A short note on the English Translations of the Quran

The English translations of the Quran can be divided into two broad categories:

Pre-Twentieth Century Translations

Christians who wanted to convert Muslims to Islam and in the process also expose Islamic theories as forgeries were the first to translate the Quran into English. Alexander Ross who was the chaplain to Charles I was the first to try and translate the Quran around 1625-49. He called it the “newly Englished for the satisfaction for all that desire to look into the Turkish vanities.”

Since Ross didn’t know any Arabic himself he had to rely heavily on translations of the Quran from French by Andrew Du Ryer whose own translation was faulty.

Later translations were made by George Sale, John Rodwell (1808-1900), Edward Palmer (1840-1882), and Sir William Muir (1819-1905). Sales translation is best known although some suggest that he too translated the Quran not from Arabic but from Latin. There are no verse numbers or footnotes in his translation which makes it very difficult to follow.

In India , Mohammad Abdul Hakim Khan (1905), Mirza Hairat Dehlawi (1912), and Mirza Abu’l Fazl (1912) were Muslims who translated the Quran into English under British Raj. Almost all of these were to refute the claims of Muir and other Christian polemics who had produced biased translations.

Twentieth Century Translations

The Holy Quran by Muhammad Ali

Muhammad Ali was Ahmadi and translated the Quran in 1917. He produced four editions of his work, revising his work often. He was well-verses in Arabic and his English was very good as well. Muhammad Ali’s explanations and footnotes are well-researched.

However, Muhammad Ali did not believe in miracles and hence his interpretations always offer different explanations for the miracles in the Quran. For instance, he did not believe in Jesus’ virgin miraculous birth and his interpretation led to all Ahmadis to deny it. He also did not believe in Jinn and his hatred for Jews and Christians caused him to interpret Jinn in the Quran as a reference to Jews and Christians.

The Meaning of the Glorious Koran by Muhammad M. Pickthall

Pickthall was a convert to Islam who was fluent in Arabic, Turkish, and Urdu. While working in India he worked on his translation of the Quran and finished it in two years in 1920. Pickthall’s translation often uses archaic terms and flowery language style particular to his time.

He believed that Quran can never be translated into any language but that its core meaning can be deciphered.

Pickthall’s work was also influenced by several other scholars including Muhammad Ali. Like Ali, Pickthall also rejected miracles and explained them as non-literal incidents.

The Koran Interpreted by Arthur Arberry

Arthur Arberry’s 1955 translation also acknowledges that Quran cannot be translated. Arberry’s translation was the first without traditional or personal biases.

The Holy Quran: Translation and Commentary by Abdullah Yusuf Ali

Yusuf Ali’s translation was published in 1934. Yusuf Ali was an English educated Indian civil servant. His translation and commentary has very elaborate footnotes. His translation is often criticized for being biased against the Jews but it is what made it very popular with Saudi Arabia.

The Noble Quran in the English Language by Muhammad Taqi al-Din al-Hilali and Muhammad Muhsin Khan

Hilali and Muhsin Khan’s interpretation was funded by Saudi Arabia and is the first to include commentaries of Tabari, Qurtubi, and Ibn Kathir. Thus, the interpretation is based heavily on medieval works and is far removed from modern ideologies, and often comes out as intolerant and preaching hate. The most famous example of their intolerance which has been quoted often is that in Surah Fatiha (the first surah) the verse, “Guide us to the straight path, the path of those whom You have favored, not of those who have incurred Your wrath, nor of those who have gone astray” is translated by Hilali and Khan as “Guide us to the Straight Way, the way of those on whom You have bestowed Your Grace, not (the way) of those who have earned Your anger (such as the Jews), nor of those who went astray (such as the Christians).” The footnotes on this verse justify the hate by basing argument from medieval scholars like Ibn Kathir.

Hilali and Khan also always translate the Holy Land of Israel as Palestine!

The Message of the Quran by Muhammad Asad

Asad also doesn’t believe in miracles and explains the stories in the Quran (for example the story of the People of the Cave) as merely a writing style and metaphorical rather than true stories.

Asad was a former Jew and his translation is one of the best even though it was sponsored by Saudi Arabia. However, today his work is banned in Saudi Arabia since the Salafis has issues with his interpretations.

Al-Quran, a Contemporary Translation by Ahmed Ali

Ahmed Ali is a well-known Pakistani translator of the Quran whose work rejects Biblical, Midrashic, and Talmudic influences on the Quran and hence presents a version of the Quran that is very different from the original.

The Holy Quran by Syed V. Mir Ahmed Ali

Syed Ali’s translation is accepted as standard Shite translation. His work relies heavily and solely on Shite interpretations and ideologies.  He was helped by Ayatollah Mirza Mahdi Pooya Yazdi and unfortunately their work has sectarian bias and insults key Sunni figures, for example they believe that both caliphs Abu Bakr and Omar were ignorant of the Quran. More dangerously, Yazdi claims that the Prophet’s official scribe Zaid bin Thabit had no “academic” qualifications for the compiling of the Quran.

Interestingly, the English work is arranged and reads from right to left!

The Noble Qur’an: A New Rendering of its Meaning in English by Abdalhaqq Bewley and Aisha Bewley

The Bewleys are Sufis and their translation reads as such. However, it is more a translation than an interpretation as there are no footnotes.

The Quran, a New Translation by M.A.S. Abdel-Haleem

Abdel Haleem is an Egyptian scholar in the UK who has memorized the Quran. He is often criticized for including Sunnis stories without looking into their credibility. For instance, he maintains that a Quran exists in Heaven as an exact prototype of the earthly Quran which was used as the standard for the collection of the earthly Quran by Angel Gabriel who taught the Prophet Muhammad how to collect it.

However, he is the first scholar to explain that Islam and Muslim does not refer to a religious movement and its adherents as we know today. He is the first to read Allah as God and is also one of the first to translate and explain the word ummi as “gentile” rather than the popular “unlettered.”

His work has no footnotes or commentary and no accompanying Arabic text.