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===

*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".

*رُجُومًا (''rujooman'') - it is from the same root as رجم (''rajm''), meaning "[[Stoning in Islamic Law|stoning]]", which is the Islamic punishment for sex outside marriage (Satan, or Iblis, is known as ''al-Rajeem'' or "the stoned one" ''-'' الرجيم in Arabic).

A further twelve translations confirm the above translations.<ref>{{Quote||'''Abdel Haleem:''' We have adorned the lowest heaven with lamps and made them [missiles] for stoning devils for whom We have also prepared the torment of a blazing fire.}}{{Quote||'''Muhammad Ahmed - Samira:''' We have adorned the lowest sky with lamps, and made them missiles against the devils, for whom We have prepared a torment of most intense fire.}}{{Quote||'''Qaribullah:''' We have adorned the lower heaven with lamps, and We made them a stoning for the satans, We have prepared the punishment of the Blaze for them.}}{{Quote||'''Faridul Haque:''' And indeed We have beautified the lower heaven with lamps, and have made them weapons against the devils, and have kept prepared for them the punishment of the blazing fire.}}{{Quote||'''Syed Vickar Ahamed:''' And indeed, We have decorated the lowest heaven with lamps, and We have made them (like) missiles to drive away the Satans, and have prepared for them the penalty of the blazing Fire.}}{{Quote||'''Muhammad Taqi Usmani:''' And We have decorated the nearest sky with lamps, and have made them devices to stone the devils, and We have prepared for them the punishment of Hell.}}{{Quote||'''Muhammad Sarwar:''' We have decked the lowest heavens with torches. With these torches We have stoned the devils and We have prepared for them the torment of hell.}}{{Quote||'''Hamid S. Aziz:''' And certainly We have adorned this lower heaven with lamps and We have made these missiles for Satan, and We have prepared for them the chastisement of burning.}}{{Quote||'''Muhammad Mahmoud Ghali:''' And indeed We have already adorned the lowest heaven with lamps and made them outcast (meteorites) for Ash-Shayatin (The ever-vicious "ones", i.e., the devils) and We have readied for them the torment of the Blaze.}}{{Quote||'''Ali Quli Qara'i:''' We have certainly adorned the lowest heaven with lamps, and made them missiles against the devils, and We have prepared for them punishment of the Blaze.}}{{Quote||'''Abdul Majid Daryabad:''' And assuredly We have bedecked the nearest heaven with lamps, and We have made them missiles for satans: and for them We have gotten ready the torment of the Blaze.}}{{Quote||'''Sher Ali:''' And verily, WE have adorned the lowest heaven with lamps, and WE have made them the means of driving away satans, and WE have prepared for them the punishment of the blazing Fire.}}</ref>  

The following two translations distort the idea of stars being used to stone jinn by describing the missiles as being made out of/from the stars, but not being the stars themselves.

==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.  

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]].

In a hadith found in Sahih Bukhari a Meccan polytheist at Hudaybiyyah tries to discourage Muhammad from fighting. In response Abu Bakr tells him to suck on al-Lat's clitoris (فَقَالَ لَهُ أَبُو بَكْرٍ امْصُصْ بَظْرَ اللاَّتِ). This has been covered up in the English translation by Muhsin Khan. In this translation the incident is translated as 'Abu Bakr abused him'.

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.