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[quote]Quite many people have translated the text of Qur'aan for various motivations, considerations and intentions, good as well as bad, in timeline. Most of these are available on line. Thanks to computer and internet technology, it is now easy to see the majority of translations on one page. This blessing of technology has highlighted a dismal image of saddening effect. When we see many translations on one page we find more plagiarism than original work by the majority.

We can select 7 which are available on one page of Leeds and two earlier ones of Rodewell and George Sales since both have great influence on later translations.

بِسْمِ اللَّهِ الرَّحْمَٰنِ الرَّحِيمِ

George Sale:&#160;(London, 1734)  In the name of the most merciful God.
John Medows Rodwell: (London, 1861) &#160;In the Name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful. 
&#160;
Sahih International: In the name of Allah , the Entirely Merciful, the Especially Merciful.

Pickthall: In the name of Allah, the Beneficent, the Merciful.

Yusuf Ali: In the name of Allah, Most Gracious, Most Merciful.

Shakir: In the name of Allah, the Beneficent, the Merciful.

Muhammad Sarwar: In the Name of Allah, the Beneficent, the Merciful

Mohsin Khan: In the Name of Allah, the Most Beneficent, the Most Merciful.

Sher Ali [Qadiani] In the name of ALLAH, the Gracious, the Merciful.

We should first determine the accuracy or otherwise of the translated text:

1. Whether this English &quot;sentence&quot; is a complete sentence or is lacking in linkages.
2. If it is not a complete sentence, what will be the meanings or connotation of &quot;In the name of God&quot;:
    (a) In behalf of;
    (b) By the authority of;
    (c) With appeal to; or
    (d)  Just a swearing
    (e) invocation: a calling upon Allah

The translated &quot;sentence&quot; is incomplete and suffers ambiguity. English grammar tells: A sentence is a group of words which starts with a capital letter and ends with a full stop (.), question mark (?) or exclamation mark (!). A sentence contains or implies a predicate and a subject. There has to be a verb in it.

Translated text can be termed as a SENTENCE FRAGMENT. It fails to be a sentence in the sense that it cannot stand by itself. It does not contain even one independent clause. It may locate something in time and place with a prepositional phrase or a series of such phrases, but it's still lacking a proper subject-verb relationship within an independent clause.

Hence Sale's and Rodwell's translation is patently incorrect. Since others have just copied-plagiarized, they neither seem to have given a thought nor seem to have revisited the Arabic text to parse it and then translate. Unfortunate!

Edited by: Mazhara on Saturday, June 22, 2013 3:45 PM[/quote]

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