English translations of the Quran

Following is a list of English translations of the Quran . The first translations were created in the 17th and 19th centuries by non-Muslims, but the majority of existing translations have been produced in the 20th and 21st centuries.

The earliest known English translation is The Alcoran (1649) which is attributed to Alexander Ross, chaplain to King Charles I . It was translated from the French translation, L'Alcoran de Mahomet , by the Sieur du Ryer.

The Koran, Commonly Called the Alcoran of Mohammed (1734) was the first scholarly translation of the Quran and was the most widely available English translation for 200 years and is still in print. George Sale based this two-volume translation on the Latin translation by Louis Maracci (1698). ^[1] Thomas Jefferson had a copy of Sale's translation, now in the Library of Congress, that was used for House Representative Keith Ellison's oath of office ceremony on 3 January 2007. ^[2]

Muslims did not begin translating the Quran into English until the early 20th century. ^[3] The Qur'an (1910) was translated by Mirza Abul Fazl of Allahabad, India. He was the first Muslim to present a translation of the Qur'an in English. The English Translation of the Holy Qur'an with Commentary (1917), translated by Maulana Muhammad Ali, was "the first English translation by an Ahmadiyyah follower to be generally available and to be made accessible to the West." ^[4] Muhammad Ali was the leader of the Lahori Ahmadis. Wallace Fard Muhammad, the founder of the Nation of Islam, exclusively used Ali's translation.

The Koran Interpreted (1955) by Arthur Arberry was the first English translation of the Quran by an academic scholar of Arabic, Islam, and Sufism. Arberry attempted to maintain the rhythms and cadence of the Arabic text. For many years, it was the scholarly standard for English translations.

The Holy Qur'an: Arabic Text and English Translation (1990) was the first translation by a Muslim woman, Amatul Rahman Omar.

The Noble Quran: Meaning With Explanatory Notes (2007) by Taqi Usmani is the first English translation of the Quran ever written by a traditionalist Deobandi scholar. ^[5]

Non-Muslim translations

• The Alcoran, Translated Out of Arabic into French. By the Andrew du Ryer, Lord of Malezair, and Resident for the French King, at Alexandria. And Newly Englished, for the Satisfaction of all that Desire to Look into the Turkish Vanities . London: Anno Dom, 1649.

• The Koran, Commonly Called the Alcoran of Mohammed, tr. into English Immediately from the Original Arabic; with Explanatory Notes, Taken from the Most Approved Commentators. To Which Is Prefixed a Preliminary Discourse. Translated by George Sale. London: C. Ackers, 1734, available online at al-quran.info. ^[6]
• The Koran. Translated by John Medows Rodwell. London: J. M. Dent & Sons Ltd., 1861. ^[7]
• The Quran. Translated by E.H. Palmer. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1880. ^[a]
• The Qur'an: Translated, with a Critical Re-arrangement of the Surahs. Translated by Richard Bell. Edinburgh: T. & T. Clark, 1939. ^{[8] [b]}
• The Koran Interpreted. 2 volumes. Translated by Arthur Arberry. New York: Macmillan,1955. ^[9]
• The Koran: A New Translation. Translated by N. J. Dawood. New York: Penguin, 1956. ^[c]
• The Qur'an: A New Translation. Translated by Thomas Cleary. United States: Starlatch Press, 2004. ISBN   9781929694440. ^[d]
• The Qur'an. Translated by Alan Jones. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2007. ISBN   978-0906094648 ^[e]
• The Qur'an: A New Annotated Translation. Translated by Arthur J. Droge. Sheffield: Equinox Publishing Limited, 2012. ISBN   978-1845539443
• The Qur'an (Norton Critical Editions). Translated by Jane Dammen McAuliffe. New York: W. W. Norton & Company, 2017. ISBN   978-0-393-92705-4. ^{[10] [f]}
• The Critical Qur'an: Explained from Key Islamic Commentaries and Contemporary Historical Research. Translated by Robert Spencer. New York: Bombardier Books, 2022. ISBN   978-1642939491

Notes

1. Palmer was a Cambridge scholar entrusted with the preparation of the new translation for Max Muller's Sacred Books of the East series.
2. Bell was a lecturer in Arabic studies at Edinburgh University.
3. Dawood was a native Arabic speaker from Iraq's now-defunct Jewish community. He preferred comprehensibility to literalism in translation, making his version easier to read. The first edition of the Dawood translation rearranged the chapters into approximate chronological order, but later editions restored the traditional sequence.
4. Cleary is a well-known California-based translator of numerous Buddhist works. His translation was based on an earlier partial translation, which the American Muslim scholar Hamza Yusuf highly praised.
5. Jones is an Arabist and retired lecturer at Oxford University.
6. McAuliffe's version is based on the Pickthall translation.

