The Emotional Lexicon of the Qur’an: Preserving Affective Meaning in Human and AI Translations

This study explores how emotionally charged language in the Qur’an. It is understood here as affective meaning, i.e., the emotional and psychological resonance of Qur’anic vocabulary, and is preserved or altered across different English translations, including those generated by artificial intelligence, specifically OpenAI’s ChatGPT-4. Using a qualitative comparative approach informed by Nida’s Functional Equivalence Theory and Steiner’s Hermeneutic Motion, it examines selected Qur’anic verses translated by Yusuf Ali, Pickthall, Sahih International, and ChatGPT-4. The analysis reveals that human translators tend to convey greater theological nuance and emotional depth, whereas AI-generated translations often prioritize syntactic precision, sometimes at the expense of emotional resonance. These results indicate both GPT-4’s strengths and its limitations when handling the translation of sacred and emotionally nuanced texts. By highlighting the ethical and interpretive challenges involved, the analysis points to the need for human supervision. Some limitations reflect the qualitative approach and the limited selection of texts. Still, this study begins to connect the evaluation of sacred text translation with AI analysis. In future research, scholars might expand the dataset. Employing computational techniques could also deepen understanding at this emerging intersection.