《古兰经》是真主与人类之间最后的言辞,它以最后一位先知ﷺ的语言降示,即他所出身的民族的语言,也是最后的讯息注定要由这个民族传播到世界的尽头。真主创造了色彩各异的人类,并教导人类使用各种不同的语言。真主至智,派遣每一位使者时都使用其本族的语言,以便于传达神圣的讯息。这一点在经文中已明确说明:

The Qur’aan, the final discourse between God and man, was revealed in the language of the final Prophet (r), the language of the people among whom he was raised and by whom the last message was destined to be carried to the ends of the world. Allaah created man in a variety of colors and taught man diverse languages. Allaah, Most Wise, sent each of His messengers speaking the language of his people in order to facilitate the transmission of the divine message. This was clearly stated in the verse:

因此，所有先知都是从他们自己的民众中被选派出来的，尽管他们所传的都是同一个基本信息：

Consequently, all prophets were raised up from among their own people, even though they all carried the same basic message:

因此,尽管最终的启示具有普遍性,这一点在经文中得到了回应,

Thus, in spite of the final message’s universality, echoed in the verse,

和经文，

and the verse,

这段信息是以阿拉伯语降示的。

this message was revealed in the Arabic language.

伊斯兰国家兴起于阿拉伯半岛，很快便席卷全境，并迅速扩展到邻近的非洲、小亚细亚、印度和亚洲的各片土地。阿拉伯语很快不仅成为伊斯兰教最终启示的语言，也成为涵盖多种文化和语言的庞大伊斯兰帝国的官方语言。其中一些人已经会说阿拉伯语，而大多数人并不会。

The Islaamic state arose in the Arabian peninsula, engulfed it, and quickly spread to the neighboring lands of Africa, Asia Minor, India, and Asia. Arabic soon became not only the language of the final revelation of Islaam, but also the official language of a vast Islaamic empire encompassing diverse cultures and languages. Some of the people already spoke Arabic, while most did not.

然而,在很短的时间内,伊斯兰教和阿拉伯语便在民众中迅速传播开来。一些外国语言吸收了阿拉伯-伊斯兰术语,使用这些语言的人开始用阿拉伯文字书写它们。最终,其中许多语言被阿拉伯语掩盖或取代。埃及人的科普特语和北非人的柏柏尔语,就是民族语言被阿拉伯语取代的例子;而豪萨语、波斯语和马来语则是大量吸收阿拉伯词汇并以阿拉伯文字书写的语言。在其他地区,则发展出了混合语言,由当地语言与大量阿拉伯语混合而成,但这些语言同样以阿拉伯文字书写。然而,当阿拔斯哈里发国衰弱时,波斯和突厥的军阀将国家分割为若干相互竞争的苏丹国。波斯语是其中许多国家的政府用语。5

However, within a very short period, Islaam and Arabic spread rapidly among the people. Some foreign languages absorbed Arabic-Islaamic terms and those who spoke them began to write them in the Arabic script. Eventually, many of these languages were overshadowed or replaced by Arabic. The Coptic language of the Egyptians and Berber of the North Africans are some examples of the replacement of national languages by Arabic, while Hausa, Persian and Malay are examples of languages which absorbed large amounts of Arabic words and were written in Arabic script. In other areas, trading languages developed, made up of a mixture of local languages and large amounts of Arabic, but even these languages were written in Arabic script. However, when the ‘Abbaasid caliphate weakened, Persian and Turkish warlords carved the state into a number of competing sultanates. Persian was the language of government of many of these states.5

最终，穆斯林国家的领导权落入蒙古人之手，随后又归于突厥人。于是出现了一种文化民族主义，土耳其语成为国家的官方语言，阿拉伯语则受到冷落，只在宗教仪式和宗教学校中保留使用。6

Eventually leadership of the Muslim state fell into the hands of Mongols and, subsequently the Turks, a form of cultural nationalism arose in which the Turkish language became the official language of the state, and Arabic was deemphasized, except in religious ceremonies and religious schools.6

著名的先知（ﷺ）的圣训，

The famous hadeeth of the Prophet (ﷺ),

“Whoever reads a letter from Allaah’s book earns a blessing,”7 took on new meaning. 这句话原本是对讲阿拉伯语的穆斯林说的，用来鼓励他们尽可能多地诵读《古兰经》。这种鼓励的目的在于让人们更多地接触安拉的启示，而从来不是要人们机械地重复承载经文的文字本身。然而，随着土耳其文化民族主义的兴起，出现了一种观念：只为求福而诵读《古兰经》的字句。许多学生开始背诵整部《古兰经》，却对所背的内容一字不解。鹦鹉学舌式地诵读《古兰经》，竟成了一种被接受、备受推崇的做法。

“Whoever reads a letter from Allaah’s book earns a blessing,”7 took on new meaning. This statement was made to Arabic-speaking Muslims to encourage them to read as much of the Qur’aan as possible. The goal behind this encouragement was increased exposure to Allaah’s message, and it was never intended to be the mere parroting of the vehicle in which it was brought. However, with the rise of Turkish cultural nationalism, there arose the concept of reading the letters and words of the Qur’aan simply for the blessing. Many students began memorizing the whole Qur’aan without understanding a word of what they had memorized. Parroting the Qur’aan became an accepted and highly regarded practice.

