EQ Persian Translation Project پروژة ترجمة ايکيو به زبان فارسي

By Mehrdad Abbasi *

مهرداد عباسي

The Encyclopaedia of the Qur’ān (EQ) is a major academic reference for Qur’anic studies in the English language, compiled under the editorship of Jane Dammen McAuliffe and published in five volumes (plus index) (Brill Academic Publishers, 2001-2006). Upon the completion of EQ, my fellows and I initiated its translation into Persian. The first translated volume appeared in Spring 2013 by Hekmat Publication Ins. in Tehran, and the second volume has recently appeared in this Spring 2014. We hope this translation project will be complete by 2016.

دائرةالمعارف قرآن (اي‌کيو) اثری مرجع در حوزة مطالعات قرآنی است که با رويکردي آکادميک و مطابق با معيارهاي بين‌المللي به سرويراستاري جين دمن مک‌اوليف تدوين شد و در نخستين سالهاي قرن بيست‌ويکم (2001-2006) در پنج جلد (به‌علاوة جلد ضميمه) در انتشارات بريل منتشر شد. بلافاصله پس از پايان يافتن کار انتشار نسخة انگليسي اين مجموعه، من و گروهي از دوستان و همکارانم به فکر ترجمة اين دائرةالمعارف به زبان فارسي افتاديم و پس از چند سال کار مداوم، سرانجام جلد نخست ترجمة فارسي اين مجموعه در بهار 1392/2013 در مؤسسة انتشارات حکمت در تهران به چاپ رسيد. جلد دوم اين مجموعه نيز در بهار سال جاري منتشر شد. اميدوارم کار انتشار مجلدات باقيمانده تا سال 1395/2016 پايان يابد

In 2003, Iranian journals initially publicized EQ with some informative essays and translations of short entries. Later, I translated into Persian the full entry, ‘Exegesis of the Qur’ān: Early Modern and Contemporary,’ by Rotraud Wielandt, published in Āyene-ye Pazhūesh 86 (1383/2004). Readers’ attention to this translation, the popularity of EQ among scholars, and their encouragement altogether instigated our present translation of the entirety of EQ.

نام اي‌کيو نخستين بار در نوشته‌هاي فارسي حدود سال 1381/2003 در برخي نشريه‌هاي ايران مطرح شد. پاره‌اي از اين نوشته‌ها صرفاً جنبة اطلاع‌رساني داشتند و برخي ديگر به ترجمة کامل و خلاصه از برخي مقالات کوتاه آن اختصاص يافتند. دو سال بعد، يکي از مقاله‌هاي مهم و بلند اي‌کيو يعني «تفسير در دورة جديد» (به قلم رتراود ويلانت) را نگارندة اين سطور به فارسي برگرداند و در نشرية آينة پژوهش (قم، شمارة 86، 1383) منتشر کرد. اقبال‌ها به آن مقاله، شناخته‌تر شدن اي‌کيو در ميان محققان و تشويق و دلگرمي‌هاي آنها رفته‌رفته ايدة ترجمة کل دايرةالمعارف را به ذهن من و برخي دوستانم متبادر کرد

Initial discussions about the compilation process took place with the scientific manager of Hekmat Publication in 2006, which led to the formation of our four-member ‘Planning and Compilation Team’: Hossein Khandaqabadi (Encyclopaedia Islamica Foundation, Tehran), Masoud Sadeghi (University of Tehran), Amir Maziar (Tehran University of Art), and myself. Our main responsibilities were to (a) codify the Persian list of entries; (b) set the general policies for manuscript preparation and editing guidelines; and (c) identify translators and advisers for the project. Upon receiving solicited translations, the ‘Planning and Compilation’ team, now called the ‘Editorial Board,’ reviews the scientific and technical aspects of each translation. Twenty translators familiar with Islamic studies have translated the entries of the two initial EQ Persian volumes, with about thirty professors and scholars providing editorial suggestions for quality improvements, all with the ongoing support of our friends at Hekmat Publication.

