A procedural analysis of the english translation of alqur' an: an analysis to the meaning of some verses of surah al-baqarah by 'abdullah yusuf ali

A PROCEDURAL ANALYSIS OF THE ENGLISH TltANSLATION OF ALQUR' AN: AN ANALYSIS TO THE MEANING OF SOME VERSES OF SURAH
AL-BAQARAH By 'ABDULLAH YUSUF ALI

A Paper
Submitted to Letters and Humanities Faculty
in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for
Strata l Degree

YAMAN

Reg.102026024613

THE DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH LETTERS
THE FACULTY OF LETTERS AND HUMANITIES
STA TE ISLAMIC UNIVERSITY "SYAR.IF HIDAYATULLAH"
JAKARTA

2007

ABSTRACT


Yaman, A Procedural Analysis Of The English Translation OfAl-Qur'an: An
Analysis To The Meaning Of Some Verses OfSurah Al-Baqarah By 'Abdullah Yusuf
Ali. Thesis. Jakarta: English Letters Department, Letters and Humanities Faculty,
Syarif Hidayatullah State Islamic University, October 2007.
The research concerns on translation study. In this thesis, the writer focuses
the analysis on procedural translation of the English translation of Al-Qur'an. For the
object of research, he chooses The Meaning Of The Holy Al-Qur 'an by 'Abdullah
Yusuf Ali.
The writer uses qualitative descriptive method. He analyses the translation
by reading the original text and then compared to its translation to find if there is any
word or sentence that relates to translation procedure. The next step after finding data
is organizing or classifying the data according to what kind of the procedure it is. The
writer uses the theory of translation procedure to analyze the data.
The writer finds that from I 0 procedures that writer mentions at the
theoretical framework, Abdullah Yusuf Ali uses at least 6 procedures to translate the
al-Qur' an into English language. These procedures comprise transposition,
modulation, adding, subtraction, adaptation and transliteration. The writer also finds
that transposition and modulation are two of the very important procedures without
ignoring the other procedures.


APPROVEMENT

A PROCEDURAL ANALYSIS OF THE ENGLISH TRANSLATION OF ALQUR' AN: AN ANALYSIS TO THE MEANING OF SOME VERSES OF SURAH

AL-BAQARAH By 'ABDULLAH YUSUF ALI

A Paper
Submitted to Letters and Humanities Faculty
in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for
Strata 1 Degree

YAMAN

Reg.102026024613

Approved by:

Dr. H.

mオィ。ュエセL@


M.Pd.

セRYTXP@

ENGLISH LETTERS DEPARTMENT
LETTERS AND HUMANITIES FACULTY
STATE ISLAMIC UNIVERSITY "SYARIF HIDA YATULLAR"
JAKARTA

2007

LEGALIZATION

The thesis entitled "A Procedural Analysis of the English Translation of AlQur'an: An Analysis to the Meaning of Some Verses of Surah Al-Baqarah By
'Abdullah Yusuf Ali" has been defended before the Letters and Humanities Faculty's
Examination Committee on November 28tl', 2007. The thesis has already been
accepted as a partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Strata 1.

Jakarta, November 28'h, 2007


Examination Committee

Chair Person,

Secretary,

セiエ@

Dr. H. Abdul Chair, M.A
NIP. 150 216 746

Lta- Jv "L

Drs. Asep Saefuddin, M.Pd
NIP. 150 261 902

Members:




Drs. H. Abdul. Hamid. M.Ed
NIP. 150 181 922

」セNイ@

1,. f/V'-)!)

Drs. A. Muuir Sonhadji, M.Ed
NIP. 150 050 682

DECLARATION

I hereby declare that this submission is my own work and that, to the best of
my knowledge and belief, it contains no material previously published or written by
another person nor material which to a substantial extent has been accepted for the
award of any other degree or diploma of the university or other institute of higher
learning, except where due acknowledgement has been made in the text.

Jakarta, November 13th 2007


セ@

--,

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

t . .J.;>)1

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セi_NGB@

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In tlze Name ofAllalz, Tiie Most Gracious, Tiie Most Merciful

All praises be to Allah SWT. The real writer's guide, who amazingly guides
him in the process of making this thesis. Peace and salutation be upon the greatest
prophet Muhammad SAW, his family, companions and adherents.

