Bible translations into Arabic

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Codex Arabicus

Translations of the Bible into Arabic are known from the early Christian churches in Syria, Egypt, Malta and Spain. Some of these translations are from Syriac (the Peshitta), Coptic or Latin.^[] The earliest fragment of the Old Testament in Arabic is a text of Psalm 77, found in the Umayyad Mosque, dating from the 8th century.^[] The first Jewish translations of the Hebrew Bible, and the bible translations by Roman Catholic clergy date from c. AD 1000.

One of the oldest Arabic bibles was discovered in the 19th century at Saint Catherine's Monastery, Mount Sinai. The manuscript called Mt. Sinai Arabic Codex 151, was created in AD 867. It includes the biblical text, marginal comments, lectionary notes, and glosses, as found in the manuscript.[1]

Mozarabic

The bible texts produced by the Mozarabs which have survived to the present day are the translations of the Gospels, the Psalms and the Canons. It is assumed that the Bible was also translated in its entirety by the Christians of Al-Andalus.^[] Most of the manuscripts date from the twelfth century or later, although some are copies of translations which were probably made before 1000.^[] One of these manuscripts is still kept at the Qarawiyyin Library in Fez is a 12th-century Mozarab parchment containing the gospels of John.^[]Ishaq ibn Balask of Cordoba translated the gospels into Arabic in 946.^[] Hafs ibn Albar made a translation of the Psalms in 889.^[]

Jewish

In the 10th century AD Saadia Gaon wrote a Tafsir, an Arabic translation of the Torah with a lengthy commentary. These were written in Hebrew characters (Judaeo-Arabic). Much of the commentary is lost, but the translation of the Torah and several other books has survived intact, and even serves as part of the liturgy of Yemenite Jews, who read the Torah in the synagogue with each Hebrew verse translated twice: first to the Aramaic targum and then to Saadia's Tafsir.^[]

As the language of Saadia Gaon's translation became archaic and remote from common speech, most Jewish communities of the Arab world evolved their own translations of the Torah into their local dialects of Judaeo-Arabic. A traditional translation of this kind is known as a sharħ (plural shurūħ), from the Arabic word for "explanation". These translations were generally used for teaching purposes rather than in the synagogue, and many of them were printed in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

Later Christian translations

In 1671 the Catholic Church published the whole Bible at Rome. The translation was done under the direction of Sergius Risi, the Catholic Archbishop of Damascus. Francis Britius aided the translation.

The most popular translation is the Van Dyck Version, funded by the Syrian Mission and the American Bible Society. The project was the brainchild of Eli Smith, and started around 1847, centered in Beirut. After Eli Smith's death it was completed under the direction of Cornelius Van Allen Van Dyck. Others involved included Nasif al Yaziji, Boutros al Bustani, and Yusuf al-Asir. The New Testament was completed on March 9, 1860, followed by the Old Testament on March 10, 1865. The original manuscript is preserved in the Near East School of Theology Library in Beirut. About 10 million copies of this version have been distributed since 1865. It has been accepted by the Coptic Church and the Protestant churches. This translation was based mostly on the same Textus Receptus as the King James Version of the Bible, and follows a more literal style of translation. Most printings of the Van Dyck version use the same basic printing plates which have been employed for years (possibly the same plates that were made when the translation was first adopted; maybe somebody can verify that fact). These plates employ the "stacking" version of writing Arabic, in which, for example, letters that precede other specified letters, such as "Jeem," are written vertical to rather than horizontal to that letter. This style of Arabic can be hard to read at times, especially for non-native students of Arabic. More recently, newer printings of the Van Dyck have been made which employ a more common, straightforward Arabic font.

The Van Dyck translation was done at the beginning of the revival of Modern Standard Arabic as a literary language, and consequently many of the terms coined did not enter into common use. One indication of this is a recent edition of the Van Dyck printed by the Bible Society in Egypt, which includes a glossary of little-understood vocabulary, with around 3000 entries! In addition to obsolete or archaic terms, this translation uses religious terminology that Muslim or other non-Christian readers may not understand (e.g. إصحاح "Is-hah", a Syriac borrowing meaning a chapter of the Bible; تجديف "tajdif", the word for blasphemy.) It should also be noted that an Arab Muslim reading the Bible in Arabic (especially if he is reading the New Testament) will find the style quite different from the style that he is used to in the Qur'an (this is more or less true of all Arabic translations of the Bible). Also of note is the fact that religious terminology familiar to Muslims was not very much used in this version of the Bible, as is the case in most Arabic versions of the Bible.

