An Innovative Study of the First Published Qur’ān Translation into Russian (1716): A Review of A Translation of the Quran of the Petrine Era by T. V. Pentkovskaya, E. E. Babayeva (Moscow: MAKS Press, 2022)

Abstract

The review is devoted to the monograph Perevod Korana Petrovskoy epokhi (“A Translation of the Quran of the Petrine Era”) (2022) by Russian researchers T. V. Pentkovskaya and E. E. Babayeva. This monograph presents a groundbreaking linguistic, textual, and cultural study of the first complete translation of the Qur’ān into Russian, published in Saint Petersburg in 1716. The authors have analyzed the sources and linguistic features of the translation and proposed a hypothesis regarding the possible authorship of Count P. A. Tolstoy. Special attention is paid to the controversial aspects related to the historical context of the work’s creation, as well as to certain inaccuracies of an orientalist and linguistic nature. In conclusion, it is emphasized that the publication of the monograph is a significant event in Russian humanities. Pentkovskaya T. V., Babayeva E. E. Perevod Korana Petrovskoy epokhi. Moscow: MAKS Press, 2022. 800 s. (In Russ.). ISBN 978-5-317-06849-3.