Customer Reviews

The Noble Quran: Interpretation of the Meanings of the Noble Qur'an in the English Language (English and Arabic Edition)

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

...this is a translation you need to invest in. This is the version that is published in and distributed (usually for free) by the government of Saudi Arabia. If you wish to understand the Wahhabi interpretation of Islam, this is the translation.

It is very clear and very succinct and easy to read. It includes many tafsir (explanations from Islamic scholars) and Hadith of the Prophet Muhammad that adds depth to how the various verses have been understood and how they are understood today.

There are several appendices (at least in the version I have) which help explain the concept of jihad and the understanding of Jesus/Christianity from an Islamic point of view.

All in all, this version is very literal and very 'fundamentalist' (not in a militant sense but in the sense that the Quran is taken very literally and very seriously). One can not help but be moved by it.

Again, if you wish to understand Islam better, especially the more 'fundamendalist' (i.e. no nonsense) understanding, this translation is a must have. On an aside, I would balance it out with some other versions (for example, Muhammad Asad and Yusuf Ali) to get a 'feel' for the diversity of how the Quran is understood and presented to non-Arabic speaking people.

It's been five years since I originally wrote this review. While I stand by the original review, I have honed my senses a bit more and realize the deficiencies - and dangers - of this translation. It represents a very common translation that is very common throughout the U.S. Those free Qur'ans you see online? This is most likely the one you'll get.

What prompted the update was a book I just read by Khaled M. Abou Fadl called Conference of the Books and was so moved I had to include his words in this review.

In his chapter called "Corrupting God's Book" he takes this particular translation to task, calling it a "Trojan-horse" of a translation that is found in nearly every Islamic store or center in the U.S., noting that it has "the appearance of a translation" that takes "gross liberties" in translating the text. Not only are the Qur'anic verses spun to the Wahhabi understanding, so too the hadith-reports contained in the footnotes are "grossly corrupted."

Here it is in a nutshell:

"It is clear that the authors of the translation and their supporters do not like women, and that they projected their inadequacies and deformities upon God's text and the whole Islamic intellectual tradition."

Wow.

Still, a vital translation if you wish to understand how the Qur'an is understood according to this particular ideology.

This book although the name suggest that it has commentaries from three elite ulema, I think it is mostly English Translation of the Qur'an with some explanations in the paranthesis. There is another version of this book which is published in ten volumes. If you got the time to read that version has more explanations of course due to sheer volume of the book but still you see more comments from Bukhari than Tabari or Kurtubi. You could say that Tabari, Kurtubi, Ibn Keshir also used the Hadits from Bukhari but it would have been nice if referenced were made from which commentator the explanations were taken. Overall the book is good and easy to read explanations are straight in the line without going into notes at the bottom of the pages. Another succesfull book written for the similar purpose but not completed yet is the book by Hamid Algar, The Qur'an and it's interpreters.

This is a well sought after rendition of the Quran and I am glad to be in possesion of this fact filled and noted text. I am also pleased by the arabic being contained directly across from the english text.

If you want to understand Shakespeare, you learn the English used in his time. If you want to know what the Qur'an says, the best thing to do is learn Classical Arabic and sit with a scholar as Arabic, like some other languages, cannot really be translated. What you really read is someone's interpretation of what they understand the Arabic to mean. If learning Arabic is not an option, the best interpretation of the Qur'an in English so far is Muhammd Muhsin Khan's translation which is available here The Noble Quran: Interpretation of the Meanings of the Noble Qur'an in the English Language (English and Arabic Edition) and here Noble Qur'an, the-English Translation of the Meanings and Commentary. The problem with most translations/interpretations is usually the translator is weak in their knowledge of one or more of the following Arabic/English/Islam. Muhammad Asad's translation is a bad one because he greatly distorts the beliefs of Islam and one will come away with an unusual and incorrect view of what the beliefs of Islam are. Muhammad Muhsin Khan's translation/interpretation shows a strong command of Arabic, English and Islam. Until one learns Arabic, this book is probably the best option.

