The Qur'an (Oxford World's Classics)

Wonderful modern-pros translation. I use this for an easy modern-read; YusufAli for spiritual insights; Muhammad Asad for transliteration and rational and classical opinions; and the Study Quran for a compilation of thoughts and commentary. Regarding the 2018 audio, mp3 CD version: Great clear translation and reader; audio has introductory material, but no footnotes. Having read the text-based book, I purchased the audio MP3 CD version. This is one of a few translations I recommend: the other is the 2015 Study Quran for its commentary; I myself am also partial to the older language of Pickthall. Favoring this translation, I wanted to see how an audio version is rendered. I am mostly not disappointed: It is read by an experienced reader with a British accent who also knows Arabic. The cd is divided into 117 files, one for the introduction (same as the one that appears in the text, but without the map), a separate file for each of the surahs/chapters, a brilliance audio blurb, and a xml file listing the contents. ON the cd, the chapters are marked by number and not named; the audio calls them by their number and English name only. In total, the book is on 2 CDs with 117 files, totaling about 794 megabytes. It comes in a good cd case, like one for DVDs; both CDs are side-by-side, with the second/rightmost somewhat underneath the first. Though I am happy with the text, the audio version sadly does not contain the footnotes found in the print edition; it would have been good to put them at the end of each file. But the footnotes are few in the original text. So, for the casual reader, perhaps little is lost. (I still wish they were included!) Each file does contain the introduction to the surah/chapter found in the print edition. I quite like the narrator’s voice (Ayman): male, clear, skilled, well-inflected, with a British accent, and interested in reading the contents. I recommend this audio version for anyone who wants to listen to this translation; and I recommend this translation for its clear, modern, elegantly eloquent pros. The introduction, and its audio file, address the topics of: The Life of Muhammad and the Historical Background, The Revelation of the Quran The Compilation of the Quran, The Structure of the Quran: Suras and Ayas, Stylistic Features, Issues of Interpretation A Short History of English Translations, and This Translation. The portions not in the audio are: A Chronology of the Quran, Select Bibliography, and the Map of Arabia at the Time of the Revelation. The Fatiha (Opening chapter) reads in the translation as follows. 1. THE OPENING This sura is seen to be a precise table of contents of the Quranic message. It is very important in Islamic worship, being an obligatory part of the daily prayer, repeated several times during the day. 1 In the name of God, the Lord of Mercy, a the Giverb of Mercy! c 2 Praise belongs to God, Lordd of the Worlds, e 3 the Lord of Mercy, the Giver of Mercy, 4 Master of the Day of Judgement. 5 It is You we worship; it is You we ask for help. 6 Guide us to the straight path: 7 the path of those You have blessed, those who incur no angerf and who have not gone astray. The footnotes (not in the audio) are: a Most occurrences of this term rahman in the Quran are in the context of Him being mighty and majestic as well as merciful. The addition of the word ‘Lord’ here is intended to convey this aspect of the term. b This term rahim is an intensive form suggesting that the quality of giving mercy is inherent in God’s nature. c This is the only instance where this formula, present at the start of every sura but one, is counted as the first numbered verse. d The Arabic root r-b-b has connotations of caring and nurturing in addition to lordship, and this should be borne in mind wherever the term occurs and is rendered ‘lord’. e Al- alamin in Arabic means all the worlds, of mankind, angels, animals, plants, this world, the next, and so forth. f Note that the verb here is not attributed to God. Salam/peace.

