Questions on the Arabic Bible? Jūrjī Zaydān has Answers – Biblia Arabica 28.04.20, 17*18
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Questions on the Arabic Bible? Jūrjī Zaydān has English
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n 1892, Jūrjī Zaydān, a Lebanese historian and novelist, inaugurated from Cairo his magazine al-Hilāl or
‘the Crescent.’[1] This magazine soon reached a high rank among the educated class, attracting elite
authors to write for it, and becoming popular among Arabic speakers everywhere. The cover of the first Do Arabic Gospel
issue of al-Hilāl informs readers that its main interests are science, history, health, and literature; however, manuscripts
its sections branched out widely over the years.[2] Starting from the third issue of the first year, there was matter for Textual Criticism?
always a space for the readers’ questions and enquiries. This space at first bore the title “Correspondence Section,” 3. March 2020
then “Readers’ Correspondence,” and later “A Question and Suggestion.” Readers could pose any questions in this
section that occurred to their minds and the editor of the magazine would find answers to these questions.[3] Shiʿite Muslim
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Jūrjī Zaydān (1861-1914)
When I say “any questions,” this literally means any. See for example the issue of February 1893. The reader
Mikhāʾīl Ḥannā from Suez poses a question on the reasons that the tides happen in the sea and not in rivers. Here
also sheikh Ahmad al-Alfī from Tuhk al-Qarāmūṣ poses a question on the Earth’s rotation (November 1st, 1894, pp.
186-188). Other questions were posed by Rifʿat Muḥammad Efendi from Sūhāj (January 1st, 1895, pp. 342-350) on
the armies in the Umayyad and Abbasid Eras, by Yūsuf Efendi Marco from Fākūs (October 15th, 1896, pp. 137-140)
on the lunar months, and by Ahmad Najib (February 1st, 1895, 462-469) on the origins of the Arabic script. Other
topics were raised such as mothers-in-law, manufacturing beer, the history of musical instruments, and the history
of money.[4] Some questions were one-off discussions opened and closed in a single issue of al-Hilāl. Other
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, Questions on the Arabic Bible? Jūrjī Zaydān has Answers – Biblia Arabica 28.04.20, 17*18
questions such as women’s rights and writing in fuṣḥā (standard Arabic) or ʿāmmiyya (colloquial Arabic) turned into
longer discussions across several issues through the contributions of other readers, public figures of the time, and
extended even to other magazines.[5]
In addition to the social, scientific, and historical enquiries, many readers also raised questions on religious matters.
Jewish, Christian, and Muslim readers came to al-Hilāl magazine with their enquiries about their own religions as
well as the other’s religion. For example, they asked about the translations of the Talmud (February, 1905, pp. 303-
304), al-Ḥajj in Islam (December, 1909, pp. 174-181), and more importantly for our blog—about the Arabic Bible.
Ibrāhīm Jamāl Efendi, a lawyer from Cairo, sent the first question to the magazine (June 1st, 1894, pp. 593-600).
His question concerns the translations of the Pentateuch into Arabic. Mainly, he wondered why there are differences
between the two famous Arabic translations at the time, the American missionaries’ translation and the Jesuit
translation.[6] He asked, moreover, which one of these two translations is closer to the Hebrew original, and
whether one of them has been altered. Zaydān, who studied earlier old Eastern languages such as Hebrew and
Syriac, answered these questions in detail in almost six pages of this issue. After assuring the reader that there is
one Hebrew original, he described the American missionaries’ translation as a literal one which stays closer to the
original text, but leaves the understanding of the text’s meaning to the judgement of the reader. At the same time,
this literalness might make the translated text ambiguous, and in turn cause confusion to the reader. Zaydān also
observed that the translation of the Jesuits is non-literal, eloquent, and its meanings clearer to the reader. However,
this becomes problematic, in his opinion, when the translator selects an inaccurate meaning of the original Hebrew
text. Zaydān continues his response discussing some examples from both of these translations, along with other
ancient and modern translations that he consulted such as the Syriac Peshitta and a French translation. This topic
drew the attention of other readers as well as the editors of another magazine, al-Bashīr. From the response in al-
Hilāl (July 1st, 1894, pp. 662-665), it may be assumed that al-Bashīr defended the translation strategies of the
Jesuit translation. Zaydān again explained what he thought about this particular translation using many examples.
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