighty unite our hearts even more!”
Abdulla Salimov, Chairman of the Muftiate of the Dagestan Republic, pointed out that the Holy Quran was God’s revelation which was sent down to the best of His creations - the Prophet Muhammad (may peace and the blessing of Allah be upon him). Many believers have a great desire to understand the meaning of the Noble Quran. But without appropriate religious education it is very hard to do. And even if you know the Arabic language, it is not enough for understanding of the Quran meaning.
“The difficult of the translation is connected with the fact that the Almighty had been sending down the Quran for 23 years on certain occasions and events. In this regard, besides knowledge of the language and related sciences, one needs to have also knowledge of history. In this work, which we have been happy to see today we present a brief interpretation of surahs, but with the preservation of the main meaning. The author's team tried to cover the clear meaning of the content of the Holy Book as concisely and concisely as possible. The presented work can be deservedly considered to be the most successful variant of transferring the meaning of the text of the Noble Quran into the Russian language”.
Rishat Khamidullin, Advisor to the Mufti of the Tatarstan Republic on Information Policy and Director of the publishing house “Huzur”, spoke in more detail about the formats of the translation of meanings of the Quran that should be expected in the nearest future.
“What we can see today is a presentation variant. In the future, we are planning to publish books in several formats, including pocket-sized ones. There will be a mobile application, including the original and tafsir in the Tatar and Russian languages. Now we are working on the audio-edition. We want to give an opportunity to the maximum number of Muslims to get acquainted with this work and benefit from it”.
Besides, in the framework of the presentation there was signing of the cooperation between two religious organizations – the Spiritual Board of Muslims of the Tatarstan Republic and the Dagestan Republic. The document was signed by Muftis of the regions Kamil hazrat Samigullin and Sheikh Ahmad Afandi Abdulaev. The agreement, in particular, notes the bilateral readiness to provide mutual assistance in equipping religious schools and libraries with the necessary equipment, religious literature and teaching aids, holding joint religious, scientific, spiritual and educational events, exchange of experience in the field of education, culture and enlightenment, promotion of spiritual and educational media. In general, the document envisages joining efforts to strengthen civil peace, harmony and unity of the Muslim community of Russia, the implementation of inter-regional negotiations and contacts on the issues of spiritual and religious life, as well as upbringing of the younger generation in the spirit of timeless Islamic virtues, patriotism and faithful service to their people and country, promotion of careful attitude to national, historical, cultural and religious traditions of our country.
We would like to remind that along with the Tatar, the fundamental work in the Russian language is the first in history of the Spiritual Board of Muslims of the Tatarstan Republic translation of meanings of the Quran, which was published in the framework of the Year of Interpretation of the Quran in Tatarstan. The book is the result of seven years of collective work of hafizes, experts on kiraats, fiqh, akida and philologists with knowledge of Russian and Arabic.
In preparing the publication, outstanding examples of short interpretations (tafsirs) of the Holy Quran of the past and present were used as a benchmark: "Tafsir Al-Jalalayn" by Imams al-Mahalli and al-Asyuti, "Qur'an Majid" by Sheikh Mahmud al-Ufi, "Tafsir al-Wadih al-Muyassar" by Sheikh Muhammad Ali al-Sabuni. In addition to it, in the course of their work, the specialists of the Spiritual Board of Muslims of the Republic of Tatarstan addressed authoritative tafsirs of such authors as al-Tabari, al-Maturidi, Ibn Qasir, al-Qurtubi, al-Nasafi, al-Alusi and others. The source of all notes and explanations were authoritative comments of scientists of Ahlu Sunnah.
The authors have tried to avoid obsolete and excessively elevated vocabulary and expressions, as well as borrowings from the Church Slavonic language, which are abundant in modern translations in Russian. This made it possible to provide the Russian-speaking reader, first of all, with a clear and accessible presentation of the meanings of the Holy Book in the modern Russian language, since the Quran for Muslims is first of all a guide to life, not just a literary monument. Also the authors have tried to avoid the mistakes containing in existing translations of the Most Reasonable Quran into the Russian language. Thus, the main drawbacks of most of the existing translations are semantic and canonical mistakes - giving the Almighty God inappropriate qualities (cunning, deception) and giving Him the meaning of body (hands, eyes, statements on the throne, etc.), as well as the description of the prophets with such qualities that they cannot be described according to the Muslim doctrine.
For the reader’s convenience and to facilitate the understanding of the meaning of the Quran, the text contains comments separated by brackets from literal translation. Thus, the arrangement of the Quran into the Russian language in the variation of the Spiritual Board of Muslims of the Tatarstan Republic allows to convey to the reader not only its literal meaning, but also the historical cultural background, to which the text of the Holy Book, nuances, subtexts and metaphors of the Quranic language were recorded and pronounced. In addition to it, on each turn of the tafsir, a page-by-page original of the text of the Noble Quran is placed in accordance with the translation.
The edition of “Kalyam Sharif. Translation of Meanings” has been printed by the Publishing House “Huzur” of the Spiritual Board of Muslims of the Tatarstan Republic in hardcover, volume 700 pages. The book can be purchased in the “Huzur” Publishing House's stores in Kazan, as well as remotely:
-Kazan city, 36 Gabdulla Tuqay Street;
-Kazan city, 14 Gazovaya Street;
-Internet-shop www.huzurshop.ru;
-By phone for reference +79033054543.
Ilmira Gafiyatullina