The Doctrine of Return and its Influence on Different Styles of Translating the Quran

The doctrine of the return is an important idea regarding the 12th Imam, cited in the verses 82-83 of the Naml chapter of the Quran and also verses 55, 72, 254 and 259 of the Baqarah chapter and also verse 43 of Saad chapter. It concerns the return of the dead to the world, before the Day of Judgment. The Shiites consider the return to be different from when they become present on the Day of Judgment. The return concerns the coming back of dead people of the past at the time of the 12th Imam’s appearance. In the present paper examines 44 Farsi translations of the Quran from this point of view to show how different .translators have rendered verses 82 ad 83 of the Naml chapter (people such as Fouladvand, Qomshei, Saffarzadeh, Garmaroudi, Makarem, etc.). The results show that only two translations, Balaqi and Feyzoleslam, have pointed to the return and in the other 11 translations, adding the adverb “all” has led to the approximation of the return to the Day of Judgment. Some translators such as Elahi Qomshei are hesitant between the two meanings. The other 30 translations (Asan, Ayati, Arfa and the like) have a literal orientation and ignore the issue.