Ahmadi translations

• The Holy Qurán. Translated by Mohammad Khan. Patiala: Rajinder Press, 1905. ^{[11] [a]}
• The English Translation of the Holy Qur'an with Commentary. Translated by Maulana Muhammad Ali. Punjab: 1917. ^{[12] [b]}
• The Holy Quran: Arabic Text and English Translation.Translated by Maulvi Sher Ali. Netherlands: 1955. ISBN   1-85372-314-2
• The English Commentary of the Holy Quran . 5 volumes. Translated by Maulvi Sher Ali, Mirza Bashir Ahmad and Malik Ghulam Farid. Ahmadiyya Muslim Community, 1963.
• The Wonderful Koran: A New English Translation. Translated by Pir Salahuddin. Eminabad: The Raftar-I-Zamana Publications, 1969. ^[13]
• The Quran. Translated by Muhammad Zafrulla Khan. London: Curzon Press, 1970.
• The Holy Qur'an: Arabic Text and English Translation.Translated by Amatul Rahman Omar and Abdul Mannan Omar. Noor Foundation International, Inc., 1990. ISBN   0976697238. ^[c]

Notes

1. Mohammad Khan's translation reflects an Ahmadiyya worldview.
2. A revised edition was published in 1951; Ali spent the last five years of his life working towards it. It was redesigned with a new typeface and an expanded index in 2002.
3. Amatul Rahman Omar was the first woman to translate the Qur'an into English, working with her husband Abdul Mannan Omar.

Intra-faith translations

• The Study Quran: A New Translation and Commentary (2015). Edited by Seyyed Hossein Nasr, Caner K. Dagli, Maria Massi Dakake, Joseph E. B. Lumbard, and Mohammed Rustom.New York: HarperOne, 2015. ISBN   978-0061125867. ^{[14] [15] [a]}

Notes

1. Features verse-by-verse commentaries and essays by both Shiite and Sunni scholars.

Qur'anist translations

• Quran: The Final Testament. Translated by Rashad Khalifa. Islamic Productions, 1981. ISBN   9780934894760. ^[a]
• Exposition of the Holy Quran. Translated by Ghulam Ahmed Pervez. Lahore: Tolu-E-Islam Trust, 1996. ^[b]
• The Qur'an As It Explains Itself. Translated by Shabbir Ahmed. Bedford: Lighthouse, 2003. ISBN   9780974787985. ^{[16] [c]}
• The Quran: A Reformist Translation. Translated by Edip Yuksel, Layth Saleh al-Shaiban, and Martha Schulte-Nafeh. London: Brainbow Press, 2007. ISBN   978-0979671500. ^[d]
• The Message - A Translation of the Glorious Qur'an. Translated by the Monotheistic Group. London: Brainbow Press, 2008. ISBN   978-0979671548
• The Qur’an: A Complete Revelation. Translated by Sam Gerrans. Quranite, 2016. ISBN   978-1-914385-04-9

Notes

1. Rashad Khalifa is a controversial teacher and computer scientist. He claimed to have used mathematics and computers to find hidden meanings in the Qur'an.
2. This is an English translation of the Urdu translation, Mafhum-al-Quran (1961).
3. The translation attempts to explain Qur'anic verses by cross-references within the Qur'an.
4. They claim to offer a non-sexist understanding of the text.

