The article analyzes the history of translations of the Koran in Russia. Great attention is paid to the biographies of translators. The first Russian edition of the Koran turned out to be associated with an indigenous person of the Peter the Great era, the first doctor who graduated in Russia, awarded a doctoral degree from a West European university, Peter Postnikov. The translation of Koran was made from the French translation by André Du Ryer. The secondary transfer of the text into another language does not allow us to impose any serious demands to the translation of Postnikov in terms of adequacy to the Arabic original. The first scientifically commented translation was made by Aleksey Vasilievich Kolmakov, a professional translator from English at the Admiralty collegium. In 1787, the first in Russia edition of the main sacred book of Muslims in Arabic was published in St. Petersburg, and at the end of the 18th century, – new Russian translations of the sacred book. The most important was the translation, published in 1790 and carried out by Mikhail Ivanovich Verevkin, a writer popular at that time, and translator. Gordiy Sablukov is considered as the first official translator of the Koran from Arabic. However, seven years before his translation made in 1878, there was an unknown translation of Islam’s main sacred book from the original language, authored by general Dmitry Boguslavsky. Both translations are not so much a revelation of the actual content of the book, but a reflection of its interpretations by Muslim theologians. The difference between these two translations consisted only in the fact that Sablukov used theological commentaries of the Koran, popular among the Kazan Tatars, while Boguslavsky – the Koranic interpretations of Turkish theologians. This approach was very important for studying the evolution of Muslim thought. The Boguslavsky’s translation was discovered and studied in detail by academician Krachkovsky. His publication was found only at the very end of the last century. A presentation of the Koran edition in the translation of general Boguslavsky was given at the Moscow International Book Fair of 1995.

Quaran, Islam, translation, the Arab language, Russian literature, interpretation, exegesis

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