FULL AND COMPREHENSIVE TRANSLATION OF THE QURAN - HOLY BOOK
OF MUSLIMS PUBLISHED IN ARMENIAN
02-02-2007 22:00:00 | Armenia | Culture
YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 2, NOYAN TAPAN. Within the framework of
festive events on the occasion of the 28th anniversary of the
Islamic Republic of Iran, the presentation of the full and
comprehensive translation of the Holy Book of Muslims - the
Quran took place at the Union of Writers of Armenia on February
2. Until now no translation of this kind has been made in
Armenia. The Matenadaran has two non-comprehensive (and not free
of mistakes) versions of the Quran's translation, which were
made 110 years ago from Arabic and French. Taking this
circumstance into consideration, translator Eduard Hakhverdian
started the Koran's translation at the suggestion of the Iranian
embassy.
Cultural advisor of the Iranian embassy Reza Atufi said
that the translation of the Quran from Persian has a strategical
importance for deepening the friendly relations between Iran and
Armenia. He is convinced that Muslims and Christians should have
a good knowledge of religious stories and dogmatic meanings of
each other, since this knowledge will help prevent intolerance
and disagreement among nations.
In the words of Eduard Hakhverdian, the translation of the
Quran lasted 3 years, and today he can state with confidence
that "we have a precisely translated Quran". "I was quite
pedantic in translating the Holy Book. Each translated sura
(chapter) was sent to Tehran's Iranology Center to pass an
expert examination there," he underlined.
Eduard Hakhverdian did not conceal that he had some worries
when undertaking the translation as this is not an ordinary book
but the Holy Book of the whole Islamic world, so each inaccuracy
may result in misunderstanding. The Armenian translation of the
Quran was published in 700 copies. It has 1,224 pages, including
the original in Arabic.