On this occasion, the writer wants to say many thanks to his beloved parents
and sisters, who always pray for my success in the night and the day. Their sacrifices
will never be equally paid. The writer also wants to give his gratitude to Dr.
Muhammad Farkhan, M.Pd, as the writer advisor for his time, guidance, patient,
kindness, and contribution in correcting and helping him in finishing this thesis.
The writer also would like to express the writer's trustworthy gratitude to
the following noble persons:
l. Dr. Abdul Chaer, MA, the Dean of Letters and Humanities Faculty, Syarif

Hidayatullah State Islamic University of Jakarta.
2. Dr. Muhammad Farkhan, M.Pd, the Head of English Letters Department,
Letters and Humanities Faculty, Syarif Hidayatullah State Islamic University
of Jakarta.
3. Ors. Asep Saefuddin, M.Pd, the Secretary of English Letters Department,
Letters and Humanities Faculty, Syarif Hidayatullah State Islamic University
of Jakarta.

4. All of the lectures in English Letters Department who have taught and
educated the writer during study at Syarif Hidayatullah State Islamic
University.

5. The writer's teachers: Gurutta KH. Abdurrahman Ambo Daile, Gurutta KH.

Faried Wajidie, Gurutta KH. Abd. Wahab Zakariya and all of the writer's
teahers at Darud Da 'wah wal

ャイセケ。、@

Mangkoso. 111anks for teaching me

from dawn till down ...
6. All staff of the library of Letters and Humanities Faculty, the library of main
library of UIN Jakarta, the library of American Corner, the library of
American Studies of Ul.
7. I 8d' kost; my brother from another mother: Kama' S.H.I, Pu2ng sufi S.Pd.
Mursal S.Psi, Murjon, Ewink calon S.H.I, Cuko' S.Pd. Amil 'ballo' LSI,
Bang Ucup, Andre Mesir. Makasih banyak semuana cess..
8. Special thanks to Tika 'Hana' Handayani for all loves and supports.
9. To all people, friends, and all names that are not mentioned one by one who
give their help and support in writing this thesis.
May Allah, the all-Hearer and all-Knower, bless them all and gives them more

than what they have given to the writer. Hopefully, this thesis gives benefit for all
people who read it.
Jakarta, November 131h 2007

The Writer

TABLE OF CONTENTS

ABSTRACT .•....•...•..•....•..•..••.•.•..•...•.......•.....•.........•..........•..•.......•.•..••••..•..•.••
APPROVEMENT .•.....•.•.•.•..•....•..•••.•.......•..•.•.•..•..••..•......•..••..•..•.•••.••.•.••..•.••.

ii

LEGALIZATION .•..•...•..•.•...•...•...•...•..••..•...•..••..•..•.....•••..•..•...••••..•..•..•.••.••..•

iii

DECLARATION ............................................................................................

iv


ACKNOWLEDGMENT •..••..•...•...•.......•.........••.........••....•..•.•.••..•..•.•••••.•..•..•

v

TABLE OF CONTENTS ..............................................................................

vi

CHAPTER I

INTRODUCTION ................. ...........................................

I

A. Background of the Study................................................

1

B. Focus of the Study..........................................................


9

C. Research Question..........................................................

9

D. Significance of the Study...............................................

9

E. Research Methodology...................................................

10

I.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.

CHAPTER II

The Objective ofResearch....................................
Method ofResearch..............................................
The Technique of Data Analysis...........................
The Instrument......................................................
Unit of Analysis....................................................
Time and Place of the Study..................................

IO
LO
10
II
II

THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK..................................

12

A. Definition of Translation........................................

12

B. Kinds of Translation...............................................

14

C. The Process of Translation.....................................

16

D. The Principle of Translation ... ........ .... ..... ... ....... ... .

19

F. The Procedures ofTranslation................................

21

G. Untranslatability..... ..... .. .... ....... ... ....... .. ... ... ...... ... ...

22

ll

CHAPTER Ill

CHAPTER IV

H. The Biography 'Abdullah Yusuf Ali......................

23

1. The Life of Yusuf Ali .. ... ........... .. ... ... ... ... ... ......... ..

23

2. Yusuf Ali and His Works.......................................

25

a. The Books of Yusuf Ali ...................................
b. The Poems of Yusuf Ali...................................

25
26

RESEARCH FINDINGS..................................................