Shi'a translations

• The Qur'an. Translated by Mirza Abul Fazl. Allahabad: Asgar & Co., 1911. ^{[17] [a]}
• The Qur'an. Translated by Mohammed Habib Shakir. New York: Tahirke Tarsile Qur'an, 1968. ^[18]
• The Holy Qur'an: The Arabic Text and English Translation (1981). Translated by Muhammad Sarwar. Englewood: The Islamic Seminary Inc.,1981. ^[19]
• The Holy Qur'an. Translated by Syed V. Mir Ahmed Ali. Tehran: Osweh Printing & Publication Co., 1988. ISBN   9780940368842
• The Quran: A Poetic Translation. Translated by Fazlollah Nikayin. 2000. ISBN   978-0967473208. ^[b]
• The Qur'an in Persian and English. Translated by Tahere Saffarzadeh. 2001. ^{[20] [21]}
• The Qur'an with an English Paraphrase, Translated by Ali Quli Qara'i. Iranian Centre for Translation of the Holy Qur'an/Islamic Publications International, 2005. ISBN   978-1904063179.
• The Sublime Qur'an. Translated by Laleh Bakhtiar. Chicago: Kazi Publications, Inc., 2007. ISBN   978-1567447507. ^{[3] [22] [c]}
• The Magnificent Qur'an: A 21st Century English Translation.Translated by Ali Salami. Tempe: Leilah Publication, 2016. ISBN   099633386X.

Notes

1. This volume includes Arabic text and English translation arranged chronologically. It also includes an abstract (Allahabad).
2. This translation attempts a poetic rendering of the Qur'an.
3. This was claimed to be the first solo translation of the Qur'an by an American woman. The Sahih international (1997) version, was translated by three American women. It has also been called a feminist translation.

