A Critique on the Translation of al-Mizan Commentary
Document Type : pajoohesh
Author
10.22081/jap.2022.72968
Abstract
The great commentary of "al-Mīzān" written by ‘Allāmah Ayatullāh Seyyed Muhammad Hossein Ṭabāṭabāī, due to its fame and popularity, does not need to be introduced and described. This commentary, while covering various topics, has a special approach, which is its focusing on the education and spiritual development of the individual and society, so it can be said that "al-Mīzān" is an educational and social commentary.
This precious commentary, translated by the late Ayatollah Mousavi Hamdani, has been printed and published many times in the form of twenty thick volumes or forty normal volumes. Its voluminous size and number of volumes is one of the obstacles that prevent interested researchers from using and studying it. Also, the multitude of daily problems and occupations of people today, causes people not to study such voluminous books. So it is possible to simplify this work and make more people interested in studying it by summarizing it in a way that does not harm the essence of the topics. Before this, some scholars have tried to summarize this book, but each of them has flaws that cannot be ignored. One of them is a book that an Arabic writer summarized from the original Arabic text of al-Mīzān according to his own understanding, and then it was translated into Persian. And another one is a selection and a summary of the commentary of some verses, not all verses. Anyway, there was not a complete summary of al-Mīzān in Persian language. However, after six years of continuous work, its summary along with scientific and literary editing was completed and published. While examining this summery, I came across many verbal and content problems, the description of which requires an independent book. In this article, some problems with the book have been mentioned.
It should be noted that in the translation of the verses of the Qur'an, which was composed and penned by the late Ayatollah Seyyed Mohammad Baqer Mousavi Hamdani, some problems in the literary and writing forms were detected. In addition, in some cases, the interpretation presented by the translator was in serious conflict with the opinions of Allāmah. I tried to correct the translation of the verses based on the Allāmah's opinions and remove its problems. In fact, a complete revision has been made in the translation of the verses by preserving the special style and literature of the translator.
This precious commentary, translated by the late Ayatollah Mousavi Hamdani, has been printed and published many times in the form of twenty thick volumes or forty normal volumes. Its voluminous size and number of volumes is one of the obstacles that prevent interested researchers from using and studying it. Also, the multitude of daily problems and occupations of people today, causes people not to study such voluminous books. So it is possible to simplify this work and make more people interested in studying it by summarizing it in a way that does not harm the essence of the topics. Before this, some scholars have tried to summarize this book, but each of them has flaws that cannot be ignored. One of them is a book that an Arabic writer summarized from the original Arabic text of al-Mīzān according to his own understanding, and then it was translated into Persian. And another one is a selection and a summary of the commentary of some verses, not all verses. Anyway, there was not a complete summary of al-Mīzān in Persian language. However, after six years of continuous work, its summary along with scientific and literary editing was completed and published. While examining this summery, I came across many verbal and content problems, the description of which requires an independent book. In this article, some problems with the book have been mentioned.
It should be noted that in the translation of the verses of the Qur'an, which was composed and penned by the late Ayatollah Seyyed Mohammad Baqer Mousavi Hamdani, some problems in the literary and writing forms were detected. In addition, in some cases, the interpretation presented by the translator was in serious conflict with the opinions of Allāmah. I tried to correct the translation of the verses based on the Allāmah's opinions and remove its problems. In fact, a complete revision has been made in the translation of the verses by preserving the special style and literature of the translator.
Keywords
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