Synonymy in Quranic Words and the Problem of Translation

Some experts believe that Arabic language includes synonymous words while others reject it on the bases that all such words have different meanings. This subject when presented about Quranic words may draw more attention and discussion because even some of the supporters of the idea of existence of synonymy in Arabic, reject its occurrence in the Quran since this is against the concept of inimitability of the Quran. Accepting such theory may cause the translation of the Quran to be more problematic because sometimes there is only one equivalent word in the translated language for a number of Quranic words. Thus, the belief in negation of synonymy in the Quran has made many limitations for the Quran translators. This paper aims to, after reviewing the proofs presented by the opponents and proponents of the idea of synonymy in the Quran, establish a base for translating such words and consider some of the practical problems while translating some of them. As it will be shown, translation of the Quran without considering the issues such as homonymy and polysemy, the prominent differences in meaning of some words, and the words selection, which are of great importance, will cause the translation to be less reliable.