Sunni translations

• The Koran. Translated by Hairat Dihlawi. Delhi: M. H. Press, 1916. ^[23]
• The Meaning of the Glorious Koran. Translated by Muhammad Marmaduke Pickthall. New York: A. A. Knopf, 1930. ^[a] , Available online at al-quran.info and islamawakened.org.
• The Holy Qur'an: Translation and Commentary. Translated by Abdullah Yusuf Ali. Lahore: Shaik Muhammad Ashraf Publishers of Bakhshi Bazaar, 1934. ^{[24] [b]}
• Tafseru-l-Qur'aan Translated by Abdul Majid Daryabadi. India: 1957.
• The Running Commentary of the Holy Qur-an with Under-Bracket Comments. Translated by Khadim Rahmani Nuri of Shillong, India: Sufi Hamsaya-Gurudwar, 1964.
• The Meaning of the Qur'an .Translated by Muhammad Akbar. Lahore: 1967. ^[c]
• The Message of the Qur'an: Presented in Perspective (1974) Translated by Hashim Amir Ali. Rutland: C. E. Tuttle Co.,1974. ISBN   978-0-8048-0976-4. ^{[25] [d]}
• The Message of the Qur'an. Translated by Muhammad Asad. Gibraltar: Dar al-Andalus Limited, 1980. ISBN   1904510000. ^[e]
• The Qur'an: The First American Version. Translated by Thomas Ballantyne Irving (Al Hajj Ta'lim Ali Abu Nasr). Brattleboro: Amana Books, 1985. ^[f]
• Al-Qur'an: A Contemporary Translation. Translated by Ahmed Ali. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1988. ISBN   9780691073293
• The Clarion Call of the Eternal Quran. Translated by Muhammad Khalilur Rahman. Dhaka: 1991.
• The Glorious Qur'an. Translated by Ahmad Zidan and Mrs. Dina Zidan. Zidan,1993. ISBN   978-0951811504
• A Simple Translation of The Holy Quran. Translated by Mir Aneesuddin. Hyderabad: Islamic Academy of Sciences, 1993. ^[g]
• The Glorious Qur'an. Translated by Syed Vickar Ahamed. Kuala Lumpur: TR Group of Companies, 1999. ISBN   983-40085-03
• The Holy Qur'an. Translated by Emily B. Assami (Umm Muhammad), Amatullah J. Bantley, and Mary M. Kennedy. Jeddah: Dar Abul Qasim Publishing House, 1997. ^{[26] [27] [h]}
• Al-Qur'an: Guidance for Mankind. Translated by M. Farooq-e-Azam Malik. Dearborn: The Institute of Islamic Knowledge, 1997. ISBN   978-0911119800
• Towards Understanding the Ever-glorious Qur'an. Translated by Muhammad Mahmoud Ghali. Cairo: Publishing House for Universities, 1997.
• The Noble Qur'an: A New Rendering of Its Meaning in English (1999) Translated by Abdalhaqq Bewley and Aisha Bewley. London: Madinah Press, 1999. ISBN   9781874216360. ^[i]
• Interpretation of the Meanings of the Noble Qur'an. Translated by Muhammad Muhsin Khan and Muhammad Taqi-ud-Din al-Hilali. Chicago: Kazi Publications Inc., 1999. ISBN   978-1567444995. ^[j]
• The Majestic Qur'an: An English Rendition of Its Meanings . Translated by Nureddin Uzunoğlu, Tevfik Rüştü Topuzoğlu, Ali Özek, and Mehmet Maksutoğlu. United States: Starlatch Press, 2000. ISBN   9781929694501
• An Interpretation of the Qur'an (2000). Translated by Majid Fakhry. New York: NYU Press, 2002. ISBN   978-0814727232
• Translation and Commentary on The Holy Quran (2000). Translate by Zohurul Hoque. Holy Quran Publishing Project, 2000. ISBN   978-0967830407
• The Qur'an. Translated by M. J. Gohari. Oxford: Oxford Logos Society, 2002. ISBN   978-0953671670
• Quran: The Living Truth. Translated by Shaikh Basheer Ahmed Muhuyiddin. Kerala: Manas Foundation, 2003. ISBN   9788171513406
• The Tajwidi Qur'an. Translated by Nooruddeen Durkee. Charlottesville: An-noor Educational Foundation, 2003. ^[k]
• The Qur'an (Oxford World Classics). Translated by M.A.S. Abdel-Haleem. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004. ISBN   978-0192805485
• Jamal Ul Qur'an (The Beauteous Qur'an). 3rd edition. Translated by Muhammad Karam Shah Al-Azhari and Anis Ahmad Sheikh. Lahore-Karachi: Zia-ul-Qur'an Publications, 2004.
• Quran Made Easy. Translated by Afzal Hoosen Elias. Karachi: Zam Zam Publishers, 2007. ISBN   978-9699145278
• The Meanings of the Noble Qur'an with Explanatory Notes, 2 volumes. Translated by Muhammad Taqi Usmani. Idarat al-Maarif, 2007. ISBN   9789695640005
• The Qur'an with Annotated Interpretation in Modern English. Translated by Ali Ünal. Clifton: Tughra Books, 2008. ISBN   9781597841443. ^[l]
• The Gracious Qur'an: A Modern Phrased Interpretation in English. Translated by Ahmad Zaki Hammad. Reston: Lucent Interpretations, 2008. ISBN   978-0978784935
• The Qur'an: A New Translation. Translated by Tarif Khalidi. New York: Penguin Classics, 2008. ISBN   978-0143105886
• Irfan ul Quran. Translated by Muhammad Tahir-ul-Qadri. London: Minhaj-ul-Quran Publications, 2009.
• The Holy Qur'an: Guidance for Life. Translated by Yahiya Emerick. Islamic Foundation of North America/Amirah Publishing Co., 2010.
• The Easy Qur'an. Translated by Imtiaz Ahmad. Farmington Hills: Tawheed Center of Farmington Hills, 2010. ISBN   978-603-00-6359-8.
• The Quran: Translation and Commentary with Parallel Arabic Text. Translated by Maulana Wahiduddin Khan. India, Goodword, 2011. ISBN   9788178987460
• The Glorious Qur'an. Translated by Muhammad Tahir-ul-Qadri. London: Minhaj-ul-Quran Publications, 2011. ISBN   978-1908229007
• The Wise Qur'an: A Modern English Translation. Translated by Assad Nimer Busool. 2012
• Quran in English: Clear and Easy to Read. Translated by Talal Itani. Available at ClearQuran.com, 2012. ISBN   978-0986136801
• What is in the Quran? Message of the Quran in Simple English. Translated by Abdur Raheem Kidwai. New Delhi: Viva Books, 2013. ISBN   978-81-309-2363-5.
• Anwar-ul-Quran: The Holy Quran with English Translation. Translated by Fode Drame. Scotts Valley: CreateSpace Independent Publishing, 2014. ISBN   9781494887186
• The Clear Quran: A Thematic English Translation. Translated by Mustafa Khattab. St. Catharines: SirajPublications, 2015. ISBN   978-0-9948895-0-8.
• Noor Al Bayan. English. Translated by Sayed Jumaa Salam. Sacramento: Salam Educational Center, 2018. ISBN   978-1630750381
• The Majestic Quran: A Plain English Translation. Translated by Musharraf Hussain al Azhari. Nottingham: Invitation Publishing, 2018. ISBN   978-1-902248-65-3
• The Easy Quran: A Translation in Simple English. Translated by Tahir Mahmood Kiani. Ta-Ha Publishers Ltd. 2022, (originally published independently, 2019). ISBN   978-1915357007
• The Qur'an: A Translation for the 21st Century. Translated by Adil Salahi. Villa Park: The Islamic Foundation, 2019. ISBN   978-0860377504
• Bridges’ Translation of the Ten Qira’at of the Noble Qur’an. Translated by Bridges team, out of which Fadel Soliman is a main translator. AuthorHouse: Bridges Foundation, 2020. ISBN   978-1-7283-9074-1.
• The Qur'an Translated. Translated by D. Shehzad Saleem. Al-Mawrid, 2022. ^[m]
• The Quran Beheld: An English Translation from the Arabic. Translated by Nuh Ha Mim Keller. Beltsville: Amana Publications, 2022. ISBN   978-1590080832.
• SureQuran: A collaborative effort by Talal Itani and artificial intelligence.