نخستين گام در آغاز پروژة ترجمة اي‌کيو گفتگويي بود که در سال 1385 ميان من و مدير علمي انتشارات حکمت دربارة فرآيند تدوين مجموعه انجام گرفت. پس از مدتي کوتاه جمعي چهارنفره با عنوان «گروه برنامه‌ريزي و تدوين» شامل حسين خندق‌آبادي (بنياد دائرةالمعارف اسلامي)، مسعود صادقي (دانشگاه تهران)، امير مازيار (دانشگاه هنر) و من شکل گرفت. اين گروه در جلسات متعدد به اين وظايف عمده پرداختند: تدوين مدخلنامة فارسي، تنظيم خط‌مشي کلي براي تهية شيوه‌نامة ترجمه و ويرايش مقاله‌ها، و تعيين مترجمان و مشاوران. پس از آن به‌تدريج کار سفارش مقاله‌ها به مترجمان آغاز شد. پس از دريافت ترجمه‌هاي مربوط به جلد نخست، کار مقابله، بازبيني و ويرايش علمي و فني مدخلها را نيز همان اعضاي «گروه برنامه‌ريزي و تدوين» به انجام رساندند که از اين پس «گروه ويراستاران ترجمة فارسي» نام گرفتند. حدود بيست مترجم از دوستان و همکاران فعال در حوزة مطالعات اسلامي کار ترجمة مدخلهاي جلد اول و دوم را بر عهده داشته‌اند؛ قريب به سي تن از استادان و محققان بزرگوار نيز در مراحل گوناگونِ ترجمه و ويرايش متن مقالات طرف مشورت ويراستاران بوده‌اند؛ و جمعي از همکاران انتشارات حکمت نيز در امور پشتيباني علمي و فني گروه ويراستاران را در به‌سامان رساندن اين مجموعه ياري کرده‌اند

Prior to the start of this project, Western scholarship on the Qur’an had not been seriously taken into account in academic and research forums in Iran. Our main interest in translating the EQ into Persian is to present the efforts of non-Muslim scholars in Qur’anic studies and to show a real image of a great Qur’anic project in the West. Although members of the translation project perceived some errors or deficiencies in some original entries, they do not endeavor to critique, revise, or change the authors’ viewpoints; this project intends to render a faithful and authentic translation of entries to Persian readers.

واقعيت آن است که مطالعات قرآني غرب تقريباً در هيچ دوره‌اي آن‌گونه که بايد در محافل علمي و پژوهشي ايران جدي گرفته نشده و در جاي خود قرار نگرفته است. يکي از مهم‌ترين انگيزه‌هاي متوليان پروژة ترجمة اي‌کيو نماياندن تلاشها و پژوهشهاي غربيان و غيرمسلمانان دربارة قرآن و عرضة تصويري درست و حتي‌الامکان مطابق با واقع از اثري معيار متعلق به حوزة مطالعات قرآني در غرب بوده است. ويراستاران مجموعه با وجود آگاهي از برخي نقايص در پاره‌اي از مقالات اي‌کيو، تصميم‌شان بر آن بوده است تا ترجمه‌اي منقح و دقيق و امانت‌دارانه از اين اثر به خوانندة فارسي‌زبان عرضه کنند و هرگز مدعي تکميل و ترميم مقاله‌ها يا در پي نقد و رد نظريات و ديدگاههاي نويسندگان اي‌کيو يا به دنبال پاسخ‌گويي به اشکالات و ايرادات آنها نبوده‌اند

The major objective of our members is to introduce Iranian readers to the advancing global academic discourses on Qur’anic studies. We believe that the questions, methods, data, and viewpoints declared in the EQ entries, along with their references, will encourage interested Iranian scholars to pave the way toward reviving Persian academic discourses on Qur’anic studies with well-written and systematic works.

هدف محوري من و همکارانم در گروه ويراستاري از انجام اين پروژه آن بوده است که گفتمان آکادمیک مطالعات قرآنی را، آن گونه که در طراز بين‌المللي در جريان است، به خوانندة ايراني معرفی کنيم و گامي در مسير تثبيت اين گفتمان و رويکرد تحقيقي و انتقادي به مطالعات قرآني برداريم. به باور ما، مسأله‌ها، روش‌ها، ابزارها، داده‌ها، و ديدگاههاي مطرح‌شده در مدخلهاي اين دائرةالمعارف، منابع معرفي‌شده در هر مقاله و نوع نگرش و رهيافت نويسندگان آنها، همگي، مي‌توانند بصيرتهايي نوين در ذهن دانشجويان و پژوهشگران ايراني ايجاد کنند تا با تحقيقاتي بنيادي و تأليفاتي روشمند زمينه‌ساز رونق و طراوت مطالعات قرآني به زبان فارسي شوند

*Mehrdad Abbasi is Assistant Professor of Qur’anic Studies at Islamic Azad University in Tehran. Correspondence is welcome to abbasimehrdad@yahoo.com.