随着穆斯林国家的衰落与瓦解以及欧洲殖民主义的兴起，穆斯林民族的语言逐渐向阿拉伯语过渡的进程被彻底中断。殖民者分割了穆斯林的领土，并要求那些尚未完成向阿拉伯语过渡的语言改用拉丁字母书写。这种逆转企图的例子可见于非洲语言（如豪萨语和斯瓦希里语）、中东语言（如土耳其语）以及亚洲语言（如马来语）被强制采用拉丁字母的情形。8 许多教授阿拉伯语的古兰经学校被关闭，或被基督教学校取代，而仅存的少数学校也只教授阿拉伯语的发音。

With the decline and break up of the Muslim state and the rise of European colonialism, the transitional process by which Muslim people’s languages were evolving into Arabic was totally halted. Colonialists divided Muslim territories and required languages that had not completed the transition to Arabic to be written in Latin script. Examples of this attempt at reversal can be seen in the forced adoption of the Latin script by African languages, such as Hausa and Swahili; Middle Eastern languages, such as Turkish; and Asian languages, such as Malay. 8 Many of the Qur’aanic schools in which Arabic was taught were closed down or replaced by Christian schools, and the few schools which remained taught only the pronunciation of Arabic.

因此,绝大多数穆斯林仍然不懂阿拉伯语,尽管他们中的许多人继续诵读和朗读阿拉伯文字。为填补这一空白,一些非阿拉伯语国家的穆斯林学者开始将《古兰经》译成当地语言。已知最早的此类译本是德里的沙阿·阿卜杜勒·卡迪尔所译(卒于公元1826年)。⁹这一翻译运动大约在公元十八世纪后期开始获得发展势头。

Consequently, the vast majority of Muslims remained unable to understand Arabic, even though many of them continued to read and pronounce its script. In an attempt to fill this vacuum, some Muslim scholars in these non-Arabic speaking countries began to translate the Qur’aan into their local tongues. The earliest known translation of this type was by Shah ‘Abdul Qaadir of Delhi (d. 1826 CE).9 This movement to translation began to gather momentum around the latter part of the eighteenth century C.E.

然而，这些并不是最早译成外语的译本。在现代欧洲语言形成之前，拉丁语是神圣罗马帝国的语言，也是欧洲的文化语言。因此，有记载的最早译本是拉丁文译本。它于1143年为克吕尼修道院而作，但直到1543年才由比布利安德尔在巴塞尔出版。[10]这一拉丁文译本随后又被施魏格尔于1616年在巴伐利亚译成德文，被杜里耶于1647年在巴黎译成法文，并于1776年在圣彼得堡译成俄文。[11]第一部英文译本由A. 罗斯完成，它只是杜里耶法文译本的转译，并于杜里耶译本出版数年之后问世。[12]在此期间，教皇英诺森十一世的忏悔神父马拉奇于1698年又译出了另一部拉丁文译本。该译本附有阿拉伯原文，并摘引了多部阿拉伯注释书中的内容，这些摘引经过精心挑选并被歪曲，目的是让欧洲人对伊斯兰形成最恶劣的印象。马拉奇是一位学识渊博的人，他的意图十分明显。他将译作献给神圣罗马皇帝利奥波德一世，并为之撰写了一卷题为《驳古兰经》的导论。[13]

However, these were not the earliest translations made into foreign languages. Before the evolution of modern European languages, Latin, the language of the Holy Roman Empire, was the language of culture in Europe. Hence, the earliest recorded translation was into Latin. It was made for the Monastery of Cluny in 1143, but it was not published until 1543 at Basle by Bibliander.10 This Latin translation was subsequently translated into German by Schweigger in Bavaria in 1616, into French by DuRyer in Paris in 1647, and into Russian at St. Petersburg in 1776.11 The first English translation, by A. Ross, was merely a translation of DuRyer’s French translation, and was published a few years after DuRyer’s. 12 During this period, Maracci, a confessor to Pope Innocent XI, produced another Latin translation in 1698, which included the Arabic text as well as quotations from various Arabic commentaries, carefully selected and garbled, in order to give Europeans the worst possible impression of Islaam. Maracci was a learned man, and his agenda was clear. He dedicated his work to the Holy Roman Emperor, Leopold I, and wrote an introductory volume for it entitled, “Refutation of the Quran.” 13