This translation reads more like a supremacist Muslim, anti-Semitic, anti-Christian polemic than a rendition of the Islamic scripture and is exactly the wrong way to show the world that Islam IS a religion of peace and tolerance. The fact that it is the most widely distributed Qur'an in most Islamic bookstores and Sunni mosques in the English-speaking world makes it even more problematic. The fact that it has received a seal of approval from both the University of Medina and the Saudi Dar al-Ifta (and freely distributed by the Saudi government) should tell anyone knowledgeable that it is a very biased politically motivated work.

As an example, in the first sura (1:7), verse which are universally accepted by the majority of Islamic scholars as, "Guide us to the straight path, the path of those whom You have favored, not of those who have incurred Your wrath, nor of those who have gone astray" become, "Guide us to the Straight Way, the way of those on whom You have bestowed Your Grace, not (the way) of those who have earned Your anger (such as the Jews), nor of those who went astray (such as the Christians)." Particularly egregious is that this is followed by a long footnote to justify its hate based on traditions from medieval texts.

Another example of political bias is where other, unbiased translations of the Qur'an report Moses's address to the Israelites (5:21) as "O my people! Enter the Holy Land that God has assigned unto you," but this version twists the verse with modern politics, writing, "O my people! Enter the holy land (Palestine)." This is just one egregious example of political motivation among many that pollute the translation, marring what should be a reflection of timeless religion.

These conclusions were reached while recently in a comparitive world religions class at university taught by a Muslim professor with a visiting Jewish professor. They recommended "The Koran Interpreted" by Arthur Arberry (the title of which reflects orthodox Muslim view that the Qur'an cannot be translated, but only interpreted) and "The Message of the Qur'an" by Muhammad Asad as the best translations available in English.

If you want a Salafi version of the Quran, this one is for you. I'm amazed at the misrepresentations in the version. One would be far better of with Muhammad Asad's version.

Something I think many have missed who have reviewed this Quran is that it uses accuracy to promote an inaccuracy. The inaccuracy is made invisible by a veneer of hadith. Even the notion of abrogation is problematic, a fact which should not go unnoticed.

How and why its accuracy is inaccurate is because about 100 years ago the Ottoman Empire was overthrown by Western powers. What happened in the Middle Eastern countries was a power vacuum that undermined the mainstream ideologies. Because the West has a history (as does Islam towards the West, to be fair) of "interfering" with the Middle East, an incipient anti-Western ideology swelled to the forefront in what is called the Wahhabi movement.

This Wahhabi movement was a largely puritanical and militant reformation and oversimplification of Islam couched in anti-Western sentiments. This is what has become modern Islam, and so the Quran under discussion is "accurate" in its portrayal of the Quran in this light, but inaccurate in its ability to accurately present the continuous stream of Islamic consciousness from its inception. It has the information, but not the ethos.

Islam actually has a much more peaceful side which has been buried under deep resentments. Too many times in history have Christians, Jews, and Muslims gotten along peacefully side by side for someone to believe in a basic social incompatibility. Even the sack of Jerusalem by the Crusading Franks saw the indiscriminate killing of Jews and Orthodox Christians. In other words, the Christians and Jews of Jerusalem lived relatively peacefully together at that time. At times, Christians and Muslims have actually used the same building, though on different days, to worship.

This Quran really misrepresents Islam in the most subtle way by using "accurateness" to paint a distorted picture. The Wahhabi movement has almost totally changed the ethos of the Islamic faith, and of course it tries to quote hadith to support its positions - every group does this, tying themselves to history to appear more legitimate.

The idea of abrogation, also, is problematic. There are legitimate schools of interpretation that state that nothing present in the Quran is actually abrogated. Quite literally, if it were abrogated, it would not be there. It would have actually been removed, forgotten, or replaced; not inserted or remaining like some curious sedimentary layer. The presence of "contradictions" which most claim abrogate other verses, are really places where a more nuanced view is required to contextualize the verses in question. Those who favor these "abrogations" are usually oversimplifying so as to press an agenda which, admittedly, the Quran can easily be made to seem to say.

