TEHRAN – Rare copies of the translations of the Holy Quran in seven languages, some dating back hundreds of years, are preserved at the National Library and Archives of Iran (NLAI), the library announced on Tuesday.
Several of the translations have been done in the Western world, and some have been produced in Iran by cultural centers such as Al-Mustafa International University in Qom.
The collection includes a copy of the oldest known French translation of the Holy Quran dating back to 1647. It was translated by André Du Ryer, and is reported to have been the first-ever direct Quranic translation from Arabic to French.
According to the director of NLAI Department of Iranian and Islamic Studies, the copy of the French translation of the Holy Quran was first published in Paris in 1647 and was reprinted several times until 1775.
Due to its accurate translation of Quranic concepts, other scholars have used it as a source to do translations in other European languages.
The library also has another copy of a French translation by Albert Kazimirski, which dates back to 1859.
It also holds a translation by French orientalist Claude-Étienne Savary, which was published in 1883.
A translation by George Sale, which was published in 1734, is one of the oldest English copies of the Quran available in the library. It is known to be one of the earliest direct translations of the Quran from Arabic to English.
The library also possesses a German translation of the holy book by Theodor Nöldeke, which was published in 1860.
The library has also accumulated a collection of Quranic dictionaries and encyclopedias and new translations of the Quran in numerous languages over the past few years.
One of them was produced by Finnish Islamic scholar Jaakko Hämeen-Anttila. His translations of the Quran and Ferdowsi’s Shahnameh came out in 1995.
Photo: This combination of photos shows copies of various translations of the Holy Quran. (file photo)
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