New French Translation of Quran Published in Algeria
Two Algerians, a translator and journalist and a researcher and religious scholar, have rendered the Holy Book into the European language, according to news.radioalgerie.dz website.
Their aim was to fill the gaps in previous French translations and provide more explanations about the meanings of the verses.
Translated by religious scholar Kamal Shakat and journalist Masoud Bu Junun, it has been published by al-Bayazeen Publications.
They have referred to previous translations of the Quran in their work, including the oldest one in Latin dating back to 1141 and the oldest French translation dating back to 1647.
The two also studied works by Algerian scholars and thinkers such as Si Hamza Bubakr and Ahmed al-Amish.
The new rendering can benefit speakers of French, whether Muslim or non-Muslim, in better understanding the Quranic concepts, publishers say.
Bu Junun has so far translated into French some 20 books in the field of Islamic thought and sciences and done many partial translations of old books in the field.
Shakat (born in 1967 in Algiers) is a professor of religious studies. He is fluent in French, Italian and German and appears on French TV and radio programs.
