The one and only Quran translator is being Nessim Joseph Dawood, who translated the Quran into English in the middle of the 20th century. He was not, the first to translate the Holy Quran into English. There are many in this regard before him and after as well. But his translation is the most widely read and popular translation. Interestingly enough, one of the people who deserves the credit for introducing Islamic culture to the west was this Jew.
Nessim Joseph Dawood (Arabic: نعيم جوزيف داوود) was born in 1927 to an Iraqi Jewish family in Baghdad, Iraq. He emigrated to England in 1945 as an Iraq State scholar, and settled there. He graduated from the University of London. He is known for his English translations of the Qur’an, Tales from the One Thousand and One Nights (Penguin Classics) and his edition of the Muqaddimah of Ibn Khaldun. Dawood’s translation of the Qur’an, titled “The Koran”, was at one time the world’s best-selling English translation of the Qur’an.
His name on official documents was Nessim Joseph David. When he moved to London, he changed his last name David to its Arabic form, Dawood. He later used the pen name of N.J. Dawood.
He worked as a teacher, translator and journalist. After producing his translation of the Qur’an in 1956, he was known as a commercial translator and founded his company in 1959. Dawood became a trusted resource for the Ministry of Defense in Britain and other government departments in their dealings with the Middle East. He died in 2014.
In the first edition of his translation of the Qur’an, in 1956, Dawood rearranged the chapters (suras) into more-or-less chronological order, as to make it easier to determine which verses are abrogated. Later editions restored the traditional sequence of publishing the surahs in order of length.
As Dawood is considered as the only Jew who produced an English translation of the Qur'an the more notable fact is that it was at the age of twenty-nine. As there are 70 editions of this translation, most of these editions were published by Penguin and it sold over a million copies his translation caught the attention of the readers in the whole world. This translation is available in 2000 libraries and online. There is a huge difference between translations which were issued before and after 1990 because the earlier editions adhere to the rearrangement of Suras, while the later editions stick to the traditional order.
Dawood describes the Qur’an as the finest work of Classical Arabic prose. It refers to the Islamic belief about the Qur'an. Like Alexander Graham Bell, he believes that Prophet Muhammad was influenced by Jewish and Christian teachings in the beginning, then affected by Hanifs. He claims the Qur'an is inscribed upon the heart of Prophet Muhammad (not received mainly through the archangel). He seeks to write a version in the contemporary English language which is intelligible and helps the modern reader understand the Qur'an. He argues that the Qur’an contains many statements which are vague and obscure because they were borrowed from other sources. Thus, he tries to expose these ambiguities wherever they occur. He uses footnotes to clarify his point of view and present a clear translation. Dawood depends basically on his work on commentaries, e.g., Al-Zamakhshari, Al-Baidawi and Al-Jalalayn. He also rejects all theories about cryptic letters.
Mistranslation and Misinterpretation
The study focuses on how the translator misunderstood and mistranslated the text. The target text will be compared with the source one according to authentic Islamic interpretations, e.g., Al-Tabari, Ibn-Kathir, Al-Bagawi, Ibn-Ashour, Al-Alusi, Ibn-Atiyah, Zad al-Massir, Fath al-Qadeer, Al-Bayydawi, and Al-Tasheel.
- Dawood translates Chapter (Al-Hashr) while being in Exile in (1997 edition) and the Banishment in (1956 edition) because the surah talks about the story of Bani al-Nadir (a Jewish tribe) that betrayed the Prophet and attempted to murder him. Thus, he expelled it outside Madinah. While the name of the surah is "al-Hashr”, which means “the gathering”, especially Muslim commentators explain that “Hashr" is the place where people will be collected together on the day of resurrection. Dawood explains that surah “al-Hashr” manifests the gathering forces of Jews to fight the Prophet. The suggested translation of chapter (al-Hashr) is the gathering according to the narrations about Prophet Muhammad.
- In the translation of verse 85 from Surah
Al-Baqarah which says:
ثُمَّ أَنتُمْ هَٰؤُلَاءِ تَقْتُلُونَ أَنفُسَكُمْ
Dawood translates 'kinsfolk' (Edition 1997) instead of “After this, it is you who kill one another” (Al-Hilali and Khan 1996).
- in the translation of verse 87 from Surah Al Baqara which reads:
- وَلَقَدْ آتَيْنَا مُوسَى الْكِتَابَ وَقَفَّيْنَا مِن بَعْدِهِ بِالرُّسُلِ
Dawood uses word "apostles" instated of "messengers" while the word "apostle" refers to the follower of Jesus, "messenger" means the conveyer of divine revelation. Orientalists generally use apostles intentionally to repudiate the divine revelation of the Quran.
- Dawood translates the verse 93 from Surah Al Baqara which says:
وَأُشْرِبُوا فِي قُلُوبِهِمُ الْعِجْلَ ،
Their hearts drink down into the calf (Edition 1997) while the proper meaning is according to Al-Hilali and Khan 1996 “And their hearts absorbed (the worship of) the calf” (Al-Baqarah:93). He tries here to underestimate their mistake as done once while the real translation indicates as it was their habit.
- In general in verses like: يَا بَنِي إِسْرَائِيلَ Dawood often deletes the word translation of 'ya' in Arabic which translates 'oh'. It is to imply that Prophet Muhammad has composed this verse and retold to children of Israel, not it is addressed them by Allah.
