People with different beliefs and religions around the world discovered that Quran enlightens the way of life. Therefore, it results in emergence of progressive efforts of translating this sacred text into many languages that has been carried out particularly in 20th century. However, translating sacred text is far more difficult than other type of texts. There are religious culture-specific-items that carry peculiar meaning and must be translated into appropriate equivalent in target culture. Thus, the meaning encompassed in that equivalent, and the description that characterized the meaning will be compatible with its original. Moreover, translating these items by applying domestication strategy will bring the text close to the target reader. It is because the equivalent provided in target language is familiar and well-known to the readership. Yet, this strategy puts the cultural gap to its intended meaning, especially when the text is related to the religious culture-specific-item, which is only known to the source readership. Therefore, the present article aims to investigate the domestication strategy in translating religious cultural elements into English. This study is qualitative, and the data are analyzed descriptively using document analysis. Disclosing the meaning of domesticated equivalent, the study adopts componential analysis by Newmark (1988). The study contributes to enhancing the procedure of componential analysis by validating the cultural element categorization with experts and referring exegesis as main source in identifying the characteristic of meaning. It is found that domestication strategy can only provide the adequate meaning to the closest when it comes together with compensation strategy.

Many translation scholars have proposed various approaches when dealing with culture-specific items. It shows that to achieve a good quality and successful translation work, suitable and functional translation approach should be applied by the translator. Borrowing is one of the approaches applied in various texts’ genre such as sacred text which has culture-specific items. It becomes frequently used in translating word with no equivalent in target language. However, it resulted in some of translations which have applied this kind of approach did not supply adequate meaning and fallout the irrelevant text towards readership. The reason is that borrowing approach stands alone without providing compensation strategies. Therefore, this present article investigates the functionality of borrowing approach in translating Qur’an non-existent cultural elements in Malay culture. This study is qualitative, and the data are analysed descriptively using document analysis by adopting Relevance Theory initiated by Sperber and Wilson (1986). It is suggested that the relevancy of translated text can be achieved not only through borrowing as an approach, but at the same time providing adequate meaning by means of compensation strategies. Thus, the study assumes that the less the effort processing is produced to understand the meaning, the higher the contextual effect of meaning is sufficiently provided. On the other hand, if the effort processing is less produced and the contextual effect is highly provided, the optimum relevancy of translated text can be achieved. It is concluded that the combination of borrowing approach and compensation strategies can help better understanding the meaning of non-existent religious cultural items in Malay culture.

The translation is a process that focuses on transferring the message of the source text into the target language that is conducted by the basis of fidelity. A failure to adhere to the source text's meaning and message can lead to a distortion and loss of intended meaning. Consequently, translators strive to provide an equivalent meaning in the target text to ensure the intended message is conveyed accurately. However, it is apparent that this process is influenced by the ideology, which inevitably shapes the outcome, including both individual and prevailing ideologies in society. This complex interaction between both ideologies lead to differences in the translation product. Therefore, the study conducted a research on the ideology applied in translating religious cultural elements found in Surah al-Baqarah into English. The study aimed to extract and categorize these elements according to the six Pillars of Faith, discover the translation methods used to convey the meanings of these elements into the target language, explore the strategies employed in translating these elements, and investigate the ideological impacts on these elements in the target language. The study adopted a qualitative approach using text analysis in analysing the Qur’anic texts extracted from the surah al-Baqarah. The study identified the ideology used in translating the meanings of religious cultural elements into English, which were influenced by cultural shifts determining the degree of freedom in the translation process. It is expected in the preliminary analysis that the translation of the al-Qu’ran could not avoid the ideological effects stemming from the translation process, as translators employ various methods in conveying the meaning, resulting in differing translations of the same religious cultural elements.