Translations of Kitab-e-Aqdas

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Ahsan_al_Hadees
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Translations of Kitab-e-Aqdas

Postby Ahsan_al_Hadees » Sat May 24, 2008 10:04 am

Dear Bahai Friends,

I want to know in how many languages Kitab-e-Aqdas has been translated. When was Kitab-e-Aqdas translated into English? If I am not mistaken it was first time translated into english by some non-Bahai maybe Miller?

I appreciate if someone mentions the names of the translators as well as the years in which those translations were published.

Regards,
Ahsan

BritishBahai
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Re: Translations of Kitab-e-Aqdas

Postby BritishBahai » Sat May 24, 2008 3:20 pm

I searched for you and came across this website
http://bahai-library.com/encyclopedia/aqdas.html

It covers 6 areas

1 Circumstances of composition
2 Style
3 Contents
4 Related works
5 Significance and influence
6 Manuscripts, editions, translations, and related texts

go to the website to read the info about these sections

O:) Below I have copied & pasted section 6, which is relevant to your main question

Red = information about the English translation
_______________________________

6. Manuscripts, editions, translations, and related texts: Baha'u'llah, `Abdu'l-Baha, Shoghi Effendi, and the Universal House of Justice each discouraged indiscriminate circulation of the Aqdas. Thus, apart from two early editions printed in India, the Aqdas has never been published by the Baha'i community in Arabic and only recently has it become available in full translation in English. Translations into other languages are presently being undertaken.

1. Manuscripts: When `Abdu'l-Baha was asked which manuscript of the Aqdas should be regarded as authoritative, he stated that the accurate text of the book is the one transcribed by Zaynu'l- Muqarrabin (q.v., AVK 1:11). A manuscript of the Aqdas in the hand of `Abdu'l-Baha also exists (see frontispiece of RB3). Less authoritative manuscripts of the Aqdas are common.

2. Arabic editions: The Kitab-i-Aqdas was first published in Bombay in 1308/1891 on the instructions of Baha'u'llah. Since then there have been several other editions (Bombay, Cairo, Tehran: n.p., n.d., 187 pp.); Aqdas-i-Buzurg (Bombay: n.p., 1314/1896), containing several other important Arabic tablets. Non-Baha'i editions include: Kitab-i-Aqdas, ed. Kh. A. Enayat (1st ed.; Baghdad: Maktabatu'l-Amrikaniyyah, 1349/1931); "Al-Aqdas," in `Abdu'r-Razzaq al-Hasani, Al-Babiyun wa'l-Baha'iyun (Sidon, 1957, pp. 150-72). The legal passages are collected with supplementary material from Questions and Answers and other tablets in Ishraq-Khavari, Ganjiniy-i-Hudud va Ahkam. The messages to kings and rulers may be found in Alvah-i-Nazilih Khitab bi-Muluk va-Ru'asay-i-Ard (Athar Qalam A`la). Several pages of one manuscript are reproduced in Miller, The Baha'i Faith.

3. Partial and non-Baha'i Translations: Shoghi Effendi translated most of the passages of general interest, comprising perhaps a third of the whole in works such as Gleanings from the Writings of Baha'u'llah and Promised Day is Come (see SCK 11-28). A number of short passages were later translated under the auspices of the Universal House of Justice. Anton Haddad's translation was never published though it enjoyed considerable circulation in typescript in the early American community and is still occasionally found. Non- Baha'i translations include Earl E. Elder and William McE. Miller, Al-Kitab al-Aqdas or the Most Holy Book (London: Royal Asiatic Society, 1961), 74 pp., reprinted in Miller, The Baha'i Faith, and a Russian translation by Alexander Tumanski, Kitabe Akdes (Zapiski Imperatorskoy Academii Nauk S. Peterburg [Mmoires de L'Acadmie Impriale des Sciences de St Petersbourg] 8th ser., Vol. 3, No. 6, 1899) prepared with the help of Mirza Abu'l-Fadl Gulpaygani (q.v.).


4. Full authorized English translation: In 1986 the Universal House of Justice made the publication of a full annotated translation of the Kitab-i-Aqdas a goal of the Six Year Plan (see "Plans"). A task force was established at the Baha'i World Centre to undertake the project. The lead translator was Mark Hellaby, a British Arabist employed at the World Centre. The appearance of the translation in March 1993 was a major event in the Baha'i world. Copies were sent to many non-Baha'i intellectuals in order to elicit reviews. The translation was the most sophisticated edition of a piece of Baha'i scripture produced up to that time. The full translations of Kitab-i-Aqdas and Questions and Answers occupied less than half the volume. The remaining contents included an introduction to the text by the Universal House of Justice, several shorter supplementary texts, the outline synopsis first published by the Universal House of Justice in 1973, extensive explanatory notes to the various texts, a glossary, and an analytical index. The text employed a system of paragraph numbering intended to facilitate reference to the text independent of language and edition.


