Translating Sarcasm as Killing the Prophets and Making Fun of Them in Some Quranic Verses Into English

Abstract

The current study concentrates on translating the rhetorical meanings of sarcasm in the Holy Quran and the translated texts in an effort to find a sort of compatibility between the two languages. It focuses on the method of sarcasm in some verses of Holy Quran in an endeavour to understand its intended meaning and clarify the variations involved in its translation into the English language. The study aims to produce some conceptions of sarcasm and take them into consideration in observing the original texts for the purpose of showing whether the translators are able to accurately translate the implicit meanings of sarcasm, based on Newmark’s Model (1988), “semantic and communicative translation”. Qualitative analysis is suitable for the purpose of the study, as it is suited for exploring people’s attitudes, opinions, beliefs, perceptions, interactions and behaviors in numerous settings and where the approach is interpretative and the data are presented subjectively rather than statistically.

The study hypothesizes that translating sarcasm leads to some prospect problems for translators; one of the deductions obtained from this study is the variety of translations depending on the translator’s understanding of the meaning of the original text. The major findings that the translators have produced distinct translations depending on their understanding of the verse's meanings. In addition, in most cases, the renderings of the three translators look unsuitable because they did not display the sarcastic function as it is in the source text (ST). Consequently, the three translators broadly, failed to express the intentional ironic meaning as it is in the source text (The Holy Quran), and also could not manage to transfer the sarcastic message implied.