a. Collection of Printed Translations of the Quran

   Specialists in the field of Qur’anic studies and translation need to have a first-hand knowledge of the character and contents of the existing printed translations. Therefore, it is necessary to make these available to them at the Center. The Centre, since its foundation, has collected nearly 4,306 volumes of the works of 977 translators, in 101 languages. Though by no means complete, such a collection of printed translations of the Qur’an is unique in Iran, and efforts continue to collect each and every complete and partial translation of the Qur’an that exists in any language throughout the world.  

b. Archive of Studies on Translation of the Quran:

    There is a steadily growing literature on Qur’anic studies in general and on the theoretical issues and debates relating to Qur’an translation  in particular, as well as the special problems that relate to particular languages. A good archive of this kind of material consisting of critical studies of the translations produced so far in different languages is essential for scholars working in this field. Accordingly, the Centre has so far collected over 800 articles and studies in such languages as Persian, Arabic, English, German, Italian, Urdu, Turkish, Azeri, and Swahili.  

c. Specialized Library:

   Along with the collection of Qur’anic translations, there is a specialized library at the Centre with over 3,500 works consisting of lexicons, encyclopedias and scriptures, as well as books on various topics relating to linguistics, world languages, religion, philosophy, literature, bibliography, history, and geography. These books are in more than 55 languages, such as Persian, Dari, Arabic, Turkish, Azerbaijani, Gilaki, Kurdish, Pashtu, Urdu, Hindi, Bengali, Telugu, Tamil, Marathi, Malayalam, English, German, Italian, French, Russian, Esperanto, Latin, Bulgarian, Spanish, Portuguese, Swedish, Dutch, Danish, Finnish, Polish, Hungarian, Norwegian, Greek, Albanian, Armenian, Czech, Portuguese, and Rumanian, Swahili, Korean, Hebrew, Japanese and Indonesian.

 d. Teams of Linguists and Translators  

   Since the inception of the Center, over one hundred linguists, translators, and Qur’anic specialists relating to nearly thirty different languages have been invited to cooperate with the Center. There is a steady rise in the number of scholars cooperating with the Centre in its different projects.

e. Data Bank of Quranic Translations

    For detailed information on the translations of the Holy Qur’an collected by the Center, a record is maintained for each translation in which the relevant details are recorded. These details include the translator’s academic and religious background as well as his method and approach, his command of the source and target languages, the characteristics of the translation, the works consulted by the translator, the studies and reviews written on the translation, and other details pertaining to the printed editions.  

f. Translations in Progress   

   The Centre published its first translation in Azeri (in Latin and Cyrillic scripts), the language spoken by the people the Iranian provinces of Eastern and Western Azerbaijan as well as by the people of the Republic of Azerbaijan in north-east of Iran. Other publications include an English translation, and first volume of the translation in French. Work is in progress on translations in four other languages, namely, Chinese, Japanese, Russian, and Turkish.

g. The Journal Tarjuman-e Wahy

    The biannual journal Tarjuman-e Wahy is published as a forum for interchange of views on the subject of translation and its problems and critical review of Qur’an translations. It is exclusively concerned with Qur’anic studies and translations. This journal was established in the later half of 1977 and since then its issues have been coming out regularly.  

h. Bibliography of Persian Translation Manuscript

    Historical evidence shows that the first translation of the Qur’an was made in Persian. Persian-speaking Muslims have since long been very deeply interested in producing Qur’anic translations. Unfortunately, till now there does not exist any comprehensive list of manuscripts of Persian translations of the Qur’an in various libraries, museums, and academic centers throughout the world. To fill this gap, a project is in progress at the Centre with the purpose of cataloguing all manuscripts of Qur’anic translations in Persian. This bibliography will contain the available relevant details of each manuscript, including the identity of the translator, the date of translation, the date of writing of the manuscript, the character of the translation, and all the other details that pertain to the manuscript.  

    We take this opportunity to request all those who possess any such manuscripts to inform the Centre about their details. For this purpose the Centre will provide them with a special form to fill in the details about he characteristics of their manuscript(s). In this way, they can make a significant contribution toward the comprehensiveness of the project.

i. A Descriptive Bibliography of Printed Translations

    The collection of Qur’anic translations at the Centre is large enough to compile a descriptive bibliography for each language in which there are already some translations. This will provide useful information to the readers about the number and quality of translations existing in any language. This project is in progress for Persian, English, and Urdu, as these languages have a relatively larger number of translations. The great dimensions and significance of the task requires that the Centre make the most of expert views of Qur’anic scholars, researchers, and translators throughout the world as well as benefit from the cooperation of institutions working in related fields. The Centre deeply appreciates all the work that has so far been accomplished, and welcomes any suggestions in order to attain better results.The Centre will greatly appreciate any cooperation from individuals and institutions that may help it enrich its collection of Qur’anic translations by obtaining new additions through purchase or donation .

  Indeed, it is with the cooperation of devoted friends of the Holy Qur’an that we hope to succeed in producing competent and worthy translations of this Book of universal guidance. Insha Allah.  

j. A Glance at the History of Translation of the Quran:

Persian

    No comprehensive study has yet been made of the general history of translation in the Islamic world, nor that of translation of the Holy Qur’an in particular. Muhammad Hamidullah, in the introduction to his French translation, has given an account of Qur’anic translations made in different languages. Adhartash Adharnush, in the first volume of his book Ta’rikh-e Tarjumeh az ‘Arabi beh Farsi, which is about the Persian translations, has studied several existing translations of the Qur’an pertaining to the period from the 4^th/10^th century up to the Safavid era (11^th/16^th century) on the basis of published works.

            In Islamic traditions there are certain references to translations of parts of the Qur’an by some Companions of the Holy Prophet (s). It is said, for instance, that Salman Farsi translated the Surat al-Fatihah, the opening surah of the Qur’an, for Persian-speaking Muslims, and that Ja‘far ibn Abu Talib translated certain verses pertaining to Prophet Jesus (‘a) and Mary (‘a) in the court of Negus, the king of Ethiopia, during his sojourn in that land. According to certain reports an oral translation of the Holy Qur’an was made by one Musa ibn Sayyar before 255/869.

            However the first written translation of the Qur’an was done in Persian and it was made by a group of scholars during the reign of Mansur ibn Nuh, the Samanid king (r. 350-365/961-976). That translation still exists and is commonly known as Tarjumeh Tafsir-e Tabari (translation of Tabari’s commentary in Arabic). But Adharnush is of the opinion that a close comparison between this work and Tabari’s commentary shows that it is an independent work, not a translation of Tabari’s celebrated commentary. As mentioned, Adharnush’s study is based on published translations, while there are more than a thousand Persian translation works in the form of manuscripts which still await close study.