27

A The role of morphology aspects in translation .. ...

27

B. The role of syntax aspects in translation ..............

28

C. Data analysis .. ... ... ... .. ... ... .... .. ... .... ... ... ... ... ............

29

a. Transposition ... .. ... ... ... .... .. ... ... .... .. .... ... ............
b. Modulation .... .. .... . ... .... ... .. ... .... ... ... ......... .........
c. Adding .. ... .. .... ... .. ... ... .... ... ... .. .... ... .. ............... ...
d. Subtraction .... ... . ... ... .... ... .... .. ... ... ... ....... ...... .. ...
e. Adaptation . .. ... ... ... .. ... .. ... .. .. .... .... .. .... ..... ...... ....
f. Transliteration . ... ... .. ... .. .. .. . .. ... ..... .. .... ..... ..........

29
34
35
36
37
38

CONCLUSION AND SUGGESTION............................

40

A. Conclusion ...........................................................

40

B. Suggestion ............................................................

41

BIBLIOGRAPHY .•.•..•..•....•..•..•..•.........•...•.•..........•......•..•....•..•••.•.•••••.•..••.•.•• 42

CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTION

A.

Background of the Study
Everyday in our life, Language plays the very important position. Language

makes human most communicative and social creature. Through language, human
can also understand one to each other. The growth of modem civilization and culture
in its area, like science, art and technology creates complexity in language field. One
of them is the difference of inter-states language problem.

Padahal pengalihan pengetahuan dan teknologi demi ke!ancaran proses
pembangunan di segala bidang mensyaratkan perolehan infiwmasi, dan
keterampilan berdasarkan keterampilan itu, yang be!um terjangkau karena
perintang bahasa asing (Whereas, the transfer of knowledge and technology for
the fluency of development process in all area requires the information., and
skill of pursuant to that information which is not yet been reached because of
the foreign language problem) 1
At this phase, born a new science discipline in the field of language that is
translation science. To build the communication nowadays, the differences of nation,
language and culture are not matter anymore. Even though the languages are different
from each other, now it can be solved by translation. Translation plays an important
role in connecting different countries.
Each country tries to translate the language that they do not w1derstand into the
language that is understandable by them to get more and more information. There are

1

Mildred L. Larson. Pe11erjemaha11 Berdasar Malena: Pedoman U11111k Pemadm1a11
A11tarbahasa. (Jakarta: Arcan, 1989). p. xiii

2

so many translation works from various disciplines such as political book, economics,
law, literature and also Holy Book. One of the Holy Books has been translated into
many languages is AL-QUR'AN.
Al-Qur'an is a holy book for Moslems and has been translated into many
languages such as Latin language, German, French and English. It becomes the desire
for every Moslem to be able to read and comprehend the Noble Al-Qur'an in original
language, Arabic language. But every Moslem can not read and comprehend the AlQur'an because everyone does not have the same ability and opportunity. That is the
reason why Al-Qur'an translated into many languages.
Before the development of modem Europe vernaculars, the cultivated language
of Europe was Latin. A Latin translation was made for the Monastery of Clugny
about 1143 AD (in the sixth century of hijrah) but not published until 1543 AC. the
place of publication was Basie and the publisher Bibliander. 2
Prof W. Montgomery Watt in his book Bell's Introduction to the Qur'an

(Islamic Surveys 8) mentions that the visit of Peter the Venerable, the Abbot of
Clugny to Toledo at the 12th century known as the beginning of the Western interest
of Islamic Studies. He tries to publish the serial of science to compete with the
Islamic intellectual activities at that time (especially in Andalusia). As a part from
that activity, Robert of Ketton (Robertus Retanensis) translated the Al-Qur'an into the
Latin language which is finished on July 1143.

2

l ... . . . . . .. . .

