Elkhas Veysi - Department of Linguistics, Payame Noor University, Tehran, Iran
Bahman Gorjian - Department of ELT, Abadan Branch, Islamic Azad University, Abadan, Iran

This research delves into the intricate art of translating cultural elements and identifying appropriate equivalents for Quranic words. The primary objective is to investigate the strategies employed in the translation of Qur’ānic and religious terms, while also shedding light on the main sources of mistranslation. The study examines four renowned English translations of the Holy Qur’ān, namely those by Muhammad Shakir (۱۹۷۶), Abdullah Yusuf Ali (۱۹۸۷), Marmaduke Pickthall (۱۹۸۶) and Arthur Arberry (۱۹۵۵). The dataset comprises terms derived from the original Arabic text of the Holy Qur’ān and their corresponding equivalents in the aforementioned English versions. Consequently, this study identifies and compares the religious and culture-specific terms within these translations, aiming to ascertain the underlying causes of mistranslations. The findings of this research reveal that the process of finding accurate equivalents for Qur’ānic and religious terms is inherently complex. Furthermore, it highlights that the challenge of finding suitable equivalents arises from translators' lack of awareness regarding the culture of the target language as well as the intricacies involved in transferring the source language's essence to the target language.

equivalent, Qur’ān, source language, target language, translation