The Translation of Near-Synonymous Names of Allah in the Holy Qur’an: A Comparative Study

Abstract

This study aimed to investigate the lexical choices of the near-synonymous names of Allah in the Holy Quran, namely, (الوهّاب ، الرزّاق) , (البارئ ، المصوّر ، الخالق) , (الرءوف ، الودود ، اللطيف) in five English translations which include Muhammad Sarwar's (2011), Pickthall's (1930), Yusuf Ali's (1982), Arberry's (1955), Al-Hilali and Khan's (2018). The meanings of the names of Allah were checked based on the Qur'anic exegeses and the English equivalents selected by the five translators were looked up in Cambridge and Merriam-Webster's Dictionary in order to determine the translation that best provided the closest meanings to the Qur’anic interpretations. The study found that the slight differences in the meanings of the names of Allah were not reflected in the English lexical choices of some translators. The study recommends that translators of religious books should take into account the minor differences between words of similar meaning which are intended for specific purposes.