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

This copy of the Qur'an presents a new phrase-by-phrase translation of the Holy book. This title includes the original Arabic text alongside the English translation, as well as a note from the publisher and a preface by the translator, Ali Quli Qara'i.

Publisher's Note:

Since the first translation of the Holy Qur’ān into English in 1648, there have appeared more than 60 other English translations by Muslim and non-Muslim translators. Why, then, should the Islamic College for Advanced Studies venture to publish a new translation? Moreover, does not the very number of these translations confirm the traditional belief that the Qur’ān is untranslatable?

It is true that no literary masterpiece is ever fully translatable into another language, let alone the Qur’ān. The Holy Qur’ān, according to Pikthall, is a scripture “the very sounds of which move men to tears and ecstasy.” How could a text which, in the memorable words of A. J. Arberry, is “neither prose nor poetry, but a unique fusion of both,” ever surrender its mysteries to a rendering in another language? The Qur’ān, of course, is a book of innumerable merits, but many of them can, to various degrees, be transposed into other languages to inform and enlighten peoples of different cultures. The most important feature of the Qur’ān, aside from its literary excellence, is its divine guidance, as it is a scripture meant for human enlightenment—enlightenment concerning the most urgent and vital questions of deep concern to every human being. It answers such questions as lie beyond the purview of mere human finding: Where do we come from? Where do we stand? Where do we go from here? Hence it describes itself as a scripture meant for reflection (12:2; 38:29). It is, in its own words, a Book for reflective minds (ulu al-albāb), for those who value knowledge (‘ālimūn), for those who exercise their rational faculties (qawmin ya‘qilūn), and for those who possess reason and perceptive minds (ulu al-nuhā and mutawassimūn).

Every translation of the Qur’ān has its merits and shortcomings. The publication of this translation does not by any means imply that other translations have been efforts of no value. However, some novel merits in this new translation make it unique among the existing ones.

The translator, Sayyid ‘Alī Qulī Qarā’ī, is a scholar who has dedicated his efforts to translation of the classics of Islamic literature into English, which makes him the most reliable authority for such an undertaking. Furthermore, for such a rendering he has consulted major classical commentaries of the Qur’ān, by both Sunnī and Shī‘ī commentators, which offer the reader a broader understanding of some controversial verses in the Qur’ān. Moreover, his innovative approach in translating Arabic idioms, as explained in his introduction, allows a smoother reading of the text.

However, the most outstanding feature of this translation is its new “phrasal approach,” which is most useful for those who are eager to collate the Arabic text with the English translation. With the painstaking efforts of the translator and a group of international experts on Qur’ānic sciences the reader would find each phrase of the translation exactly opposite the corresponding Arabic phrase, an arrangement of the source text and its translation that makes possible direct access to the Arabic verses.

The Islamic College for Advanced Studies is honoured to publish this translation of the Holy Book. We pray to God Almighty to give us the insight and inner purity for understanding His message.

ICAS Press

Muḥarram 1424
March 2003