Translation Challenges in Arabic-Hausa Legal Documents: A Case Study of Sharia Court Records in Zamfara State

The application of Sharia law in northern Nigerian states has generated a significant body of legal documentation in Arabic, much of which requires translation into Hausa for community accessibility and administrative processing. This study examines the translation challenges encountered in rendering Arabic legal documents into Hausa within Sharia court contexts in Zamfara State, focusing on fiqh terminology, syntactic complexity, and cultural equivalence. Employing a qualitative case study design, the research analyses forty court records and judgements from three Sharia courts in Gusau, Kaura Namoda, and Anka, selected through purposive sampling for linguistic complexity. Interviews with twelve court translators and six presiding Sharia judges provide practitioner perspectives on recurring translation difficulties. The study finds that the principal challenges arise from the absence of standardised Hausa legal terminology corresponding to classical Arabic fiqh concepts, the polysemous nature of key Arabic legal terms, and translators' uneven training in both languages and Islamic jurisprudence. Consequential mistranslations affecting sentencing and procedural fairness are documented and discussed. Recommendations include the development of an Arabic-Hausa legal glossary, structured professional development for court translators, and the introduction of Arabic-Hausa translation modules in Nigerian law faculties and Arabic studies departments. Keywords: Arabic-Hausa translation, legal documents, Sharia courts, Zamfara State, fiqh terminology.