Planning begins for Encyclopaedia of the Qurʾān: Supplement

By Jane McAuliffe

When the discussions surrounding the Encyclopaedia of the Qurʾān commenced in 1993 the scholarly world was a different place from the one we find ourselves in today. It hardly needs to be stated that public attention to the Islamic world has increased considerably over the past two decades, and publishing houses have responded with a flood of popular and academic tomes. The Qurʾān and Qurʾānic studies have enjoyed (and at times suffered from) a central role in this changing context. The timing of the publication of EQ over the period of 2001 to 2006 was fortuitous and welcomed by readers around the world. In the years since its publication its value has been revealed in many ways, as witnessed by its consistent citation in scholarly and general books. Still, the intervening time from the original planning until today shows that there is much more that could be accomplished. A new generation of scholars devoted to the Qurʾān and its interpretation has emerged. The broader field of Islamic Studies has generated topics of both academic and popular interest for which the Qurʾān and its scholarship is an important source. And new forms of publication, particularly electronic and online, allow completed work, such as a multi-volume encyclopedia, to be reimagined as a more flexible and continually refreshed reference source, one that can keep pace with a field of study as it changes and push its boundaries.

Encyclopedia of the Qur’an (brill.com)

The Encyclopaedia of the Qurʾān, the first such work in western languages, was designed to define the field of Qur’ānic studies and to capture the state of scholarship as it stood at the time of its publication. This it did quite successfully. The structure of the Encyclopaedia, as outlined in the Preface, which combined entries of varying length with longer, synoptic essays, was intended to summarize past academic work and to set an agenda for the future. The very success of the Encyclopaedia in advancing the field has resulted, perhaps inevitably, in the suggestion that a way be found to expand, improve, and update it. The revolution of electronic publication and online access now permits the realization of that suggestion.

Discussions have thus been initiated between Brill and an editorial team under the direction of Jane McAuliffe to issue regular supplements to the Encyclopaedia of the Qurʾān. The goal is not to replace published entries—the original edition will remain intact—but to expand the existing base of articles with freshly commissioned ones on the same, related and new topics. These will serve to complement, supplement, elaborate on, and provide additional perspectives on the current print and online edition. Future supplements will provide entries and longer essays under new headings, reflecting work currently being undertaken and recently published in the scholarly arena. The editors will also commission additional entries dealing with the exegetical tradition, filling in information about authors and works that are referenced throughout the published Encyclopaedia but not treated independently or expansively within its pages.

With this expansion of the online edition, the basic editorial approach of EQ will remain the same. Entries will be found primarily under English keywords. The perspective of the work will continue to be thoroughly academic and rigorous, incorporating a plurality of perspectives and presuppositions, as the Preface to the original Encyclopaedia expressed it. The editorial team continues to uphold the notion that “[s]cholarly perspective can no longer be neatly pinned to religious identification and good scholarship is flourishing in this richly plural environment” and will strive to ensure that it is in this spirit that the Encyclopaedia continues to expand.

Now that this opportunity to create a supplement is available to those of us who work in this field, the editorial team would welcome suggestions of topics that users of the Encyclopaedia feel should be included or expanded upon. While proposing a topic does not guarantee its inclusion, surfacing as many good suggestions as possible will certainly launch this project in a productive direction. Following the contemporary process of “crowdsourcing,” the collective input of the scholarly community and other interested individuals will ensure that the coverage of the Encyclopaedia continues to evolve with the field of Qur’ānic Studies itself and to be as comprehensive as possible.

Please send all suggestions and correspondence to any of the individual email addresses below or to: eqsupplement@gmail.com

Editorial Board

Jane McAuliffe, general editor (jdm@brynmawr.edu and eqsupplement@gmail.com)

William Graham, associate editor (wgraham@fas.harvard.edu)

Daniel Madigan, associate editor (dam76@georgetown.edu)

Andrew Rippin, associate editor (arippin@uvic.ca)

Mona Siddiqui, associate editor (Mona.Siddiqui@ed.ac.uk)

EQ Persian Translation Project پروژة ترجمة ايکيو به زبان فارسي

EQ Persian Translation Project پروژة ترجمة ايکيو به زبان فارسي

Planning begins for Encyclopaedia of the Qurʾān: Supplement

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