Notes

1. An English convert to Islam penned this translation at the behest of the Emir of Hyderabad while on a sojourn in India. Pickthall's widely printed translation was regarded as "an important milestone in the long course of Koranic interpretation" by later esteemed Qur'an translator A. J. Arberry, who also noted a few problems with Pickthall's verse numbering, which deviated in places from what had by then become the standard Arabic edition by Gustav Fluegel.
2. The anglophile British-Indian Abdullah Yusuf Ali undertook this work at a time when the Qur'an had yet never been properly presented in English from a Shia perspective and only non-Muslim translations were available, which were sometimes overly unsympathetic. It has become one of the most widely used English editions of the Qur'an due to the quality of the translation and its use of extensive footnotes. In the 1980s, the book was appropriated by the Saudi religious establishment and edited to fit the country's Wahhabi/Salafist perspective. This latter version is today widely distributed as the Amana Edition.
3. This is the first English translation of Abul Ala Maududi's original Urdu translation of the Qur'an.
4. The suras are presented in chronological order.
5. Muhammad Asad.is a Jewish convert to Islam.
6. Irving is a Canadian Muslim who is an author, professor, translator, and activist. His English-only edition uses a North American vernacular.
7. This translation uses Simple English, also called basic English.
8. This is a translation by three American women converts, naming themselves Saheeh International.
9. The husband-and-wife team behind this translation are disciples of Abdalqadir as-Sufi
10. This translation is among the most widely read translations in the world.
11. This volume presents the Arabic text using a Romanized transliteration system that allows English-speaking readers to pronounce the Arabic. The English translation is an amalgamation of other translations.
12. The translator is a member of the Gülen Movement, a Turkish Islamic group.
13. This is a translation of Javed Ahmed Ghamidi’s Urdu translation.

See also

• Islam portal
• Books portal

• List of translations of the Quran
• List of tafsir works
• Quran oath controversy of the 110th United States Congress
• Quran translations

