Abstract
This study examines the impact of terminological variation on the translation of Arabic legal and Islamic terms from English and French. It seeks to explore how such variation affects cross-cultural legal discourse and to determine strategies of translation that conserve legal correctness while maintaining cultural specificity. Legal discourse frequently includes intricate terms derived from specific legal traditions—e.g., civil law, common law, and Islamic jurisprudence—whose linguistic or conceptual equivalents across languages are not always consistent. Qualitative analysis was employed to compare twenty legal and Islamic terms derived from Arabic legislative texts and religious literature. Each term was analysed against its original usage before comparison with three frequently used equivalents from English and French. The comparisons revealed a high degree of variation in translation approaches, often driven by the translator's preference for functional equivalence over formal conformity. The study concludes that such variation is not only terminological but also systemic in character, resulting from deeper structural differences between legal traditions. It calls for the preparation of annotated bilingual glossaries and translator training in comparative law and religious jurisprudence. By pursuing such challenges, translators will be able to enhance the clarity and trustworthiness of cross-linguistic legal discourse while ensuring greater consistency and intelligibility across multilingual legal and spiritual situations.
Keywords: terminological inconsistency, legal translation, Arabic-English-French, non-equivalence, intercultural communication
