In this week's reading I found the oral tradition that Islam was born out of to be particularly fascinating. The emphasis of poetry and verbal expression in the pre-Islamic Middle East had a great influence on many aspects of the religion. For example, much like the oral tradition of Hinduism, many of the Suras are written in poetic forms, in verse rather than prose, and aren't so definitive in content. Also, although the Qur'an has been written down, the widespread affection for the recitations is a direct result of the long-standing oral tradition.
I found it interesting, however, that much of the meaning of the Suras becomes lost in translation when read in English. This didn't seem to be a major issue for translations of Hindu texts (or at least not one that we read about), which is also based off an oral tradition. It fascinates me that so much of Islam is based on the original language of the Qur'an, Arabic, and, specifically, how much emphasis spoken language has on the full understanding of the texts. Language can elicit certain moods and emotions and even create subtexts in the recitations that can be completely lost on non-Arabic speakers. This plays a significant part in Western misconceptions regarding the religion.
In short, the obsession with the spoken recitations of the Qur'an and the enigmatic nature of the linguistic structure prove to me that Islam isn't simply a religion or a belief system, but an experience.
Looked through these posts after writing and posting my own blog entry - I totally agree (and actually wrote about the same topic). I wonder just how much of the original text's meaning is lost in a translation.
ReplyDeleteA quick note: although we didn't focus on it in class, the Vedas are also thought to lose much of their power in translation. This is particularly true since the verses of the Vedas are also mantras: specific ritual formulas that tap into aspects of the structure of the universe. I mentioned how a god's mantra is considered to be the god itself; of course, this only applies to the mantra in Sanskrit. The question of whether or not a sacred text can really be translated is something that extends across many traditions.
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