Impact of the Different Qirā’āt on English Translations of the Qur’ān

Abstract

This study reveals that not all variant qirā’āt affect the translations of the Qur’ān to the same degree, in fact, in some cases the differences between the qirā’āt are lost in translation. This study proposes that translation of the Qur’ān should be consistent with one particular riwāyah (that of Ḥafṣ for example), that this should be stated in the introduction or on the cover page of the translation, and that in cases where the Quranic words/phrases have several variant recitations, these should be presented in a footnote. This procedure, by presenting all the meanings based on the different qirā’āt of the Qur’ān, would allow the reader to appreciate the depth of meaning of the āyah, contribute to raising the reader’s awareness of this significant feature of the Qur’ān, and the fact that despite several cases where the qirā’āt of the Qur’ān result in different words, styles, sentence structures and/or meanings, none of these differences contradicts one another.