The Koran: With Parallel Arabic Text (Penguin Classics) (Arabic and English Edition) [Paperback]

Anonymous (Author), N. J. Dawood (Translator)

Book Description

Series: Penguin Classics | Publication Date: July 1, 2000

The Koran is universally accepted by Muslims to be the infallible Word of God as first revealed to the Prophet Muhammad by the Angel Gabriel nearly fourteen hundred years ago. Its 114 chapters, or surahs, recount the narratives central to Muslim belief, and together they form one of the world's most influential prophetic works and a literary masterpiece in its own right. But, above all, the Koran provides the rules of conduct that remain fundamental to the Muslim faith today: prayer, fasting, almsgiving, pilgrimage to Mecca and absolute faith in God and His apostle.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

N.J. Dawood founded The Arabic Advertising & Publishing Company in 1959, which is now one of the major producers of Arabic typesetting outside of the Middle East. He is best known for his translation of the Koran, the first in contemporary English, for the Penguin Classics in 1956. It has now sold over a million copies. N.J. Dawood founded The Arabic Advertising & Publishing Company in 1959, which is now one of the major producers of Arabic typesetting outside of the Middle East. He is best known for his translation of the Koran, the first in contemporary English, for the Penguin Classics in 1956. It has now sold over a million copies.

Product Details

• Paperback: 640 pages
• Publisher: Penguin Classics; 5 Revised edition (July 1, 2000)
• Language: Arabic, English
• ISBN-10: 0140445420
• ISBN-13: 978-0140445428
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6.1 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #452,903 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #44 in Books > Education & Reference > Foreign Language Nonfiction > Arabic

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

19 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Helpful, simplistic, May 29, 2005

By 

Seth J. Frantzman (Jerusalem, Israel) - See all my reviews
(HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Koran: With Parallel Arabic Text (Penguin Classics) (Arabic and English Edition) (Paperback)

This cut and dry translation is a good one, with a wondergul index and proper translations of the most important points. Of course the 'poetic' passages are lost, but hence the parallel Arabic text is sitting there for the reader to work through, and check the translation himself. A very readable and helpful translation of the many I own I have always gone back to this one for easy reference when doing research. If one is a religious scholar interested in the 'poetic nuance' then they should be reading the Arabic, as anyone reseraching the Bible should learn Hebrew. For the student, for the person interested in Koran, this ia a great beggining.

Seth J. Frantzman

27 of 31 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Readable, Reliable Rendition of Islam's Sacred Scriptures, March 14, 2006

By 

George R Dekle "Bob Dekle" (Lake City, FL United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: The Koran: With Parallel Arabic Text (Penguin Classics) (Arabic and English Edition) (Paperback)

When I decided to read the Koran, I studied the various translations available, trying to find the most readable, reliable version available. I downloaded all available public domain translations from gutenberg.org and carefully compared them against the translations currently available in print. I bought several, but not all, the translations, and settled upon this translation to read. I chose this translation because it was one of the most readable and because of my long experience of the reliability of Penguin translations. After I bought my (non-parallel edition) copy in a used book store, I discovered this parallel text edition. For the reader who doesn't read Arabic (which would cover most of us), the only advantage this edition has over the non-parallel text edition is that this edition is still in print and the non-parallel edition will have to be bought used.

As one who knows next to nothing about Islam, I was struck by three things: The moral teachings; the martial teachings; and the figure of Jesus.

First the moral teachings: They are quite similar to the moral teachings of the Christian Bible. Indeed, the Koran explicitly recognizes the scriptural nature of the "Torah" and the "Gospel." The moral teachings don't seem to be as plentiful in the Koran as in the New Testament, but I think there's a very good explanation. Mohammed was at war most of his prophetic career, therefore quite a lot of the Koran deals with warfare.

Second, the martial teachings: They are quite prevalent, and one could easily read the martial teachings to the exclusion of all else in the Koran. Something that struck me about the martial teachings was that they stressed non-aggression. The good believer is to fight only in self defense, and only enough to accomplish the defense. After defeating the enemy, then the good believer must be forgiving and merciful.

Martial teachings prevail in number over moral teachings in the Koran because Mohammed was persecuted in his lifetime, driven out of Mecca, attacked in Medina, and forced to defend himself in a bloody war. Quite naturally, if he's engaged in a war during most of the time he's revealing the Suras of the Koran, he's going to be talking about warfare. Thus, warfare can become a significant aspect of Islamic theology.

Third, the figure of Jesus: Jesus occupies a place in the Koran superior to all the prophets who preceded him. Muslim belief about Jesus is very similar to, but also quite different from, Christian belief. So near, yet so far apart.

Reading the Koran isn't going to make you an expert on Islam any more than reading the Bible is going to make you an expert on Christianity. But given the political, religious, and cultural climate of today's world, it is worth the effort to try to learn something about the beliefs of approximately 1,000,000,000 of our fellow-beings on this planet.

22 of 27 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars oversimplified translation, December 24, 2004

By 

D. C. (Rochester, NY) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Koran: With Parallel Arabic Text (Penguin Classics) (Arabic and English Edition) (Paperback)

NJ Dawood has a very straightforward style of translating. This makes for an easier read, but unfortunately he makes a lot of mistakes when translating the parts of the Quran that are more subtle and require a deeper understanding of the Arabic language.This becomes evident in his tranlation of some of the parables and also many of the verses that make reference to historical events. For a more accurate translation I would recommend Muhammad Asad or Nooruddin.