In Praise of Translation

1. “We Need a Translation House!”

Seyyed Jalal al-Din Ashtiyani (1925–2005), the renowned teacher and researcher of Islamic philosophy and Sufism and a student of Ayatollah Khomeini and Allameh Tabatabai, complained bitterly in 1961 about the lack of Persian translations of Western philosophers’ works. He combined his complaint with a blunt and bitter prediction:

“Although philosophy has been taught in our universities for fifty years, not a single worthy and competent individual has yet emerged from this environment; we do not have a full-fledged history of philosophy. Nor is a single valuable work of the philosophy commonly taught in Western schools, accompanied by thorough critique, available in Persian. Our university needs a complete translation house in various fields to acquaint our students, through translation, [with] the valuable thoughts, ideas, and works of the West. Iran, which was the nurturing ground for the greatest philosophers and a fertile center for the emergence of dozens of great philosophers, will become completely empty of scholarly philosophical thought, and in the future our people will have to seek refuge in the West in order to learn this very Islamic philosophy and mysticism” (Introduction by Jalal al-Din Ashtiyani to: Three Philosophical Treatises by Mulla Sadra, Qom: Bustan-e Ketab, 1999, p. 22).

Nearly sixty years have now passed since this complaint and Ashtiyani’s prediction. It may not be much of an exaggeration to say that his prediction, regarding the need of Iranians and Easterners in general for Western works, even in Islamic philosophy and mysticism (let alone other fields), has more or less come true.

As a telling example among many, today, for understanding the views and life of Muhyiddin Ibn Arabi (1165–1240 CE), one of the greatest theoretical mystics of the Islamic world, perhaps no one can dispense with reading the works of the American scholar of mysticism William Chittick (b. 1943)—and, as fate would have it, Chittick himself was a student of Ashtiyani. To date, nearly twenty volumes of Chittick’s books and dozens of his articles on Islamic Sufism have been translated into Persian.

It perhaps goes without saying that translation is not merely the turning of a text from one language into another but can be a profoundly epoch-making endeavor. It can be said that history shows translation has played such an epoch-making role in Iran at certain junctures. Majd al-Din Keyvani (b. 1937), linguist and translator, in an account he provides of the book “The History of Translation in Iran” (Qoqnus: 2014) by Abdolhossein Azarang (b. 1946), writer, translator, and researcher, summarizes the findings of Azarang’s research as follows: “One of the interesting and useful aspects of Azarang’s work is that, citing numerous documents, he has shown to what extent and degree we, throughout history, especially in the last two centuries, have been indebted to other nations through translation in the fields of science, technology, even literature, and many other domains.” (Journal “Gozaresh-e Miras”, March 2015, p. 89).

2. The Translation Movement

Let us go further back into history and briefly refer to the broader context of the “Translation Movement” in the Islamic world. With this background in view, the historical roots of translation’s epoch-making nature can be better understood.

By conquering the region today known as the Middle East, Alexander the Great (356–323 BCE) brought Greek and Hellenistic culture into the midst of Iranian and Aramaic cultures. Between the first and fourth centuries CE, Aramaic culture gradually took on a Christian coloring. Although this Christianized culture initially resisted the “pagan” Greek culture, it later achieved a synthesis with Greek culture.

This Aramaic-Greek synthesis coincided with the Muslim conquest of Syria and Palestine. Syriac-speaking scholars (Syriac being a dialect of the Aramaic language) translated works of medicine and Aristotelian logic from Greek into Syriac in the seventh century CE. On the other hand, within the Sasanian Empire, the translation of Greek works reached its peak during the reign of Khosrow Anushirvan (sixth century CE).

The translation of cultural works (from Greek or otherwise), which the late Sasanian Empire initiated and patronized, continued even after the empire's collapse, through the Umayyad era and, more significantly, into the Abbasid era. The Islamic conquests acquainted Muslim Arabs with rich non-Arab cultures, making translation essential in daily life as well as in governing circles. The later Umayyad caliphs ordered translations from Greek for administrative purposes. However, during the Umayyad period, there was no systematic, large-scale program for translating from Greek; translations were sporadic and incidental.

