Expert Panel Discusses History of Quran Translation into Chinese

The conference began at Allameh Tabatabaei University here in Tehran on Sunday.

Addressing the panel, Chinese translator of Quran Soleiman Bai-Ji-Su, said Islam arrived in China in the early years after the demise of the Holy prophet (PBUH) but the earliest traces of Quran translation into Chinese go back to 300 years ago.

The first full rendering of the Quran into Chinese was done some 100 years ago, he added.

As for the reasons why it took so long for Islam’s Holy Book to be translated into Chinese, Bai-Ji-Su said it was because Chinese Muslim scholars were very cautious about translation of the word of God.

He noted that for centuries, only translations of a few verses of the Quran were available in China.

In the late 19th century, Mafu Chu rendered 20 Juzes (parts) of the Quran into Chinese and the first translation of the entire Quran into the language was published in Beijing in 1927.

Bai-Ji-Su further highlighted the difficulties and challenges on the way of translating the Quran into Chinese, saying that the language is one of the most difficult in the world and that there are many structural and lexical differences between Chinese and Arabic.

Bai-Ji-Su’s Chinese translation of the Quran was published in Iran in 2012 and unveiled at the Tehran International Holy Quran Exhibition that year.
The first International Conference on Quran Translation is underway n Tehran until December25.
It has been jointly organized by Allameh Tabatabaei University and the Islamic Culture and Relations Organization (ICRO).

Quran translators from 10 countries, including Russia, France, Pakistan, Spain, China, and the Republic of Azerbaijan are present at the international conference.
/SR