The three revised editions of Max Henning’s German Qur’an translation (“Der Koran”, Reclam: Leipzig, 1901) introduced last week illustrate the role of editors in shaping existing translations. The extent of interference with the text may range from the modernization of spelling to a complete rewriting, and even in the latter case, the result may still …
One of the most widely-sold Qur’an translations on the German market is “Der Koran” by Max Henning (1861–1927), an autodidactic Orientalist. First published in 1901 by Reclam in Leipzig, it was one of the few available German Qur’an translations at the time, and was generally considered to be the most reliable one, an assessment that …
Qur’an translations often play a part in familiarizing children with the scripture. Many of them are based on traditional pedagogical approaches, e.g. as a backdrop to teaching the recitation of the shortest surahs in Arabic. In contrast, “The Qur’an for children and adults” (“Der Koran für Kinder und Erwachsene”) by Lamya Kaddor and Rabeya Müller …
This book, entitled “The Approximate Meaning of Al Qur’ān Al Karīm in German Language” („Die ungefähre Bedeutung des Al Qur’ān Al Karīm in deutscher Sprache”), is the most politicized Qur’an translation in German history. Originally published by the Egyptian-born Muhammad Rassoul (1929–2015) in 1986 in a bilingual edition, it was distributed in a monolingual German …
