# Sheikh Hamad Award for Translation and International Understanding

The Sheikh Hamad Award for Translation and International Understanding is a Qatari literary award for translation from and to Arabic. The total value of the award is $2 million. It is named in honor of Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani, the ruling Emir of Qatar from 1995 to 2013. It is among the world's richest literary prizes for translation.

## History

Sheikh Hamad Award for Translation and International Understanding was initiated by the FAIR Forum (Forum for Arab and International Relations), in Doha, Qatar in 2015, in order to revive the culture of honoring translation and translators, which has been one of the pillars of Arab civilization throughout the ages. From Bayt Al-Hikma (The House of Wisdom) to Madrasat Al-Alsun (School of languages), translation played a major role in the exchanges between the Arab culture and the world throughout history. It enabled to convey thoughts and words and to build bridges between the two sides. Today, translation and translators still have an important role in promoting peace and harmony between different cultures.
The annual award consists of three categories:
* The Translation Awards: include four branches: from Arabic to English, from English to Arabic, from Arabic to a second language and from the second language to Arabic. Each branch is worth $200,000 ($100,000 first place, $60,000 second place and $40,000 third place).
* The Achievement awards: up to ten branches: the translation from Arabic to 5 other languages and the translation from these 5 languages to Arabic. Each branch is worth up to $100,000.
* The International Understanding Award: worth $200,000 for a single winner, it aims at recognizing the efforts of an individual or institution in building a culture of peace and promoting international understanding.

## 2021

The second language for the Translation Award was Chinese. The languages for the Achievement Awards category were Urdu, Amharic, Greek, and Dutch.
Translation Awards
| Category | Rank | Winner (s) | Translated Book |
| English to Arabic | Second | Mu`īn Rūmīyah | Dictionary of the Social Sciences edited by Craig Calhoun |
| English to Arabic | Third | Jamāl Ibrāhīm Sharaf | The American Pragmatists by Cheryl Misak |
| Arabic to English | Second | Ovamir Anjum | Ranks of the Divine Seekers by Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyya |
| Chinese to Arabic | First | Yārā Ibrāhīm `Abd al-`Azīz al-Maṣrī | al-Ḥubb fi al-qarn al-jadīd by Can Xue |
| Chinese to Arabic | First bis. | Isrā’ `Abd al-Sayyid Ḥasan Muḥammad Ḥajar et.al. | Mawsū`at tārīkh al-Ṣīn edited by Zhang Qizhi |
| Chinese to Arabic | Third | Ḥasanayn Fahmī Ḥusayn | Thaqāfat al-ţa`ām al-Ṣīnī by Xie Dingyuan |
| Arabic to Chinese | First | Ge Tieying (Māhir) | al-Bukhalā` by al-Jāḥiẓ |
| Arabic to Chinese | Second | Wang Fu (Farīdah) | Ṭawq al Ḥamām by Rajā’ `Ālim |
Achievement Awards
| Category | Winners |
| Achievement | Li Zhenzhong (`Alī) Bayt al-Ḥikmah Group for Culture (Egypt) |
| Achievement Awards in Languages | Urdu - Muḥammad Ṭufayl Hāshimī Urdu - `Abd al-Kabīr Muḥsin Amharic - Al-Najāshī for Publishing and Distribution Amharic - Ḥasan Tājū Legas Greek - Persa Koumoutsi Greek - Khālid Ra’ūf Dutch - Richard van Leeuwen |
| Translation Encouragement Award | Usāma Ghawjī Fahd Muţlaq al-`Utaybī |

## 2017

The second language for the Translation Award category was French. The languages for the Achievement Awards category are Japanese, Chinese, Persian, Urdu and Malay.
Source:

### Translation Awards

| Category | Rank | Winner(s) | Translated book |
| Arabic to French | First | Philippe Vigreux | La Parole Est D’or (Maqāmāt al-Hamadhānī) |
| Arabic to French | Second | Frédéric Lagrange | Les Basses Oeuvres (Tarmī bisharar by `Abduh Khal) |
| Arabic to French | Second | May A. Mahmoud | Papa Sartre (Bābā Sartre by `Alī Badr) |
| French to Arabic | First | Maḥmūd Ṭarshūnah | Al-Yaman al-Sa`īd and Al-Yaman al-Islāmī (Le Yémen Bienheureux and Le Yémen Islamique by Radhi Daghfous) |
| French to Arabic | First | Jān Mājid Jabbūr | Zaman al-Madhlūlīn (Le Temps des Humiliés by Bertrand Badie) |
| French to Arabic | Second | Jamāl Sheḥayyed | Al-Masarrāt wa-al-Ayyām (Les Plaisirs et les Jours by Marcel Proust) |
| French to Arabic | Third | Muḥmmad Ḥātimīand Muḥmmad Jādūr | Al-Uṣūl al-Ijtimā`īyah wa-al- Thaqāfīyah lil Waṭanīyah al-Maghribīyah (Les origines sociales et culturelles du nationalisme marocain by Abdallah Laroui) |
| French to Arabic | Third | Aḥmad al-Ṣādiqī | Ibn `Arabī, Sīratuhu wa Fikruhu (Ibn ‘Arabi ou La Quête du Soufre Rouge by Claude Addas) |
| Arabic to English | First | Paul Starkey | The Shell (Al-Qawqa`ah by Muṣṭafá Khalīfah) |
| Arabic to English | First | Katharine Halls and Adam Talib | The Dove’s Necklace (Ṭawq al-Ḥamām by Rajā’ `Ālim) |
| Arabic to English | Second | Jibrīl Fu’ād Ḥaddād | The Lights of Revelation and the Secrets of Interpretation (Anwār al-Tanzīl fī Asrār al-ta’wīl by Al-Bayḍāwī) |
| English to Arabic | First | Mujāb Al-Imām and Mu`īn Al-Imām | Uṣūl al-Niẓām al-Siyāsī and al-Niẓām al-Siyāsī wa al-Inḥiṭāṭ al-Siyāsī (The Origins of Political Order and Political Order and Political Decay by Francis Fukuyama) |
| English to Arabic | Second | Yūsūf Bin `Uthmān | Dirāsāt Niūtūnīyah (Newtonian Studies by Alexandre Koyré) |
| English to Arabic | Third | Ḥamzah Bin Qabalān | Ayyu Naw`in Mina al-Makhlūqāt Naḥnu? (What Kind of Creatures Are We? by Noam Chomsky) |