With the rise of the Abbasids and the transfer of the caliphal capital to Baghdad, and especially from the reign of the Abbasid Caliph al-Mansur onward, translation from Greek into Arabic (whether directly from Greek or via Pahlavi and Syriac translations of Greek) took the form of a movement. This movement continued uninterrupted for two centuries, from the mid-second century AH to the late fourth century AH. Dimitri Gutas (born 1945), a distinguished scholar of the history of the translation movement and a professor at Yale University, states that during these two centuries, the participants in the translation movement, who were generally Christians, translated into Arabic almost all available works of Greek and Hellenistic culture in science and philosophy (Part Two of the entry "Translation" in the Encyclopaedia of Islam, Second Edition, Brill, titled: Translation from Greek and Syriac, written by Dimitri Gutas. For a detailed discussion, see Gutas's book: "Greek Thought, Arabic Culture", translated by Abdolreza Salar Behzadi, Farzan-e Rooz Publications). The translation movement had a vast, profound, and lasting impact on Muslim cultures, specifically influencing the Islamic sciences, from philosophy to theology, jurisprudence, and legal theory.

Richard Walzer (1900–1975), a specialist in ancient Greek philosophy, writes about the influence of the translation movement on the formation of Islamic philosophy: "The Christian translators influenced the general course of thought in the first two centuries of the Abbasid Empire. In this way, they prepared the ground for the formation of Islamic philosophy. [...] In the history of philosophy, translators are not very conspicuous figures, but without the painstaking efforts of the translators of the translation movement, Islamic philosophy would not have come into existence at all" (Richard Walzer, "Greek into Arabic, Essays on Islamic Philosophy", Harvard University Press, 1962, pp. 7-8).

3. History of Translation in Modern Iran

The modern era of translation in Iran begins with Fath-Ali Shah Qajar (1151–1213 Solar Hijri). During this period, relations with France and the wars with Russia created a need for military knowledge, and consequently, scientific and technological works were translated from German, English, French, and Russian into Persian. During the reign of Naser al-Din Shah (1210–1275 Solar Hijri), the translation of geographical and historical works flourished. By the Shah's order, the "Royal Translation House" (Dar al-Tarjomeh-ye Homayouni) was established. Iraj Afshar (1304–1389 Solar Hijri), the renowned Iranian Iranologist and bibliographer, estimates that the number of books translated into Persian during the Naseri period was around two hundred titles. (Part Five of the entry "Translation" in the Encyclopaedia of Islam, Second Edition, Brill, titled: Translation in Modern Persian, written by Iraj Afshar).

In addition to the translations of the Royal Translation House, the teachers of "Dar al-Fonun" also, according to educational needs, undertook the translation of textbooks from European languages into Persian. From the era of Mozaffar al-Din Shah (1232–1285 Solar Hijri) onwards, professors of the "School of Political Science," such as Mohammad-Hossein Foroughi and his son Mohammad-Ali Foroughi, also began translating works in law, economics, and history.

The novel was not deprived of translation either. Among the most prominent novels translated in this period is "The Adventures of Hajji Baba of Ispahan" written by James Morier (1780–1849), a British diplomat and writer. This work was translated from French into Persian in an adaptive and literary style by Mirza Habib Isfahani (1214?–1273? Solar Hijri), an Iranian literary figure and translator.

Thinkers of the Constitutional Movement, such as Mirza Aqa Khan Kermani (1232–1275 Solar Hijri), Mirza Malkam Khan (1212–1287 Solar Hijri), and before them Mirza Fath-Ali Akhundzadeh (1191–1257), were influenced by translations of the works of European scholars or narratives of their ideas, scholars such as Auguste Comte, David Hume, John Locke, John Stuart Mill, and Jean-Jacques Rousseau (entry "Translation from European Languages into Persian", Iraj Parsinejad, The Great Islamic Encyclopaedia).

Let us, for the sake of brevity, skip the late Qajar era and the first Pahlavi period and arrive at the second Pahlavi era. In the 1960s and 1970s, the translation scene in Iran faced a new situation that Saeed Tavousi Masroor (b. 1983), a researcher of Shia history, calls the “Translation Movement of Religious Texts.” He describes this movement as a reaction to the “Translation Movement of Leftist Texts.”

