The "kyai’s" voice and the Arabic Qur’an; Translation, orality, and print in modern Java

Abstract

This paper discusses practices of translating the Qur’an into Javanese in the Indonesian post-independence era. Focusing on works that emerged in pedagogical contexts, it demonstrates that the range of translation practices goes far beyond contemporary notions of scriptural translation. I argue that this is due to the oral origin of these practices and to the functions they assume in teaching contexts. These result in higher visibility of the translator who appears as a religious authority in his own right. His voice might therefore be considered a valuable contribution to the translation, rather than a distortion of the source text’s true meaning. These dynamics are tied to the status of Javanese in a country in which the predominant language of print is Indonesian. Studying translation activities in languages without official status in the nation-state period contributes to widening our perspective on contemporary translation practices.