The Translation of the Denotative and Connotative Meaning of (Sakinah) in the Holy Qur an: An Empirical Study

This paper discusses the meaning of (Sakinah), an Islamic-bound term appeared in six verses of the Holy Qur an, in the light of the two interpretations (tafsir) of Ibn Kathir and Al-Qurtubi. By analyzing and the five translations of Yousef Ali (1938), Shakir (1980), Pickthall (1930), Khan and Hilali (1999), and Itani (2012) and the different translation strategies used. The framework of strategies suggested by Peter Newmark (1988) is used in order to come up with the right strategy to translate any cultural-bound terms between Arabic and English. The discrepancies among the five translators in rendering (Sakinah) into English show that transliteration plus definition or explanation is the best strategy to render such concepts from Arabic into English.