the Quran

This comparative study aimed at finding out the types of grammatical shifts which have occurred in two English translations of the Quranic rhetorical questions, and the impact of such shifts on the said rhetorical questions. For these purposes, the study firstly analyzed the Arabic and English texts syntactically using the x-bar theory for Haegeman (2006) and then classified the grammatical shifts according to Catford’s (1965) kinds of shifts. The X theory has been applied as a tree diagram and liner structure. Where necessary “al-Gadwal fi i’arab al-Quran”/the Quran grammatical analysis” of Safi published in (1995) has been used. The two English translations used in the study were “the Koran Interpreted” by Arberry (1955) and “the Noble Quran: English translation of the meanings and commentary” (1996) by al-Hilali and Khan. According to the analysis, different types of grammatical shifts, e.g. class, unit, structural and level shifts have occurred in the two translations. Further, another kind of shift has appeared in the two translations. This refers to the syntactic shift where a question has been changed into a statement. With respect to the impact of such shifts on the meanings of the Quranic rhetorical questions, sometimes the entire meaning of the ST rhetorical questions is distorted like in al-Hilali and Khan’s translation. In addition, the intended reason of the function is changed like in Arberry’s translation. By and large, it can be argued that the shifts committed by Arberry affected the ST rhetorical questions more than those made by al-Hilali and Khan.

The Holy Qur'an has ignited the torch of enlightenment in beliefs and raised the flag of the struggle against superstition, by which the true truth is known and the narrations can be evaluated. Among the realities of the universe are the angels whose infallibility are disputed; Some believe in the infallibility of the angels, while some do not. Each group brings its reasons for its special idea. This article aims to investigate the infallibility of angels based on the library method and by referring to the basic religious sources, i.e. the Qur’an, interpretive and narrative collections. So, it introduces a theory based on the Holy Qur’an. As a result, findings show that the three-fold reasons, not only lack strength and dynamism, they also support the infallibility of the angels in some cases. In other cases, the narrations about Hārūt and Mārūt are attributed to Ka'b al-Ahbār in the form of marfū' and date back to the Israelite. In terms of content, since they do not compatible to the Qur’an and there is no reason for their being a symbolism, they oppose the clear text of the Qur’an concerning the infallibility of the angels; for some verses affirm the appearance of the angels and some affirm their infallibility.

Human beings are constantly active to live their everyday life. They spend long hours of their life on working and activity in closed and confined environments. That along with urbanization, mental and psychological traumas and physical harms has led some to think about leisure time and its significance in their life. Meantime, various schools of thought and ideologies attach great significance to leisure time. Islam also recognizes the necessity of tourism, as a prescribed form of leisure time, at individual and social life. In this regard, tourism with a spiritual approach is followed by an intellectual upgrade and spiritual evolution of humans, leading to intellectual and spiritual enrichment. This study has been conducted to examine the status of leisure time and tourism in the holy Quran and hadiths. This descriptive-analytical research, which is based on Quranic verses and hadiths frequently narrated in authenticated books, aims to examine various aspects of leisure time and tourism in the Quran and hadiths. The findings of this research show that Islam views leisure time as a moral issue. Relying on the Quranic verses and hadiths, tourism may be divided into halal (permissible), makrouh (non- recommended) and haram (strictly forbidden). Quranically tourism with a spiritual approach brings about serenity, durability and blessings while being faith-based and beyond gender division.

Simultaneous decoding and encoding of information substantiate the foundations of natural processing of language in translation. The present study analyzed two Persian translators’ pragmatic strategies in translating the Quranic temporal discourse marker thumma into Persian. The source text corpus consisted of 6 sections of the holy Quran and was selected randomly; and the target text corpus is comprised of two Persian translations of the same sections. Theoretical perspectives in discourse and translation studies were applied in approaching parallel corpora analysis in the study. The findings indicate that different types and combinations of Persian temporal discourse markers were applied in 53% of the cases by the translators. Moreover, in 47% of the instances, it was replaced with Persian elaborative, contrastive, and inferential discourse markers. This creative, flexible, and innovative discourse construction approach was substantiated on the basis of the recognition of differences between discourses, cultures, and languages. Consequently, this dynamic approach was employed in the construction of an appropriate discourse for the addressee. The bases, resources, and foundations of these dynamic and discourse sensitive translation strategies were discussed pragmatic awareness raising in explicit teaching of these elements, development of sensitivity to unsteady social contexts in language use, and utilizing the findings in lexicography, translation quality assessment, and syllabus design were suggested.    

Communicative and natural processing of language in the world of translation is substantiated through simultaneous decoding and encoding of information in the source and target languages. The researchers analy zed pragmatic strategies and approaches undertaken by the Persian and Kurdish translators of the Quranic discourse marker thumma. The source text corpus was selected randomly and the target text parallel corpora were selected based on purposive sampling. Theoretical perspectives in pragmatics and translation were employed in the analysis of parallel corpora in this investigation. The results revealed that various types and combinations of the Kurdish and Persian temporal discourse markers were utilized by these translators. Moreover, other Kurdish and Persian elaborative, contrastive, and inferential discourse markers were also used in rendering the discourse marker thumma in the Quran. This dynamic approach to the construction of discourse was substantiated based on the realization of different conventions in the construction of discourse in different languages and cultures. This dynamic system in the construction of a proper discourse for the readers is verified based on the application of different theories in discourse analysis and pragmatics and the application of context and text-sensitive strategies in the process of translation. The characteristics, bases, and resources of these dynamic translation strategies are discussed based on pragmatic awareness rising in various aspects of translation education and some suggestions were offered in the application of the findings in syllabus design, translation evaluation, and rethinking of approaches in lexicography.  

Moral utilitarianism is one of the most significant and common theories in normative ethics, which gained prominence with the utilitarian utterance of Bentham's crime, and different interpretations of it have always been presented with various modifications. Some Muslim thinkers, familiar with Bentham's theory of utilitarianism, have tried to make it compatible with Quranic teachings by adding a clause or constraint. In addition, they have considered Quranic verses to support Bentham's seven criteria. The basic objection of such thinkers to Bentham is that he has limited profit to pleasure only, and that is worldly pleasure, while from the point of view of religion, profit and pleasure are both worldly benefits, pleasures and include the pleasures of the Hereafter. The important point is that before we look for the verses that confirm Bentham's utilitarian theory and his seven criteria, we must see whether there is any possibility of a new interpretation of utilitarianism based on the verses of the Quran. Therefore, in this article, in addition to reviewing and criticizing this view, the impossibility of a new interpretation of utilitarianism based on the verses of the Quran is explained.