Investigating Characteristics of Interlinear Translation of the Qur’an: Four Translations from the 4th to the mid-6th Century AH

Interlinear translation has been a popular method of translating religious texts, including the Bible and the Qur’an. Since religious books are considered to be sacred, translators mostly translate them word by word and they provide readers with the exact original word under the translated text. However, early translations of the Qur’an were not completely word by word and contained numerous language initiatives. The aim of this study is to examine these initiatives. This descriptive-analytic study compares four ancient interlinear translations of the Qur’an dating back to the 4th and the mid-6th Century AH. The translations include the famous commentary on the Qur’an by Al-Tabar, Tafsīr Abū al-Futūḥ in verses, Qods translation of the Qur’an and Rey translation. The translations are analyzed in terms of lexical items and syntax. The findings suggest that the translators were loyal to the syntax and lexical items of the Qur’an albeit in varying degrees. In other words, although all the translations turned out to be word by word, they contained some specific features which made them valuable texts. For example, Tafsir al-Tabari and Qods translation contained many Persian equivalents or Qods translation included a Sistani dialect. In addition, the Rey translation and Tafsīr Abū al-Futūḥ were under the influence of the original language, especially when it comes to lexical items. Indeed, these two translations followed the syntactic conventions and standards of Persian.