在最广泛流传的英文译本中，有一部是乔治·塞尔（George Sale）于1734年完成的。塞尔是根据马拉奇（Maracci）的拉丁文译本进行翻译的，并附上了他带有偏见的注释和导言。14 其他例子还有牧师J.M. 罗德韦尔（Rev. J.M. Rodwell）于1876年出版的译本，该译本将各章大致按时间先后排列；以及E.H. 帕尔默教授（Professor E.H. Palmer）于1876年出版的译本。15

Among the most widely circulated English translations was that of George Sale, made in 1734. Sale translated from Maracci’s Latin version and included his biased notes and introduction. 14 Other examples are that of Rev. J.M. Rodwell, published in 1876, in which the chapters were placed in a rough chronological order, and that of Professor E.H. Palmer, published in 1876.15

然而，这些译本大多带有强烈的反伊斯兰偏见，无论是译文本身，还是其序言与脚注中都是如此。因此，印度的一些穆斯林学者开始了一项艰巨的工作，即用英文准确地传达《古兰经》的含义。第一位这样做的是来自帕蒂亚拉的穆罕默德·阿卜杜勒·哈基姆·汗博士，他的译本于1905年问世。遗憾的是，1917年出现了艾哈迈迪学者毛拉维·穆罕默德·阿里的译本，该译本反映了艾哈迈迪耶这一伪伊斯兰教派的观点。由于该教派大力开展传教活动，其译本直到最近才在西方广泛流传。1919年，德里的米尔扎·海拉特也出版了一个译本，哈菲兹·古拉姆·萨尔瓦尔的译本则于1929年出版。然而，这两个译本都未曾广泛流传。16

However, all of these translations contained a strong anti-Islaamic bias, either in their translated texts or in their introductions and footnotes. Consequently some Muslim scholars of India began the formidable task of accurately rendering the Qur’aan’s meaning in English. The first to do so was Dr. Muhammad ‘Abdul Hakeem Khan of Patiala in 1905. Unfortunately, this translation was followed in 1917 by that of the Ahmadee scholar Maulvi Muhammad ‘Alee, which reflects the ideas of the Ahmadeeyah psuedo-Islaamic sect. Due to the strong missionary activity of the sect, their translation has, until recently, enjoyed a very wide circulation in the West. In 1919, Mirza Hairat of Delhi also published a translation, and Hafiz Ghulam Sarwar’s translation was published in 1929. However, neither of these was ever widely read.16

1930年，阿拉伯语学者、英国人穆罕默德·马马杜克·皮克索尔（Muhammad Marmaduke Pickthall）出版了第一部由穆斯林皈依者完成的英文译本。这位学者尝试了他所谓的“几乎逐字的翻译”，几乎没有加入解释性的脚注。17 尽管如此，他的译本已成为穆斯林中传播第二广的英文译本。 或许流传最广的英文译本是阿卜杜拉·优素福·阿里（‘Abdullaah Yusuf ‘Ali）的译本，于1934年首次在拉合尔出版。这是一部相当自由的译本，译者曾接受英国经典文学教育，力图使译文成为一部文学杰作，以捕捉原文之美。他提供了概要和大量脚注，其中有若干处包含了非常不正统、甚至可以说是异端的观点。1980年，沙特阿拉伯成立了一个委员会，以制作一部可靠的古兰经英文译本。他们选择了阿卜杜拉·优素福·阿里的译本作为现有最佳译本，并指出其“风格高度优雅，用词贴近原文含义，并附有学术性的注释和评论”。18 然而，他们也认识到该译本存在严重缺陷，于是对其译文进行了局部修订，并对其注释作了大幅修改，以去除其中最明显的错误。这一修订版于1985年由麦地那的法赫德国王古兰经印刷院出版。

In 1930, the English scholar of Arabic, Muhammad Marmaduke Pickthall, produced the first English translation by a Muslim convert. This scholar attempted what he termed an “almost literal translation” and included very few explanatory footnotes.17 Nevertheless, his translation has become the second most widely received among Muslims. Perhaps the most widely read English translation is that of ‘Abdullaah Yusuf ‘Ali, first published in Lahore in 1934. This is a rather free translation, in which the author, who received an education in the English classics, attempted to make a literary masterpiece capturing the beauty of the original. He provided summaries and profuse footnotes which, in a number of instances, included very unorthodox, if not heretical, opinions. A committee was formed in Saudi Arabia in 1980 to produce a reliable English translation of the Qur’aan. They chose ‘Abdullaah Yusuf ‘Ali’s as the best available, noting its “highly elegant style, a choice of words close to the meaning of the original text, accompanied by scholarly notes and commentaries.” 18 They recognized, however, that it had serious flaws, so they revised his translation here and there and made substantial revisions of his notes to remove his most glaring errors. This revised edition was published by the King Fahd Qur’aanic Printing Press in Madeenah in 1985.