This review will approach the work from three different perspectives. A scholarly review based on the translation. My own general reactions to the content of the Qur'an. And my analysis of the document as a Bible Believing Christian. SCHOLARLY REVIEW I very much appreciated the introduction. As a professor of biblical studies, I appreciated Haleem's discussion of issues relating to translation, interpretation in context, and exegesis. All of these things have parallels in my own field and were very helpful in understanding how different interpretations shape different Islamic perspectives. Haleel himself seems to embrace a more progressive form of Islam and uses context to challenge some more fundamentalist Muslim interpretations. I am sensitive to these kinds of concerns in my own faith, and I felt he made a good case for his views. While I cannot translate Arabic, I am very familiar with the challenges of translation due to my studies in Biblical Greek and Hebrew. I cannot speak to the accuracy of his translation, but I found the translation very readable. With his scholarly background, I suspect this is a very good translation from and linguistic perspective as well. GENERAL REACTIONS Reading the Qur'an was a fascinating experience. Many non-Muslim westerners have the impression that it is all killing infidels and wife beating. This actually accounts for a very small portion of the text which many, like Haleem, would say need to be carefully contextualized. The document is primarily about devotion and submission to God. While I was not drawn into believing the Qur'an is of a divine inspiration, I can appreciate the zeal it represents. ANALYSIS AS A BIBLE BELIEVING CHRISTIAN Much could be said here, but I will limit my discussion to two issues. First, what was missing most. The Qur'an says much about obedience and devotion. And it briefly mentions the need for the believer to love God. But it says nothing about God loving the believer. Reading the Qur'an, I did not find a God who loves His creation. He has expectations, but no love. Not stated anyway. I find this tragic, and my prayer is that Muslims may find a God who loves them by reading the Bible - the True Scriptures. From an apologetic perspective, one point stands out that, to me, proves the Qur'an could not have come by divine inspiration. Any scholar knows how wrong it is to misrepresent an opposing argument by creating a straw man. When the Qur'an attempts to refute the Trinity, it never comes close to describing the real doctrine of the Trinity. It suggests that Mary is part of the Trinity, which no Christian teacher I know of has ever held. Considering that this was written centuries after the Council of Nicaea, not to mention the New Testament, such a misrepresentation is difficult to fathom. In addition, the Qur'an consistently describes Trinitarian belief as involving "partner gods." The Trinity teaches One God who eternally exists in three persons, it does not teach multiple gods of partner gods. To disagree is one thing, but If God truly wanted to correct the Trinity, He would certainly describe the real doctrine rather than refuting a fabrication. I am very grateful for this fine English Translation, and very glad to have read the Qur'an. Having read it, I am more convinced than ever that the true God is the Trinitarian God of love found in the Christian Scriptures.

I wanted to update my review with additional information. I am adding it up front because it is easier on my kindle to update a prior review from the top. I respect the opinion of reviewer Basil, review date May 22, 2012. I do not know Arabic and therefore cannot compare this translation to the Arabic Qur'an. His review is based on his knowledge of Arabic and nuances of meaning. What I also want to add is an aid I located which is the list of suras in chronological order. I have switched to reading the Qur'an in chronological order because it makes more sense that way. Here is the chronological order of the suras: 96, 68, 73, 74, 1, 111, 81, 87, 92, 89, 93, 94, 103, 100, 108, 102, 107, 109, 105, 113, 114, 112, 53, 80, 97, 91, 85, 95, 106, 101, 75, 104, 77, 50, 90, 86, 54, 38, 7, 72, 36, 25, 35, 19, 20, 56, 26, 27, 28, 17, 10, 11, 12, 15, 6, 37, 31, 34, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 51, 88, 18, 16, 71, 14, 21, 23, 32, 52, 67, 69, 70, 78, 79, 82, 84, 30, 29, 83, 2, 8, 3, 33, 60, 4, 99, 57, 47, 13, 55, 76, 65, 98, 59, 24, 22, 63, 58, 49, 66, 64, 61, 62, 48, 5, 9, 110. ORIGINAL REVIEW: This is a neutral Qur'an. Some translators of the Qur'an have agendas. This is the most agenda free English translation I could find. This is also a complete Qur'an. Some Qur'an editions popular among Westerners are not complete. They are abridged with much of the suras removed which are less acceptable to Westerners. That is not so with this edition. All 114 suras are in this edition. None have been omitted. The suras are ordered in the traditional non-chronological order of an authentic Arabic Qur'an. However, the translator has included in italics before each sura, a short introduction which indicates where the sura would fit in the life of the prophet. He indicates whether it is a Meccan or Medinan sura. This is also important. In Islamic law, when two sura contradict each other (which mainly happen between Mecca and Medina suras) it is the later sura which is correct for Islamic law. The Medina suras supersede the Mecca suras for purposes of law rulings in Islamic courts. So when you read this Qur'an, you know which suras are the more important Medina suras. If you want to study the Qur'an but do not know Arabic, this is a proper and correct edition to use. Even though this edition may require a more careful reading than others, I recommend this edition to get both the taste of Qur'an as read by Muslims in Arabic and the actual context of the Qur'an suras as supplied by the sura intros. In edition to reading this Qur'an you should also read a biography of the prophet's life that is based on his first biography and a copy of the most commonly used remembered sayings and actions of the prophet called hadith. The Sunnis and the Shias sects prefer different versions of hadith. If you study all three, this Qur'an, the life of the prophet, and the hadith, you will begin to understand the Islamic religion and its political nature properly. With the activities going on in both Muslim majority countries and in non-Muslim countries with sizeable enclaves of Muslim immigrants, it is important for intelligent Westerners to pursue a study of the Qur'an and the other two components that contribute to the rules and laws for both Muslims and the treatment of non-Muslims by Muslims in today's world.

