Translating Qur’anic Hand Movements: A Descriptive Analysis

Abstract

The present paper goes around a basic idea that human communication crosses the borders of spoken words. It rather goes beyond that to include body movements, such as the facial expressions, eyes, and limbs movements. People gesture as they speak. Therefore, such movements convey meanings to others and affect them deeply. Moreover, gestures are important as they have the ability to depict the inner signals of the mind sent to the parts of the body without any external control of the individual in many cases. It is thus an important factor in the process of human communication. Muslims think that Qur’an is the main source of all the sciences, and they consult it unremittingly. This research examines one type of body language in the Holy Qur’an, reviews and analyzes some examples that utilized hand movements and their translations. A descriptive model of analysis is utilized as a theoretical framework for tackling the subject under consideration. Five English translations along with their Quranic SL counterparts comprised data analysis section. One of the main outcomes of the present paper is that hand movements were effective means for conveying Quranic meanings. They are mostly metaphorical. Translators responded differently to the translation of such meanings. Valuable meanings need to be added to the translation