Challenges of Translating the Arabic Qur’an into English A Comparative Study of Eight Leading Translations

Any translation of the Arabic Qur’an in English or any European language is likely to be imperfect. This is primarily due to the differences in the language, semantics, idiom, style and culture. Almost fifty such translations have appeared in the last fifty years, both by Muslim and other scholars, but none can claim any perfection in imaging the Arabic Qur’an. Nevertheless, there are some that are faithful to word-by-word (literal) or sense-for-sense (free) translation, but most lack the flavor of the Qur’anic essence and image either due to the translating approach, or inadequate understanding of the meaning of Sacred Arabic Text, or constraints of eloquence of the English language. This paper examines eight of the leading translations and draws conclusions relating to the use of translation techniques and literary devices and concepts that add beauty to the eloquence of Arabic Qur’an and makes it a living and literary masterpiece. It is found that the meaning of the lexical expressions have been maintained to a high degree in the process of translation and the use of literary devices has been adequately captured by the selected translations.

Difference in the Level of Utilization and Determinants of Preconception Care Among Pregnant Women in Aga Khan University Hospital and Maragua Level Four Hospital.

Background: Preconception care (PCC) is an important form of primary health care that aims to identify risks, offer patient education and evidence based interventions prior to conception in order to improve maternal and fetal short and long term health outcomes. Despite the benefits of PCC, the global levels of utilization are still low, more so in developing countries and in the rural settings. This study aimed to determine the difference in the level and determinants of PCC in both urban and rural settings in Kenya. Objectives: The primary objective of this study was to compare PCC among pregnant women in Aga Khan University Hospital, Nairobi (AKUH, N) (urban) and Maragua Level Four Hospital (MLFH) (rural). The secondary objective was to determine the factors affecting PCC among pregnant women in the two hospitals. Design and Methodology: Unselected pregnant women seeking antenatal care (ANC) were recruited consecutively at the Mother and Child Health (MCH) clinics in AKUH, N and MLFH. The study design was a mixed method study that employed a cross-sectional approach to determine the level of PCC, using a 5-10 minutes self-administered questionnaire, and a qualitative approach to assess factors affecting PCC using a semi-structured interview guide. Quantitative data was analyzed using SPSS version 22. Qualitative interviews were transcribed verbatim, a thematic framework was thereafter manually constructed through coding, creating categories, sub-themes and themes. Indexing, charting, mapping and data interpretation were thereafter carried out. Results: A total of 194 pregnant women were recruited, 97 in each setting (rural and urban). Of these, 21 women were selected through purposive sampling to participate in in-depth interviews for the qualitative aspect of the study. Saturation of themes occurred after 13 interviews (7 at AKUH and 6 at MLFH) after which 4 more interviews were conducted at each site to confirm saturation. Of the total participants, 25.8% received PCC. There was a significant difference (p < 0.01) in PCC between the rural and urban participants with an OR of 0.3 (0.19-0.72, 95 % CI). Univariate analysis of possible related factors showed that age, marital status, education, parity and occupation had potential effect on PCC. Transcription, coding and thematic analysis of the in-depth interviews yielded 97 categories which were merged into 39 sub-themes and subsequently into 12 main themes. Eleven of the main themes were identified as factors affecting PCC while one theme contained suggested strategies of increasing PCC awareness and utilization. The dominant themes