Author:Dr. Abdullahi Garba Ibrahim
Date: 05/07/2026
The Inimitability Approach in Translation Studies: Examining the Limits of Communicating Arabic and Sacred Literary Texts
This study examines the problem of translating Arabic texts that combine semantic and aesthetic dimensions, focusing on sacred and literary texts. It distinguishes between iʿjāz (inimitability), understood as a linguistic feature that cannot be transferred, and iblāgh (communication), understood as the feasible function of translation. The study analyzes the juristic controls governing the translation of the Qur’an and Ḥadīth, compares strategies for translating Arabic poetry, prose, and maqāmāt, and applies these to 25 textual samples. It concludes that the translator must move from attempting to reproduce iʿjāz to achieving faithful functional equivalence, employing mechanisms of compensation and explanation where necessary. The research adopts a descriptive-analytical-comparative method within the framework of Nida’s dynamic equivalence theory and Newmark’s communicative translation theory.
Keywords: : iʿjāz, iblāgh, Qur’an translation, literary translation, functional equivalence.
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