Published in Y. Gambier & U. Stecconi (2019) A World Atlas of Translation, Amsterdam: John Benjamins (chapter 8), pp. 169-192. THE NOTION OF TRANSLATION IN THE ARAB WORLD: A CRITICAL DEVELOPMENTAL PERSPECTIVE Salah Basalamah School of Translation and Interpretation, University of Ottawa Abstract After synthesizing the notion of translation as reflected during the two major historical translation movements (medieval and (post)colonial), this chapter is conceived as a critical reflection on the contemporary intellectual and cultural developments of the Arab world as it unfolds within the dynamics of its historicity. While taking stock of the 9 th –11 th centuries’ glories when a wealth of the Greek was translated into Arabic and later transmitted to Europe through Latin, this chapter aims to tackle the contemporary effects of the (post)colonial period on today’s shaping of the notion of translation and its future perspectives as a probable key civilizational development factor in the positioning of the Arab culture in a globalized world dominated by English. The objective of this chapter is then to outline a more encompassing understanding of translation in the perspective of the relation to the Other, and the reasons behind the critical character of translation for the development and long-awaited renaissance of the Arab world. Keywords Arab world; translation movements; the Arab Self and the Other; knowledge diffusion; Islam; House of Wisdom; Egypt; postcolonialism; self-alienation; indigenization of knowledge. Preamble I would like to start by clarifying my understanding of the way the notion of translation in the Arab world would be brought about. In the words of the editors, the “Atlas project adopts a bottom-up research strategy. It moves away from a broad survey of existing concepts which may lead to an a posteriori notion of translation . . . Our bottom-up approach relies on reports about the perceived nature, place and function of translation in the traditions the Atlas will manage to cover.” (Gambier & Stecconi) While it could be understood that the only way to reach this notion is to follow an inductive methodology and conduct a gigantic full-scale,