A COMPARATIVE STUDY ON SELECTED ANTHROPOMORPHIC VERSES IN THE TRANSLATION OF THE QUR’AN: MOHAAMMAD ASAD’S THE MESSAGE OF THE QUR’AN AS MODEL

Abstract

This paper is an attempt to investigate on translation of anthropomorphic verses in the Qur'an as rendered by some English translators, with a focus on Muhammad Asad, it is a translated copy of the Qur'an. It also assessed how some English translators handled some anthropomorphic terms such as ‘wajhullah, literarily ‘face of Allah’ which fall within the realm of the ambiguous verses in the Qur'an. The need to undertake this study is necessitated by the fact that the translator (Asad) was not an Arabiy by native. In addition to that, he was a convert who only became well grounded in Islam after he embraced the religion. So, it will be interesting to prose into his interpretation of such highly sensitive term of the Qur'an. To the greater extent, his interpretation will explore whether or not his former faith has some influence on his thought and to what extent the influence of his sources of works have impactful his translation. To achieve this purpose, a combination of analogical and exegetical methods shall be used