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 Instagram). Potential buyers were urged to pre-register in order to guarantee they could get their hands on a copy, due to limited stock. They were offered discount codes and promised a ‘profound journey’ as well as an immersive experience. Emails from the company had headers such as ‘Hurry, less than 90 Left!’, ‘Mufti Menk Gives His Review! ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️’, ‘Stop struggling to understand the Quran’, ‘The perfect gift for your Friends and Family’, and ‘This book is taking the world by storm!’ Their website describes the book as being ‘Curated with premium Design & Craftsmanship. Printed in full colour on responsibly sourced 120gsm uncoated paper and Smyth sewn binding.’
What lay behind this sustained marketing campaign? Quwa used an existing Qur’an translation, that of the British converts Aisha and Abdalhaqq Bewley, first published in 1999, and rearranged the suras chronologically according to the Cairo edition of the Qur’an. The first volume of The Quran as Revealed contained all the Meccan suras and came in a luxury hardcover version with pictures. These show anything from plants to mountain landscapes to the pyramids, sometimes with human silhouettes in the picture but never portraying humans with discernible faces. The text itself comes with minimal verse numbering and no commentary. The titles of suras are given in Arabic rather than in translation, but are accompanied by a brief explanation that summarises what the publisher feels is the main message of the sura. For example, Q 85 al-Burūj (‘The Zodiac Signs’) is entitled ‘Al-Buruj: Allah’s knowledge of those who harm His believers and their punishment,’ and is accompanied by a picture of a greyish-white barren landscape with a leafless tree. The idea is not to represent the Prophet Muḥammad’s story in images, which would have been hugely controversial, but more to create a visual impression that reinforces some core motifs in the text.
The book created a stir on social media nonetheless, from YouTube to TikTok. Critics – including, but not limited to, Salafis –accused Mufti Menk of promoting a ‘new Qur’an’ and rhetorically asked whether the original text of the Qur’an was not sufficient. The fact that The Quran as Revealed did not even pretend to enable readers to make sense of the Arabic Qur’an, dispensing with individual verse numbers that would allow them to align the Arabic text with the translation, probably did not help.
The title, The Quran as Revealed, was especially vehemently attacked because, critics argued, the Qur’an was revealed in Arabic, not English. In January 2024, Quwa therefore changed the title to The Message, before they began publishing subsequent volumes, for example a ‘Madani’ edition that they describe as comprising ‘a beautifully crafted compilation of the meanings of the Madani Surahs’, as well as additional volumes devoted to individual suras. In a statement on their website, they say they made their decision on the name change to The Message following consultations with scholars, and settled on a title that ‘more accurately reflects the purpose’ of their books and ‘addresses and dispels any misconceptions surrounding’ them. This statement, as well as the FAQ section of the website, emphasise the importance of the Arabic text of the Qur’an and make a visible effort to deflect criticism. Meanwhile, Mufti Menk released numerous statements and videos in which he defended the project against its critics, stating emphatically that ‘this is NOT a new Qur’an’. Nevertheless, the website ‘askthemufti.us’, run by Muajul I. Chowdhury, an American Muslim with an education from South Africa who presents himself as director of the ‘Darul Iftaa New York’, states in resp0nse to a query about The Quran as Revealed that its use is not recommended because it does not contain the Arabic text of the Qur’an, because the addition of pictures might reduce the sacredness of the text in the eyes of readers, and because the canonical arrangement of the Qur’an is divinely sanctioned and may not be altered.
The story of this very recent, and ongoing, project demonstrates the extent to which the Qur’an and its translations have become part of contemporary consumer culture, with publishers using creative strategies to promote and sell their books. But it also shows how sensitive such strategies can be and how easy it is to find fault with translation and publication projects related to the Qur’an. Still, given Mufti Menk’s backing, the project has found many fans and defenders. The production of aesthetically pleasing editions of Qur’an translations for a consumer market has been a trend for several years now, and the addition of images is only one of the latest developments in the field.
Johanna Pink