Apologetic Quran translation No.1: From “maidens with swelling breasts” to just “maidens”.
English Quran translations are filled with apologetic translations. I am starting a series correcting such mistranslations. This series might last longer than “Days of Our Lives".
The first episode:
In Sura no.78, the verses from 31 to 36 describe what the believers will get in heaven. According to Yusuf Ali's translation, which is the most popular Quran translation as stated by Zakir Nayik in this video
according to Yusuf Ali’s translation verse number 33 (وكواعب أترابا) says that the believers in heaven will have: “companions of equal age”. In the commentary Yusuf Ali says: “maidens or virgins, symbols of purity, grace, beauty, innocence, truth, and sympathy”.
Yusuf Ali has used many words except for one word which is what the verse is actually about: The breasts.
The verse says: wa Kawaa’ib.
“wa” means “and’.
Kawaa’ib is the plural of Kaa’ib.
Lane’s lexicon is an Arabic English dictionary that's based on numerous medieval Arabic sources.
According to lane’s lexicon, Kaa’ib means: a girl whose breasts are beginning to swell, or having swelling breasts.
What do Quran interpreters say about the word kaa’ib? I looked at 20 interpretations of the Quran from different ages and different schools of thought. All of them mention the breasts except for Al-Shanqiti who didn't comment on the word Kawaa’ib.
Let's take for example Ibn Kathir’s interpretation, which is the most popular interpretation of the Quran today. He says:
“Kawaa’ib means that their breasts haven't dangled yet because the girls are virgins.”
The majority of Quran interpreters, such as Al-Tabari, said that Kaa’ib means Nahid. According to lane's lexicon, Nahid means: “A girl, or woman, having swelling breasts or a woman whose breasts have become full.”
So when you look at Arabic dictionaries and Quran interpretations, you find that Kawaa’ib unanimously means girls with a specific kind of breasts. But in the English translations of the Quran, it's a different story.
http://islamawakend.com  lists 51 different translations for every verse of the Quran. This website classifies Quran translations under three categories:
35 translations are described as generally accepted translations.
11 are described as controversial.
5 are by non-Muslims.
When you look at the translations listed for verse 78:33
https://www.islamawakened.com/quran/78/33/default.htm
you find that all the five non-Muslim translators have mentioned the breasts, with the last one using the word bosom which means breast.
But out of the 35 accepted Muslim translators, only 11 mention the breasts. While most of the rest just say companions or maidens, with no mention of the breasts at all.
Even the website that lists all these translations mistranslates in the literal word by word translation:
kawaa’ib becomes splendid companions.
This website took this literal translation from “The glorious Quran word-for-word translation to facilitate learning of Quranic Arabic" by Dr. Shehnaz Sheikh.
This book translated Kawaa’ib as splendid companions.
So even in a word for word translation, Kawaa’ib was translated in a misleading apologetic way.
Since that http://Quran.com  is the first result you get when you google “quran”, let’s take a look at how it treated the verse.
The website uses the new Bridges’ Translation which is the first translation that includes the ten canonical readings.
According to this work, Kawaa’ib means “high-class spouses” 🤦‍♂️
https://quran.com/78 
What about the literal translation http://Quran.com  provides? it’s based on Dr. Shehnaz book. So when you hover the mouse over Kawaa’ib, it shows: Splendid companions.
What about the Tafsirs the website provides? There's only one Tafsir in English, and it says: And women of similar ages.
So Kawaa’ib was translated as just “women”.
So all the three sorts of translations the website provides for the verse were misleading.
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