The Image of Hur Alayn in the Wording of Arthur Arberry's Translation of the Meaning of the Quranic Verses: A Cultural Perspective

Abstract

This study focuses on the image of hur alayn as presented by the wording of Arthur Arberry in his translation of the meaning of the sixteen Quranic verses which mention hur alayn in The Koran Interpreted (1955).Human attempts at bringing the image of hur alayn, which no eye has seen and no ear has heard, closer to the imagination of the human mind need skillful wording that can appeal to the senses and stimulate imagination of certain sensory experiences. Accuracy and faithfulness of Arberry's translation is beyond the scope of this paper. The researchers present themselves in the paper as the readers who interact with the text and display their responses driven by their cultural sensibility. They perceive the image of hur alayn as that of beautiful, young and virgin female creatures of Paradise who have the physical shape of human women and will be espoused to the righteous human male believers as a reward from God for their good deeds in earthly life. Concepts of purity and chastity are emphasized in the researchers'/readers ‘responses which associate the text's meanings with their culture's meanings of femininity and practices of gender roles. The researchers' reading of the text and processing of its information as individual readers who share the same cultural attitudes seem to have produced similar responses from the cultural perspective.