devbandi translations of the qur'an

abu Hasan

abu Hasan

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https://barelwism.wordpress.com/2019/02/13/aḥmad-riḍa-khan-mistranslates-verses-of-quran/

devbandi cuts a sorry figure after his failed attempt to fault alahazrat's translation and says:

Of course, if there are idioms or expressions in the Qur’ān or linguistic barriers to a direct translation, a non-literal translation can be employed to help convey what the Qur’ān is saying. But here there is no need whatsoever to move away from a literal translation.
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in other words, his first charge of "grave mistranslation" has been punctured and all the hot air let out. even though we have proved that 'greatness of arsh' implies greatness and the glory of Allah ta'ala (as explained by mufassirin) but deo doesn't want to learn. and wants to keep croaking in his puddle of ignorance.

deflated he has to say something to satisfy his constituency, so he says some vague stuff. but, he should not have stirred a hornet's nest. let us examine devbandi translations and check how accurate they are to literal translations.

for a long time, i used to ignore even sunni criticisms of devbandi translations because translating from one language to another is an arduous task, and particularly a text like the qur'an is not easy. i used to focus on the blasphemies uttered by them in their native languages. but look like devbandis need to be shown pictures of the stinking swamp they live in.

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mahmud al hasan took 10 years and had it cross checked by colleagues and students. devbandi zameel is gushing praises for its accuracy. let us check a few examples:

note how close they are to the literal translations, that devbandi is so particular about.
(blue ones mahmud hasan, white ones thanawi)


thanawi, s2v2.png


aysi is translation of what? why is dhalika 'yeh'? alahazrat used it appropriatelya s 'WOH' for emphasis.

thanawi, s2v47.png


alamin = dunya jahan walon par khas bartau mein

mhasn, s2v45.png


khashi'yin = aajizon par

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thanawi s2v125.png


word to word correspondence in the above translation. absolute beauty.

mhasan, s2v125.png



thanawi, s2v130.png


salihin = bade la'yiq log. and the grammar correspondence with the arabic original is unmatched.
 
mahmud al-hasan:

mhasn, s4v142.png


4:142
the hypocrites are deceiving Allah and Allah will deceive (dagha dega) them.



2:197

mhasan, s2v197.png


so it is impermissible for a woman to take off her hijaab during Hajj?
 
s2, v223:

mhasan s2v223.png


fa'tuu = 'then go"



s3, v142

mhasan s3v142.png


Allah has not yet learned (does not know / abhi ma'alum nahin kiya) those who will fight...
 
the adab of mahmud al-hasan is legendary. they would never dare to use such language for their own elders. and it is this kind of pathetic translations that zameel is so proud of.

surah aal imran, 3:144

mhasan, s3v144.png
.

you can spare me the lecture on why it is so important to be literal here. if mahmud al-hasan had used a respectful tone, perhaps he would be struck down by a lightning. to give the devil his due, thanawi was rather respectful here:

thanawi, s3v144.png



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as you can see, the correspondence of words in translation with original are spectacular.

mhasan, s3v155.png


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the bliss of literal translations. mahmud al hasan took ten years to perfect this:

9:116

mhasan, s9v116.png



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9:79
mhasan, s9v79.png


'dil khol kar'. compare this with 'dil se' and you will know which idiom is closer to the original.

but the worse part is: "Allah ne un se thatta kiya".

is it adab to use such words about Allah ta'ala?

platts, p371.png
 
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i have not even touched on the subject of 'khitab' which almost all the translators miss and devbandis are notorious for it - and they don't give a damn whether this would be disrespectful to the prophet sallALlahu alayhi wa sallam, or whether it is appropriate to say such things referring to the prophet sallAllahu alayhi wa sallam.

it is as if devbandis had never heard of this topic (wAllahu a'alam); if not, what else explains such apathy? this is the miserable state of devbandi translators and zameel has the gall to term alahazrat's translation:

Muslims conscious of the great awe and respect due to the Qur’ān know, however, that such a method is reckless and a great sin.
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The above is clear proof that Aḥmad Riḍā Khān Barelwī didn’t even, at places, while dealing with the most sacred and perilous of tasks, glance at the tafsīrs. Barelwī biographers admit this, but perversely take pride in it.
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trust a devbandi to distort anything. if the devbandi believes in Allah ta'ala (which i doubt he does - al-iyadhu billah) let him swear by Allah that this is truly the case with 'barelwi' biographers and that INDEED alahazrat did not glance on tafsirs.

the truth is that alahazrat was a well-read scholar and had a phenomenal memory. our claim is that even when he dictated extempore, he was conscious of tafasir and the contexts of those aayat. devbandis struggled for decades - this is acknowledged by the zaleel himself - and couldn't get basic things right. yet he distorts the statement to mean something else.

la'anat of Allah on liars.

