FULL AND COMPREHENSIVE TRANSLATION OF THE QURAN – HOLY BOOK OF MUSLIMS
PUBLISHED IN ARMENIAN
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 xpert 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.
