Translation of Simile in the Holy Qur’an

Abstract

Translators of the Holy Qur’an have a number of concerns. Among them, figures of speech are likely to play a major role. Taking this fact into account, the present study sets out to investigate one of the main categories of figures of speech, namely simile, in the Holy Qur’an and its five English translations by Shakir (1985), Arberry (1955), Abdullah Yusuf Ali (1996), Pickthall (1996), and Saffarzadeh (2001) to find out which patterns have been opted for in the translation of simile. To collect and analyze the data, the following steps were taken: first, a number of Quranic similes and their equivalents in the five English translations were identified. Next, the English translations were analyzed in order to extract the patterns used by each translator in rendering the Arabic similes. Finally, the distribution of the translators' preferred patterns was presented in separate tables for subsequent analysis and discussion. The researchers' analysis revealed the translators' concern for observing faithfulness to the extent possible.