English Audio Quran
-
Peace all
First of all i would like to ask if anyone else knows of any good English recitations of the Quran? i have one of Rashad Khalifas Translation, but i dislike certain parts because of including un quranic material in it, and also for its mistranslation of certain ayah. Also the background music / sound effects are sometimes good but sometimes distracting, and in one Surah just weird because u have one of those trancey songs with a chick whisperings ..something something ready to blow... or something equally ridiculous. anyway..
For example an English recitation of The Message / monotheist group translation.
Also secondly If there is not any Audio recitations, would anyone else be interested in recording one? because i have been thinking about this for a while, and i wouldnt mind doing it.
Also thirdly, if there is not any avaliable and I and/or anyone else were to make one, do you think background music is a good idea? and if so what kind?
-
Peace Timototheus, all,
You can listen to a good recitation of the Quran in Arabic and English in this website
http//www.quranexplorer.com/
In my view, no translation of the Quran is perfect. I think all translations of the Quran contain errors. And the meanings of many quranic words, get lost in translation, in my opinion. Because many classical arabic words in the Quran, have no english equivalent. So in addition to having a translation of the Quran, I recommend studying the Quran by using some study tools/resources.
Some study tools/resources I recommend using
- A concordance of the Quran (see http//free-minds.org/forum/index.php?topic=9607032.msg359413#msg359413).
- An arabic dictionary/lexicon of the Quran (The one by E.W. Lane). Or this one http//www.kalamullah.com/arabic-english-dictionary.html).
- A word for word Arabic-English translation of the Quran (see http//corpus.quran.com/wordbyword.jsp).
- A comparison of several/multiple quranic translations (See http//www.quranix.com. Or http//www.islamawakened.com/index.php/qur-an
- A grammar of the arabic language (See this http//www.islamicbulletin.org/free_downloads/other/arabic_for_dummies.pdf).
- A book about interpretation techniques/methods (E.G. Hermeneutics How to study the bible by Gene taylor).
When it comes to translations of the Quran, there are some translations that I consider to be the best.
I consider these translations to be the best
The message by Muhammad Asad
https//ia800501.us.archive.org/1/items/TheMessageOfTheQuran/TheMessageOfTheQuranWww.treasureland.ws.pdf
Quran A reformist translation by Edip Yuksel, Layth Saleh Al-Shaiban and Martha Schulte
http//www.studyquran.org/resources/Quran_Reformist_Translation.pdf
The Quran as it explains itself by Shabbir Ahmed
http//www.drshabbir.com/library/qxpvi_w_arabic_text.pdf
The Holy Quran by Muhammed Ali
https//archive.org/details/EnglishTranslationOfTheHolyQuran
The Quran by Abdel Haleem
https//archive.org/details/TheQuranKoranenglishEbook-AbdelHaleem-BestTranslationInThe
-
I would like to share one more study tool/resource here.
Complete indexing of Quran topics from A to Z
http//www.searchtruth.com/quran_topics_index.php
-
Also, since I can't think of any good audio translations of the quran (personally I'd say reading it outloud or to yourself is the best thing to do as it'll be purely based on your own interpretation). People can read it outloud to you and even their voice or tone can subconsciously give you a completely different interpretation to one where you read it yourself - which can sometimes be a good thing but I'd say it's something you should do on your own for yourself ).
Personally, there have been some articles I've read and, having studied the Quran for quite some time, I'd recommend reading the translations that Taro quoted but side by side, as sometimes when reading the Quran, it tended to switch between translators in my head in terms of which ones were making more logical sense and which ones were subconsciously/consciously applying their own preconceived notions on it, some very useful and eye opening articles were written by Dr Ayman, who was one of the most active participants here. As I always say, don't take his or anyone else's word as "gospel" but, there is much to learn from his articles which can be verified empirically and also using archaeology knowledge.
Peace peace
-
Peace,
Thankyou for your replys, @Taro Hiroshi I appreciate Your links to some good study tools, and Translations, Quite off-topic but somewhat interesting. I already use Quran study tools, much of the ones you mentioned, however that is not the focus of my Post. I had a breif look at some of those Quran translations, Quran as it explains itself is the most rediculous thing ive ever seen.. you dont need two whole pages to sum up the opener. it literally explains itself, that is more like 'the Quran as someone else explains it' some of the others are quite similar. But hey each to their own.
and @sushi1992 'People can read it outloud to you and even their voice or tone can subconsciously give you a completely different interpretation to one where you read it yourself' I agree with you completely there. The Recitations i have seen so far in english are either Robot like, or just not good enough like the RK translation. I think i will still look into recording my own using a decent translation. I do believe that the Quran in the form of an English recitation is another usefull media for spreading the message. I also find with myself its helpfull, because i just listen to it when i am not particularly busy, on random and sometimes it is helpful in that it brings to mind verses which i may otherwise have forgotten about or missed when Reading the book