A Critical Approach To Qur’an Translations İn The Context Of The General And Special Uses Of The Word “İnsan” İn The Qur’an

Yıl 2018, Cilt: 2018 Sayı: 35, 477 - 504, 30.04.2018

Süleyman Narol

https://doi.org/10.28949/bilimname.404268

Cited By: 4

Öz

            Allah has addressed
the people to whom he has given responsibility in order to test and see their
obedience and, in return for this, made them the most honorable being on earth,
on various occasions and in different styles throughout the Quran. It is seen that
the word insân, is used in a significant part of these kinds of
addresses. Linguists have put forward different opinions when determining the
etymological origin of the word insân. 
All of the ideas put forward by them remarkably point to the qualities
that characterize human being. In this context, it is said that the word insân
is derived from ins meaning “forgetful entity” or from inâs
meaning “taught entity” or from nvs meaning “to move a lot”. In
addition, there are evaluations indicating that it is derived from the
infinitive üns meaning, “becoming friendly or
adapting” and stating that the definition of human beings as innate social
being is based on this derivation.

        The
word insân is used by the Qur'an in sixty-five verses, all but one of
which are used in definite (marife) form. While four usages of the word in
question, refer to Adam, considered as the very first ancestor of
humankind, fourty-there passages refer to infidel/polytheist man; and also
while fifteen other passages refer to humankind, the remaining there passages
refer to believer man.   It is stated
that some of the verses that mention the phases of man's existence express that
human being is created from mud and is derivates, which seem to point to Adam.
It seems that other verses, which express that man is created from water, sperm
and a drop of water, mean all humanity, namely Adam’s generation. On the
other hand, the exegetes particularly emphasize the above two different
categories of meaning in their evaluations of the relevant verses. However,
none of the meals analysed in this study, with a few exceptions,
reflected this distinction in their translations.  For this reason, we consider that it would be
more correct to point out “first man” or “Adam” while translating the verses in
question within the parentheses or at least to state that real intention is the
first man in the footnote.

        One
of the meanings meant by the word insân in the Qur'an is the human being
as species. The word in question has been used in fifteen verses in the meaning
of human species. The first one of these usages in the Qur'an according
to the Mushaf order is, as far as we can determine, the twenty-eighth
verse of the fourth chapter (al-Nisâ) and this verse refers to males. In
our view, the approach of the meals for the verses other than this verse (al-Nisâ
4:28), in which the word insân is used in the
meaning of whole human species, is appropriate. It is true but not complete to
translate the word mentioned in verse (al-Nisâ 4:28) saying: "man
is weakly created". We think that this shortcoming should be eliminated by
adding a statement like “inclination of males to females” in brackets or by
making a brief explanation in footnote that they are males who are meant by
this sentence.

        Looking
at verses by which a polytheist/infidel man is meant, it is seen that,
generally, negative personality traits such as ungratefulness, arrogance,
stinginess and constant dissatisfaction, are foregrounded. And, also, it is
pointed out that they have serious belief problems about areas such as Tawheed,
Nubuvvah and Meâd. The most remarkable of these is the verse al-Ahzâb 33:71. It
is seen that meals translate the word insân in this verse as
"all people" without any distinction. However, the context of the
verse and linguists’ explanations that one of the meanings of hamele is
“to betray”, indicate that this translation is not appropriate. On the other
hand, the preferred meaning in these meals requires that all believers,
especially the prophets, are described as cruel and ignorant. For these
reasons, we hold that the relevant part of the verse should to be translated
saying "the disbelievers and the hypocrites did not fulfil the trust
(their responsibilities) and betrayed. Indeed, they are very cruel and very
ignorant”. It is seen that nearly none of the meals are successful in
translating of this verse except Mustafa Öztürk’s meal; just as in most
of the verses about this subject.  

        One
of the passages where the word insân is used in a different way is the
verses containing messages to the believers. Three verses, consisting of
al-`Ankabut 29:8, Luqman 31:14 and al-Ahqaf 46:15,  contain messages on how the believer will
behave to their idolatry parents in particular and arrangements for all
believers to treat their parents well, in general. These above-cited verses
draw the boundaries of obedience to the parents by saying that no one can be
obeyed when it is a matter of association for Allah. Considering the context of
the verses and the reasons of the revelations (Asbâb al-Nuzûl) as well as the
evaluations of the commenters, it becomes clear that they are believers who are
meant by these verses and the address is directed towards believers. For if one
is a polytheist, his parents will not be expected to ask him to attribute a
partner to or deny Allah. For the reasons put forward here, we think that the
translation of the relevant verses would be more accurate saying “We have
enjoined on (a believer) man kindness to parents (even if they are idolaters)”,
or at least it would be more accurate to state this explanation in the
footnote. However, when we applied to the meals, we have found that the
word insân in these three verses are given a meaning goes "all
human species”, and that the context of the verses as well as the reasons for
revelation are not taken into consideration.

        In
this study, which is given a broad summary above, while insân words,
mentioned in verses sent down in the twenty-three-year period, are classified,
particularly the historical conditions of the environment to which the verses
were descended, and the context, the language rules  and the reasons of revalation were taken into
consideration. On the other hand, it has been demonstrated with examples how
important it is to determine who is firstly meant by insân words in
order to grasp the messages of a verse and the approach of the meals to
the meaning of words in question was analysed.

Anahtar Kelimeler

Commentary, Human, Context, Qur’an Translation, Meaning

İnsan Kelimesinin Kur'an'daki Genel ve Özel Kullanımları Bağlamında Meallere Eleştirel Bir Yaklaşım

Öz

        Allah
imtihan etmek ve teslimiyetini görmek için sorumluluk yüklediği ve buna mukabil
yeryüzünün en değerli varlığı kıldığı insana Kur’an’da çeşitli vesilelerle
farklı üsluplarda hitap etmiştir. Dilbilimciler insan kelimesinin
etimolojik kökenini tespit ederken farklı görüşler ileri sürmüşlerdir. Kelimenin
aslına dair ortaya koydukları görüşlerin hepsi dikkat çekici bir şekilde insanı
tanımlayan niteliklere işaret etmektedir. Bu çerçevede insan
kelimesinin; “unutan varlık anlamında” ins kökünden, kendisine öğretilen
varlık anlamında înâs mastarından veya “çok hareket etmek” manasındaki nvs
kökünden türediği söylenmektedir. Ayrıca “cana yakın olmak, uyum sağlamak”
anlamındaki üns mastarından türediği “yaratılış itibariyle sosyal
varlık” olarak tanımlamasının da buradan kaynaklandığını ifade eden değerlendirmeler
de bulunmaktadır.

        Bu
çalışmada yirmi üç yıllık nüzul sürecinde farklı bağlamlarda inen ayetlerde yer
alan insan kelimesinin sınıflandırılmasında, ayetlerin indiği ortamın
tarihi bağlamı başta olmak üzere siyak-sibak ilişkisi, dil kuralları ve nüzul
sebepleri dikkate alınmıştır. Diğer yandan insan kelimelerinden ilk
kastedilenin kim olduğunu tespit etmenin ayetin mesajını anlamada ne denli
önemli olduğu örneklerle ortaya konulmuş ve söz konusu kelimenin
anlamlandırılmasına dönük meallerin yaklaşımları analiz edilmiştir.

Anahtar Kelimeler

Tefsir, İnsan, Bağlam, Meal, Anlam

Kaynakça

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