Cross-language differences in Arabic–English translation of Surat Quraysh: a variation theory approach

This study explores the cross-language variation in the English translation of Surat Quraysh in the context of Variation Theory with linguistic, cultural, and aesthetic considerations. It adopts a qualitative descriptive design and applies the ethnographic analytical procedures proposed by Spradley to analyze differences across the translations. The study centers on three major translations by Pickthall, Yusuf Ali, and Abdel Haleem. The results show that linguistic variation in the translated text takes the form of explicitation and modulation in meaning, with cultural variation arising from the handling of the embedded religious meaning in the Arabic text and the various cultural allusions in the source text. Aesthetic variation takes the form of variation in the emphasis on rhythm, brevity, and intensity in language usage, with the three inherent in the distance that exists in the translation of the Arabic to the English. Variation in the Qur’anic translation grants the process of translation a meaning of cultural mediation as opposed to meaning deviation in the context of the translation of the holy text.