The provision of Qur’ans aimed at children is a niche market, and there are not many Qur’an publishers that cater to this need. Furthermore, many of those that do exist do not facilitate teaching the Qur’an in an easy-to-understand, child-friendly way. As discussed in a previous thread, the Indonesian publisher Syaamil tried to fill this …
Despite its nearly ninety-year history (with the first volume appearing in 1934), Abdullah Yusuf Ali’s translation of the Qur’an continues to outperform many other translations in terms of the frequency with which it is reprinted and the number of different publishers who reprint it, not to mention citations. What is sometimes not as frequently discussed …
This week we will have a closer look at another influential Urdu Qurʾan translation, this time Ahmad Riza Khan’s (1856–1921) Kanzul Iman. Ahmad Riza Khan hailed from Bareilly in India, where he lived for his entire life. His ancestry can be traced back to the Pathans, specifically, it seems likely, to a tribe that migrated …
Qur’an translation of the week #179: Ahmad Riza Khan’s Kanzul Iman Read More »
Usually, the history of Muhammad Asad’s (1900–1992) translation is dated back to the publication of the complete edition in 1980, while the first, partial version (comprising the first nine suras) which was printed in 1964 has become a bibliographical rarity. The 1964 edition was published by the Islamic Center of Geneva, which was based in …
Some translations are known for their controversial choices. Others come across as ostensibly uncontroversial, which is precisely their point and their selling proposition: Addressing those many Muslim and non-Muslim readers that have no predetermined ideological expectation of a Qur’an translation, they strive to represent a ‘middle way’ and to avoid flagging any kind of sectarian …
In 2003, the Libya-based World Islamic Call Society (WICS) published a new translation of the Qur’an into Wolof, authored by Assane Sylla (also known as Asan Silla), a scholar from Senegal. This was quite a significant cultural milestone for the Wolof people, a West African ethnic group who live in Senegal, Gambia and Mauritania. Senegal, …
Qur’an translation of the week #176: Alxuraan: A translation into Wolof by Assane Sylla Read More »
Ravil Bukharaev, much like the polymaths of the Renaissance, was a multifaceted individual whose interests and expertise spanned various fields. In modern Tatarstan, a republic within the Russian Federation, he is celebrated as one of the major Tatar literary figures of the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries, and is renowned for his diverse talents …
Earlier this year, The Egyptian Ministry of Awqaf published a Hebrew translation of the work known as al-Muntakhab fī tafsīr al-Qurʾān al-karīm (‘Selections of Commentary on the Glorious Qur’an’). This was the latest step in their project to promote this work at a global level – it has already been translated into various languages including …
The Qur’an has been translated into dozens of languages, but there are many more languages in which no full translation is available. Examining partial, ongoing, unsuccessful or nonexistent attempts at translating the Qur’an into any given language can shed light on its present-day condition, its status in a specific region or country and the demographics …
Qur’an translation of the week #173: The Qur’an in Celtic languages Read More »
The English Qur’an translation by M. H. Shakir is widely available today in various printed editions produced by numerous publishers, and also on websites and smartphone apps. It is sometimes mistakenly ascribed to the renowned Egyptian scholar Muḥammad Shākir (1866–1939), however he was an opponent of Qur’an translations and it is safe to assume that …
