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primary topic: SURAU TEXTS TRANSLATED: TRANSLATION IN FORM, TEXTUAL ANALYSIS IN SUBSTANCE

SURAU TEXTS TRANSLATED: TRANSLATION IN FORM, TEXTUAL ANALYSIS IN SUBSTANCE
type: AcademicArticle
type: Article
abstract: This article investigates the translation tradition of surau communities in the Minangkabau world, with a focus on interlinear translation. With its prominent role in the Islamization of the region, the surau held an important historical function as a vital centre for the production, teaching, learning, and preservation of Islamic manuscripts—mostly composed in Arabic, while those written in Malay are filled with rich Arabic concepts, vocabulary, and technical expressions. As such, translation emerges as an integral aspect of engagement with the manuscripts, supporting both comprehension and instruction. Focusing on the manuscript collection of Surau Simaung in Sijunjung, West Sumatra, the study explores two central questions: first, the role and positioning of Arabic and Malay within the translation practices of surau manuscripts; and second, the origins of grammatical literalism, a feature often associated with interlinear translation in the surau tradition. This study shows that translation practices in the surau were diverse, encompassing holistic, running-sequential, and interlinear paradigms. Among these, occasional interlinear translation predominates, revealing a distinctive form of grammatical literalism rooted in the Arabic linguistic structure, reflective of post-classical scholarly practices. Rather than producing idiomatic Malay renderings, surau scholars pursued rigorous grammatical engagement with Arabic texts, transforming translation into a tool of learning and inquiry. Translation was not primarily about finding lexical equivalents in Malay but was fundamentally an exercise in textual analysis. It served as a vernacular expression of the post-classical Islamic intellectual project—translation in form, textual analysis in substance.
date: 2025-10-25
volume: 25
issue: 3
is part of: Journal of Arabic and Islamic Studies
status: peerReviewed
status: published
author list: authors
type: EPrint
type: ArticleEPrint
is part of: repository
has document: SURAU TEXTS TRANSLATED: TRANSLATION IN FORM, TEXTUAL ANALYSIS IN SUBSTANCE (Text)
has version: SURAU TEXTS TRANSLATED: TRANSLATION IN FORM, TEXTUAL ANALYSIS IN SUBSTANCE (Text)
has published: SURAU TEXTS TRANSLATED: TRANSLATION IN FORM, TEXTUAL ANALYSIS IN SUBSTANCE (Text)
subject: 297.1226 Tafsir Al-Qur'an, Ilmu Tafsir

SURAU TEXTS TRANSLATED: TRANSLATION IN FORM, TEXTUAL ANALYSIS IN SUBSTANCE (Text)
type: Document
has file: 12696
has part: 12696

Oslo University, Norway
type: Organization

Journal of Arabic and Islamic Studies
type: Collection
issn: 0806198X

Fadhli Lukman
type: Person
given name: Fadhli
family name: Lukman

HTML Summary of #75318 SURAU TEXTS TRANSLATED: TRANSLATION IN FORM, TEXTUAL ANALYSIS IN SUBSTANCE
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primary topic: SURAU TEXTS TRANSLATED: TRANSLATION IN FORM, TEXTUAL ANALYSIS IN SUBSTANCE

297.1226 Tafsir Al-Qur'an, Ilmu Tafsir
type: Concept