Indonesia, the world’s most populous Muslim-majority country, has brought forth an ever-growing number of Qur’an translations during the colonial period and after the nation’s independence in 1945. The formation of Bahasa Indonesia during the colonial period, its nomination as official language of the Indonesian Republic and its use as a standard medium of literacy after independence have been instrumental to that development. Even the Indonesian government has been active in the production of Qur’an translations. However, the translation of the Qur’an in Indonesia is not restricted to works in Bahasa Indonesia. The country is home to a great number of local languages and a variety of regional customs, a fact that is reflected in the substantial number of Qur’an translations into these languages.

Despite the importance and – at times – highly contested nature of this genre of religious literature, it has received comparatively little scholarly attention. This conference invites scholars, researchers, and advanced students in Islamic studies, social sciences, literature or translation studies to contribute to the study of Qur’an translations both into Bahasa Indonesia and into local Indonesian languages. The event aims to elucidate and discuss, among other issues, the role of specific translations, the intentions of their authors, their social relevance, the linguistic dimension of transferring Arabic content into a local target language, and the emergence of conflicts focusing on the translation of the Qur’an.

Please submit your abstracts (approx. 1000 words) by February 28, 2018 to Professors Moch. Nur Ichwan (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.) and Johanna Pink (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.). The abstracts should be submitted in English as a PDF file. The working language of the conference will be English.

You will be notified of the acceptance of your paper by March 31, 2018, at the latest. You will then be required to submit a draft of your paper by July 15, 2018. Your travel costs and accommodation during the conference will be fully funded.

All accepted papers will be considered for inclusion in an edited volume on the translation of the Qur’an in Indonesia that will be submitted to an international publisher.