The Qur’an: With a Phrase by Phrase English Translation

This is a wonderful translation. It is both faithful and fluent. [The translator has] struck a nice balance here. It is a real improvement over existing translations. -Dr Muhammad Legenhausen

What Qarai has accomplished… is a revival of the art of translation as an adjunct to the understanding of the original, skilfully adapted to the needs of the English-speaking student of the Qur’an… He has opted always for the maximum degree of closeness to the Arabic compatible with comprehensibility, thereby coordinating translation with original in the most substantial of ways. 

Although Qarai envisions his translation as a paraphrase of the Qur’anic meanings, as a tool for gaining access to the original, it must be stressed that his translation reads extremely well even if regular cross- reference to the Arabic may not be the purpose of the reader. 

The language Qarai has chosen is clear, chaste, straightforward and dignified, distant from both the archaisms and the modernisms that have been affected by other English translators of the Qur’an. 

…It is plain, indeed, that a serious and profound appreciation of the Qur’anic message has animated the whole of Qarai’s successful labours. We warmly recommend his translation to all with a serious interest in the Qur’an. - Prof. Hamid Algar

As a person who was part of a team that worked on a translation, I was often asked during this process what translation I recommended… What I want to do in this video is first talk about two translations that I do recommend and I have often recommended, which are those by A.J Arberry and the one by Ali Quli Qarai. 

…I really found this (Ali Quli Qarai’s) translation to be quite excellent, and I was really surprised when I came upon it, because hardly anybody has spoken about it. One of the great things about this translation got somebody who is learning Arabic is that the translation has Arabic right next to it, but it has it phrase by phrase-not just the whole verse, but the exact phrase is next to the exact Arabic. So if you are studying Arabic, you can use this very well to identify the exact translation and the Arabic. …It is more accurate and more consistent than alarmist any other translation and more accurate than Arberry, in fact, I don’t think I found any passage where I could say that Ali Quli Qarai made an egregious mistake. - Prof. Joseph Lombard