To make the Koran accessible to the greatest number, it must be translated into the languages of believers. This is already the case in Senegal and now also in Guinea. In this month of Ramadan, this is the morning file.
The sacred text of Islam is now available in the Pulaar language, also called Fulfulde. It is a project led by the Islam House association (based in Saudi Arabia) and by the Guinean Center for Studies and Translation (based in Conakry). Translations of the Koran into Pulaar are very rare and not easily accessible. This new version comes to enrich the official site of the Encyclopedia of the Koran (www.islamhouse.com) which, to date, has been translated into 23 languages, including Hausa and Kiswahili. By translating the Koran into Pulaar-Fulfulde, nearly 60 million speakers in the world are targeted.
It took four years of work and checks to translate the 114 suras of the Koran into Pulaar. A delicate work, to stick as closely as possible to the spirit of the holy book, while adopting a standard level of language understandable by all, as explained to Bineta Diagnefrom the Africa editorial staff, Mamadou Tafsir Baldé, the director of the Guinean center for studies and translation, the bearer of this project: In the translation of the meaning of the Koran, there are always terminologies which are sometimes consistent, others which are different. We have a translation according to a standardized Pulaar character to have a translation accessible to all (speakers of) Pulaar. »
This project is put online at the very beginning of Ramadan, to respond to the interest of the faithful in quests for information on the Revelation of the Koran. Mamadou Tafsir Balde: “ Among the most consulted verses during this month of Ramadan, the verses of sura number two “al-baqarah”. She talks about the revelation of the Koran in the month of Ramadan. She explains how we can fast. These are the concepts of Ramadan… Ramadan is also a time for reading the Holy Quran. There are people who read the whole Quran during Ramadan. »
The project is not completely finished: the Islam House association intends to embark on the translation of the Hadith, the words of the Prophet. In addition, a paper version of the Koran in Pulaar should soon be available.
In Senegal, a predominantly Muslim country, but where Arabic is little spoken, there is already a tradition of teaching the Koran in the national languages.
At IFAN, the Fundamental Institute of Black Africa at Cheikh Anta Diop University, there is a rare manuscript, undated and unsigned: “ So the sacred text is there… At the bottom and top there is the explanation in the Pulaar language. »
Djim Ousmane Dramé is director of the Islamology laboratory. In particular, he studied the teaching methods in the traditional “daaras” – Koranic schools: “ Everyone teaches the Koranic text in Arabic, but as for the explanation of the meaning of the holy book, everyone is free to do so according to their mother tongue. Wolof, Mandingo, Pulaar, … The main objective is that the child, the learner, understands the meaning of the surah he recites when he prays. »
Essentially verbal work, explains the researcher to Charlotte Idracour correspondent in Dakar: “ Rare are the marabouts who have translated the Koran in writing, into our national languages. I did some research on the Sereer national language, I couldn’t find it. Regarding the Mandinka national language, I have not found. There are some who did what is called in Wolof ‘Yan’, that is to say the word is there in Arabic. The Wolof explanation is just missing at the top, or in Pulaar, it would be a word-for-word explanation. »
A translation approach to be encouraged according to the Islamologist to popularize the teachings of the Koran, and at the same time preserve the national languages.