Mistranslations of Islamic Scripture (English): Difference between revisions

{{Quote||'''M.A.S. Abdel Haleem:''' The [disbelievers] schemed but God also schemed; '''God is the Best of Schemers.'''}}

===(10:5) Moon is a (reflective) light===

{{Quote||'''Saheeh International:''' It is He who made the sun a shining light and the moon a '''derived light''' and determined for it phases - that you may know the number of years and account [of time]. Allāh has not created this except in truth. He details the signs for a people who know.}}

{{Main|Shooting Stars in the Quran}}

{{Quran|67|5}} discusses the [[Jinn]] (mythical creatures that are described in Islamic scriptures as living among humans)<ref>Mawdudi, Sayyid Abul Ala, Tafhim ul Quran, Markazi Maktaba Islami, Delhi, 1995, vol. 6, p.110</ref> and stars from the "lowest heaven" which are used as missiles against any mischievous jinn that attempts to eavesdrop on conversations between angels.<ref>"...''The Jinns would go to the lowest heaven and listen to the Angels conversing amongst themselves about events of the Future which they heard from Allah. The Jinns would then inform the fortune-tellers. This is why before the time of the Prophet (saws) many fortune-tellers were very accurate in their predictions. However, upon the Prophet's arrival the heavens were guarded intensely by the Angels, and any Jinn who tried to listen was attacked by meteors (shooting stars)''..." - [http://www.islamawareness.net/Jinn/world.html The World of Jinn] - Invitation to Islam, Issue 4, January 1998</ref>

*ٱلسَّمَآءَ (''as-samaa'a'') means heaven or sky.<ref>https://www.almaany.com/en/dict/ar-en/%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%B3%D9%85%D8%A7%D8%A1/</ref>

**So ٱلسَّمَآءَ ٱلدُّنْيَا can be understood as "the lowest heaven", "the heaven right above this flat earth", "the sky above The Lower".

*بِمَصَٰبِيحَ (''bi-masaabeeh'') - this word means "lamps" and is still used as such in modern Arabic (see Google images for مصابيح).

{{Quote||'''Progressive Muslims:''' And We have adorned this universe with lamps, and We made it with projectiles against the devils; and We prepared for them the retribution of the blazing Fire.}}

The following translations depart entirely from the classical interpretations of the verse and, it would appear, the very wording of the verse itself.  

==Hadith==

A sign of the last hour that appears in numerous hadiths is often mistranslated as the sun rising "in the West". This mistranslation occurs throughout the English translation of Sahih Bukhari by Muhsin Khan and sometimes in the translation of Sahih Muslim by Abdul Hamid Sadiqqui.  

The 'puberty' mistranslation also fails to achieve chronological sensibility. 'Aisha's father, Abu Bakr, was one of Muhammad's first followers. It would not have taken until puberty for 'Aisha to notice that her father followed the religion.

A mistranslated hadith has a comment from Abu Dawud supposedly about Aisha menstruating when she was nine. This is Sunan Abu Dawud 4915 (Ahmad Hasan numbering; 4933 Dar-us-Salam).

{{Quote|{{Abudawud||4915|hasan}}|Narrated Aisha, Ummul Mu'minin:

Abu Dawud's comment is ay tanaffasat (أَىْ تَنَفَّسَتْ), which is "That is to say 'I breathed'". The verb nun-fa-sin is used here in Arabic form V with the ta prefix and shadda (doubled) middle letter, which Lane's Lexicon says means "breathed". Form I can mean menstruated, but that is not the form used in the hadith.<ref>nun-fa-sin - [https://lexicon.quranic-research.net/data/25_n/208_nfs.html Lane's Lexicon]</ref>

Muhammad's 'Farewell Sermon' appears in various hadith collections and al-Tabari's History. A short version is found in ''Sunan Ibn Majah''. The Arabic words here translated 'and hit them, but without causing injury or leaving a mark' are a mistranslation.