'Abdullah Yusuf Ali, The Meaning of 111eJ!ofJ! . Q11r'm1. . (M'."'Yland: Amana Publications,
1997), p. xii

3

From the Latin translation above and then the Al-Qur'an is translated into many
languages in Europe. Schweigger translated Al-Qur'an into Germany language in
1616, then Translated into French language by Du Ryer and had been published in
Paris in 1647 and then in 1776, the translation of Al-Qur'an in Russian language had
been published in St. Petersburg. Savari translated into French language and had been
published in 1783 and Kasimirki's translation in 1840. This translation has been
published several times.
In 164 7, A.Ross translated Al-Qur'an into English language for the first time.
He translated from the Du Ryer's translation in French version and was published a
few years after Du Ryer's. George Sale also translated Al-Qur'an into English
language in 1734 and published in London inl812 with a new edition (two volumes).
In his is translation mentioned that his source from Arabic language, the Moslem
Scholars, especially from Tafsir al-Baidlowi. That translation entitled with 171e Koran
or The Alcoran ofMohammad: translated from the Original Arabic.
In the \ 91h century, the Al-Qur'an translation expands progressively. Gustav
Flugel (died in 1889), translated Al-Qur'an in 1834 and had been republished and
revised by Gustav Redslob. Then it is followed by Gustav Weil (died in 1889) and
written the story of Muhammad in 1843. JM Rodwell published his translation in
1861 and tried to arrange the surahs in a rough chronological order.
Al-Qur'an translation in English version is also translated by E.H. Palmer (died
in 1883). His translation was published for the first time in 1876. He failed to realize
the beauty and grandeur of style in the original Arabic. To him that style was "rude

4

and rugged". His translation was asswned as the worst translation. Arthur J. Beny, a
professor of Cambridge University, and also an editorial staff of Encyclopedia of

Islam translates Al-Qur'an into English Language and have been published twice. His
translation entitled with The Holy Koran, an Introduction with Selections, was
published in London in 1953. The next publishing in 1955 in London entitled with

The Koran, Interpreted. His translation was assumed as the good translation.
There is an effort among the Islamic scholars to translate the Al-Qur'an into the
English language. It is caused by the wide-spreading of wrong view about Al-Qur'an
which is caused by the orientalists to divert the teaching and the real contents of AlQur'an or because the misunderstood and their knowledge limitation about the Arabic
language and the teaching of Islam.
Dr. Muhammad Abdul Hakim Chan from pattiala is the first Moslem scholar
who translated the Al-Qur'an into the English language in 1905. Mirza Hasrat from
Delhi also translated Al-Qur'an and was published in 1919. Nawal Imanul Mulk
Sayid Husain Bilgrami from Hyderabt Deccan also translated Al-Qur'an and died
before he finished it. Haviz Ghulam Sarwar's translation is a good one. His translation
provided with the summaries of every surah even though the footnotes is not
complete.
Muhammad Marmaduke Pickthall is one of the Moslem scholars who have
translated Al-Qur'an sentence to sentence. He is from England and expert in Arabic
language. His translation has been published for five times. lt is provided with the

5

introduction and information about Al-Qur'an, the Short Story of Muhammad and
Tajwid. 3

The famous translation in Western and East is The Holy Qor'an. Translation
and Commentmy, 1983, by Abdullah Yusuf Ali and has been published for several

times. His translation becomes international standard, it is provided with introduction
and footnotes. Also complete with explanation of surah and the conclusion of verse.
The translation was printed for the first time in 1934 and still continuous reprinted.4
Yusuf Ali reputation is because of his translation and commentary of Al-Qur'an.
His competence in translating and commenting Al-Qur'an published in the serial form
between 1934 and 1937. Although his non-stopped write about any topics during at
least seven years, this becomes of his masterpiece. This work that has made his name
is well-known in international world. The commentary is in the form of more than six
thousand footnotes for his translation. 5
Yusuf Ali makes a statement in the preface page of his translation:
Gentle and discerning reader! What I wish to present to you is an English
Interpretation, side by side with the Arabic text. The English shall be, not a mere
substitution of one word for another, but the best expression I can give to the fullest
meaning which I can understand from Arabic text. The rhythm, music, and exalted
tone of the original should be reflected in the English Interpretation. It may be but a
faint reflection, but such beauty and power as my pen can command shall be brought
to its service. I want to make English itself an Islamic language, if such a person as I
can do it. And I must give you all the accessory aid which I can. In rhythmic prose,
3

Departemen Agama, Al-Qur'an dan Terjemahannya, (Medinah, Mujamma' Khadim alHaramein asy-Syarifien al-Malik Fahd Ii Tiba'ah al-Mushafasy-Syarief, 1990), p. 30
4
Nurcholis Madjid, Alas Nama Pengalaman, Beragama dan Berbangsa di Maso Tran