The Translation Movement of Leftist Texts began especially after the founding of the Tudeh Party in 1941. Right at the beginning of that same 1960s decade when Jalal al-Din Ashtiani was lamenting the lack of philosophical translations, Iranian readers were confronted with a mass of translations of fiction, history, and leftist philosophies. In reaction to the Translation Movement of Leftist Texts, a group of clerics and religious writers undertook the translation of religious works, mainly from Arabic and by Egyptian authors. Among the religious translators of this period, one can name Seyyed Hadi Khosroshahi, Seyyed Mohammad Shirazi, Seyyed Ali Khamenei, Seyyed Hadi Khamenei, and Ali Hojjati Kermani. Seyyed Ali Khamenei translated three books by Sayyid Qutb (1906–1966) into Persian. Sayyid Qutb, the Egyptian writer, is considered one of the founders of political Islam in the twentieth century.

With the change of the political system in Iran following the 1979 revolution and the subsequent suppression of the leftist movement, the Translation Movement of Leftist Texts went into eclipse, at least for nearly two decades. However, although it was expected that with the elimination of its leftist rival, the Translation Movement of Religious Texts would maintain and even increase its vitality, this movement also largely lost its momentum following the decline of its leftist counterpart.

Nevertheless, from the mid-1990s onward, translation flourished once again. Abdolhossein Azarang, in the introduction to his book “The History of Translation in Iran,” mentioned earlier, says that in his view, translation is a function of need. He emphasizes cultural transfer through translation. The 1990s created new cultural needs for Iranians who had just emerged from war. The new translation movement was a response to these needs. In the 1990s, Iranian society was shedding its skin, slowly taking off the garb of revolutionary combat and donning post-revolutionary attire. Such a state of affairs demanded its own appropriate cultural translation. From this decade onward, Iranian readers witnessed a proliferation of translations and an increase in the number of translators in the humanities.

Alongside the expansion of translations of liberal thinkers' works, the translation of New Left works also flourished. One can even speak of a translation movement of religiological (and not necessarily religious) texts. In this movement, the Islamic studies works of predominantly Western Islamologists were and are being translated into Persian. Currently, the translation of works in various branches of philosophy, social sciences, psychology, economics, law, political science, art, literature, etc., has gained remarkable momentum.

4- The Future of Translation

The flourishing of translation in contemporary Iran has led to the formation of a phenomenon that can be called “Thinkers in the Guise of Translators.” Thinkers in the guise of translators, in addition to mastering the source language, the target language, and possessing literary taste, have at least these characteristics: 1- They pursue a specific intellectual project through translation and do not translate randomly or necessarily based on market trends, 2- They have an indigenous understanding of the subjects they translate and perform cultural translation from one language to another, 3- They select the subjects they seek to translate with an eye toward their own linguistic community and its issues and problems. And finally, 4- In addition to translating, they write introductions and commentaries on those subjects, write notes about them, give lectures, and in this way, expand their intellectual project through translation, defend it, and critically compare it with other intellectual projects.

The flourishing of translation in Iran and the increase in the number of translators has also led to the “democratization of translation.” Previously, either governments were the custodians of translation or only a limited number of professional translators undertook the work. Today, translation has become a commons in which many translators, professional, semi-professional, or non-professional, have a hand.

But does the proliferation of translation lead to its decline? Abdolhossein Azarang is very optimistic: “I do not think so at all. Our age is one of the brilliant ages of translation. From among our youth, great translators have emerged who are the pride of the field of translation. The motivation among a number of our contemporary translators is very strong.” (Interview with Shahr-e Ketab, 2015)

The first translation movement left a lasting impact on Muslim cultures. Will today’s translation movement in Iran leave such an impact as well? Azarang believes that if the country moves toward comprehensive development, the translation movement will also bear fruit:

“The number of these translators will increase and the scope of their influence will broaden when the process of comprehensive development begins and its progress can be seen in all fields, especially in educational, research, cultural, scientific, technical, and artistic arenas. My life will not be long enough, but I hope you will witness the all-round development of this ancient land of culture and civilization.”

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In Praise of Translation

Author: Yaser Mirdamadi

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