### Achievement Awards

| Category | Winners |
| Achievement Award for the French language | Sindbad Publishers – Arles, France |
| Translation and Dictionaries Studies | Īsá Mammīshī Muḥammad Dīdāwī Ḥasan Sa`īd Ghazālah |
| Achievement Awards in Eastern Languages (Chinese, Persian, Japanese, Malay, Urdu) | `Abd al-Jabbār al-Rifā`ī Xue Qing Guo (Bassām) Muḥammad al-Sa`īd Jamāl al-Dīn `Abd al-`Azīz Ḥamdī `Abd al-`Azīz Ḥafiẓ Ikrām-ul-Ḥaqq Jalāl al-Sa`īd al-Hifnāwī Encyclopaedia Islamica Foundation - Tehran |

## 2016 Edition

The second language for 2016 was Spanish.
Source:
| Category | Rank | Winner(s) | Translated book |
| Arabic to English | First | Michael Cooperson | Virtues of the Imām Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal by Ibn al-Jawzī |
| Arabic to Spanish | First | Salvador Peña Martín | Mil y una noches in four volumes |
| Arabic to Spanish | Second | Ignacio Ferrando | Azazel by Youssef Ziedan |
| Arabic to Spanish | Third | Mahmud Sobh | El diván de la poesía Árabe oriental y Andalusí |
| English to Arabic | First | Murād Tadghūt | Arabic Manuscripts: A Vademecum for Readers by Adam Gacek |
| English to Arabic | Second | Ḥasan Ḥilmī | The Cantos of Ezra Pound (selections) and Personae: Collected Shorter Poems (selections) |
| English to Arabic | Third | Muṣṭafa Muḥammad `abd Allah Qāsim | Constantinople: City of the World's Desire 1453-1924 by Philip Mansel |
| Spanish to Arabic | First | Saleh Almani | Diez mujeres by Marcela Serrano |
| Spanish to Arabic | Second | Sulaymān Al `aṭṭār | El ingenioso hidalgo don Quijote de la Mancha |
| Spanish to Arabic | Third | `alī Ibrāhīm Menūfī | Hatshapsut: de reina a Faraón de Egipto by Teresa Bedman and Francisco J. Martín Valentín |
| Achievement Award | | Casa Árabe, Madrid, Córdoba, Spain | |
| Achievement Award | | Banipal Publishing, London, UK | |
| Achievement Award | | Ibn Tufayl Foundation for Arabic Studies, Almería, Spain | |

## 2015 Edition

The second language for 2017 was Turkish.
Source:
| Category | Rank | Winner(s) | Translated book |
| Arabic to English | First | Geert Jan van GelderGregor Schoeler | Epistle of Forgiveness by Al-Ma`arrī |
| Arabic to English | Second | Imran Ahsan Khan Nyazee | The Reconciliation of the Fundamentals of Islamic Law by al-Shāṭibī |
| Arabic to English | Second | Issa Boullata | The Unique Necklace by Ibn `Abd Rabbihi |
| Arabic to English | Third | Ferial GhazoulJohn Verlenden | Chronicles of Majnun Layla and Selected Poems |
| Arabic to Turkish | First | Muhammet Ҫelik | al-`aql al-akhlāqī al-`Arabī by Muḥammad `Ābid al-Jābirī |
| Arabic to Turkish | Second | Osman Guman | Dalā’il al-i`jāz by `Abd al-Qāhir al-Jurjānī |
| Arabic to Turkish | Third | Ömer Türker | Sharḥ al-mawāqif by al-Sharīf al-Jurjānī |
| English to Arabic | First | Imām `Abd al-Fattāḥ Imām | Multicultural Odysseys by Will Kymlicka |
| English to Arabic | Second | Fāyiz Ṣuyyāgh | The Age of Extremes by Eric Hobsbawm |
| English to Arabic | Third | Aḥmad Sālim Sālim `Alī `Īsā | A History of Egypt in the Middle Ages by Stanley Lane-Poole |
| English to Arabic | Third | Aḥmad Ḥasan al-Ma`īnī | The Persians: Ancient, Mediaeval and Modern Iran by Homa Katouzian |
| Turkish to Arabic | First | Fazel Bayat | al-Bilād al-`Arabīyah fī al-wathā’iq al-`Uthmānīyah (four volumes) |
| Turkish to Arabic | Second | `Abd al-Qādir `Abdallī | Huzur by Ahmet Hamdi Tanpinar |
| Turkish to Arabic | Third | Ṣafwān Shalabī | La wujūd limāyud`ā bilghad (Collection of Turkish short stories) |
| Achievement Award | | The Arab Organization for Translation (Al-Munaẓẓamah al-`Arabīyah li-al-Tarjamah) | |