<![CDATA[Translating and interpreting the Qur’an into regional languages is a cultural process in which the authority of the Arabic text encounters the linguistic horizon of local readers. This study examines vernacularization in Surah al-Fatihah in K.H. Ahmad Sanusi’s Rawḍat al-‘Irfān fī Ma‘rifat al-Qur’ān, a Sundanese commentary written in Pegon script. Using qualitative library research, it conducts a philological-linguistic reading of the al-Fatihah text and its explanations through the lenses of lexical choice, speech levels, and the pedagogical function of tafsir. The findings show four interconnected layers. First, the Arabic Qur’anic text remains the center of scriptural authority, while Sundanese-Pegon glosses provide access to meaning. Second, Qur’anic concepts are mediated through familiar Sundanese expressions, including the pair Gusti–abdi, the verb ngurus, the phrase nikmat gede–leutik, and agama anu bener. Third, the selected register encodes the hierarchical relationship between God and human beings while retaining proximity to the pesantren community. Fourth, Sanusi’s concise notes on the basmalah and the recitation of al-Fatihah according to four Sunni legal schools transform translation into practical religious guidance. Rawḍat al-‘Irfān therefore represents not merely linguistic transfer, but a negotiated space where Qur’anic semantics, Sundanese linguistic ethics, pesantren literacy, and local religious practice converge within a living local knowledge tradition]]>
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