Translated material
Interview with Elmir Kuliev, author of a translation of the Koran banned in Russia
We are publishing an interview with the author of the Russian translation of the Koran, Elmir Kuliev. The interview was conducted by Ksenia Sergazina.
Elmir, when did you become aware of prohibition of your translation of the Qur'an?
Unfortunately, I found out about this too late when the information about the solution Oktyabrsky District Court of Novorossiysk appeared in the news. Neither transport the prosecutor's office that initiated the case, nor the judicial authorities, did not inform me of examination of the semantic translation of the Koran, made by me. So far I have not informed neither about the details of the examination, nor about the arguments on which the accusatory conclusion, nor about who exactly and under what organization carried out this study.
Are you familiar with the text of the examination?
Lawyers are working on this issue, but at the moment I have not seen the text expertise. The court decision, published in the media, refers to a certain certificate about the study dated May 6, 2013. Considering that on May 16 of this year in The Supreme Court of the Republic of Bashkortostan was to consider the case on recognition of several verses of the Arabic Koran as extremist, it turns out that the prohibition of my translation of the Qur'an was prepared in advance. Apparently public opinion annulment by the Supreme Court of Bashkiria of an absurd court decision to ban verses The Qur'an forced the forces behind this provocative campaign to postpone prohibition of semantic translation. As a result, the court delivered its verdict only in September.
What exactly was the basis for the experts conclusions?
In the decision District Court has no specifics. There are only unsubstantiated claims that that the translation contains statements about the superiority of Muslims over non-Muslims and gave a negative assessment to persons who do not profess Islam. Need to understand that every religion and every holy book proclaims the superiority of believers over unbelievers, prophesying forgiveness and paradise to some, and to others - retribution and torment in hell. This is well known to any religious scholar. The texts of the sacred books cannot be taken out of context and studied in isolation from specific historical conditions in which they were recorded. This is how they act ideologists of extremist groups distorting religious teachings. But when so an expert is brought in by the judiciary for the examination of a religious literature is absurd. According to the traditional understanding of the Quran, the superiority of believers over unbelievers will be revealed in the Hereafter. And in this world the life and property of people - regardless of their religion - are inviolable until as long as they do not violate laws that allow the state to enforce against them some form of punishment. Pay attention, punish people for offenses is the prerogative of the state. Islam does not recognize lynching and anarchy and obliges Muslims to be law-abiding and respectable citizens. How then can one say that the Qur'an calls for hostile or violent acts towards non-Muslims? Our the Prophet - peace and blessings of Allah be upon him - unequivocally stated that a person encroaching on the life of a non-Muslim living in peace with Muslims, not even feel the fragrance of heaven.
Opponents of your translation believe that its text contains new interpretations of the Koranic teachings. Is it so?
When you translate a holy book and your work becomes widely known, you need to be prepared for criticism. It can be objective, constructive, or vice versa. biased. Criticism of my translation of the Qur'an can be divided into two parts. Some point to places where the translation does not correspond to stylistic the norms of the Russian language. In some cases, we are talking about stylistic inaccuracies, which we have eliminated in the forthcoming new edition. In this regard, I I want to express special gratitude to the philologist Kyabir Kuznetsov and the writer Alexander Viktorovich Letenko, who died in December 2012. They made an invaluable contribution to the analysis and identification of stylistic flaws in the text translation. I also want to note the useful comments of my colleagues Ali Vyacheslav Polosin and Professor Said Khaibulovich Kyalev. It was constructive, I would even said friendly criticism. But there are also outright detractors. Fortunately, there are no authoritative and eminent Arab scholars among them yet. Mainly, these are biased religious figures who are not trusted among believers, but wishing to rise to high ranks. They criticize my translation just because it's easier to get attention. What do they see unconventional approach? The fact that I use the expressions "God's eye", "God's right hand", "God's face". They consider the use of such expressions to be blasphemy. In fact, these expressions in no way contradict either the Hanafi, nor the Shafi'i tradition. Only a person can claim otherwise versed in Islamic theology. For example, in Surah "The Cow" it is used the expression "wajullah", which I translated as "the face of Allah." According to one of my opponents, this is the first step towards extremism! Then look how the same verse translated, say, Academician Krachkovsky or Valery Porokhov. They translated it expression is the same, because there are unshakable principles of scientific translation. Other the fact that different theological schools interpret the Qur'anic text differently. These are problems of theology.
