5. Between Official Translation and the Official Reform

Chapter Five deals with the interpretive outcome of Al-Qur’an dan Terjemahnya across its various editions. It investigates the extent to which the rendering of QT represents the interests of the state. This chapter compares QT and the reform projects of the Ministry of Religious Affairs in Islamic law and education, through selected relevant issues. This chapter reveals that there is no formal connection between QT and other reform projects of the Ministry of Religious Affairs. Heavy reliance on classical Sunnī Qur’an commentaries remains the basic tenet of QT and it generally only selectively accommodates the ideas fashioned by the reform. Furthermore, the interpretive issues addressed by QT point to an important feature of this translation: it avoids controversy.