IV. Foreign Terminology 1

 

Arabic transliteration? You may not be familiar with it, but there is a way of writing Arabic script in Roman letters ("Arabic Romanization"). 

Those of you who have studied Islamic sciences at western universities are naturally familiar with the main transliteration types. And for those who don't, well, there are people like myself who can help you out...

Those submitting their papers for publication in academic journals will be aware of the publisher's stringent style guides which always include a section on how to transcribe certain Arabic names and terminology. 

The following link is to the transliteration guidelines of the publisher E.J. Brill (Encyclopaedia of Islam, EI): 

https://brill.com/fileasset/downloads_static/static_fonts_simple_arabic_transliteration.pdf

When editing articles in Islamic Studies and Islamic History & Civilization, I frequently come across Arabic terminology and usually highlight the following:

a) Consistency (in applying one system of transliteration throughout)

b) Accuracy (in applying transliteration rules)

c) Conformity (in accordance with publisher's style guide)

Another common practice in incorporating foreign terminology in a text is to offer the English translation. This is something that Muslim authors tend to forget or overlook, assuming that their readers will be familiar with them. 

Since the primary language of the published text is English, the English term should be followed by the corresponding Arabic term (transliterated). In cases where the explicit focus is on particular foreign terms that have no ready equivalent in English (e.g., zakat), they can be used, followed by the English meaning in brackets. Here, I also check for consistency. 

Below are a few examples, together with my comments. 

[Original copy]

In his book Manahilul Irfan, Az-Zarqani argues that there are two styles of translations: the translations of harfiyya and tafsiriyya.

[Edited copy]

In his Manāhil al-ʿIrfān (Stages of Illumination) al-Zarqani argues that there are two different styles of translation: ḥarfīya (literal) and tafsīrīya (idiomatic).

You can notice in the original text that the author has transliterated the book title but failed to follow proper transliteration guidelines. I first corrected the transliteration and then added the title in English. This should always be done to give the reader an idea what the original is all about. Interested readers are also be able to search and locate copies of the same work translated into English, which is helpful. 

Although there are certain consonants in Arabic that are assimilated (so-called 'Sun letters') when pronounced, this does not usually apply in transliteration (name). 

The adjectives in the last part of the sentence are not correctly transliterated. There are standard variations of how the -iyyah endings can be transliterated. If there is no publisher's style guide to follow, the main criterium is consistency.       

[Original copy]

According to him, as long as there are hints, determining whether a word means majaz or hakikat, is not a difficult thing.

[Edited copy]

… and he immediately went on to decide whether an image was used as a trope (majāz) or in its true meaning (ḥaqīqa).

In this sentence I decided to focus on the English terminology, since the Arabic terminology was of secondary importance. Thus, the equivalent English term is followed by the Arabic term added in brackets. As you can see, I rephrased most of the sentence to achieve more clarity, and added it to the previous sentence to preserve the flow. Also, the foreign terms need to be put in italics to highlight them accordingly and set them apart from the main text. 

[Original copy]

In relation to Al-Quran translation, Mansyur and Setiawan note that harfiyya translation is forbidden for certain verses, essentially if it creates context changes.

[Edited copy]

In relation to Qurʾan translation, Mansyur and Setiawan note that ḥarfīya translation for certain verses is prohibited because it does not take the semantic context of a phrase into account.

The use of the definite article "al" is a common error. It is "al-Qur'an" in Arabic, and "the Qur'an" in English (and not "the al-Qur'an"). Since there is no need for a definite article in English, the correct form is simply "Qur'an translation".

Mansyur and Setiawan are (Indonesian) names, and therefore need no transliteration (stet).

I decided to rephrase the last part of the sentence in order to avoid ambiguity.