The Influence of Socio-Religious Factors on al-Șafadī’s Perception of Translation in the Abbasid Era R E E M HA Z I M
Translation is more than just a cultural and linguistic mediator; historically, it has also involved the transfer of power and authority between the source culture and the receiving culture. Lefevere, a translation studies historian, describes translation as “a channel opened… through which foreign influences can penetrate the native culture, challenge it, and even contribute to subverting it” (2). The response of the receiving culture to the translation of foreign texts is often influenced by the culture’s social, political, and religious context. For instance, Arab scholars had different responses to the translation of Greek books into Arabic during the reign of the Abbasid Caliphate (7501258 CE), and their attitudes towards translation largely depended on the ruling dynasty and the social and religious atmosphere of their time. This paper explores the socio-religious factors influencing the remarks of an Arab scholar, al-Ṣafadī, on Graeco-Arabic translation in his book, Al-ghayth al-musjam fī sharḥ Lāmīyat al-‘Ajam. al-Ṣafadī’s social status as a member of the ulama and the strong Sunni current fostered by the Mamluk Sultanate influenced his thoughts on the integration of Greek logic philosophy into Islamic culture and the translation methods used by the Abbasid translators. Khalil Ibn Aybak al-Ṣafadī (1297-1363), born in Safad, Palestine, was a calligrapher, poet, and historian who worked as a scribe in the chancery, authored “hundreds of books,” and copied over five hundred more (BehrensAbouseif 90). al-Ṣafadī lived during the reign of the Mamluk Sultanate (12501517 CE), which succeeded the Ayyubid and Abbasid dynasties and ruled over Egypt and Syria. It was characterized by a ruling class of mamluks, or military slaves of “servile origin” (Northrup 244). In the 14th century CE, the Arabs of the Mamluk Sultanate built upon the wealth of literature they inherited from the Abbasids and invented a new genre of literature: the commentary-
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