What is the main difference between your translation of the Koran and other translations common in Russia (I. Krachkovsky, G.Sablukova, M.Osmanova, V.Porokhoroy, others)?
The differences between these works are due to the methodology on which the authors relied. Academician Krachkovsky did not complete his work - and today we are dealing with an interlinear, literal translation, which is sometimes difficult to understand. However, it should not write off all the shortcomings of this work on its incompleteness. The scientist approached the text of the Koran solely as a literary monument and tried to to abstract from tafseers, which help to link Qur'anic verses with historical context. This, in my opinion, is the main feature of this labor. The translation of Valeria Porokhova stands out for its expressiveness and high-flown style. It is not like other translations of the Quran. Wonderful the work of Professor Osmanov, in my opinion, is one of the best semantic translations of the Koran into Russian. The methodological approach of the author is largely determined my approach to translation. I confess that I managed to free myself from it. influence only after a couple of years of independent work on the translation of the Koran and its tafsir. Nevertheless, I will say that in a number of places Osmanov's translation is rather tafsir than academic translation. I tried to bring to the Russian-speaking reader the text as it is, avoiding one-sided comments or author's interpolations. I think this is what made my work popular among readers. It cannot be read in one breath. He makes the reader to think. Of course, far from being the same as the Arabic text of the Koran. But you should read a small fragment, as you understand that you are holding an unusual book in your hands.
Does recognition as extremist affect the material of the Russian translation of the Koran on the status of the Koran in the Muslim community?
Such a decision offends the religious feelings of Muslims not only in Russia, but also in all over the world. After all, it is not the work of some author that is being judged. Judge the meanings of the Holy Quran translated into Russian. In my opinion, this is not just absurd. This provocation that could undermine the historically established inter-religious consent in Russia. Look at the comments on the news on this topic, and you can easily notice how the radicals use the court decision to propagate anti-government sentiments. It is difficult for me to judge who distributes such statuses in social networks. networks and who is behind it all. But it is clear that this is not in the interests of Russia and the Russian people. Such provocations pour water on the mill of those who fuels sectarian hatred and disorients our youth. I write a lot about causes of religiously motivated extremism and ways to counter it phenomenon. Some of my articles on this topic are available on my website www.guliyev.org . What happened in Novorossiysk has no nothing to do with countering extremism. This is not a fight against extremism and not even fighting Islam. This is a blow to the society in which we live.
Do you think there are political reasons for the prohibition of the text of the translation of the Koran into Russian?
It is a political myopia. In today's world, religious organizations are playing an ever greater role. role in public life. These are the realities of postmodernism. People no longer believe into the omnipotence of the mind and turn to religion, occult teachings, magic. In many countries, Islam is spreading faster than other religions or philosophical systems. But in no civilized country are they limited in the rights of citizens who profess Islam do not prohibit the Koran, hadiths and medieval treatises on the history of Islam. Muslims have been living in Russia for centuries. live side by side side by side with Orthodox, Jews, Buddhists. They study, work, raise children, value and honor their cultural and religious traditions. And most importantly, they recognize themselves as part of this country, an integral part of the Russian people. On in my opinion, it is in the interests of Russia to use the spiritual potential of Islam and other traditional beliefs to form a national idea capable of uniting all Russians. Sticking out inter-religious and inter-ethnic contradictions, to resolve this task is impossible.
About the author: Elmir Kuliev - Azerbaijani religious scholar and philosopher, Ph.D., director of the department geoculture of the Institute for Strategic Studies of the Caucasus (Azerbaijan), member editorial board of the journal "Caucasus and Globalization" (Sweden). The author of the semantic translation of the Koran into Russian, author of the books “Prophecies about the approach of the end light”, “On the way to the Koran”, “Comments on the collection of hadiths “Bulyug al-maram” (in three volumes), "The Quran and globalization: in search of humanistic ideals", "The Sweetness of Faith", co-author of the book "Lessons of the Blessed Month" (together with R. Abaskuliev), co-author of a manual for teachers "Islamic Studies" and a manual for universities "Quran studies".
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