TRANSLATION OF ENGLISH ISLAMIC MARRIAGE CERTIFICATE IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA/TEXAS INTO ARABIC

Abstract

The present study evaluates and examines three translations, provided by three students who have master degree in translation, for a sample of English Islamic Marriage contract that is officially utilized by Muslims in the United States/ Texas. The central aim of the study is to identify the main issues which are usually faced by the legal translators in translating English International Islamic marriage contracts in the United States of America/Texas and Islamic matrimony registration forms and examining the procedures adopted by translators concerning the translation of official documentsThey followed Peter Newmark’s Theory (1988) of Semantic and Communicative translation in translating this legal document which includes cultural-bound terms related specifically to the Islamic beliefs and concepts that are considered fundamental parts of formulating such documents and raise a real challenge for legal translators due to the source language and target language related to diverse linguistic families and different legal systems and religious cultures. So, different translation issues have been committed by the translators in the usage of lexical items according to the current context. It is worth mentioning that the current document issued by "Frisco Masjid Inc.”, in which it is an organization concerning the affairs of Muslims in the American United States/Texas. The most important conclusion is the legal translator should first opt for the communicative technique due to the multiple terminologies that have no suitable equivalence in the target TL at the same time s/he should be aware of employing such procedure to grasp the alike alike ated lawful impact of the source language’s words.