Cover not available
Part of
A World Atlas of Translation
Edited by Yves Gambier and Ubaldo Stecconi
[Benjamins Translation Library 145] 2019
► pp. 169–192

Chapter 8
The notion of translation in the Arab world

A critical developmental perspective

After synthesizing the notion of translation as reflected during the two major historical translation movements (medieval and (post)colonial), this chapter is conceived as a critical reflection on the contemporary intellectual and cultural developments of the Arab world as it unfolds within the dynamics of its historicity. While taking stock of the 9th–11th centuries’ glories when a wealth of the Greek was translated into Arabic and later transmitted to Europe through Latin, this chapter aims to tackle the contemporary effects of the (post)colonial period on today’s shaping of the notion of translation and its future perspectives as a probable key civilizational development factor in the positioning of the Arab culture in a globalized world dominated by English. The objective of this chapter is then to outline a more encompassing understanding of translation in the perspective of the relation to the Other, and the reasons behind the critical character of translation for the development and long-awaited renaissance of the Arab world.
Keywords: Arab world, translation movements, the Arab Self and the Other, knowledge diffusion, Islam, House of Wisdom, Egypt, postcolonialism, self-alienation, indigenization of knowledge
Article outline
  • Preamble
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.A heavy historical heritage
    • 2.1The rise of the Arab Self
    • 2.2The surrender of the Arab Self
  • 3.Desalinating the Arab Self
    • 3.1Translating revolution
    • 3.2Assessing the Arab Human Development
    • 3.3Reclaiming difference
  • 4.Conclusion
  • Note
  • References
Published online: 5 February 2019
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/btl.145.08bas
References (29)
References
Abderrahmane, Taha. 1994. Tagdid al-manhaj fi taqwim al-turath [Renewing the Method of Assessing Tradition]. Casablanca-Beirut, al-Markaz al-thaqafi al-arabi.Google Scholar
. 2002. Al-Haqq al-arabi fi l-ikhtilaf al-falsafi [The Arab Right to Philosophical Difference]. Casablanca and Beirut, al-Markaz al-thaqafi al-arabi.Google Scholar
. 2006. “Hawas al-tarjamah al-ibda’yyah” [The Obsession of Creative Translation]. Interview available at: [URL]
. 2011. Hiwarat min ajl al-mustaqbal [Dialogues for the future]. Beirut: Arab Network for Research and Publishing.Google Scholar
Al-Hamad, Mohammad. 2001. Hiwar al-umam tarikh al-tarjama wa-al-ibda inda al- Arab wa-al-Suryan [The Dialogue of Nations. The History of Translation and Creativity Among the Arabs and the Syrians]. Beirut: Dar al-Mada.Google Scholar
Al-Jahiz. 1996. Kitab al-Hayawan. [The Book of Animals]. Ed. Abdussalam Muhammad Harun. Beirut: Dar al-Jil.Google Scholar
Al-Khalili, Jim. 2010. The House of Wisdom: How Arabic Science Saved Ancient Knowledge and Gave Us the Renaissance. London: Penguin Books.Google Scholar
Al-Shayyal, Jamaleddin. 1951. Tarikh al-tarjamah wa l-harakah al-thaqafiyyah fi ‘asr Muhammad Ali [The History of Translation and the Cultural Movement under Muhammad Ali]. Cairo: Dar al-Fikr al-Arabi.Google Scholar
Arab Human Development Report/AHDR. 2002. Creating Opportunities for Future Generations. UNDP Publications. Available at: [URL]
Arab Human Development Report. 2003. Building a Knowledge Society. UNDP Publications. Available at: [URL]
Arab Knowledge Report/AKR. 2009. Towards Productive Intercommunication for Knowledge. Published by UNDP & MBRF. Available at: [URL]
Arab Knowledge Report. 2014. Youth and Localisation of Knowledge. Published by UNDP & MBRF. Available: [URL]
Baker, Mona (ed.). 2016a. Translating Dissent: Voices From and With the Egyptian Revolution. (Critical Perspectives on Citizen Media). London/New York: Routledge.Google Scholar
. 2016b. “Beyond the Spectacle. Translation and Solidarity in Contemporary Protest Movements.” In Baker, Mona (ed.): 1–18.Google Scholar
Berman, Antoine. 1992. The Experience of the Foreign. Culture and Translation in Romantic Germany. Translated by S. Heyvaert. Albany, NY: State University of New York Press.Google Scholar
Casanova, Pascale. 2004. The World Republic of Letters. Translated by M. B. DeBevoise. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
El-Tamami, Wiam. 2016. “I wish not to betray. Some thoughts on writing and translating revolution.” In Baker, Mona (ed.) 21–32.Google Scholar
Gütas, Dimitri. 1998. Greek Thought, Arabic Culture: The Graeco-Arabic Translation Movement in Baghdad and Early Abbasid Society (5th-10th c.). London/New York: Routledge.. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Hashas, Mohammed. 2015. “Taha Abderrahmane’s Trusteeship Paradigm. Spiritual Modernity and the Islamic Contribution to the Formation of a Renewed Universal Civilization of Ethos.” Oriente Moderno, 95, 67–105. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Healey, John F. 2006. “The Syriac-speaking Christians and the Translation of Greek Science into Arabic.” Available at: [URL] (accessed on October 30, 2015).
Heyworth-Dune, James. 1940. “Printing and Translations under Muhammad ’Ali of Egypt”. Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society, 325–249.Google Scholar
Kennedy, Hugh. 2004. When Baghdad Ruled the Muslim World. The Rise and Fall of Islam’s Greatest Dynasty. Cambridge, MA: Da Capo Press.Google Scholar
Kilito, Abdelfattah. 2008. Thou Shalt Not Speak My Language. Trans. and intro. by Waïl S. Hassan. Syracuse, NY: Syracuse University Press.Google Scholar
Montgomery, Scott L. 2000. Science in Translation. Movements of Knowledge Through Culture and Time. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Ricœur, Paul. 2006. On translation. Translated by E. Brennan. London/New York: Routledge.Google Scholar
Salama-Carr, Myriam. 1990. La traduction à l’époque Abbaside. Paris: Didier Éruditions.Google Scholar
Selim, Samah. 2016. “Text and Context. Translating in a State of Emergency.” In Baker, Mona (ed.) 77–87.Google Scholar
Tageldin, Shaden M. 2011. Disarming Words. Empire and the Seductions of Translation in Egypt. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press.Google Scholar
Venuti, Lawrence. 1995/2008. The Invisibility of the Translator. London/New York: Routledge. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Cited by (1)

Cited by one other publication

Aly, El-Hussein A Y
2023. The Graeco-Arabic Translation Movement, DOI logo

This list is based on CrossRef data as of 27 july 2024. Please note that it may not be complete. Sources presented here have been supplied by the respective publishers. Any errors therein should be reported to them.