Customer Reviews

Translation and Commentary on The Holy Quran

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

My observation is that this translation is fairly accurate. I visited publisher's web site and they have a comparison with some other translations. That comparison shows it to be better than some other translations. One reviewer below found the advertisement of "word-to-word" misleading. I have bought this book after reading some sample translations from the web site; therefore, I knew exactly what I was getting. No question of deceiving here.

The limitation of this book is that the commentary is quite brief, although substantiated by abundant cross-reference from Koran. As mentioned by one reviewer, as in case of Al-Naml, the commentary does not refer to history. I found that the commentary rarely referred to any historical accounts not mentioned in the Koran. Large cross-reference exist with Koran and to some extent with Hadith and Bible. References to historical accounts could have made the book juicier to read. However, I feel reference to Koran is more reliable than to stories, histories, folk-tales, biblical stories etc. I will rather go with Koran than stories.

Earlier, I had liked Asad's translation very much due to extensive commentary. However, I disliked Asad's lack of index and cross-reference. Now I prefer Hoque due to accuracy of translation, index and cross-reference. I would recommend this book without hesitation as a companion to Asad or vice versa. These two books together will provide a good understanding of Koran.

I have 5 different top of the line translations with me. Recently I purchased this translation. The translation part is definitely far better and far accurate than any of these 5 translations. The commentary could have been more detailed. Well within the scope of this work, this is just enough. Obviously I was not expecting 5000 pages, 5-volume material squeezed into a book. For this reason, I would say the book does just fine. Besides, reading many of the verses in this translation elucidates the implied meaning far more easily than any of those 5 translations. I am willing to give a 5 star rating and definitely recommend the work to all.

Translation And Commentary On The Holy Qur-an is a comprehensive translation and explanation of the Islamic sacred book, the Quran. Extensive cross-references from the Bible and other scriptures are provided to facilitate interfaith studies and academic research. Dr. Zohurul Hoque's translation is enhanced with a detailed and descriptive index covering virtually every topic and concept occurring in the Quran. Arabic text is added to facilitate easy reciting. Translation And Commentary On The Holy Qur-an is an impressive, scholarly work that is highly recommended to students of Islam, as well as an ideal acquisition for academic and community library collections.

It is a pleasure to see the easy and simple language used to translate the Al-Quran. I know some Arabic, and as far as I could see, the translation is very reliable and truely reflects the Arabic Quran. I have liked the references and the index. I would have liked an introduction to each surahs. My congratulations to Zohurul Hoque for a job well done.

While reading the translation, I find this translation is characterized by: simplicity, ease of use and accuracy. The language used throughout the translation is the language we use in day to day life. Without becoming verbose, the English is easy to follow and interpretation is easy to understand. Dr. Hoque placed the commentary inside parenthesis by rendering smooth textual flow between the translation and commentary. This is a totally uncommon approach yet it serves the very intended purpose: convey the meaning of the Qur'an in a simple way.

I am able to grasp the meaning not because I already 'know' the Qur'an, but because I see the meaning is flowing just as easy as one can imagine. Ease of use is definitely a plus point in this translation. I can say even an eighth grade student will be able to understand the messages to a great detail. There are no footnotes to analyze and re-interpret. Dr. Hoque attempted to translate the verses word for word, so I compared the accuracy of the translation with the translation itself and also with various other widely circulated translations. Clearly this is by far the most accurate or more accurate translation and appears very reliable to me.

I strongly recommend the translation for any Muslim. All readers are likely to benefit from the translation. It is the best translation to give to our younger generations and make them develop interest in the message of the Book.

The translator has been able to achieve an amazing feat. His commentaries are briefly written within parenthesis, yet could be quite elaborate due to numerous references in almost every verse. You could continue on the cross references to get an extensive idea of the relevant topic. Everybody will find the index very helpful. The entries in the index are descriptive - a good feature. Unlike some other translations that use Biblical English, this translation uses contemporary English.

The translator acknowledges his brief commentary. Still he explains almost every verse. Before reading this commentary, I had often found some verses difficult to understand. This book makes those verses quite easy to understand. Within the limits of my Arabic knowledge, the translation seems fairly accurate. The translation and commentary are distinctly separate using different fonts. In addition, translation by itself is on the upper half of each page, next to Arabic text. The Arabic text could have been little larger in size. I guess this smaller Arabic font was used to conserve space. Symmetrical page formating is also appealing.

Although the hadiya of this book is little higher compared to most other translations of Quran, it is very reasonable considering the quality. I highly recommend this translation and commentary.

Although as many other Muslims especially those who do not know arabic I also have various translations of the Holy Qur'an. After all if you know Arabic you need only one Qur'an not ten except for convenience. The web site for the publisher provides a good information what this translation is about and in what format it is printed. I found the book short in interpretation, definite in translation claiming almost %100 interpretation without any regard to various readings. I wish there was at least references to for example how Zamanshkari, Tabari or Ibn Keshir reads some ayats forget about how other sects reads it. Well it is nice package put together but it seems like I could do it without it especially after reading some conterversial ayats that sets the tone for the interpreter. I suppose as a punishmet not knowing Arabic as a mother tongue or close to it you need to read 10-20 different translations and make up your own mind. This is another occasion for me to praise the work done by Mr.Mahmoud Ayyoub, providing comperative translations in his book, "Interpreters of Qur'an". I still think Mr.picktall's translation,although there is no interpretation, is still the best one or may be the words he uses are more open for different interpretations if you are translating the book ones more from English to your mother tongue. With interpretation I prefer Yousuf Ali for it has more information.

I've taught Quran and its meanings for years. The students sometimes ask for a translation that gives them a 'word for word' translation for the Arabic text. The advertisement (not on amazon.com), gave the impression that this is it. Unfortunately it fails in doing that at innumerable places.

Wherever the translator finds difficulty to explain certain concepts or events of history, he resorts to his 'own' interpretation and exlpanation without supporting his views from the history. For example, in sura 'An-Naml', he finds it difficult to explain the verse/s about ants. These verses, when read to an Arab now (and indeed then), he easily understands what the mean.

I do not recommend this translation to anybody.

I just ordered this book. I want to find out what all the fuss is about with the koran. I just have been watching the News with all of the rioting and burning over the mohammed cartoons. The people were holding up copys of the koran and that made me come here to order a copy to see why this book is so full of controversy. I heard it is hard to understand. We will seee