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 Post subject: Verses 2:80-82
PostPosted: 07 Jun 2009, 08:30 
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Suggested translation1,2:


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1This translation may have been updated from the original suggested translation as a result of the discussions that follow.
2Click on the {verse number} of a translation to see other good translations of the verse.

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 Post subject: Re: Verses 2:80-82
PostPosted: 14 Aug 2009, 16:22 
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Quote:
{2:80} And they say, "Never will the Fire touch us, except for a few days." Say, "Have you taken a covenant with God? For God will never break His covenant. Or do you say about God that which you do not know?"

"Covenant" is a good translation of ميثاق, so let's reserve it for it. I suggest "agreement" for translating عهد. "Promise" would have been a good translation too, but it is a better translation for وعد. So, I suggest this translation,

{2:80} And they say, "Never will the Fire touch us, except for a few days." Say, "Did you hold [such] agreement with God? For God will never break His commitment. Or do you say about God that which you do not know?"

Quote:
{2:82} But they who believe and do righteous deeds - those are the companions of Paradise; they will abide therein eternally.

I like to reserve the translation "Paradise" for الفردوس and use "the Garden" for الجنة, so I suggest,

{2:82} But they who believe and do righteous deeds - those are the companions of the Garden; in it they are staying [permanently].

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 Post subject: Re: Verses 2:80-82
PostPosted: 15 Aug 2009, 04:47 
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Linguistic wrote:
Quote:
{2:80} And they say, "Never will the Fire touch us, except for a few days." Say, "Have you taken a covenant with God? For God will never break His covenant. Or do you say about God that which you do not know?"

"Covenant" is a good translation of ميثاق, so let's reserve it for it. I suggest "agreement" for translating عهد. "Promise" would have been a good translation too, but it is a better translation for وعد.

Agreement seems a bit less formal than عهد. Perhaps pact?

Quote:
I like to reserve the translation "Paradise" for الفردوس and use "the Garden" for الجنة,

In spite of Paradise being a cognate of الفردوس, I think its English use translates الجنة perfectly. I know this leaves a dilemma for how to translate الفردوس, but I feel that this is a minor issue in comparison with using a suboptimal translation for a central word like الجنة.

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 Post subject: Re: Verses 2:80-82
PostPosted: 16 Aug 2009, 17:41 
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Pragmatic wrote:
Agreement seems a bit less formal than عهد. Perhaps pact?

Love "pact!" Exactly the word I was trying to find.

Quote:
In spite of Paradise being a cognate of الفردوس, I think its English use translates الجنة perfectly. I know this leaves a dilemma for how to translate الفردوس, but I feel that this is a minor issue in comparison with using a suboptimal translation for a central word like الجنة.

The word الفردوس occurs twice in the Quran,


and


So, I think that this by itself makes the case for reserving a special word to translate it and "Paradise" is the only word that can. English has used "heaven" to translate الجنة but it's not a particularly good translation of the Arabic word, though it's technically correct, because الجنة refers specifically to a garden. The Arabic word means a garden that is so lush with vegetation that one cannot see what's in it behind all that green.

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 Post subject: Suggested translation
PostPosted: 03 Feb 2014, 19:57 
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So, I suggest:

{2:80} And they say, "Never will the Fire touch us, except for a few days." Say, "Did you hold [such] a pact with God? For God will never back out of His pact. Or do you say about God what you do not know?"

{2:81} Nay! Whoever earns a misdeed and has surrounded him his sin - then those are the inmates of the Fire; they therein are lasting.

{2:82} But they who have believed and done the righteous [deeds] - those are the fellows of the Garden; they therein are lasting.

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