Tasnif Style Guide — Page 71
CHAPTER 6: PUNCTUATION 71 it in our translations to faithfully express the author's desire for additional emphasis. Brackets Brackets are of two kinds. There are round brackets (also known as parentheses), which are mainly used by the author for digres- sions, explanations, glosses, and translations. They are also used by the author to give or expand abbreviations and to enclose ancil- lary information, references, cross-references, and variants. Square brackets ( ( ) ) are typically used to house words which are added by someone other than the original author (e. g. a trans- lator), in order to clarify something or to provide a definition for a foreign term. Where the author has included parentheses, the same is to be done in the English translation. Square brackets, however, are only used to include explanatory words, which are not in the original text but added by the translator for the purpose of clarification. We should not change anything that is a direct quote from another source. Direct references must be copied as they are in the original work cited. In instances where a reference is cited that includes a misspelled word, the editor may insert 'sic' [Latin for thus] is documented in square brackets and always written in italics. " In 1857, William Muir criticized the integrity of Islamic sources writing: 'Who would dare argue against a miracu- lous tale that did honour to Mahomet [sic], on the ground that it was in itself improbable, that the narrator might have imbibed a false impression, or that even in the Coran [sic]