CAIRO — Egyptian Minister of Endowments (Awqaf) Mohamed Mokhtar Gomaa announced on Dec. 1 the start of the Quran’s translation into Hebrew to counter misinterpretations and mistranslations. He said academic professors and specialized translators, whom he did not name, will be involved in accurate translations that befit meanings in the Quran.

“The ministry is working to translate the meanings of the Quran into foreign languages through the translation of a book called al-Muntakhab that includes an interpretation of the Quran verses,” Abdullah Hassan, spokesperson for the ministry, told Al-Monitor by phone. He said the translation is not about the Quran itself.

"The Quranic verses will remain as are in Arabic, but the interpretation of the verses is the one that will be translated into different languages,” he added. “Over the past years, the interpretation of the Holy Quran was translated into a number of foreign languages, especially English, French, Chinese, Russian and Indonesian."

He noted that the ministry “will be finalizing the translation and interpretation of the Quran into the Greek language over the next two weeks, before starting to translate the interpretation of the Quran into the Hebrew language to make it available to everyone willing to study and have a deeper and accurate understanding of the Quran in Hebrew.”