Alternative Readings of Daraja: Rendering the Meaning of Verse (2:228) in Selected English Translations of the Qur’an

This paper aims to explore how the term daraja in verse (2:228) is rendered into English in fifteen translations covering a period of over 300 years between 1649 and 2017. These translations are characterized by the ideological diversity of their translators, which provides a rich ground for discussing and analyzing their positions on the meaning of daraja. The research is based on the hypothesis that the translators “rewrote” the term under the influence of one or more of the rewriting constraints, namely ideology, patronage, differences between the source and target languages, poetics and universe of discourse, as André Lefevere specifies in his rewriting theory (1992a). Therefore, the analysis is conducted with a view to pinpoint cases of rewriting when rewriting constraints become a factor controlling the translation process. The study found out that controversy over daraja in classical and modern commentaries was mirrored in the selected translations, with the oldest presenting men as superior to women, but this did not show a consistent pattern. The study also revealed that women translators were not heedful of propagating egalitarian views of gender. Finally, the paper concludes that ideology was the predominant rewriting constraint that consolidated and subverted the hierarchy of the concept.
Key words: Qur’an translations, rewriting, ideology, daraja