The Translation of Words Involving Mushakala in the Holy Quran: A Descriptive Study

Document Type : Original Article

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Translation Department, College of Languages and Translation, Imam Mohammad Ibn Saud Islamic University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

10.21608/bflt.2024.391806

Abstract

ABSTRACT: This study attempts to investigate the strategies utilized by translators of the Quran to translate ‘Mushakala’, a rhetorical phenomenon used in Arabic in which a previously mentioned word in close proximity is repeated but with a different sense. This lexical device is common in Quranic usage and has the function of attracting the attention of readers/listeners. It also produces “stunning melodious harmony to arouse the awareness and catch the attention of good-taste-listeners” (Albajjari, 2022: 221). However, its presence in other languages, such as English, is inconspicuous. This puts an extra burden on the translator to find a way to find a near equivalent that can reflect the beauty of the source text. This study suggests that Quran translators either choose the easier option of giving a literal (or semantic) rendition or opt for a more communicative approach which is not bound by the source text words and seeks to convey the “ message of the original in a form which conforms to the linguistic, cultural and pragmatic conventions of TL rather than mirroring the actual words” of the Arabic text (Shuttleworth and Cowie 1997: 22).

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