As a counter-reaction to Van Dyck's Protestant translation, the Jesuits of Beirut started to prepare their own Catholic translation of the Bible soon after. The first volume of this work was published in 1876, with the whole New Testament in 1878, and the complete Bible already in 1880. The main contributors in the translator team were Father Augustin Rodet and Sheikh Ibrahim al-Yaziji.^[]

In 1973 the Living Bibles International launched a new translation of the Arabic Bible under the direction of Georges Houssney, a Lebanese Christian based in Beirut. Houssney employed two Key translators, Said Baz for the New Testament completed in 1982, and Dr. Samuel Shahid for the Old Testament completed in 1988. Rev. Menis AbdulNoor also contributed significantly. Initially, the project was vehemently opposed by Van Dyke proponents. Mr. Houssney made a tactical decision to model the translation after the popular NIV and named it "Book of Life, an interpretive translation" (in Arabic كتاب الحياة ترجمة تفسيرية, "Ketab El Hayat, tarjama tafsiriya"). The result was wide acceptance throughout the Arab World. In 1992 it was dubbed the New Arabic Version after Living Bibles International merged with International Bible Society, now Biblica. The nearest English translation to the New Arabic Version is the New International Version. Translators consulted various English and Arabic translations and checked thoroughly against the Greek and Hebrew original texts with the aid of a team of scholars. Among the scholars who advised on the original languages are Dr. Kenneth Bailey, Dr. David King, Dr. Ghassan Khalaf, and Dr. Maurice Seale. This version is the most widely distributed with several million copies in circulation. However a more significant fact about this project is that Christians in the Arab world began to accept the idea of new translations after seeing the importance of a clear and contemporary Arabic style.

In 1988 the Jesuit publishing company Dar el-Machreq published a revised version of the 1880 Catholic translation, which has sold more than 60.000 copies between 1988 and 2000.^[]

In 1992 the Bible Society, released Today's Arabic Version, a dynamic equivalence translation designed to be as easy to understand as possible. It is also known as the Good News Arabic or the Ecumenical Version (الترجمة المشتركة), in that it was produced by an interdenominational team of scholars and church leaders. It was conceived as the Arabic equivalent of the English Good News Bible (also known as the Today's English Version), but is in reality more like the English New International Version.

In the 1980s an Egyptian Christian found that his Muslim friends could not understand the Bible. He began with a translation of the Gospel of Mark, and their enthusiasm led him to translate the entire New Testament, completed in 1990. This translation was titled "The Noble Gospel" Al-Injeel Al-Shareef (الإنجيل الشريف). The language is quite simple, with vocabulary deliberately chosen to be common with vernacular Arabics. It is much clearer in many passages than the other translations mentioned above, but it is not very elegant. It uses Arabic proper names and religious terminology understood by most Arabic speakers, rather than foreign names and ecclesiastical terminology found in older translations. The full Bible was published in 1999.

In 2000, Jehovah's Witnesses released their New World Translation of the Christian Greek Scriptures (New Testament) in Arabic.^[]. The Hebrew Scriptures (Old Testament) was translated and released along the Greek Scriptures as a complete Bible in 2004.

In 2005, Syrian Arab author Mazhar Mallouhi brought together Christians and Muslims In a ground-breaking endeavour to produce a new translation of the Gospels and Acts in Arabic. The result of their collective efforts was published in Beirut in March 2008 under the title The True Meaning of the Gospel of Christ (المعنى الصحيح لإنجيل المسيح). The goal of the project was a translation of the gospel message that would speak clearly and naturally to the hearts of Arabic speakers unfamiliar with church terminology and traditions. The volume, published by Al-Kalima and printed by the Dar al-Farabi publishing house, features a culturally sensitive translation of the four Gospels and the Book of Acts in modern literary Arabic, with footnotes providing cultural background information essential to understanding the text. There is also a collection of 26 articles on related topics of particular interest to Arab readers, as well as introductions to each of the Gospels and Acts, illustrations and maps.

