📚 Save Big on Books! Enjoy 10% off when you spend £100 and 20% off when you spend £200 (or the equivalent in supported currencies)—discount automatically applied when you add books to your cart before checkout! 🛒

Copyright

Elnura Azizova

Published On

2025-05-21

Page Range

pp. 239–278

Language

  • English

Print Length

40 pages

6. Constructing a Qur’an-Based sīra in Post-Soviet Azerbaijan

Denominational Approaches to the Prophet’s Biography in Azerbaijani Qur’an Translations

  • Elnura Azizova (author)
Elnura Azizova introduces the Qur’an translations that have been produced in Azerbaijan in the Azerbaijani language since 1991. The country's religious, cultural, and geographical heterogeneity is reflected in the diverse translation strategies, particularly influenced by the Soviet legacy of the Orientalist tradition, as well as Turkey and Iran. Azizova focuses on the biography of the Prophet (sīra) to demonstrate the differing treatments of a number of verses connected to the Prophet’s biography, depending on whether the translations are addressed to Sunni or Twelver Shia Muslims, or both. She argues that Qur’an translations in post-Soviet Azerbaijan provide readers with examples of Prophetic sīras that offer similar general chronologies but have different focal points when it comes to the image they convey of the Prophet and his Companions, as well as the episodes of his life that they reference. These divergences stem from differences in the individual translators’ religio-cultural backgrounds, the official perception of Islam espoused in state-supporting institutional translations, and the need to meet the expectations of the target audience.

Contributors

Elnura Azizova

(author)
Dean, Faculty of Theology at Azerbaijan Institute of Theology

Associate Professor Elnura Azizova is a faculty member at the Department of Religious Studies of Azerbaijan Institute of Theology (AIT) and Khazar University. Dr. Azizova currently holds the position of the dean of the Faculty of Theology at the AIT. Dr. Azizova graduated with a PhD in Islamic history from the Marmara University, Istanbul, Turkey in 2007. Her PhD dissertation is on the socio-economic history of early Muslims. She is the author and coauthor of several academic books and articles on Islamic history, Qur’an and ḥadīth studies.