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I would like to translate Bismillah Ir-Rahmani Ir-Rahim into Toki Pona.

The parts I'm struggling with are the Rahma part, and the Raheem part, as they encompass similar but subtly different meanings of Mercy.

Rahma is more closely associated with motherly love. Rahim is more of an extreme mercy regardless of what is being forgiven.

I haven't found a translation for mercy, let alone one that encompasses these subtle differences.

2 Answers 2

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toki!

Toki Pona has a word for mercy, and it is simply olin, just like love, tenderness, warmth, etc.

For instance:

mi jo e olin tan sina

(I have mercy because of you), or

mi jo e olin tawa sina

(I have mercy for you).

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  • What about if you specifically need the concept of judicial mercy, of not punishing someone who is rightly deserving of some kind of punishment?
    – curiousdannii
    Jun 19, 2020 at 2:59
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    The thing is that Toki Pona is not designed for complex concepts, like judicial ones, medical ones, technical ones, etc.
    – KNTRO
    Jun 20, 2020 at 23:03
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    Or, when used for complex concepts, you have to be very complex about explaining them, rather than letting one word or phrase do all of the work.
    – mattdm
    Aug 3, 2020 at 15:54
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Maybe something like: "jan sewi li pana e olin tawa jan li lawa pona la lon nimi ona."

If you wanted to write it in what looked like arabic there is an adaptation of Arabic for English that could be also used for toki pona here.

یاَن سِوئ لئ پانا اِ اُولین تاوا یاُن لئ لاوا پُونا لا نئمئ اُونا.

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