After Marracci: The Reception of Ludovico Marracci's Edition of The Qur'an in Northern Europe from the Late Seventeenth to the Early Nineteenth Centuries. Issue 3 (October 2018)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Hamilton, Alastair
• Is Part Of: Journal of Qur'anic studies. Volume 20:Issue 3(2018)
• Page Start: 175
• Page End: 192
• Publication Date: 2018-10
• Subjects: Ludovico Marracci -- tafsir -- Andreas Acoluthus -- Johann David Michaelis -- Adriaan Reland -- Friedrich Eberhard Boysen -- George Sale; 297.1226
• DOI: 10.3366/jqs.2018.0357
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1465-3591

Abstract

Abstract : The Latin Qur'an translation by Ludovico Marracci (1612–1700), which finally appeared in 1698, not only dwarfed all previous translations but dominated all future Qur'an translation projects for over a century to come. Although objections might be made to Marracci's style, and although later Arabists might disagree with certain points in his bilingual edition (above all in his commentaries), whenever they had recourse to tafsīr s they almost invariably took their quotations from Marracci's Alcorani textus universus and even their translations tended to follow Marracci closely. This article explores the reception of Marracci's translation in Northern Europe, especially in Germany, the Low Countries, and England, from its appearance until the early nineteenth century when certain—but by no means all—translators started to pursue an independent course. Some, such as Augusti, Hammer Purgstall, and Friedrich Rückert, would endeavour to translate the Qur'an in verse, while a scholar like Johann David Michaelis had deviated from Marracci by trying to do without tafsīr . Generally speaking, the attitude to Marracci, especially in Protestant Germany, was one of rivalry tempered by admiration. Marracci's own generous response to one of his critics and would-be rivals, Andreas Acoluthus (1654–1704) from Breslau, is recorded in a rare fragment from their correspondence reproduced in the Appendix.