In his tafsir, al-Tabari quotes Qatada clarifying that the phrase means ''ghayr sha'in'' (that is, 'without being disgraceful/outrageous/obscene/indecent'),<ref>[https://tafsir.app/tabari/4/34 al-Tabari 4:34]</ref> while he records that Ibn Abbas explained it as 'Hitting with a siwaak and the like'. It appears that over time there were efforts to temper the abusive results of the Quranic verse. For further relevant hadiths and information see [[Wife_Beating_in_Islamic_Law#Additional_attempts_at_moderating_severe_beatings|Wife Beating in Islamic Law]].

{{Quote|{{Bukhari|3|50|891}}|[...] Then `Urwa said, "O Muhammad! Won't you feel any scruple in extirpating your relations? Have you ever heard of anyone amongst the Arabs extirpating his relatives before you? On the other hand, if the reverse should happen, (nobody will aid you, for) by Allah, I do not see (with you) dignified people, but people from various tribes who would run away leaving you alone." Hearing that, '''Abu Bakr abused him''' and said, "Do you say we would run and leave the Prophet (ﷺ) alone?" `Urwa said, "Who is that man?" They said, "He is Abu Bakr." `Urwa said to Abu Bakr, "By Him in Whose Hands my life is, were it not for the favor which you did to me and which I did not compensate, I would retort on you." [...]}}

In the following hadith from Sahih Bukhari Muhammad says he feels his aorta is being cut from the poisoned food he ate at Khaybar. This strongly implies Muhammad died because of poisoning. In the English translation by Muhsin Khan the words 'as if' have been added. As a result, the English translation doesn't imply as strongly as the Arabic text that Muhammad died because of poisoning. Yet, it says Muhammad experienced a lot of pain from the poisoning shortly before his death.

Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) came to me and I told him about the slave-girl (Barirah) Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) said, "Buy and manumit her, for the Wala is for the one who manumits." In the evening the Prophet (ﷺ) got up and glorified Allah as He deserved and then said, "Why do some people impose conditions which are not present in '''Allah's Book (Laws)'''? Whoever imposes such a condition as is not in '''Allah's Laws''', then that condition is invalid even if he imposes one hundred conditions, for Allah's conditions are more binding and reliable."}}

The following hadith contains two narrations. The second of these has not been translated into English. It says that people should not be first to enter the marketplace, nor the last to leave it, because it is where Satan lays his eggs and hatches them.

===If ten Jews followed Muhammad, all Jews would embrace Islam===

{{Quote|{{Muslim|39|6711}}|

If '''ten scholars of the Jews''' would follow me, no Jew would be left upon the surface of the earth who would not embrace Islam.}}

The following hadith from Abu Dawud wasn't translated. Instead, it is said that it is basically the same as the previous one.

However, in the previous hadith Muhammad makes it clear that a slave should be manumitted after being beaten by his owner, while in this hadith it is said that the narrator did not mention manumission. In addition, this hadith explicitly mentions the slave being black, while the previous one does not.

The tradition mentioned above has also been transmitted by al-A’mash in a similar way to same way to the same effect through a different chain of narrators.}}

In the following hadith Ibn Abbas recites a verse of the Quran as "‏‏وَأَنْذِرْ عَشِيرَتَكَ الأَقْرَبِينَ‏‏ '''وَرَهْطَكَ مِنْهُمُ الْمُخْلَصِين'''" (And warn your tribe of near kindred '''and your chosen group from among them''') The first part corresponds to {{Quran|26|214}}. But the second part (in bold) is not part of the Quran nowadays. This part is not included in the English translation on quranx.com or sunnah.com, but it is part of [https://archive.org/details/the-translation-of-the-meanings-of-sahih-al-bukhari-translated-by-dr.-muhammad-muhsin-khan/page/n2869/mode/2up Muhsin Khan's translation].

When the Verse:-- 'And warn your tribe of near kindred.' (26.214) was revealed. Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) went out, and when he had ascended As-Safa mountain, he shouted, "O Sabahah!" The people said, [...]}}

In the following hadith Muhammad says a group of people from his ummah will continue to fight for truth/righteousness and prevail until the day of judgment. In the translation it says they will fight 'in defence of truth' to make it seem like they will fight in self-defence.

{{Quote|{{Muslim|20|4718}}|

I heard the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) say: A group of people from my Umma will continue to fight '''In defence of truth''' and remain triumphant until the Day of judgment.}}

===Muhammad hits Aisha===