Gassick Analysis

The translations of Gassick and Kilias of the above excerpt show how the linguistic message is achieved in the target text, but the social practice presented in the source text may not be fully assimilated by the target reader. The custom mentioned in the original, by reciting the First Sura (Chapter) of the Qur’an, is a sign for the initial marriage agreement. When all parties agree to the marriage, they usually recite this verse. The first verse of the Qur’an is called Al-Fatihah. Gassick paraphrases this verse as “the opening verse of the Qur’an”, whereas Kilias uses transliteration ‘die Fatiha’ for the source-text lexical term ‘Fatiha’ providing it with a clarification “die ersten Verse aus dem Koran, wie das bei Verlobungen üblich ist”

Polygamy is one of the factors that distinguish the Arab Muslim culture from the Anglo-American and German cultures. Although polygamy is not a common practice among Muslims, it does exist and has an influence on the thoughts and perceptions of Muslim society (Aziz 1982: 27). It is difficult to find an appropriate equivalent of the Arabic word ‘تعدد الزوجات’ [multiple marriages]. The English word ‘polygamy’ may not be connotationally suitable in some contexts because it is forbidden in Anglo-American and German culture to have two wives, and that is why the target readers may have a negative attitude towards polygamy, which is not the case in the Arab

In fact, marriage is seen as nisfidin (half of the religion). In this vein, Hajiya Bilkisu Yusuf states:

Marriage (nikah) in Islam is ... a religious responsibility to be undertaken by those who are ready to live according to rules guiding the institution ... The Quran and hadith ... refer to marriage as half of one’s faith. Marriage is traced to the creation of Adam (Peace be upon him) and the creation of Hauwa (Eve) as his companion. (2005: 3)

When a Muslim intends to get married, some people might say that ‘he wants to complete his religion’. Another important and compulsory condition in Islamic marriage is the husband’s payment of Mahr, which is a sum of money or any other form of property given to the bride by the groom at the time of marriage. Mahmood defined Mahr thus:

Dower, under Mohammedan law, is a sum of money or other property promised by the husband to be paid or delivered to the wife in consideration of the marriage, and even where no dower is expressly fixed or mentioned at the marriage ceremony, the law confers the right of dower upon the wife as a necessary effect of marriage. (qtd in Pearl 1987: