A Comparative and Exegetical Study of Selected Urdu Translations of Sūrat al-Isrāʾ: Lexical Meaning and the Determination of Divine Intent

سورۂ بنی اسرائیل کی منتخب آیات کے اردو تراجم کا تقابلی و تفسیری مطالعہ: الفاظ، مفاہیم اور مقصودِ الٰہی کے تعین کے تناظر میں

Abstract

This article critically examines selected lexical and syntactic expressions from Sūrat al-Isrāʾ in three influential Urdu renderings associated with Kanz al-Īmān, Aḥsan al-Bayān, and Maʿārif al-Qurʾān. It asks how far a translator’s lexical choice preserves the semantic range, rhetorical force, context, and exegetical implications of the Arabic source text. The study adopts a qualitative comparative method: each Urdu rendering is first read against the immediate Qurʾanic context and Arabic morphology; it is then evaluated through major classical commentaries and lexicons, including al-Ṭabarī, al-Zamakhsharī, al-Baghawī, al-Bayḍāwī, Ibn Kathīr, al-Qurṭubī, al-Rāghib al-Iṣfahānī, Ibn Manẓūr, and al-Zabīdī. The analysis demonstrates that no single Urdu translation is uniformly superior in every instance. A close rendering may successfully preserve lexical precision but lose an idiomatic or rhetorical shade, whereas an explanatory rendering may communicate the contextual sense while adding interpretive material. The expressions martayn, khilāla al-diyār, al-karrah, ṭāʾirahu, al-ʿājilah, malūman madḥūran, nufūran, al-wasīlah, manaʿanā, and la-aḥtanikanna particularly illustrate the need to distinguish literal equivalence from exegetical adequacy. The article therefore recommends layered translation: a concise, faithful main text supported by a short explanatory note wherever the Arabic expression carries more than one defensible shade. Such an approach better serves Urdu readers while respecting the linguistic density and interpretive plurality of the Qurʾanic text.

Keywords: Sūrat al-Isrāʾ; Urdu Qurʾan translation; comparative translation; Qurʾanic semantics; tafsīr; divine intent; Kanz al-Īmān; Aḥsan al-Bayān; Maʿārif al-Qurʾān