References

1. Reading Islam's Holy Book by Eric Walberg, Al-Ahram Weekly , 20–26 September 2007 Issue No. 863
2. "Thomas Jefferson's Copy of the Koran To Be Used in Congressional Swearing-in Ceremony". loc.gov. U.S. Library of Congress. 3 January 2007. Retrieved 23 March 2017.
3. Ahmed-Ullah, Noreen S. (10 April 2007). "A new look at a holy text". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved 10 May 2015.
4. Ali, Maulana Muhammad (2012). The Holy Qur'an. Dublin, Ohio: Ahmadiyya Anjuman Isha'at Islam Lahore Inc., U.S.A. pp. I-1. ISBN   978-0-913321-01-0.
5. Nawi, Zaharudin; Marzuki, Zunaidah Mohd (20 June 2017). "Mufti Muḥammad Taqī 'Usmānī and his scholarly contribution to the Qur'anic studies: Mufti Muhammad Taqī 'Usmānī dan sumbangan ilmiahnya dalam bidang al-Quran". Al-Irsyad: Journal of Islamic and Contemporary Issues. 2 (1): 106. doi: 10.53840/alirsyad.v2i1.29 . ISSN   2550-1992. S2CID   164280586.
6. "Koran, commonly called the Alcoran of Mohammed". Posner Memorial Collection |.cmu.edu. Retrieved 21 November 2022.
7. Muhammad. The Koran translated by Rodwell – via Internet Archive.
8. Richard Bell, The Qur’ān. Translated, with a critical re-arrangement of the Surahs, T. & T. Clark, Edinburgh, Consulted online at “Quran Archive - Texts and Studies on the Quran” on 20 Nov. 2022:
9. Muhammad (1955). The Koran Translated by A. J. Arberry – via Internet Archive.
10. "The Qur'an". wwnorton.com. Retrieved 20 November 2022.
11. "The Holy Quran by Mohammad Khan". quran-archive.org. Retrieved 23 February 2022.
12. The Holy Qur'an - original source (1917, revised 1920), by Maulana Muhammad Ali
13. Salahuddin, Pir, The Wonderful Koran. A New English Translation , Raftar-i-Zamana Publications, Consulted online at “Quran Archive - Texts and Studies on the Quran” on 21 Nov. 2022:
14. Burke, Daniel (4 December 2015). "Could this Quran curb extremism?". CNN. Retrieved 5 July 2016.
15. "The Study Quran". HarperOne . Retrieved 5 July 2016.
16. "The Qur'an as it explains itself, 5th Edition, March 2012" (PDF).
17. Abu’l-Fazl, The Qur’an. Arabic Text And English Translation: Arranged Chronologically: With An Abstract, Asgar & Co., Allahabad, India, Consulted online at “Quran Archive - Texts and Studies on the Quran” on 21 Nov. 2022:
18. "M. H. Shakir | The Holy Quran; Arabic Text & English Translation". quran-archive.org. Retrieved 22 February 2022.
19. "The Holy Quran - Muhammad Sarwar". quran-archive.org. Retrieved 24 February 2022.
20. Saffarzadeh Commemoration Due Iran Daily, 18 October 2010
21. Art News in Brief Tehran Times, 28 October 2008
22. Useem, Andrea (18 April 2007). "Laleh Bakhtiar: An American Woman Translates the Qur'an". Publishersweekly.com. Retrieved 10 May 2015.
23. Dihlawi, Hairat. The Koran, I. M. H. Press, Delhi, Consulted online at “Quran Archive - Texts and Studies on the Quran” on 21 Nov. 2022:
24. Mohammed, Khaleel (2005). "Assessing English Translations of the Qur'an". Middle East Quarterly . Retrieved 16 January 2012.
25. Ali, Hashim Amir (1974). The message of the Qur'an presented in perspective. Internet Archive. Rutland, Vt., C. E. Tuttle Co. ISBN   978-0-8048-0976-4.
26. Zavadski, Katie (26 March 2017). "How Three American Women Translated One of the World's Most Popular Qurans". The Daily Beast.
27. "Saheeh International: The Saheeh International™ Team & Dar Abul-Qasim". Archived from the original on 6 March 2019. Retrieved 5 March 2019.

External links

• Quran Archive - texts and studies on the Quran
• Compare English Qur'an Translations Side-by-Side
• Al-Quran
• Islam Awakened Compares English Qur'an translations verse-by-verse

• The full text of Ross's Translation in pdf
• The full text of Amatul Rahman Omar & Abdul Mannan Omar's Translation in pdf
• The full text of Sale's Translation in pdf
• The full text of Muhammad Ashiq Ilahi Bulandshahrī Muhājir Madanī's translation and commentary in pdf