The Pathology of the Translation of the Definite Article al- in the Holy Quran

The definite article al- in Arabic, being syntactically and semantically equal to ‘the’ in English, is one of the most significant rhetoric issues of the Holy Quran within the subject of semantics. Grasping the meaning of al- properly is of great importance in translation, since carelessness or lack of necessary attention in translation will result in some changes to the original meaning or the true concept of the Word of God. Such a misunderstanding will eventually bring about wrong perception and interpretation of the Divine verses. Based on syntactic and rhetoric books, and comparing the true concept of al- in different verses, investigating different meanings of al- gains abundant significance. In other word, taking lack of translators’ enough attention in many observed cases into consideration, the necessity of reviewing translations and the pathology of such translations seem crucial. Using an analytic approach and taking advantages of the related literature review, the present study identifies some cases wherein the specific meanings of al-have noticeable impact on understanding and interpreting the Koranic verses. As such, eleven cases of the translations of the respected translators of the holy Quran are studied. Then, according to the commentary documents as well as semantic and syntactic evidences, the true type of al- is identified and thus the true translation based on the type of al- is presented. Unfortunately, with regard to our subject, most will