Translating the Holy Quran: A Comparative Analysis of Al-Fatiha Verse from Arabic to English

This study aims to investigate the problems of translating AL-Fatiha verse through the analysis of four translationsof Holy Quran. The translation of holy Quran from Arbery (1955), Pikthal (1930), Shakir (2003), and Yousef Ali(1983) were selected. In order to have a general view of this verse the interpretations of Almyzan Commentarywere presented. Moreover, these translations were analyzed according to Nida theory of translation. This theoryanalyzed the weak and strong points of each translation comparatively. Finally, the selection of the bestequivalences to the AL-fatiha verse‟s words based on Eugene Nida‟s theory is done. It seems that in the Pickthaland Yousef Ali translations more “formal correspondences” are used, since they are faithful to the structure and theword order of the source language, however, they did not transfer the literary form of the surah. On the other hand,the last two translations are the ones that are more “dynamic”. They are based on the structure of the targetlanguage; also have more information for better understanding of the readers.

Keywords:

Al-Fatiha verse , Almyzan commentary , Nida theory , formal correspondences , dynamic correspondences