Translation as a Tool of Domination; Translation and Ideology in Arabic Culture

Abstract

The prevailing cognitive system in the Abbasid era, judged literal translation as poor. This is an ideological stance aimed at triumphing the Arabic language, demonstrating its superiority and miraculous nature, in preparation for showing the superiority of its speakers. Conversely, the same system judged free translation as high-quality and encouraged it. Thus, the Arabs analyzed the translation of the Quran into other languages literally and adopted the same method for transferring Greek philosophy and for owning the literature of the Persians and Indians.

This method was not devoid of ideological dimensions either, as the translation of the meanings of the Quran, according to the same prevailing cognitive system, did not rise to the level of the sacred text but retained its role as an explanatory text that sets the general framework regulating the rules of behavior, building representations, and defining the limits of thinking and interpretation within the new multi-ethnic empire. While The purpose of transferring Aristotelian logic is to triumph Mutazilite thought against opposing religious schools, especially the Sunni and Shia schools, while the free transfer of Persian and Indian literature aimed to own the texts of these peoples and graft them into Arab culture to enrich Arabic literature first, and then to assimilate those peoples secondly into a common Arabic literary framework that reflects the cultural diversty within the new Islamic empire.