Quran translations are supposed to provide “an authentic point of reference from which to examine the biased stereotypes of Islam to which Westerners are habitually exposed to.” However, unfortunately, most of these translations have not fulfilled this function. They either fail to give a precise image of Islam, or give a negative distorted one, says Thomas Cleary, a non-Muslim Quran translator.
Reading Islam presents a three-part article which tackles the issue of Quran translations and their role in steering public opinion against Islam in non-Muslim communities.
The study started with a historical reviewindicating that the libels leveled against Islam are deeply rooted in the misconceptions propagated by the first Latin Quran translations perverted on purpose out of fear that Islam would shake the established faith of Christians. It then went on to explain some of the ways Quran translationscontribute to giving a false or negative impression about Islam through either deliberate manipulation or non-deliberate mistranslations or inadequacies.
Finally, in this part, it proposes some insights as to how to take action against the campaigns discrediting Islam.