ALCORAN Alcorani Textus Universus ex correctioribus Arabum exemplaribus summa fide, atque pulcherrimis characteribus descriptus, eademque fide, ac pari diligentia ex Arabico idiomate in Latinum translatus ; appositis unicuique capiti notis, atque refutatione : His omnibus praemissus est Prodromus… Auctore Ludovico Marraccio.

Première édition de l’importante traduction de Marracci et la première biographie de Mahomet en Europe.

En 1691 Ludovico Marracci, confesseur d’Innocent XI, après plus de quarante ans d’études du Coran et des divers commentateurs musulmans, publia le tome premier, un Prodomus à une édition du Coran et dans lequel parait la première biographie de Mahomet en Europe d’après les sources arabes et dont Hinckelman fit l’éloge dans son édition arabe du Coran en 1694. En 1698 il compléta son oeuvre avec deux autres volumes d’une traduction annotée, du texte arabe et de la réfutation. Cette oeuvre gigantesque Marracci devait la proposer aux missionnaires en terre d’islam comme vade-mecum, leur permettant de réfuter point par point les éventuelles objections de leurs adversaires musulmans.

L’oeuvre se présente sous le double et singulier aspect d’une traduction commentée du texte sacré de l’Islam et de sa totale mise en question, tant pour l’ensemble de la doctrine, réfutée dans le préambule, que pour les propositions réfutées l’une après l’autre. Disposition due probablement à la défense émanant du Pape Alexandre VIII, à l’occasion de la réédition par Bibliander du Corpus Clunisien, de publier le Coran soit dans le texte, soit en traduction. Mais, de ce fait, le mérite incontesté de Marracci aura été d’avoir, le premier, étudié et diffusé les sources arabes de la doctrine religieuse islamique.

“The date of the 17th century does not occur by chance but is usually connected to the appearance at the end of it of the Latin translation and critical discussion of the Qur’ân by Ludovico Marracci (1612–1700). Marracci was a member of the order of the Clerks Regular of the Mother of God, a prominent figure in the Catholic Rome of his time, and even confessor to Pope Innocent XI, but at the same time he was a renowned scholar of Oriental languages and the author of many works. Amongst these works, his major accomplishment was his Alcorani textus universus which appeared in 1698 in Padua. Ludovico Marracci is generally considered today as the first “modern” Western translator of the Qur’ân, the first one to make wide use of Islamic exegetical and other sources and the translator who produced the first faithful and correct translation from the Arabic. This is almost taken for granted in the works related to these topics which have been appearing over the last few years. Thus, in this line of thought, we find it stated that Marracci’s translation was in fact the “best ever made translation into Latin.”

According to Bernard Lewis, in his essay on Islam and the West, “Marracci knew Arabic very well, and he consulted a wide range, impressive for that time, of Arabic sources.” It is taken for granted that Marracci’s translation “outclassed early efforts.” Specialists in the field of Western translations and scholars of Muslim exegesis share the same high opinion. Bobzin stresses his high esteem for Marracci’s translation in various works. Notwithstanding the work’s vigorous polemical intent and contents, Bobzin praises “its undeniable philological merits” (Roberto Tottoli, New Light on the Translation of the Qur’ân of Ludovico Marracci from His Manuscripts Recently Discovered at the Order of the Mother of God in Rome, Brill, Islamic History and Civilization, 2015, vol. 113).

“[This edition was prepared by] Ludovico Marraccio (also known as Luiggi Marracci in Italian, 1612-1700) and published in Padova (Italy). The author was a monk of the Jesuite Order and, due to good education, had a good command of the Arabic language. The Pope appointed him as the professor of Arabic in the College of Wisdom – Sapienza University of Rome (in Italian, Sapienza means wisdom), for his proficiency in that language. He later declined the promotion of being appointed as Cardinal. His edition, preserved in various libraries, entitled as Alcorani Textus Universus (A complete text of the Qu’ran) and is published in 2 volumes. There are two main texts in these volumes : the first one is the Arabic original and the second one is the Latin translation. The edition also included a short outline of Muhammad’s (peace upon him) life, with notes and ‘refutations’ of Islamic beliefs. Luiggi Maracci’s introduction (Ad refutatione Alcorani) also compiled in a form of ‘refutation’ comparing the Qu’ran with the Christian doctrines. Nevertheless Marracci has acknowledged the importance of Islamic exegetics (tafsir) : in some parts of his explanations, he refers to ‘Beidavius’, and Zamchalcerius (meaning ‘Abd Allah al-Baydawi and Umar al-Zamalhshari, extremely popular in the Ottoman empire). There are also some links to ‘Thalebiensis’, meaning Abu Ishaq al-Thalabi… Marracci’s edition gained much popularity mostly due to its Latin translation, widely used by European Orientalists. This translation became an important source of other renditions: for instance the one by Georges Sale (first published in 1734) into English” (Mykhaylo Yakubo, History of Printing of the Qu’ran in Europe : Editions, their Quality and Accuracy, 20165, pp. 51-76).

“Ludovico Marracci’s translation of the Holy Quran (published 1698) is, in our view, one of the most elaborate translations of this text into European languages. The abundance of impressionistic and sketchy views on this translation which have been, by and large, evoked by Marracci’s anti-Muslims sentiments and arguments, have overshadowed his painstaking linguistic achievement… By the year 1698, the date of publication of Marracci’s translation, Muslim Turks were in control of all North Africa and a number of European countries. This seems to have evoked a number of translations of the Quran including the first German translation by Schweiggern (1623). Against this evolving background Marracci’s translation came to pin down the exact wording of the Quran in Latin, a task which was not undertaken by the first Latin translation by Retensis and Dalmati published in 1543… Marracci’s translation under the title Refutatio Alcorani is central to the study of the rise of a specific religious genre in European languages… The most striking aspect of Marracci’s translation of the Quran is the fact that, contrary to the general belief, and quite unexpectedly, following the flamboyant title, Refutatio Alcorani, it is ‘faithful to the original” (Omar A. Sheikh Al-Shabab, in : The Place of Marracci’s Translation of the Holy Quran, King Saud Univ. Vol. 13, Lang. & Transl. pp. 57-74).

Très bon exemplaire, provenant de la bibliothèque des princes de Liechtenstein (ex-libris).