沙特审查委员会否决的译本中，有一部是奥地利籍穆斯林新归信者穆罕默德·阿萨德（Muhammad Asad）的译本。该译本曾由穆斯林世界联盟（Raabitah）考虑出版，但因其明显倾向穆尔太齐赖派（理性主义）的观点而被否决。19 此后，阿萨德自行出版了该译本，于1980年问世，并与著名的东方学出版社E.J. Brill达成协议，由其负责发行。20

Among the translations rejected by the Saudi review committee was that of the Austrian Muslim convert, Muhammad Asad. Its publication had been earlier considered but rejected by the Raabitah (Muslim World League) due to his marked leaning toward Mu‘tazilee (Rationalist) views.19 Asad then went ahead and published it on his own in 1980, and he reached an agreement with the prominent orientalist publisher, E.J. Brill, to distribute it.20

另一位穆斯林皈依者、T.B. Irving 教授对 Pickthall 和 Yusuf ‘Ali 译本的古旧语言不满意，于 1992 年出版了一部“以当代英语写成的美国版本”。该译本有一篇有益的导言，论述将《古兰经》译成当代英语所面临的问题。每章的简短引言集中放在书首，但书中没有注释。

Another Muslim convert, Professor T.B. Irving, dissatisfied with the archaic language of both Pickthall and Yusuf ‘Ali, produced “an American version in contemporary English,” published in 1992.21 It has a useful introduction about the problems of translating the Qur’aan into contemporary English. Very brief introductory notes for each chapter are gathered at the beginning of the book, but there is no commentary.

Professor Muhammad Taqi-ud Din Al-Hilali 和 Dr. Muhammad Muhsin Khan 两位来自麦地那伊斯兰大学，于1985年出版了他们的《古兰经译解》。该书试图通过在译文中插入括号内的补充内容，概括泰伯里、古尔图卑和伊本·凯西尔的注释。许多阿拉伯术语，例如 faasiqoon、abraar、haneef，均采用音译，并在其后的括号中插入其含义的解释。大多数脚注由与其所注经文相关的《古兰经》圣训组成，出自《布哈里圣训实录》。这部作品有许多有益之处，但其中重复的插入内容打断了句子的流畅，使语言显得笨拙。此外，由于注释被插入句子之中，不懂阿拉伯文的读者可能会误以为所添加的注释是原文的组成部分。例如，《妇女章》第157节驳斥了耶稣被钉十字架的说法。

Professor Muhammad Taqi-ud Din Al-Hilali and Dr. Muhammad Muhsin Khan, both of the Islaamic University of Madeenah, published their Interpretation of the Meanings of the Noble Qur'an in 1985. It is an attempt to summarize the commentaries of at-Tabaree, al-Qurtubee and Ibn Katheer by inserting additional material in parentheses into the translated text. Many Arabic terms, such as faasiqoon, abraar, haneef, are transliterated, with explanations of their meanings inserted after them in parentheses. Most of the footnotes consist of hadeeths from Saheeh al-Bukhaaree relevant to the verses they annotate. There is much that is useful in this work, but it is marred by repetitive insertions that disrupt sentence flow, making it linguistically clumsy. Also, because commentary is inserted into the flow of the sentences, readers unable to read Arabic may understand the added commentary to be an integral part of the original text. For instance, verse 157 of Soorah an-Nisaa’ refutes the claim that Jesus was crucified:

然而，按《古兰经》英译本的译文，此节为：“[但他们并没有杀他，也没有钉他十字架，只是把耶稣的相貌加到了另一个人身上（他们杀的是那个人）……”22

However, as rendered in The Noble Qur’an, it reads: “[But they killed him not, nor crucified him, but the resemblance of Jesus was put over another man (and they killed that man)...”22

东方学家在本世纪也十分活跃，并产生了其他英文译本；例如，R. Bell，爱丁堡，1937-39年；以及A.J.

The orientalists have also been active during this century and have produced other English translations; for example, R. Bell, Edinburgh, 1937-39; and A.J.

阿伯里，伦敦，1964年。不过，如今既然已有足够多的穆斯林著作可供参考，这些译本已遭到穆斯林的摒弃。

Arberry, London, 1964. However, these translations have been shunned by Muslims now that sufficient Muslim works are available.