Akbar’s Chamber offers a non-political, non-sectarian and non-partisan space for exploring the past and present of Islam. It has no political or theological bias other than a commitment to the Socratic method (which is to say that questions lead us to understanding) and the empirical record (which is to say the evidence of the world around us). By these methods, Akbar’s Chamber is devoted to enriching public awareness of Islam and Muslims both past and present.
The podcast aims to improve understanding of Islam in all its variety, in all regions of the world, by inviting experts to share their specialist knowledge in terms that we can all understand.
All content for Akbar's Chamber - Experts Talk Islam is the property of akbarschamber and is served directly from their servers
with no modification, redirects, or rehosting. The podcast is not affiliated with or endorsed by Podjoint in any way.
Akbar’s Chamber offers a non-political, non-sectarian and non-partisan space for exploring the past and present of Islam. It has no political or theological bias other than a commitment to the Socratic method (which is to say that questions lead us to understanding) and the empirical record (which is to say the evidence of the world around us). By these methods, Akbar’s Chamber is devoted to enriching public awareness of Islam and Muslims both past and present.
The podcast aims to improve understanding of Islam in all its variety, in all regions of the world, by inviting experts to share their specialist knowledge in terms that we can all understand.
Translating the Untranslatable: The Curious History of Quran Translation
Akbar's Chamber - Experts Talk Islam
54 minutes
3 weeks ago
Translating the Untranslatable: The Curious History of Quran Translation
How should one go about translating a text that is untranslatable? Especially when the text is believed to be the living word of God? Muslims have pondered this dilemma for more than a millennium, because a standard doctrine of Islam is the ‘inimitability of the Quran’ (i‘jaz al-Qur’an). This principle was often taken to imply the untranslatability of the Quran. But even in the first centuries of Islam, the conversion on non-Arabs created the practical need for translation. This episode explores the different solutions Muslims found, whether through interlinear summaries and tafsir commentaries in premodern times or via the proliferation of full-blown translations in the modern age of print—and nationalism. From multilingual manuscripts to state-sanctioned translations, we trace the different ways in which the Quran has been read over the centuries. Nile Green talks to M. Brett Wilson, author of Translating the Qur’an in an Age of Nationalism: Print Culture and Modern Islam in Turkey (Oxford University Press, 2014).
Akbar's Chamber - Experts Talk Islam
Akbar’s Chamber offers a non-political, non-sectarian and non-partisan space for exploring the past and present of Islam. It has no political or theological bias other than a commitment to the Socratic method (which is to say that questions lead us to understanding) and the empirical record (which is to say the evidence of the world around us). By these methods, Akbar’s Chamber is devoted to enriching public awareness of Islam and Muslims both past and present.
The podcast aims to improve understanding of Islam in all its variety, in all regions of the world, by inviting experts to share their specialist knowledge in terms that we can all understand.
