Biblical referential sources as employed by the translator when creating a translation parallel text of the Qur’an

This paper deals with the role of Biblical referential sources as employed by the translator when creating a translation parallel text of the Qur’an into languages that use similar Biblical referential sources. It also focuses on studying some fundamental terms and concepts within the monotheistic religions (Judaism, Christianity and Islam), which are derived from Hebrew, Aramaic and Arabic being three Semitic languages in which the earliest sources of Judaism, Christianity and Islam are written. The paper further discusses the use of the biblical framework as an important factor to consider in the translation process of the Qur’an into Western languages. The aim is to investigate how a Qur’an translation that meets the requirements of a proper unbiased translation be achieved on the one hand, and be one that is not alienating to the Western reader on the other. The study ends with proposing a method for translating the Qur’an into languages with biblical framework, i.e., being a referential source, and acts as a middle-way between two opposite approaches: an approach that avoids all association with biblical frameworks (foreignization), and an approach that always sees the biblical framework as indispensable when translating the Qur’an. In other words, the proposed approach attempts to balance fidelity to the source text with the target audience’s referential cultural/religious sources.status: publishe