The Meaning of the Holy Qur'an (English and Arabic Edition)

About this book

PREFACE TO THE NEW EDITION It has been more than half a century since the first appearance of Abdullah Yusuf Alis superlative work The Holy Quran: Text Translation and Commentary. Since that time there have been innumerable reprinting and millions of copies distributed throughout the world. It is by far the best known most studied and most respected English translation of the Quran. It was the first monumental and authoritative work of its kind and it subsequently inspired many such similar endeavors. The eloquent poetic style of the translation and the authenticity of the extensive commentaries and explanatory notes have no doubt contributed greatly to its much deserved reputation as the English translation of the meaning of the Quran. The tremendous impact that this work has made upon the English-reading Muslims (as well as many non-Muslims) of the world has never been greater than it is today and shall continue-inshaa Allah (Allah willing)-for generations to come. It has enabled interested readers of English who do not have a proficiency in reading and comprehending Quranic Arabic to greatly enrich their understanding of the meaning and the incomparable beauty and perfection of the Glorious Quran. It has given them a more authentic and reliable translation and commentary from which they could make a serious study. A. Yusuf All was quick to point out that there can be no absolute or perfect rendition of the meaning of the Quran and at best only an interpretation of its understood meaning can be offered. Probably he never envisaged how universal his work would someday become for he was primarily attempting to explain his understanding of the Quran to his fellow-countrymen-both Muslims and no Muslims alike. Therefore he was apt to occasionally use references which could not be easily appreciated outside the milieu of the Indian Subcontinent. Although it may not have been the intention of the author to reach such a wide range of readers as exists today there nevertheless has long been a need for a revised new edition reflecting the needs and demands of todays enthusiastic readership. In response to this need the present edition represents the first major revision since the initial printing over fifty years ago. Revisions have been made in both the content and form of the original work. Where necessary the content has been brought up-to-date and within the current understanding and interpretation of the Quran. In the translation the Surah introductions and the commentaries such changes were relatively few and infrequent and have been noted as having been revised. The reader will however find such notable changes as the use of the name Allah for the word God (as used in previous editions) since it was felt that the use of this Most Glorious Name is more widely understood and accepted by the general reader today. In addition the word Messenger has been given preference over the word Apostle for the meaning of the original Quranic word in Arabic Rasul. The reason being it was felt that the former term more clearly expresses the Islamic usage of the term without any negative connotations which may be associated with the latter term resulting from inaccuracies in its use by other religious or historical works. The explanatory footnotes and the appendices however were subject to more frequent and occasionally more substantial changes than those in the translation and the commentaries. The reason being there was a greater need of general updating of information and clarification of certain explanations which were subject to misinterpretation. There were also a few instances in which certain portions of the material were deleted either due to its out datedness or due to its proneness to misinterpretation. The form of this newly revised edition has undergone a more dramatic change in style and has been vastly improved in order to facilitate its readability and study. The type for the English text has been completely reset for the first time thereby making the character definition more legible after many years of reprinting. In addition the spelling has been modernized and the system of transliteration of Arabic into English has been modernized and standardized. For reasons of practicality the title of each Surah appears in its transliterated form at the head of each page within the Surah. This should enable the non-Arabic reader to not only become more familiar with the names of the Surahs in Arabic but also to begin to associate the content of what he/she is reading with the name of the Surah in which he/she is reading. In addition the Abbreviated Letters (or al Muqattaat) have been transliterated as they are spelled out in Arabic to make it possible to learn their pronunciation. Furthermore anew system of Quranic notation of the Surah and Ayah numbers used in the English text has been adopted. The Roman numerals used in the original system have