This is the first complete translation of Jalāl al-Dīn al-Suyūṭī’s K. al-Itqān fi ʿulūm al-Qurʾān into a European language. An English translation of the first 35 chapters, by Hamid Algar, Michael Schub and Ayman Abdel Haleem, was published by Garnet in 2011, although, as many reviewers have noted, this English translation has a number of issues around the way the text has been edited, translated, and even transliterated. A partial translation by Muneer Fareed is also available online (see vol. 1, p. 34). This new French translation by Michel Lagarde has, without doubt, been produced to a much higher standard and with more consideration and thought. As this is a review of a translation, this review will focus on three key areas: (i) the scholarly introduction to the translation; (ii) the translation itself; and (iii) its usability as a primary source.
The introduction that prefaces the translation (vol. 1, pp. 1–39) provides a brief outline of the work, a short biography of al-Suyūṭī (pp. 3–5), and a discussion of the way al-Suyūṭī arranged material in the Itqān (pp. 5–9) into chapters (nawʿ), with various subdivisions: faṣl (division), masʾala (question), tadhnīb (addendum), qāʾida (rule), farʿ (consquence), and khātima (conclusion), as well as faʾida (remarks) and tanbīh (notes). The way in which al-Suyūṭī makes use of these divisions would benefit from further research. Lagarde then provides a brief overview of the content of the Itqān (pp. 9–17); a discussion of problems associated with the text (pp. 17–23), and the debate about the originality of the Itqān (pp. 23–6). This is followed by a brief discussion of the work's reception (pp. 26–9), and technical material relating the production of the translation (pp. 29–39).
The translation is based on the six-volume critical edition published by the Markaz al-Dirāsāt al-Qurʾāniyya in Medina, Saudi Arabia in 2005. This edition was based on a manuscript dated to 883/1478, copied by Jarāmurd al-Nāṣirī al-Ḥanafī al-Muqriʾ, a contemporary of al-Suyūṭī, with further evidence that al-Suyūṭī read and annotated this manuscript. This critical edition also makes use of a further 10 manuscripts (see vol. 1, pp. 30–32). Consequently, Largarde's translation is based on a highly critical edition of the text, using a significant number of manuscript sources. The Markaz al-Dirāsāt al-Qurʾāniyya critical edition also makes use of critical editions of ḥadīth collections and exegetical sources, where possible, to check the wording of the ḥadīth included in the text (see vol. 1, pp. 32–6). Lagarde includes page references to this edition throughout his translation, making it easy to locate the Arabic text (if one has this particular edition to hand).
The Itqān includes many passages that are very terse and include technical terms that can often be difficult to render in a different language. However, these have been handled with care and the translation remains close to the text and is relatively easy to follow, even in the more technical chapters, such as those on Quranic recitation and phonology (e.g. §30 on imāla). Throughout the translation, Arabic works are transliterated rather than translated which is helpful, apart from the Ṣaḥīḥayn, which are given a French title. Lagarde glosses translated words with their original in Arabic, which is often helpful and sometimes necessary, such as in the list of 77 rhetorical terms in §58 (al-Badāʾī; vol. 2, pp. 968–71).
Lagarde's translation is extremely usable and the text is clearly printed and arranged on the page. Lagarde ensures that any additions he is making to the text are clearly marked, even when he is providing subtitles for sections. These subtitles are also very helpful as they enable the structure of the work to be seen, but also indicate the translator's intervention in the text. Footnotes are included but are kept to a minimum and are not intrusive. Where appropriate Lagarde provides the page numbers of cross-references within the text, which is also very helpful.
Passages which are marked in the Arabic by tanbīh (note) and fāʾida (remark) are indicated with a line down the side of the text in the margin. Largarde says that this is because they are often asides that interrupt the flow of the text (“car bien souvent ils sont à considerer comme des notes qui interrompent généralement le fil du discours principal”, vol. 1, p. 38). On reading the text this can be helpful to indicate passages that are related but not directly relevant to the topic at hand. Lagarde's highlighting of these passages does raise an interesting question concerning how the tanbīhs and fāʾidas function within the text and these would certainly benefit from further reflection.
The work includes an index of Quranic references (vol. 2, pp. 1341–81), an index of scholars and authorities cited in the Itqān (vol. 2, pp. 1382–1407), which includes a very brief biography of each figure; and lastly an index of works cited (vol. 2, pp. 1408–38). This last appendix also gives references to published editions of these works – a resource that many scholars will find invaluable.
For anyone wanting to engage with the Quran in a scholarly way, the Itqān is a key work and Lagarde's translation provides a helpful entry into the text. This is not simply because it is accessible and successful as a translation; the way in which Largarde has presented the material makes it much easier to engage with and follow al-Suyūṭī’s work. Beyond that, the appendices at the end of the second volume provide a wealth of material that will be useful to many scholars. I hope that Lagarde's translation will not merely be a useful and beneficial resource, but that it may also generate much-needed study and reflection on a key work of the classical period that has been largely neglected in scholarly circles.
