Ignaty Krachkovsky; Most Renowned Translator of Quran into Russian
Krachkovsky (March 1883, Vilnius — 24 January 1951, Leningrad) was a Russian and Soviet Arabist, academician of the Russian Academy of Science (since 1921; since 1925 Academy of Science of the USSR) and one of the founders of the Soviet school of Arab studies.
His book of recollections Among Arabic Manuscripts was awarded Stalin Prize (in 1951).
He was also among the scholars contributing to the first Encyclopedia of Islam. He wrote an article for the encyclopedia on Abi Bakr Muhammad ibn Yahya al-Suli.
Krachkovsky wrote the most famous translation of the Holy Quran into the Russian language.
Rendering the Quran into Russian began in the early 1700s at the order of Peter the Great, Tsar of all Russia from 1682, and the first Emperor of all Russia from 1721 until his death in 1725.
Currently, there are 15 Russian translations of the Quran. In 1716, Pyotr Postinkov published the first translation of the Quran in Russian based in the French translation of André du Ryer. Gordiy Sablukov published the first Russian translation of the Quran from the Arabic original text in 1873.
The other translators of the Quran into Russian included: Mikhail Veryovkin (1790), Alexey Kolmakov (1792), K. Nikolaev (1864), Gordiyya Sablukov (1877), Valeria Iman Porokhova (1993), Fazil Qarauqlu (1994), Raul Bukarayev (2006) and U. Z. Sharipov and R.M. Sharipova (2006).
Also Shamil Alaeddinov has written an interpretation of the meanings of the Quran in four volumes.
The translation by Krachkovsky is seen by many as being a valuable one. Quran renderings into Russian before him had two major flaws. First, most of them had been translated from a language other than Arabic. And second, they belonged to a tradition of Tsarist Russia’s orientalism in which a kind of enmity with Muslims and Islam could be detected.
Krachkovsky moved away from that. He had spent years living in Arab countries and learning the Arabic language so he was familiar with the complexities and nuances of the Arabic language. He was also familiar with the Arabic literature, which helped him realize the unique and special style of the Quran.
He made all-out efforts to convey this style in the translation. He also tried to write the translation in such a way that it would be possible to read for readers at different levels.
Krachkovsky spent 40 years in rendering the Quran into Russian but it was published in 1963, 12 years after his death. It is one of the best Russian renderings of the Quran and arguably one of the best translations of the Holy Book in any language.
After the collapse of the Soviet Union, the interest in translating the Quran grew in the new CIS republics and in Russia. The translations by Krachkovsky and Sablukov have been reprinted and new translations have also been published.
