Comparative Analysis of the Equivalents of "Al-mavâli" and "Vali" in the French and Persian Translations of Verse 5 of Surah Maryam

The question of the translation of sacred text and the appropriate approaches in this regard has always remained interesting subjects. Given the difficulties of translating sacred texts and the importance of maintaining the sacredness of the divine word, the translatability of the sacred text remains the most important question for theologians and translators of biblical and Quranic texts. In translation studies, the analysis of translations of sacred texts, based essentially on exegesis and tafsïr (explanations), constitute a relevant approach. Thus, in this research, from a comparative and semantic perspective, we will examine the possibility and suitability of French and Persian translations of the Quran concerning the terms “Al-mavali” and “vali” in verse 5 of Surah Maryam. Indeed, we will base our analyzes essentially on the sources dealing with the meaning of Quranic terms and expressions, with regard to the sacredness of the divine word, and compare the equivalents proposed by the translators. While taking into account religious, historical and cultural parameters, we will study the lexical and contextual meanings of the terms in question and shed light on the reasons for the semantic impropriety of the equivalents and the untranslatability, in a general sense, of the said terms. In this study, we analyze seventy Persian translations and forty French translations of the Quran. For the sake of a good understanding of the different meanings of the verse, apart from the existing translations, we take advantage of the tafsïrs and the comments of certain reputed Shiite exegetes of the Quran.