The destruction of the Ottoman Empire broke the continuity of spiritual leadership which had kept these tendencies in check. People may want to "poo poo" it, but the destruction of a thousand year empire of the stature and grandeur of the Ottoman Empire does something to profoundly effect a people. This should not be underestimated when trying to understand how modern Islamic "authorities" exegete their texts.

To close, the text of the Noble Quran here, as a result of an incredibly complex history, expresses an oversimplified and incorrect view of the Quran. It is "accurate" in that it is the same words, and accurate in that it is how the majority of modern Islamic "authorities" interpret the text, but inaccurate in that it is from an ideology divorced from the actual stream of Islamic transmission broken after World War I. These authentic "transmissions" still exist, but they do not control the money or the power that backs the Wahhabi who prints these books and controls Medina through an implied force of arms. The Wahhabi are sincere, of course, but are simply in error in that they lack the fullness of their own faith. The power they gain and command through their vast fortunes make accountability to ancient Islamic orthodoxy problematic, to say the least.

Ironically, it is many of the "moderate" Muslims living in the West who are the more authentic Muslim ideologues, and who in many cases escaped the Middle East so as to escape the ideological tyranny of the Wahhabi. This is why they are often able to be more accurate than their Middle Eastern brethren, yet appear to have capitulated to "western" values.

Good sources for sound Muslim doctrine are al-Ghazzali, al-Qushayri, and al-Qadir al-Jilani. These men were able to communicate the fullness of their faith, and in such a way as to communicate the true ethos of authentic Islam. A sincere search of their doctrine will lead one to other sound Islamic teaching. Good luck. Allah Maak!

This translation of the Qur'an is one of the most accurate and fluent up to date. Having said that some people do not like the explanatory brackets because it takes away from the fluidity! Only some people, however, have trouble with this - as a whole it is one of the two best translations available in english. I strongly recommend that no other translations be bought. The most popular translations sold on this site are unfortunately not very good. Abdullah Yusuf Ali's was the standard for a long time - but in light of this one it now falls into the background and should no longer be used. He was not a scholar and his mistakes are numerous. As for the others they are absolutely terrible!
The translators of this book are from Medina (the Prophet's city)and have had the work thoroughly checked by people of knowledge.

The second of the 2 best translations i mentioned, which in terms of english alone, is better than this one - is the 'Majestic Quran' published by Starlatch press. Unfortunately this book is not available on this website.

This translation is the absolute worse translation you could buy! Please do NOT buy it. It's more of a salafi tafsir that the Salafi government of Saudi Arabia is trying to pass off as a translation of the Qur'an itself. It may have a nice appearance and may even seem authentic at first because of the ahadith they cite to "support" their interpretation (mind you these ahadith are usually taken out of context). However, I must warn you not to fall for this. All you have to do is compare this horrid translation to any other more reputable translation like Muhammad Asad's or Yusef Ali's and you will begin to see that the Noble Qur'an is nothing more than a Salafi tafsir. It wouldn't be so bad if they just labeled it as a tafsir but they don't. They want you to actually think that the tafsir is the actual translation. That their interpretation is actually what the Qur'an says or means! They take such liberty to give the impression that the Qur'an hates Christians and Jews, thinks of women as filth, thinks that women should only have "one eye" exposed to see and other horrible things.

Get a less controversial and more reputable translation like Muhammad Asad (which is awesome!). Asad actually tries to stays with what the Arabic says and lets you know clearly when he has interjected (which isn't often unlike the Noble Qur'an).

The 1993 edition (English&Arabic): Introduction: "xxx" pages of text; Quran: 930 pages; Glossary: 30 pages; and another 33 pages of commentary regarding: Why Allah sent prophets, Monotheism, Shahada, Polytheism & Disbelief, Shirk, Hypocrisy, the Jews and the Christians (see Quran 3:85), Christianity ("is men without a religion"[p.980]), Jesus (and the falsehood of his crucifixion), and Mary. (xxx&995 pages), hardback in slipcase.