The Kingdom and the Qur’an: Translating the Holy Book of Islam in Saudi Arabia - cover image

Book Series

Copyright

Mykhaylo Yakubovych

Published On

2024-02-08

ISBN

Paperback978-1-80511-176-4
Hardback978-1-80511-177-1
PDF978-1-80511-178-8
HTML978-1-80511-181-8
EPUB978-1-80511-179-5

Language

  • English

Print Length

226 pages (xiv+212)

Dimensions

Paperback156 x 13 x 234 mm(6.14" x 0.51" x 9.21")
Hardback156 x 15 x 234 mm(6.14" x 0.59" x 9.21")

Weight

Paperback328g (11.57oz)
Hardback497g (17.53oz)

OCLC Number

1422039684

LCCN

2023446252

THEMA

  • NHB
  • QRP
  • QRVC

BIC

  • HRAX
  • JFSR2
  • 1FBXS

BISAC

  • LAN023000
  • HIS037060
  • REL037060
  • HIS037070
  • REL006000

LCC

  • BP131.13

Keywords

  • Qur'an translation
  • Saudi Arabia
  • Islamic theology
  • Modern print culture
  • Middle Eastern political history
  • Translation studies

The Kingdom and the Qur’an

Translating the Holy Book of Islam in Saudi Arabia

This book presents a detailed analysis of the translation of the Qur’an in Saudi Arabia, the most important global actor in the promotion, production and dissemination of Qur’an translations.

From the first attempts at translation in the mid-twentieth century to more recent state-driven efforts concerned with international impact, The Kingdom and the Qur’an adeptly elucidates the link between contemporary Islamic theology and the advent of modern print culture. It investigates this critical juncture in both Middle Eastern political history and the intellectual evolution of the Muslim world, interweaving literary, socio-historical, and socio-anthropological threads to depict the intricate backdrop of the Saudi ‘Qur'an translation movement’.

Mykhaylo Yakubovych provides a comprehensive historical overview of the debates surrounding the translatability of the Qur'an, as well as exploring the impact of the burgeoning translation and dissemination of the holy book upon Wahhabi and Salafi interpretations of Islam. Backed by meticulous research and drawing on a wealth of sources, this work illuminates an essential facet of global Islamic culture and scholarly discourse.

Reviews

Yakubovych, a Ukrainian Islamic studies scholar, has written a fascinating and masterful survey of the extraordinary achievements of Saudi Arabia’s Qur’an publishers. Most notably, the King Fahd Glorious Qur’an Printing Complex, established by royal decree in 1982, has printed hundreds of millions of Qur’ans and commentaries in book and audio format, a majority in Arabic but also translations in multiple language.

Mark Durie

Middle East Forum, vol. 31, no. 4, 2024.

Full Review

Contributors

Mykhaylo Yakubovych

(author)
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8305-1166

Mykhaylo Yakubovych (born 1986 in Ostroh, Ukraine) obtained his PhD in 2011 from The National University of Ostroh Academy with a study on interreligous relations in medieval Sunni traditionalism. Currently a member of the research team on the ERC-funded project ‘GloQur—The Global Qur’an’ (University of Freiburg, Germany), he studies Qur’an translations produced by international institutions and publishers, with a focus on Central Asian and Eastern European languages. He is the author of an annotated translation of the Qur’an into Ukrainian (first published in 2013), along with several books and translations from Arabic, and many research articles published in academic journals from the UK, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, and Australia. Yakubovych has conducted several academic projects on the Islamic manuscript heritage, including the post-classical intellectual history of the Crimean Khanate (at the Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton University, USA) and sixteenth-seventeenth century Qur’an interpretations produced by Lithuanian Tatars (at Nicolaus Copernicus University, Poland).