JK PANORAMA VOL 4 ISSUE 5 MAY

missing.
Azra was indeed the best choice for the job.
Not only was she a talented editor but she had
a Masters in both Hindi and Dogri. Her work
on Hindi-Dogri dictionary project and Dogri
translation of various stories in Sheeraza were
already well received.
As Azra was yet to make her mind, Qayoom
philosophically told her, “Ye aap hi ne karna
hai.” (It is only you who has to do this work.”
“The words touched my heart and I thought if
this was my destiny why am I resisting. And I
took up the job” said Azra. She politely
refused any remuneration and assured
Qayoom that she will take care of everything
herself. Thus started a journey that saw Azra
immersing in the holy scripture.
“It was not any ordinary book. I had to do
ablutions before starting the work. At my
office my job was hectic as I had to almost
single handedly take out the Hindi version of
Sheeraza magazine. So whenever I got time
like on mornings, evenings, Sundays and on
holidays I would do the translation work,”
said Azra.
Qayoom had asked her to start with the last
section, 30th Para, of the Quran, as it had
small surahs. The first draft was to be
evaluated to check whether the translation
was going in right direction. The verification
and counter checks indicated all was going
well and Azra was given green signal for the
entire Quran.
The 30th para was published separately and
released by Maulana Wahiduddin Khan in
Delhi. Thereafter started the work that
required almost five years of disciplined
work. “In translating a religious book, one has
to take care of every single word, otherwise a
single mistake, even a smaller one, can harm
the entire exercise. So I had to check, recheck
and proofread my translation four times to
ensure there was no mistake,” said Azra. “I
would take the translation back and forth to
Qayoom, where we would compare it with the
original and other translated text to ensure
accuracy.”
She also consulted Wahidudin's Tazkeerul
Quran for making translation as accurate as
possible.
After Azra retired as Chief Editor, Dictionary
Section from JKAACL in 2017, the
translation became her full time job.
Azra feels that everything that she had done
and experienced in her life combined to help
her in the better translation. Being a religious
minded person Azra had a chance to look at
the words of Quran at an altogether new level.
“During this course of time I could see Quran
in a new light. There are so many things which
became clear and I could understand them in a
better way. It was a spiritual kind of
experience,” said Azra. “During Ramadhans I
wouldn't do the separate tilawat but just
worked on the project as I felt it was one and
same.”
Azra feels that it was her destiny to do the
translation. After her MA (Hindi) in 1978, B
Ed in 1985 and MA (Dogri) in 1987, she was
appointed as a government teacher. She
worked for seven years before she came upon
an advertisement from JKAACL inviting
candidates for a post of research Assistant in
Dogri Dictionary section. The eligibility was
that the candidate should have MA in both
Hindi and Dogri, which Azra possessed. She
easily qualified the interview, started the
work, enriched her vocabulary and gained
experience, which ultimately took her to
become part of elite group of Quran
translators.
During the education, it was her mother Razia
Choudhary that was her support. She was
keen to get her children, especially girls
educated. She never stopped her two daughter
from education and also extra curricular
activities. “She was of the opinion that it is
extremely important for girls to experience
the world. If they remain ignorant, they will
suffer. She would let us go to picnics, NCC
camps, do sports and other activities. She
would just advise that do all the activities only
take care of our dignity,” said Azra. “Her goal
was to make every girl self dependent.”
It was after experiencing the hard lessons of
life that Razia knew how important education
was for girls. She herself was educated till
fifth grade, but she felt that had she been
15
May 2019