Qur’an translation of the week

Qur’an translation of the week #214: The 1965 edition of The Holy Qur’an by Abdullah Yusuf Ali: the first-ever English translation of the Qur’an to be published in Saudi Arabia

The history of one of the most popular English translations of the Qur’an, that of the Indian-British scholar Abdullah Yusuf Ali (1872–1953), is also a story about editorial changes to published works, in this case leading to at least three revised editions. The 1946 edition of Yusuf Ali’s, which was reprinted up until the 1980s, […]

Qur’an translation of the week #214: The 1965 edition of The Holy Qur’an by Abdullah Yusuf Ali: the first-ever English translation of the Qur’an to be published in Saudi Arabia Read More »

Qur’an translation of the week #213: ‘Kur’an Gerçek’ (‘The True Qur’an’) by Ali Rıza Safa

More than 150 Turkish translations of the Qur’an have been published in Turkey over the last hundred years, which means that any new translation is hardly likely to contain many surprises. Still, every year a couple of new translations appear: be it some kind of voluminous translation with scholarly commentaries prepared by a committee of

Qur’an translation of the week #213: ‘Kur’an Gerçek’ (‘The True Qur’an’) by Ali Rıza Safa Read More »

Qur’an translation of the week #212: From The Quran as Revealed to The Message: The Latest Trend in Qur’an Publishing

On April 17, 2023, a new British publisher called ‘Quwa’ (the Arabic word for ‘strength’) launched a book titled The Quran as Revealed. The launch was accompanied by intense advertising on social media, and the book was endorsed by the popular, if not entirely uncontroversial, Mufti Menk from Zimbabwe (he has 10 million followers on

Qur’an translation of the week #212: From The Quran as Revealed to The Message: The Latest Trend in Qur’an Publishing Read More »

Qur’an translation of the week #211: A new genre of Qurʾan translations

Today, we will look at Urdu Quran, the first Urdu translation authored by a Christian scholar, Imad-ud-Din Lahiz, who converted from Islam to Christianity. During the nineteenth century, British India was a melting pot of various peoples and faiths where Muslims, Hindus, and Christians engaged in polemical debates as part of their missionary endeavors, each seeking

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Qur’an translation of the week #210: Korani Kerim by Mohammed Shemsuddin: an illegal Bulgarian translation of the Qur’an composed during the communist era

The question of Qur’an translation into Bulgarian has historically mainly been associated with the Turkish-speaking minority living in the south of the country, on the border between Turkey and Greece. This community survived many challenges during the course of the twentieth century, including concerted endeavors by Christian missionaries to convert the population, and the Bulgarian

Qur’an translation of the week #210: Korani Kerim by Mohammed Shemsuddin: an illegal Bulgarian translation of the Qur’an composed during the communist era Read More »

Qur’an translation of the week #209: ‘The Qurán’: A Christian version of a Muslim-authored Qur’an Translation

In this post, we will examine what is likely the first Urdu translation produced within a Christian missionary context: ‘The Qurán’. Published in 1844 by the Presbyterian Mission Press of Allahabad, it features Shāh ʿAbd al-Qādir’s very prominent and influential Urdu translation transcribed into Latin script. Shāh ʿAbd al-Qādir’s rendition was completed at the end of the eighteenth century and originally

Qur’an translation of the week #209: ‘The Qurán’: A Christian version of a Muslim-authored Qur’an Translation Read More »

Qur’an translation of the week #208: Al-Qur’an Adventure, A One-Stop Qur’an for All from AlQosbah Publishers 

The trend towards embracing the Qur’an as the primary text of Islam in Muslim-majority countries like Indonesia has led to a notable emphasis on memorization (hifz al-Qur’an) over engagement in deeper contemplation of the scripture through the mediation of tafsīrs or translations. The recent upsurge in Qur’an memorization gained momentum in 2003 with the establishment of Pesantren

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Qur’an translation of the week #207: Creolised Urdu, imported revivalism: The Kanz-ul-Īmān in Mauritian Creole 

In 1995, two preachers from Port Louis, the capital city of the island of Mauritius, published a Qur’an translation into Mauritian Creole. Le Saint Qur’aan did not actually claim to be a direct translation of the Arabic Qur’an, however, but was rather presented as a rendition of an Urdu Qur’an translation, the Kanz-ul-Īmān by Ahmad Reza Khan Barelwi (1856–1921).

Qur’an translation of the week #207: Creolised Urdu, imported revivalism: The Kanz-ul-Īmān in Mauritian Creole  Read More »

Qur’an translation of the week #206: The lost manuscript: an early Ukrainian translation of the Qur’an (1913–1914)

In his early, short bibliography The Koran in Slavonic (New York, 1937), the Slavic Studies scholar Avrahm Yarmolinsky asserts that there is no translation of the Qur’an into any of the Slavic languages, including Ukrainian. However, just two decades later, the well-known scholar of the Qur’an and translator Muhammad Hamidullah mentions an enigmatic Ukrainian interpretation

Qur’an translation of the week #206: The lost manuscript: an early Ukrainian translation of the Qur’an (1913–1914) Read More »

Qur’an translation of the week #205: Sher Ali’s English Quran translation and the rise of the first global publisher of Quran translations

The Ahmadiyya movement, a messianic reform movement founded in British India in 1889 by Mirza Ghulam Ahmad (d. 1908), was the first Islamic group to actively undertake a project to translate the Qur’an into various European languages in the early twentieth century. Their primary motivation was to make the Qur’anic text accessible to a broader

Qur’an translation of the week #205: Sher Ali’s English Quran translation and the rise of the first global publisher of Quran translations Read More »

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