- In the translation of verse 138 which sounds
صِبْغَةَ اللَّـهِ ۖ وَمَنْ أَحْسَنُ مِنَ اللَّـهِ صِبْغَةً ۖ وَنَحْنُ لَهُ عَابِدُونَ
Dawood translates the sibga as the Baptism of God. And countinue saying: who is better to baptize than God? And Him do we serve” (Edition 1997). Here he uses the noun “Baptism” instead of religion even there is not any baptism in Islam. The proper translation could be “[And say, "Ours is] the religion of Allah. And who is better than Allah in [ordaining] religion? And we are worshippers of Him” (Sahih International 1997).
-In the translation of verse 143 from Surah Al Baqara Dawood translates أُمَّةً وَسَطًا as "a middle people" (Edition 1997). This word does not transmit the accurate meaning. Imam al-Tabari explains its meaning as "a moderate and a just nation in its religion" (Vol2, 628-631). According to Al-Hilali and Khan 1996 the proper full translation could be "Thus We have made you [true Muslims - real believers of Islamic Monotheism, true followers of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) and his Sunnah (legal ways)], a “Wasat” (just) (and the best) nation” (Al-Hilali and Khan 1996).
- Dawood, in the translation of verse 146 from Surah Al Baqara which reads:
الَّذِينَ آتَيْنَاهُمُ الْكِتَابَ يَعْرِفُونَهُ كَمَا يَعْرِفُونَ أَبْنَاءَهُمْ ۖ وَإِنَّ فَرِيقًا مِّنْهُمْ لَيَكْتُمُونَ الْحَقَّ وَهُمْ يَعْلَمُونَ
As 'those to whom We gave the Scriptures know Our apostle as they know their own sons. But some of them deliberately conceal the truth' (AlBaqarah 143) (Dawood 1997).
He uses the pronouns “our” and “them” without any referring to the Jews and Christians. And the matter they know as their sons is according to Dawood is the apostle not the facts taught by the Prophet or Prophet Muhammad himself. Another translations use her 'this' which will be appropriate to understand as the Prophet Muhammad or as the facts aforesaid. We read Marmaduke Piktal in his translation to this verse as 'The people of the Book know this as they know their own sons; but some of them conceal the truth which they themselves know'.
Misrepresenting the Qur’anic Sciences
According to Dawood, the Qur’an is the finest work of classical Arabic prose, but it is not a revealed book. Dawood assumes that the Prophet was influenced by Jewish and Christian teachings, and these teachings are considered the main sources of the Qur’an.
Dawood points out only one method of "Wahy", and it is the revelation with an intermediary, while he ignores the "Wahy" without an intermediary completely. Dawood is confused on this point because he claims the Qur'an is revealed by the archangel and the Prophet received during his sleep. He does not recognize that indirect revelation occurs in two forms; by way of dreams and by direct speech from Allah. On the other hand, the direct revelation happened by sending an angel to inspire His Messenger. Ibn al-Qayyim (1991) classifies the types of Wahy in Zad al-Maad into seven as follows: true dreams, inspiration in Prophet's heart, the angel comes in the form of a human, inspiration sometimes likes the ringing bell, seeing the angel in the original form, directly from Allah (Glory be to Him), and beyond a barrier (Vol1, 18). (My translation)
The translator does not clarify the period of revelation and how it gradually was sent down. The Qur’an was revealed gradually for a period of twenty-three years. He also does not clarify the various stages of revelation; the preserved book, the lower heaven, the night of decree, and descending by Jibril.
Dawood does not refer to the first and last revealed verses, and the related opinions are in the footnotes. Regarding the used versions (1974-1997) of Dawood’s work, he does not provide the classification of Makkan and Madinan Suras and verses from
cover to cover in any comment or footnote. Common themes and characteristics of the Makkan and Madinan chapters also are unclear in the translation. The translator does not point to the difference between Suras' styles. No doubt there are many benefits to knowing the types of revelation and classification of Suras. Some verses have direct causes of revelation, while others are revealed without any reasons for revelation. This field of knowledge is important to the translator to know the actual meaning of verses. Concerning the names of Suras, most of them were given by the Prophet, but Dawood uses special names which are not mentioned in other translations.
Results and Discussion
Nessim Dawood is a Jewish translator who tries to present the Qur’an in a modern language, but he is influenced by his ideas and beliefs about Islam. He believes that Prophet Muhammad received his knowledge from Jewish and Christian teachers and produced the Qur’an to call his people. Dawood changes the form and the content of the source text according to his ideology. Thus, he invents Suras’ names which are not proper for some Suras, uses biblical names of Prophets, not the translated ones, merges and mixes the verses, deletes the numbering of Suras, changes the form of verses into short paragraphs, separates the single verse into many parts, merges the verses into one sentence and divides the single verse into two separated sentences and more. He also rearranges the order of Suras according to their rhymes, whereas this classification was not made before by any translator.
Dawood also changes the content by inverting the structure of verses, omitting some elements of the verses, mistranslating and misrepresenting the verses, and using improper methods in translating terms. One of the main problems of this translation is foreground and background, which were used in many verses and distorted the meaning. He disregards the holiness of the Qur'anic text, so he misrepresents it. He deletes the particles, prepositions, transition words, conjunctions and pronouns. Even though he
claims using the exegesis of Al-Zamakhshari, he mistranslates some verses which the commentator clarifies them plainly, e.g. (An-
Naba’ 1).
Dawood misrepresents the names and attributes of Allah. He uses ar-Raheem instead of ar-Rahman and creator instead of the originator. Also, he misinterprets the attributes of Allah, e.g., Face, Hand, and Shin. In addition, he does not distinguish between the throne and Kursi. For comments and footnotes, he does not refer to any reason for revelation, commentator's opinions, the root of words, and clarification of using some special words, polysemy, metaphors, pun and other rhetorical aspects in verses. He winks at Qur'anic sciences and other Islamic sources in his translation.
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