5. Related Works: As a preliminary to a full annotated translation of the Aqdas, Shoghi Effendi had begun work on a synopsis and codification of the laws of the Aqdas. On the basis of his outline and preliminary notes, the House of Justice completed the work and published it as A Synopsis and Codification of the Laws and Ordinances of the Kitab-i-Aqdas in 1973 in fulfillment of a goal of the Nine Year Plan (see "Plans"). This work contains all the passages translated by Shoghi Effendi, a detailed outline of the contents of the Aqdas and Questions and Answers, and explanatory notes. It is now incorporated into the authorized translation of the Aqdas.

Bibliography

For detailed summaries of the contents of the Aqdas see GPB 213-16, SCKA (both reprinted in KA 12-16, 141-64), and RB 3, chap. 13-17. Kamran Ekbal, "Kitab-i-Aqdas: redating its beginning," unpublished paper. An excellent account of the place of the Kitab-i-Aqdas in the writings and thought of Baha'u'llah is "Kitab-i-Aqdas: Its Place in Baha'i literature," Baha'i World Centre Publications, reprinted in The American Baha'i, Kamal 150/1 August 1993, pp. 12-13. Other works include: Badi`u'llah Farid, Maqalih dar Mu`arifiy-i-Kitab-i-Aqdas, 2nd ed. Wilmette, Ill.: Persian American Affairs Office, National Spiritual Assembly of United States, 1993.
"I have desired only what Thou didst desire, and love only what Thou dost love"

Ahsan_al_Hadees
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Re: Translations of Kitab-e-Aqdas

Postby Ahsan_al_Hadees » Sat May 24, 2008 6:22 pm

Dear British Bahai,

Thanks for your help.

Kitab-e-Aqdas was translated into Urdu by one of our Ahmadi Scholars Maulana Abu-al-Ata of Jalandhar in his book "Bahai Tehreek per Tabsarah"...

The title can be translated into English as "A Word on the Bahai Movement".

Regards,
Ahsan

Ahsan_al_Hadees
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Re: Translations of Kitab-e-Aqdas

Postby Ahsan_al_Hadees » Sun May 25, 2008 5:42 am

Hi Bahai Friends,

Please find attached the photograph of the five who had been to National Assembly of Pakistan in 1974 to defend their faith. As a result Jama'at-e-Ahmadiyya was declared non-Muslim on 7th September 1974 by the then National Assembly. The video of the debate, inspite of our repeated requests, is never shown on TV. That time the live debate in National Assembly was not shown either. Now the orthodox Mulla has published a book which is a dialogue between the Attorney General and our 3rd Caliph. In that dialogue our 3rd Caliph is shown speechless on those questions which our kids can answer without any difficulty.

Maulana Abu-al-Ata is second from right. He translated Kitab-e-Aqdas in Urdu.

From Left to Right:

( 1 ) Hadhrat Mirza Tahir Ahmad ( RA ): He was our 4th Ahmadi Muslim Caliph from 1981 to 2003.

( 2 ) Sheikh Muhammad Ahmad Mazhar ( RA ): He was head of the Ahmadiyya Jama'at of the city Faisalabad. Hadhrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad ( AS ) proved that Arabic is the Mother of all languages. Sheikh Muhammad Ahmad Mazhar ( RA ) proved for 51 languages traced to Arabic including English.

( 3 ) Hadhrat Mirza Nasir Ahmad ( RA ): He was our 3rd Ahmadi Muslim Caliph from 1965 to 1981.

( 4 ) Hadhrat Maulana Abu-Al-Ata of Jalandhar: He is the one who translated the Kitab-e-Aqdas in Urdu Language.

( 5 ) Maulana Dost Muhammad Shahid: He is our historian and the only one out of these five who is alive.

Regards,
Ahsan
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Sen McGlinn
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Re: Translations of Kitab-e-Aqdas

Postby Sen McGlinn » Sun May 25, 2008 12:31 pm

Kitab-i Aqdas, al-Kitab al-aqdas (The Most Holy Book), `Akka (possibly beginning in Edirne before 1868, continuing in `Akka to 1873, amendments possibly later).

