Ludovico Marracci (6 October 1612 – 5 February 1700), also known by Luigi Marracci, was an

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, a Romance ethnic group related to or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance languag ...

Oriental The Orient is a term referring to the East in relation to Europe, traditionally comprising anything belonging to the Eastern world. It is the antonym of the term ''Occident'', which refers to the Western world. In English, it is largely a meto ...

scholar and professor of

Arabic Arabic (, , or , ) is a Central Semitic languages, Central Semitic language of the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family spoken primarily in the Arab world. The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) assigns lang ...

in the College of Wisdom at

Rome Rome (Italian language, Italian and , ) is the capital city and most populated (municipality) of Italy. It is also the administrative centre of the Lazio Regions of Italy, region and of the Metropolitan City of Rome. A special named with 2, ...

. He is chiefly known as the publisher and editor of

Quran The Quran, also Romanization, romanized Qur'an or Koran, is the central religious text of Islam, believed by Muslims to be a Waḥy, revelation directly from God in Islam, God (''Allah, Allāh''). It is organized in 114 chapters (, ) which ...

Muhammad Muhammad (8 June 632 CE) was an Arab religious and political leader and the founder of Islam. Muhammad in Islam, According to Islam, he was a prophet who was divinely inspired to preach and confirm the tawhid, monotheistic teachings of A ...

in Arabic. He is also well known for translating Quran in

Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...

, editing an Arabic

Bible The Bible is a collection of religious texts that are central to Christianity and Judaism, and esteemed in other Abrahamic religions such as Islam. The Bible is an anthology (a compilation of texts of a variety of forms) originally writt ...

translation, and numerous other works.

Biography

He was born at

Lucca Città di Lucca ( ; ) is a city and ''comune'' in Tuscany, Central Italy, on the Serchio River, in a fertile plain near the Ligurian Sea. The city has a population of about 89,000, while its Province of Lucca, province has a population of 383,9 ...

in 1612. He had become a member of the Clerics Regular of the Mother of God of Lucca and learnt with reputed success in the study of non-European languages, especially

. He was the

Confessor In a number of Christian traditions, including Eastern Orthodoxy, Catholicism, Lutheranism and Anglicanism, a confessor is a priest who hears the confessions of penitents and pronounces absolution. History During the Diocletianic Persecut ...

Pope Innocent XI Pope Innocent XI (; ; 16 May 1611 – 12 August 1689), born Benedetto Odescalchi, was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 21 September 1676 until his death on 12 August 1689. Political and religious tensions with ...

. The Pope appointed him professor of Arabic at

Sapienza University of Rome The Sapienza University of Rome (), formally the Università degli Studi di Roma "La Sapienza", abbreviated simply as Sapienza ('Wisdom'), is a Public university, public research university located in Rome, Italy. It was founded in 1303 and is ...

due to his proficiency in that language. In 1665 he was part of the team that debunked the lead tablets of Granada. He later declined the promotion of being appointed to the rank of

Cardinal Cardinal or The Cardinal most commonly refers to * Cardinalidae, a family of North and South American birds **''Cardinalis'', genus of three species in the family Cardinalidae ***Northern cardinal, ''Cardinalis cardinalis'', the common cardinal of ...

of the Catholic Church. He died at an age of 88 in 1700. He authored ''The Life of Father Leonardi'', the founder of the Clerics Regular of the Mother of God of Lucca, and many more. In 2012, a collection of his manuscripts were discovered at the Order of Clerics Regular of the Mother of God in Rome. The collection consists of almost 10,000 pages. The manuscripts include his work material, notes and significant information on his approach to translating the Qurʻan, as well as different versions of his translation. Based on the study of these manuscripts, a new examination of his life, influence, and methods has been published.

Arabic Bible

He has considerable share in editing the Roman edition of the ''Arabic Bible'', published in 1671 in three volumes. For this, the

Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples The Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples (CEP; ) was a congregation (Roman Curia), congregation of the Roman Curia of the Catholic Church in Rome, responsible for Catholic missions, missionary work and related activities. It is also kn ...

appointed Abraham Ecchellensis and Ludovico Marracci to undertake the revision of the edition to make it exactly correspond with the

Vulgate The Vulgate () is a late-4th-century Bible translations into Latin, Latin translation of the Bible. It is largely the work of Saint Jerome who, in 382, had been commissioned by Pope Damasus I to revise the Gospels used by the Diocese of ...

. Marracci wrote a new preface and made a list of errors of the former copy in 1668.

Vatican Quran

Ludovico Marracci acquired much fame in editing and publishing the Qurʻan in Arabic with his translation into Latin. ''Alcorani Textus Universus Arabicè et Latinè'', was published in

Padua Padua ( ) is a city and ''comune'' (municipality) in Veneto, northern Italy, and the capital of the province of Padua. The city lies on the banks of the river Bacchiglione, west of Venice and southeast of Vicenza, and has a population of 20 ...

in 1698 in two volumes. His version of the Qurʻan included a life of

, with notes, and refutations of Muslim doctrines. It was the result of forty years of labour and toilsome research of the

Benedictines The Benedictines, officially the Order of Saint Benedict (, abbreviated as O.S.B. or OSB), are a mainly Christian mysticism, contemplative Christian monasticism, monastic Religious order (Catholic), order of the Catholic Church for men and f ...

. He also published in 1691, in Latin, a refutation of the Quran titled ''Prodromus Ad Refutationem Alcoran''. Marracci's Islamic texts included Ibn Abī Zamanīn,

Al-Tha'alibi Abū Manṣūr ʿAbd al-Malik ibn Muḥammad ibn Ismāʿīl al-Thaʿālibī () (961–1038), was a writer famous for his anthologies and collections of epigrams. As a writer of prose and verse in his own right, distinction between his and the w ...

, Zamakhsharī, Baydִāwī and

Suyūtִī Jalal al-Din al-Suyuti (; 1445–1505), or al-Suyuti, was an Egyptian Sunni Muslim polymath of Persian descent. Considered the mujtahid and mujaddid of the Islamic 10th century, he was a leading muhaddith (hadith master), mufassir (Qu'ran exege ...

. ''Alcoranis ‘Introduction’ (''Prodromus'') had been published seven years earlier in 1691.

George Sale George Sale (1697–1736) was a British Orientalist scholar and practising solicitor, best known for his 1734 translation of the Quran into English. In 1748, after having read Sale's translation, Voltaire wrote his own essay "De l'Alcoran et ...

's English translation of the Qurʻan, ''The Alcoran of Mohammed'', in 1736, was done based on Marracci's 1698 Latin translation.

References

External links

The Quran in East and West: Manuscripts and Printed Books

Alcorani Textus Universus

SALE’S PREFACE TO THE PRELIMINARY DISCOURSE AND TRANSLATION. - Mohammed, The Quran, vol. 1 - 1896 - Father Lewis Marracci, who had been confessor to Pope InnocentXI

The history of Arabia - by Andrew Crichton - p.277-278
{{DEFAULTSORT:Marracci, Ludovico 17th-century Italian Roman Catholic priests Translators of the Quran into Latin 1612 births 1700 deaths 17th-century Italian translators Catholicism and Islam