Salah Faham Makna Dalam Terjemahan Buku Muhammad:Riwayat Hidup Berdasarkan Sumber Terawal (Some Fundamental Issues in The Translation of Key Concepts in The Work of “Muhammad: Riwayat Hidup Berdasarkan Sumber Terawal”)

Abstract

Translation is a transferring of meaning from one language to the other language. In the process of translation, the translator (s) requires an in-depth knowledge of the languages being transferred as well as mastery of the subject matter of being translated. The recent work entitled Muhammad: Riwayat Hidup Berdasarkan Sumber Terawal originally belongs to Martin Lings, who was a renowned scholar in the fields of philosophy, religion, and taṣawwūf, has been translated from English into Malay. The translation work is commendable because it serves the need for Malay audience to understand the sirah of the Prophet in the national language. However, this study found some fundamental issues in the translation of the work, for example, the translation of God as “Allah” based on the Genesis, the misleading translation of the name of Islam as 'submission', and the nature of the letters of the Qur’ān. The study anaylyses the text and makes a comparison with the original text in English. In addition, this study referred to the early sources mentioned by the author and critically evaluated the intellectual background of the original author. This finding sheds some light on the problem of translation of the key concepts and terms stemmed from the incoherent worldview in understanding the religion of Islam and the Sirah of the Prophet.