Arabic edition with Persian notes, 1995 Haifa. For a summary of earlier published editions see MacEoin, 'Rituals' 81-2 n2; A. G. Tumansky's edition published by the Imperial Academy of Sciences at St. Petersburg, 1899 (contains text, Russian translation, forward, introduction, three appendices and index) is said to be available on-line. The 1931 Baghdad edition by Inayad is said to have had two paragraphs more than the Bombay edition. These are apparently genuine, but were removed by Baha’u’llah before the Bombay edition was prepared.
Manuscripts: Bm Or. 2820; two copies in Browne's collection; Leiden Or 4969, previously catalogued as Arab 2412. Numerous manuscript copies circulate, some with Persian translations (incl. one by Mihdi Salihy, 165 pp, and one by Fadil-i Tehrani, annotated with a Persian translation); INBA43 69-131 (available on H-Bahai).

Arabic editions I have noted (not exhaustive):
1308 AH (around 1890-91) lithograph edition in the hand of Mirza Muhammad-`ali, printed in India
Another edition in India in 1314 AH
An undated edition in Tehran around 1943
An undated edition, done by Suleiman Raf`at, in Beirut sometime in the 1930's against the wishes of the beloved Guardian
An edition, or excerpts of the Aqdas, done by a Shi`ah Muslim polemicist against the Faith Mirza Mihdi Khan Za`imu'd-dawlih, in Egypt during `Abdu'l-Baha's ministry.
An edition, as an appendix, in Iraq around the 1950's or 60's [`abd al-Hamid, Muhsin. Haqiqat al-Babiyya wa-al-baha'iyya.- 3e verm. dr. - Bagdad : al-dar al-arabiyya li-al-tibaa, [1977]

Translations
English translation by the Baha'i World Centre 1992, which replaces their 1973 publication 'Synopsis and Codification of the Kitab-i Aqdas' (but the 1973 Synopsis contains a lengthy letter from the Universal House of Justice introducing and summarizing the Aqdas)

Earlier English translations include a translation by Antun Haddad in the U.S. circa 1900 of which typed copies were widely distributed; a translation possibly originating in Chicago (Fareed?) circa 1906 which is cited in publications of the time but may not be extant; two others ascribed to Jinab-i Fadil Mazandarani and Marzieh Gail, but the latter is probably the fruit of a known collaboration between Mazandarani and Gail, who prepared a translation of both the Aqdas and the Questions and Answers for Shoghi Effendi as a basis for his proposed translation. The Haddud, Elder, and 1992 official translations are online in parallel texts at bahai-library.org/ provisionals. Discussion with paraphrase and translation of extracts in Momen, 'Selections Browne' 278-287. The many sections translated by Shoghi Effendi in Gleanings (Gleanings XXXVII, LVI, LXX, LXXI, LXXII, XCVIII, CV, CLV, CLIX, CLXVI) and elsewhere are noted in appendix 4, not all of these have been incorporated in the Baha’i World Centre translation: see Ruhiyyih Rabbani 'The Guardian of the Baha'i Faith' 237-8 for comments regarding these translations.

Early translations of the Questions and Answers which circulated in typescript included one by Jinab-i Fadil Mazandarani and another version of this revised by Marzieh Gail incorporating some passages translated by Shoghi Effendi. There is also a later translation by E.E Elder, London 1961 (Royal Asiatic Society), with some explanatory notes. More information can be found in an online translation project of the Aqdas at bahai-library.org/ provisionals.

French Ms translation by Dreyfus 190?, 62pp, and separate Ms translation of Questions and Answers, n.d.; for the former there is one copy at the Baha'i World Centre and two in the Paris Archives (Boite 11107, Grand cahier noir:122). According to Laura Dreyfus-Barney, 'Hippolyte Dreyfus: article for Baha'i World': "He [Hippolyte Dreyfus-Barney] translated ... the Aqdas which he annotated during a sojourn in 'Akka with the aid of 'Abdu'l-Baha".) For the Questions and Answers, one handwritten and one typed version in the Paris archives. A near-print edition of Dreyfus's translation of both the Aqdas and the Questions and Answers was circulated: a copy is in papers attributed to Corinne True in the Wilmette Archives. A translation by Monir Derakhchan and de E. Ouvry (who are elsewhere listed as Remeyites), 1964. A Hebrew translation is being prepared (1999) by Moshe Sharon. A Persian translation by Ishraq-Khavari is said to have been published in Germany.

Ahsan_al_Hadees
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Re: Translations of Kitab-e-Aqdas

Postby Ahsan_al_Hadees » Tue May 27, 2008 12:41 am

Dear Sen,

Thanks for your input 8-)

Regards,
Ahsan


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