In other words: The ethics of the Translator in 17th century Al-Andalus. The perspective of Ahmad Ibn Qasim al-Hagari al-Andalusi

Abstract

This study focuses on a particular aspect of the Translation Studies or Dirāsāt al-tarǧamah, i.e. the ethics of the translator. Starting from the analysis of concepts like “cultural otherness” or “linguistic hospitality”, theorized by Antoine Berman, Lawrence Venuti and Paul Ricoeur, and concerning the translator’s process of mediating between languages and between cultures, it will be taken into account the specific case of a muslim traveller and interpreter, Aḥmad ibn Qāsim al-Ḥaǧarī al-Andalusī (d. 1051/1641), author of the Kitāb Nāṣir al-dīn ʿalà l-qawm al-kāfirīn, who was asked, by a Christian authority (the Archbishop of Granada), to translate some Arabic manuscripts. In such a context, the act of translating highlights not only the problem of hermeneutics and inter-religious dialogue, as interpretation of a different text and a different faith’s language, but also the problem of ethic relationships inherent in encountering the Other.