The Semantic Field of the Word Naṣīḥa in The Qurʾān and The Problem of Its Translation into Turkish

Abstract

This study is concerned with determining the meaning of the word naṣīḥa in the Qurʾān, as well as its mistranslation into Turkish in some of the translations of the Qurʾān. It appears in the Qurʾān as a noun, verb, and adjective in 11 verses, 13 times in all, and is one of the words that has passed from Arabic into Turkish. The word is found in the Qurʾān in various forms such as nusḥ, nāṣiḥ, naṣūḥ, enṣaḥu, naṣaḥtu. It is originally an Arabic word derived from the root nuṣḥ, and is the antonym of the word غش (to deceive).  In Arabic, the word can imply "to be pure-hearted", "to be pure, genuine", "to be sincere and oneself", "to seek the good of others" and "to erect". However, it has undergone a narrowing of meaning as it passed from Arabic to Turkish. I believe that translating the word from Arabic into Turkish by considering its Turkish denotations would not be the correct method. Therefore, it is better to uncover the meanings of the word naṣīḥa in the verses in line with its original meanings at the time of the revelation of the Qurʾān, as well as to review the accuracy of its translations in the Turkish translations of Qurʾān. In this context, the aim of this research is, first, to identify the meaning of the word naṣīḥa in relation to its contexts in the Qurʾānic verses and its meanings in the Arabic language, and second, to assess the accuracy of its translation in the Turkish translations of Qurʾān. To that end, I shall explore the dictionary meanings of the word naṣīḥa both in Arabic and Turkish language, and provide some examples of poems from the period of jāhiliyyah to show how the word is having been used in Arabic. Subsequently, I shall examine the contexts of the verses in which the word appears and analyze it from a lexical standpoint if needed. I will give some examples of translation that I believe to be inaccurate from the analyzed translations. Using the narrations obtained from the classical sources, I arrive at the following conclusions: In the Qurʾān, the word naṣīḥa is used in three different senses: "to give advice" in al-Aʿrāf 7/62, 68, 79, 93 and Hūd 11/34; "to be sincere/to act sincerely" in al-Tawba 9/91, al-Qaṣaṣ 28/12 and al-Taḥrīm 66/8; and "to seek the good of one's interlocutor/others" in al-A'rāf 7/21, Yūsuf 12/11 and, al-Qaṣaṣ 28/20. On the other hand, as part of the research, I examined 50 Turkish translations and identified translation problems particular to the word under consideration in 20 of them. The problem is that the word is typically translated as "to give advice" despite the fact that it is incompatible with the contexts or grammar of some verses, particularly al-Tawba 9/91 and Yūsuf 12/11. Another problem is that the phrase tawbatan naṣūḥā in al-Taḥrīm 66/8 is translated as “the repentance of naṣūḥ" in its later conceptualized form, rather than in its original meaning at the time of the revelation of the verse, namely "sincere/heartfelt repentance". To make an accurate translation on this problem, I will argue that the meaning of the relevant word in Arabic, not in Turkish, should be taken into consideration, and that the verses should not be handled with a fragmentary approach, but rather by paying attention to their in-text and extra-textual contexts.