German Scholar Underlines Two Important Points in Qur’an Translation
TEHRAN – A translator should pay close attention to two main points when rendering the Holy Qur’an from Arabic into another language, a German scholar said.
Stefan Friedrich Schaefer, a scholar, researcher and translator from Germany and a graduate of Al-Mustafa International University, made the remark in an interview with IQNA on the occasion of the International Translation Day, marked every year on September 30.
He said one of the two points is clarifying the goal of translation based on which the meaning should be conveyed correctly and the second is who the readers of the translation are going to be.
He said translating and interpreting the Qur’an is primarily aimed at promoting the understanding of Islam and the Qur’an and in doing this, the translator’s understanding of the text is influential.
Schaefer further said that in translating Islam’s Holy Book, one needs to refer to Arabic lexicons and find the exact meaning of many words that are in the Qur’an but not in use in today’s Arabic.
He referred to the problems in German translations of the Qur’an and said he finds them especially when teaching the Qur’an in the German language.
Asked about his Qur’anic activities , especially in the field of translation, he said that his main aim at the moment was to translate Shia works and articles to make them available to German readers.
These translated articles are available on the website Wikishia, he said, stressing that in the age of information technology, it is necessary that more and more Islamic contents are produced and be provided to readers.
He added that he plans to embark on the translation of the Qur’an into German in the future.
Schaefer, 63, was born in Germany’s Offenbach and lived in his hometown until the age of 45.