STRATEGIES FOR TRANSLATING AN NAWAWI’S FORTY HADITHS: A DESCRIPTIVE ANALYSIS

Abstract

ABSTRACT The present study endeavours to investigate the main problematic issues encountered in the translation of prophetic Hadith. It attempts to identify the procedures utilized by translators to convey the messages of Hadith into English. Linguistic and cultural issues are dealt with in the study. The forty Hadith collection of An-Nawawi and two sets of translation constitute the corpus of the study. For being systematic and objective, Descriptive Translation Studies (DTS) method of analysis is used to identify problems and procedures of translation. Lambert and van Gorp’s (1985) model of describing translations is applied. It is found through the study that the difference in the systems of the two languages under consideration is likely to cause translation problems. This conclusion is arrived at as translators utilized different procedures to render the message. They showed different stands as regards consistency; each translator opts for different procedures in similar situations and vice versa. The present study reached another conclusion that prophetic terms and expressions are heavily loaded with meanings and the texts hide many meanings behind their actual representation. Conveying only surface structures of those meanings would deprive the target language (TL) reader of the original message. The language of Hadith is divine, inimitable and highly elevated in style. Typically, this makes it far beyond the translators' capacity to render such a style. Moreover, Hadiths include many terms which are totally culture specific due to their xix reference to Islamic rituals which result in a rendition of one component of meaning at the expense of others. Besides, the Hadith texts are characterized by the use of sound devices as a rhetorical feature. Retaining such devices in the TL is unattainable and priority is given to meaning rather than the aesthetic function. In addition, the study showed that such sensitive texts are best represented in the TL using foreignization procedures. Literal translation, borrowing, explanatory footnotes and glossaries are possible ways to preserve the SL identity. In other words, the findings of the present study are in harmony with Venuti’s call for highlighting the SL culture and making the translator visible.