Thursday, Jul 11, 2013
One of the consequences of the Arab Spring was the plethora of names of people and places thrust on the media outlets that, without exaggeration, added to our transliteration confusion. Arabic — both its classical written version as well as its numerous oral dialects — is a sublime language. It is linguistically rich and is spoken by at least half a billion while more than a billion Muslims have limited access to the Quran in the original. Still, for all its beauty and elegance, translating or — more accurately — transliterating it, is a daunting task.
Over the years, journalists and historians rendered into English a variety of common words and names, led by the name of the Prophet [PBUH], Muhammad, and the very confusing Shaykh, which had several variations: Shaikh, Sheikh, Sheik or even Shik. Regrettably, one can read Mohamed, Mohammed, Mhamed, Muhammed, Mohamad, among other translations. Names of places were equally puzzling, with the holy city of Makkah becoming Mecca or Meka. Although the familiar form in English was still Mecca, the official transliteration used by the Saudi government is Makkah, which is closer to the Arabic pronunciation. Many names in Syria presented dilemmas too, with Jisr al-Shughur translated as Jisr al-Shughour, or Jisr al-Shoughour, while Dayr al-Zur was available as Deir Zor, among other permutations. The list of similar renditions was long indeed.
Naturally, to limit the damage, scholars addressed these transliteration requirements and proposed several solutions. The US Library of Congress devised a sophisticated system several decades ago, even if the style used by the International Journal of Middle East Studies (IJMES), published by the Middle East Studies Association of North America, was almost accurate. IJMES produced detailed transliteration norms for Arabic, Persian and Turkish, precisely so that Arabs avoid using Hezbollah (a Persian rendering) for Hizballah. Their styles proposed diacritical marks for long vowels and velarised consonants although most scholars found them impractical, except for the hamza (’) and the ayn (‘). Even the feminine -ah was often ignored, with the h usually silent and not recorded, though its inclusion became increasingly common in official documents. The silent h was thus retained in Riyadh and Jiddah (when these names were not rendered as Riyad or Jedda — sometimes Jeddah), as well as in Sharjah, while in other cases it disappeared completely. Relying on stale translations, we therefore see Fatwa, Shia (or Shiite), Shura (or Shoura), Sharia or even Ulama, although the proper transliterations for these words would be Fatwah, Shi‘ah, Shurah, Shari‘ah and ‘Ulamah.
Even family names, especially those in the Gulf region, invite bewilderment. When referring to the proper appellation of ruling families, for example, the Arabic word Al, which means “family,” ought to precede the name of the eponymous founder. In Sa‘udi Arabia, the founder imparted his name to the family, thus the Al Sa‘ud. A lower case al- often refers to a sub-branch of the ruling family, as in the name of the Sa‘udi Minister of Foreign Affairs, Prince Sa‘ud al-Faysal, the son of the late King Faysal bin ‘Abdul ‘Aziz Al Sa‘ud. (IJMES transliteration for the Arabic -yah is y, although English sources use the i instead, as in Faisal or in Dubai.) Furthermore, and although the transliteration of ‘Abd (servant or slave) ought to be rendered as ‘Abdul, the “ul” (al) was really the article of the succeeding word, as in ‘Abdul Allah, and that together they meant “servant of God”. That was why a correct transliteration of ‘Abdallah could not be ‘Abdullah or even ‘Abdulla, even if that was frequently used, since ‘Abdallah came as close as possible to Library of Congress and IJMES protocols and there was no such word as ullah.
Admittedly, setting a standard to spell transliterated words was a daunting task and no single scholar or journalist can always be consistent. This is understandable, though an effort ought to be made towards that end to avoid inaccuracies. Arabic speakers know how rare correct references to transliterated words are in English. They patiently turn the page when they see Hezbollah, for example, and forgive those who ought to know better but have little time for precision.
Dr Joseph A. Kéchichian is the author of the recently published “Legal and Political Reforms in Saudi Arabia” (London: Routledge, 2013).
By Joseph A. Kechichian, Senior Writer
Gulf News 2013. All rights reserved.
