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Full translation of Koran into Ukrainian completed

May 27, 2009

Religious studies doctoral student Mykhailo Yakubovych has produced the first complete translation of all 114 sura or chapters of the Koran into Ukrainian. Mr. Yakubovych works in the first translation laboratory for scriptural texts at the Ostroh Academy. He was taught the secrets of scripture translation by extraordinary scholar and theologian, translator of the Ostroh Bible into contemporary Ukrainian Rafael Turkoniak. Individual chapters of the translation have been published in the journal, Kyivska Rus.

“My purpose was to study the philosophical thinking of the Islamic world,” said Mykhailo Yakubovych in a radio interview. “But I was concerned by the situation in Ukraine with translations of oriental languages, especially from Arabic and Persian. There is some progress among scholarly researchers, but the school that existed even after the Crimean Agafangel went into decline, primarily because of soviet government purges. Everything was centered in Moscow and Petersburg. We have an Institute of Oriental Studies, but there is no serious state support for it. Yet, that language is rich into which many translations are made.”

According to Mr. Yakubovych, it is high time for the Ukrainian language to be a target for translations from oriental languages. And this Koran is just such a project.

At the moment, Mykhailo Yakubovych is preparing a monograph with an entire set of translations. Some of these are actually the first translations into a European language and are not available in either Russian or English.

Several prior attempts to translate the Koran into Ukrainian have been taken to their logical conclusions, and literary scholars have translated parts of the Koran as a poetic work. Yet the 100 Russian and a dozen English translations vary significantly from one another. What, in reality, is the Koran? This is the question the Ostroh Academy student set himself. And so he decided to translate the book on his own. Mr. Yakubovych consulted with Near East scholars and literary specialists. “I talked Arabs who specialize in the texts of the Koran, such as Sheikh Ahmad Asherkali, who lives in Saudi Arabia. I studied various versions and suggestions in a number of reference guides. But on the whole, I worked pretty much independently,” Mr. Yakubovych explains.

The high quality of the translation of the Ostroh graduate student has been acknowledged by the Journal of Qur’anic Research and Studies, a critical journal that is published in Saudi Arabia. In this journal, Mykhailo Yakubovych published an article explaining unique possibilities for presenting the substance of the Koran in Ukrainian, given the multi-ethnic and multi-confessional nature of the country.

“Given that the East is playing a major role in politics today, the level of interest in Eastern countries could affect the country’s international rating,” he wrote. “At this time, Muslims are actively working with orientalists, while in Ukraine, the organizers of Islamic studies are Muslim organizations themselves. They hold seminars, competitions, and debates on issues of tolerance in interfaith relations. My translation of the Koran is a clear link in this strategic chain.”

Tags: Koran