Qur’an translation of the week

Qur’an translation of the week #108: Al-Muntakhab in Russian- Egyptian daʿwa in the post-Soviet space

The turn of the millennium gifted Russian-speaking Muslim communities with a new Qur’an interpretation: al-Muntakhab: Tolkovanie Svi͡ashchennogo Korana na Arabskom i Russkom I͡azykakh (2000) [al-Muntakhab: Interpretation of the Holy Qur’an in Arabic and Russian languages]. This publication not only received official approval from Egypt’s al-Azhar University (which has a widespread policy of providing official sanction …

Qur’an translation of the week #108: Al-Muntakhab in Russian- Egyptian daʿwa in the post-Soviet space Read More »

Qur’an translation of the week #107: ‘De Koran: heilig boek van de Islam-’ A Dutch Translation of the Qur’an by the Protestant Pastor Eduard Verhoef (1943-)

‘Finally, a good translation of the Qur’an,’ declared a reviewer in ‘Volkskrant,’ a well-known newspaper in the Netherlands, on the publication of Eduard Verhoef’s translation of the Qur’an. A number of notable Dutch-speaking Muslims have likewise written positive comments on Verhoef’s translation, such as, for example, Tidjani Boulaouali, a member of the teaching staff at …

Qur’an translation of the week #107: ‘De Koran: heilig boek van de Islam-’ A Dutch Translation of the Qur’an by the Protestant Pastor Eduard Verhoef (1943-) Read More »

Qur’an translation of the week #106: The first influential Muslim-authored translation of the Qur’an into English

This week we will look at Muhammad Ali’s influential English translation, entitled The Holy Qur-án, which was first published in 1917. Muhammad Ali (d. 1951) was a renowned Ahmadi scholar who was born in 1874 in Murar, in the state of Kapurthala in India. Ali studied mathematics, law and English at university, after which he …

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Qur’an translation of the week #105: A Roma singer and the linguistic heritage of a European minority- The Saudi King Fahd Qur’an Printing Complex and the first (partial) translation of the Qur’an into Romani

In 1422/2002, the Saudi King Fahd Qur’an Printing Complex (KFQPC) advertised the publication of the first ever (partial) translation of the Qur’an into the language of the most marginalized community in Europe: the Roma, whose language, Romani, is spoken across Europe in many different varieties. This event throws a spotlight on two important modern developments …

Qur’an translation of the week #105: A Roma singer and the linguistic heritage of a European minority- The Saudi King Fahd Qur’an Printing Complex and the first (partial) translation of the Qur’an into Romani Read More »

Qur’an translation of the week #104: Doing away with King James Style- N. J. Dawood’s The Koran

In 1956, Penguin Classics published The Koran by N. J. Dawood (1927–2014), an Iraqi Jew. It stood out by dint of being the very first Qur’an translation into contemporary English, a fact which means it has had a big impact on many later Muslim and non-Muslim translators, whether or not they approved of Dawood’s endeavour. …

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Qur’an translation of the week #103: ‘Interpretation of the meanings of the Noble Qur’an in the English language‘ by al-Hilālī and Khān- the story behind the first translation of the Qur’an in Saudi Arabia (2/2)

How does the early 1977 edition of the Hilali-Khan translation differs from later revisions? First of all, the English text of 1977 is almost completely free from the inclusion of Arabic glosses, i.e. transliterated Arabic words inserted in brackets, with only very few exceptions. Consider, for example, Q 2:43. In both the 1977 and 1978 …

Qur’an translation of the week #103: ‘Interpretation of the meanings of the Noble Qur’an in the English language‘ by al-Hilālī and Khān- the story behind the first translation of the Qur’an in Saudi Arabia (2/2) Read More »

Qur’an translation of the week #102: ‘Interpretation of the meanings of the Noble Qur’an in the English language‘ by al-Hilālī and Khān- the story behind the first Saudi translation (1/2)

This popular translation of the Qur’an into English, widely known as ‘Hilali-Khan,’ is one of the most influential Islamic texts in the world. Published in numerous editions, it gained much of its fame in the late 1990s and early 2000s, while recently it has been criticized on various grounds, some more controversial than others. Criticisms …

Qur’an translation of the week #102: ‘Interpretation of the meanings of the Noble Qur’an in the English language‘ by al-Hilālī and Khān- the story behind the first Saudi translation (1/2) Read More »

Qur’an translation of the week #101: Global da’wa in French and the gender question- Shahnaz Saïdi Benbetka’s French Qur’an translation, published by Maulana Wahiduddin Khan’s Goodword Books

The Indian scholar Maulana Wahiduddin Khan (1925–2021) was the founder of a global da’wah enterprise that focuses on the distribution of Qur’an translations. We discussed his English Qur’an translation (which was co-authored with, and probably mostly produced by, his daughter Farida Khanam on the basis of his Urdu translation) last week. Khan was a madrasa-trained …

Qur’an translation of the week #101: Global da’wa in French and the gender question- Shahnaz Saïdi Benbetka’s French Qur’an translation, published by Maulana Wahiduddin Khan’s Goodword Books Read More »

Qur’an translation of the week #100: ‘The Qur’an: English Translation, Commentary and Parallel Arabic Text’ by Maulana Wahiduddin Khan and Prof. Farida Khanam

by Afsan Yusuf Redwan, Islam UK Centre, Cardiff University Can there ever be such a thing as a ‘spiritual translation’ of religious scripture? If so, then how would this be modelled to appeal to audiences? How would a ‘spiritual translation’ help proclaim the message of Islam, in essence, doing da’wah (‘proclaiming’)? Furthermore, is there a …

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Qur’an translation of the week #99: The State-sponsored Translation of the Qur’an into Palembang, Religious Moderation, and Language Dilemma

by Tri Handayani, Sekolah Tinggi Ilmu Al Qur’an (STIQ) Al-Lathifiyyah Palembang The Indonesian state has only recently, in 2018, initiated an official project to translate the Qur’an into local languages, even though the first state-authorised translation of the Qur’an into Indonesian was published in 1965 and has since been reissued in various different editions. However, …

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