Comparison

Translation	Genesis 1:1–3 (التكوين)	John 3:16 (يوحنا)
Van Dyck فانديك	في البدء خلق الله السماوات والأرض. وكانت الأرض خربة وخالية وعلى وجه الغمر ظلمة وروح الله يرف على وجه المياه. وقال الله: «ليكن نور» فكان نور.	لأنه هكذا أحب الله العالم حتى بذل ابنه الوحيد لكي لا يهلك كل من يؤمن به بل تكون له الحياة الأبدية.
Book of Life كتاب الحياة	في البدء خلق الله السماوات والأرض، وإذ كانت الأرض مشوشة ومقفرة وتكتنف الظلمة وجه المياه، وإذ كان روح الله يرفرف على سطح المياه، أمر الله: «ليكن نور» فصار نور.	لأنه هكذا أحب الله العالم حتى بذل ابنه الوحيد لكي لا يهلك كل من يؤمن به بل تكون له الحياة الأبدية.
Revised Catholic الترجمة الكاثوليكية المجددة	في البدء خلق الله السموات والأرض وكانت الأرض خاوية خالية وعلى وجه الغمر ظلام وروح الله يرف على وجه المياه. وقال الله: «ليكن نور»، فكان نور.	فإن الله أحب العالم حتى إنه جاد بابنه الوحيد لكي لا يهلك كل من يؤمن به بل تكون له الحياة الأبدية.
Good News الترجمة المشتركة	في البدء خلق الله السماوات والأرض، وكانت الأرض خاوية خالية، وعلى وجه الغمر ظلام، وروح الله يرف على وجه المياه. وقال الله: «ليكن نور» فكان نور.	هكذا أحب الله العالم حتى وهب ابنه الأوحد، فلا يهلك كل من يؤمن به، بل تكون له الحياة الأبدية.
Noble Gospel الإنجيل الشريف	في البداية خلق الله السماوات والأرض. وكانت الأرض بلا شكل وخالية، والظلام يغطي المياه العميقة، وروح الله يرفرف على سطح المياه. وقال الله: «ليكن نور.» فصار نور.	أحب الله كل الناس لدرجة أنه بذل ابنه الوحيد لكي لا يهلك كل من يؤمن به، بل ينال حياة الخلود.
True Meaning of the Gospel of Christ المعنى الصحيح لإنجيل المسيح	N.A.	لقد أحب الله كل البشر حتى إنه ضحى بابنه الوحيد )بحبيبه الوحيد( فداءا لهم، فلا خوف على المؤمنين به، لأن مصيرهم الجنة.

References

Avishur, Yitzhak, Studies in Judaeo-Arabic Translations of the Bible: Tel Aviv 2001 ISBN 965-7162-05-X, ISBN 978-965-7162-05-7 (Hebrew and English)
Avishur (ed.), The Aleppo Sharħ of the Torah: Tel Aviv 2006 (notes in Hebrew)
Avishur, An Ancient Translation of the Early Prophets into Judaeo-Arabic: Jerusalem 1995, ISSN 965-350-019-8 (notes in Hebrew)
Avishur, An Ancient Translation of the Latter Prophets into Babylonian and Syrian Judaeo-Arabic: Jerusalem 1998, ISSN 965-350-063-5 (notes in Hebrew)
Bar-Asher, M., "The Sharħ of the Maghreb: Judeo-Arabic Exegesis of the Bible and Other Jewish Literature – Its Nature and Formation", pp. 3–34, Bar-Asher (ed.), Studies in Jewish Languages – Bible Translations and Spoken Dialects: Jerusalem 1988 (in Hebrew)

External links

The Old Testament, Van Dyck Version
The Injil (New Testament), Van Dyck Version
Arabic Book of Life and Life Application Bible
Sharif Bible
Al-Kalima Website
True Meaning at Adab wa Fan
MT. SINAI ARABIC CODEX 151 -- Oldest known translation of the New Testment to Arabic
Arabic Bible Search including the Deuterocanonical Books

The King James Version 2023 Edition New Testament is now complete and in print format here.

Internal Links

Old Testament - New Testament KJV 1900

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Scrivener's 1894 Textus Receptus

2016 Urdu New Testament (TR Based)

Russian Synodal Version (TR Based)

Reina Valera Gómez Spanish (TR Based)

Marginal Notes in the 1611 Authorized Version

Ephesians 3:9

Why We Should Not Passover Easter 1, 2, & 3

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List of TR/KJV based foreign bibles

List of New Testament minuscules

List of New Testament lectionaries

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