Of the eight English translations I own, Abdel Haleem's is definitely in the top two in terms of clarity & readability for the modern English audience. The language is simple and accessible, while accurately representing the nuances of the original Arabic (which is itself quite a feat); in fact, there are several instances where he makes a compelling argument that earlier translators have generally MISSED an important nuance. It is further to his credit that he scrupulously FLAGS such instances with footnotes, explaining his reasoning & noting the more typical rendering, rather than simply rendering it WITHOUT COMMENT the way he sees it in the text. He's also good about using footnotes to explicitly note alternate meanings where the original Arabic CONVEYS such a range without clear linguistic, contextual, or historical clues to allow the translator to confidently pick one. An additional strength of this translation is that its author happens to have ALSO written a book I'd term a companion volume, Exploring the Qur'an: Context and Impact , which can serve as a powerful reference to either frame (if read before) or delve deeper into (if read after or in parallel) understanding the text. (An earlier work, Understanding the Qur'an: Themes and Style , serves essentially the same function, but is less thoroughly developed: you should buy the former if you have neither, but probably don't need to if you already have the latter.) If I were to make one criticism, I did feel--especially in earlier surahs--that his notes sometimes needlessly softened some of the 'hard edges' of the Qur'an, in his desire to smooth over interfaith tensions, or combat the hateful narratives of Khawarij extremists and Islamophobes alike. This can range from the plausible (e.g., Qur'an 8:52, where he argues that "fighting until all worship is devoted to God alone" wasn't merely restricted to those who attacked the Muslims, which is generally accepted by scholars, but further only applied to worship IN THE KA'BA ITSELF--plausible in light of evidence like the Constitution of Medina, which allowed non-Muslims under Muslim governance to continue practicing their faiths under Muslim rule) to cases that seem a stretch (e.g., several notes suggesting that ayat condeming "those who say God has offspring" are more-or-less ONLY aimed at Meccan pagans, who believed the angels were God's daughters, when most scholars apply them both to pagans AND TO CHRISTIANS, for calling Jesus God's son). But even in such cases (1) he reserves such arguments for his notes, clearly differentiating them from the Qur'anic text, and (2) he grounds them in contextual & historical evidence: whether you BUY them or not, they're clearly not spurious. I used this translation to read the Qur'an during Ramadan this year, and overall was extremely pleased.

As a new revert, I really enjoyed the clarity and smooth reading experience this translation provided. It was while I was reading this Qur’an that I crossed over from seeker to believer. This is an invaluable book that I will continue to read again and again.

I have always wanted to gain a better understanding of the middle east, an area I have long avoided because it is just too complicated. I am glad I read the Koran, and this edition is easy to understand and well researched, with reference to many previous translations. I was surprised how much of the Koran is based on the bible and could find very little animosity to 'people of the book'. This is more of an Old Testament perspective. References to love were few, while references to the fire of hell were rampant. The Koran is surprisingly liberal toward women (altho sex with slaves is apparently ok), solicitous of orphans (Mohammed was an orphan), and accommodating about violence toward unbelievers when provoked. I see nothing that could justify terrorism against innocents, especially other Moslems. The big question is: Is it the word of God? Some of the later chapters seem a bit self-serving, focused on personal details about the Prophet's life. It is also redundant and pretty boring. Not many parables here. Reading the Koran is a bit of a slog, but Christians and others would find surprising areas of agreement with the spirit of the book. If only we could be as peaceful and good in the real world.

It’s so easy to understand I bought 2. Inshallah this will help you.

I found this to be a truly enjoyable as well as interesting read. The notes were easy to understand and made the text more intelligible by providing background information on both the historical context and certain aspects of some Arabic words and phrases. What I particularly enjoyed, however, was the translator’s ability to at times use an English phrase that had just a slight bit of humor or cleverness or straightforwardness to it. “What is wrong with you?” Is not a phrase I would expect in a holy book but it worked perfectly in its setting. I’m not sure how a Muslim or person already familiar with the Qur’an would like Haleem’s work but I think it’s a very good option for a first time English speaking reader of this sacred book.