What others said about Arabic Read in the original
In the foreword to his English translation of the Qur’an:
“The Koran cannot be translated. That is the belief of old-fashioned Sheykhs and the view of the present writer. The Book is here rendered almost literally and every effort has been made to choose befitting language. But the result is not the Glorious Koran, that inimitable symphony, the very sounds of which move men to tears and ecstasy. It is only an attempt to present the meaning of the Koran – and peradventure something of the charm – in English. It can never take the place of the Koran in Arabic, nor is it meant to do so.”
Muhammad Marmaduke Pickthall
1875–1936
English novelist who became a Muslim in 1917 and translated the meaning of the Qur’an into English.
In Arabic
القرآن لا يُترجَم؛ ذلك اعتقادُ الشيوخ على الطريقة القديمة، وهو رأيُ كاتب هذه السطور. وقد نُقل الكتاب هنا نقلاً يكاد يكون حرفيّاً، وبُذل كلُّ جهدٍ في اختيار اللفظ اللائق. غير أنّ الحاصل ليس هو القرآنَ المجيد، تلك السمفونيّةَ التي لا تُحاكى، والتي تبعث أصواتُها نفسُها الناسَ على البكاء والوجد. إنّما هي محاولةٌ لعرض معنى القرآن – ولعلّها تحمل شيئاً من سحره – بالإنجليزيّة. ولن تحلّ أبداً محلَّ القرآن بالعربيّة، ولا يُراد لها ذلك.
Source
The Meaning of the Glorious Koran, Translator’s Foreword, London: Alfred A. Knopf, 1930, p. vii
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