College of Arts

The Department of Translation at College of Arts held a viva for a Master of Arts thesis entitled “THE TRANSLATION OF KĀNA AND ITS SISTERS IN THE GLORIOUS QUR’ĀN INTO ENGLISH,” on September 14, 2021 in the Hall of College of Arts.The M. A. thesis submitted by the student (Ammar Yousif Ferman) in the Department of Translation, dealt with Kāna and its sisters, or the so-called ‘incomplete verbs’ or ‘converters to accusative’ in Arabic. The question of how to convey the accurate meanings and time references of such verbs in the Glorious Qur’ān into English is the subject matter of this study. The problem doesn’t reside in translating each verb individually, but syntactically in conjunction with other elements for the purpose of achieving accurate transfer of meaning.The study aims at investigating the syntactic uses and semantic functions of kāna and its sisters and how they are contextually translated in the Glorious Qur’ān into English, as well as providing English learners and translators with a table containing the most likely English translations of these verbs.The study concluded that the difference in nature, uses, and functions of kāna and its sisters in Arabic cause an obstacle for translators to come up with the accurate choice for their renderings in the TL. These verbs may occur in different constructions and contexts to signify time references other than the original. Accurate renditions are achieved and conveyed literally to the TL, namely when these verbs behave like complete verbs in both languages.The viva’s committee was chaired by Prof. Dr. Muhammad Basil Qassem from AlNoor University College, with the membership of Prof. Dr. Luqman Abdul Karim Nasser and Assistant Professor Dr. Najat Abdul Rahman Hassan, and under the supervision and membership of Prof. Dr. Abdul Rahman Ahmed Abdul Rahman.