They cannot escape the fact that Aḥmad Riḍā Khān was careless and reckless in his translation of the Qur’ān, and given that the Prophet (ṣallallāhu ‘alayhi wasallam) has severely warned against such a practice and said such a person “should prepare his place in the Fire”, he is guilty of a grave and major sin. Can such a flagrant and incompetent fāsiq be taken as one’s guide and leader?
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as i have said, zameel probably does not believe in judgement day. just to save the [ugly] faces of his wretched devbandi elders and pitiful translations, he tries to divert all those accusations that hold good for his own elders on alahazrat.

and wa lillahi'l Hamd, we will keep showing you how alahazrat's translations are compatible with tafasir, ma sha'Allah - even if you are a shameless coward who does not have the courage to admit that you got many things wrong in your critique - or that you are a contemptible ignoramus who will keep croaking in his stinking swamp.

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so shall we discuss 'khitab'? and how reckless and pedestrian devbandi elders have been in their translations?

zameel once asked: 'where does it say that the creator cannot have a flaw' or something to that effect. i was afraid that this is a man on whose heart Allah ta'ala may have placed a seal, al-iyadhu billah, and nothing good will enter it.

nas'alu Allaha al-aafiyah.
 
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I am loving this!

You should turn this exercise into a book in its own right to be published; except that (I suspect) if you were to pore over every major deobandi translation and critique these verse by verse, then it may end up being a multi-volume encyclopedic venture. That zameel will forever regret his latest misadventure and his ilk won't know which hole to hide in.
 
there are two essays on the topic in the anthology: anwar e raza.

marfat link here.

PDF:
http://s595909773.online-home.ca/KB/Anwar e Raza/WQB.pdf

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on p.35 by shaykh al-islam mawlana madani miyan:
imam ahmad raza aur urdu tarajim qur'an ka taqabuli muTala'ah

on p.80 by malik sher muhammad khan a'wan
imam ahmad raza aur mahasin e kanzul iman

on. p.98 by taj al-shariah mawlana akhtar raza khan raHimahullah.
imam ahmad raza ka tarjamah e qur'an Haqa'iq ki roshni meiN

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abu Hasan said:
among other works, shaykh abdul razzaq bathralwi's taskeen al-janan is a good resource. i had started translating it, and some day, in sha'Allah.
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These web-crawling pipsqueaks need response in English, since zameel and co try to "fabricate" their materials specifically for non-Urdu speakers.

Also what is missing from Urdu books by our own scholars is the scanned images highlighting deobandi materials. It's one thing to quote the offending material and another to post the scan of the same thing; the latter is more effective in shutting up these "deo'nkeys".


Few years back, I heard on Noor TV that one of the Sayyid Irfan Shah Mashhadi's shaykhs was preparing a multi-volume encyclopedic work comparing verse-for-verse AlaHazrat's translation with the deobandi ones.
 
sherkhan said:
multi-volume encyclopedic work comparing verse-for-verse AlaHazrat's translation with the deobandi ones.
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I have the 20 volume jahan e Imam ahmad raza which has many essays on kanzul iman including Sabir Sanbhali's that compares verses throughout the Quran. I'll see if the essay is online.
 
sherkhan said:
These web-crawling pipsqueaks need response in English, since zameel and co try to "fabricate" their materials specifically for non-Urdu speakers.

Also what is missing from Urdu books by our own scholars is the scanned images highlighting deobandi materials. It's one thing to quote the offending material and another to post the scan of the same thing; the latter is more effective in shutting up these "deo'nkeys".


Few years back, I heard on Noor TV that one of the Sayyid Irfan Shah Mashhadi's shaykhs was preparing a multi-volume encyclopedic work comparing verse-for-verse AlaHazrat's translation with the deobandi ones.
Click to expand...

I think it was Pir Muhammad Chisti who wrote Madarij al-Irfan

https://archive.org/details/MadrijU...1ByShaikhUlTafseerPIrMuhammadChishtiChitralvi
https://archive.org/details/MadarijUlIrfanFiManahijUlImanVol2ByAllamPirMuhammadChishtiChitrali
 
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