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298 of 346 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Excellent, but I must point out..., December 1, 2001
As a Muslim who has owned this book for years, given to me by Ahmed Deedat himself, I must say that Abdullah Yusuf Ali has done a marvellous job making this fine translation. However, there are a few facts that non-Arabic speakers must be very well aware of:First of all, despite the attempt to make the translation as accurate as possible, one must be aware of the PROFOUND differences between Arabic language and the English language. Arabic is much more complex and has an unequalled myriad of gramattical and linguistic tools, and it is that that makes the Quran so powerful and moving to anyone who knows Arabic well. When the Quran is translated into English, the beauty of the language is lost, hence the title 'Meanings of the Holy Quran in English' instead of 'The Holy Quran in English'. Second, the translation allows for some misunderstandings that the anti-Muslims use to justify their prejudices against Islam.
So it must be pointed out that in the Arabic language, you must read all the verses for a sentence to make sense, and this does not necessarily come through in English, thus allowing for those misunderstandings. An example is a reviewer on this site who took the verse "And slay them wherever you catch them... " to try and say that Islam is violent. If you read the verse before it and the ones after it, you will find that this is purely self defense. The verses say " Fight in the cause of God THOSE WHO FIGHT YOU, but DO NOT TRANSGRESS LIMITS (as in killing civilians), For God loveth not transgressors. And Slay them Wherever ye catch them, ..... BUT IF THEY CEASE, GOD IS OFT-FORGIVING, MOST MERCIFUL. And fight them UNTIL THERE IS NO MORE TUMULT OR OPPRESSION ..... BUT IF THEY CEASE, LET THERE BE NO HOSTILITY EXCEPT TO THOSE WHO PRACTICE OPPRESSION (i.e. forgive them).
Such misunderstandings can be overcome by reading all the verses in a sura in order to understand the meaning, and also reading the helpful footnotes. If something is unclear, consult a Muslim. Third, always consult a Muslim on passages that you may not understand, or have any trouble with. A 'regular' Muslim who practices the Quran everyday of his life would know much better than an armchair intellectual who read 3 books about Islam and became a self-proclaimed expert in the field of Islamic studies. In general, a Muslim would know much more about her or his own religion than a non-Muslim, so try to read books written by Muslims. Fourth, and most importantly, for the non-Muslims reading the text, a very important piece of advice: read the Quran OBJECTIVELY, or dont bother reading it. Some people read the Quran to try and justify and hatered/misconception that they may have. If you read the Quran with this mindset, you might as well save yourself the trouble, and continue to believe whatever it is that you desparately want to believe. Otherwise, I am sure that you will have a lot to gain from reading the meanings of the Quran.
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