Quran 7:40 – Why Jamal/Jummal Translated As Camel Instead Of Rope
Given the fact that many classical and early commentaries including Kashshaf and Tafsir al Kabir read it as “rope” (jummal), the issue remains open for interpretation and there should be no dogmatic closure on one interpretation on the mere basis of majority. Please also remember that the insertion of diacritical marks was a human effort, not divinely supervised. So, please leave some room for disagreement. The biblical rendering as “camel” (Matthew xix, 24, Mark x, 25 and Luke xviii, 25) does not affect this contention. “One should remember that the Gospels were originally composed in Aramaic, the language of Palestine at the time of Jesus, and that those Aramaic texts are now lost. It is more than probable that, owing to the customary absence of vowel signs in Aramaic writing, the Greek translator misunderstood the consonant spelling g-m-l (corresponding to the Arabic j-m-l), and took it to mean “a camel”: a mistake repeated since, with regard to the above Qur’an-verse, by many Muslims and all, non-Muslim orientalists as well.” ~ Asad