best english tranlation of the Quran?
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Salaam, sorry if this has been posted before. I tried to search but did not find what I was looking for.
I currently use Ali Quli Qarai's English translation. It is very smooth to follow, in modern but lyrical English. I don't speak Arabic though, so I can't comment on how accurately terms have been relayed into English. I am trying to read the Reformist Translation (Edip Yuskel et al), and while I appreciate the apparent care with accurate translation, it is a bit choppy and I find myself having to re-read verses several times before I feel confident that I am grasping the intended meaning.
I am just wondering what are people's preferred English translations and why. I think I'd like to use a couple of them side-by-side to really feel I am getting a spectrum of possible meanings.
Thank you.
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Salaam Kristina,
Welcome to the forum.
Perhaps you might find this, which I posted a few days ago, useful
http//free-minds.org/forum/index.php?topic=9605476.0
Also, I know similar threads have been done previously. You might stumble on something helpful via the search facility.
Salaam.
Sajda.
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Salam
This is website which provide translations by Progressive Muslim Scholar including Quran Aloner.
http//www.quranix.net/
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peace
this is what I posted on the tread "Who is ideal translator in your consideration?;however, that tread is a waste of time if you want to go check it, for it is like 10 pages of fighting and argumenting, and just like two or three members posted the answer.translation I have read (english) Saheed international, Yusuf Ali, monotheist translation, reformist translation, Muhammad Assad meassage of qur'an, (Spanish), julio cortez, the one of the international slamic publishing house, Abdurrasak P?rez(assad spanish version) . and some other that I did not bother to read because of their exaggerated way of translating.
The translation I consider the best is Mohamed Assad
*He does not seem to have approach the Qur'an in haste. He started his journey in Islam in his 20', he finished his translation after his 80' (not and age to be worry about fame like other young translators like edyp yunksel) and after traveling the wide and length of the Muslim world and seen all the misery that ignorance has brought to it. It took him around 17 year to finish his translation. He knew all the different sects, and believes of the Muslim sects. His book is a dedication for those who reason. He died at 91, God gave wisdom and long life to this man.
*He did not belonged to any sect, and though he started his journey in the sunny world, he ended exiled in Spain and most of his work banned from the sunny world. He saw hadits as historical reference, and he respected only the original ones but not the hundreds of books of innovations on top of them, and he never though of them as the main source of law. He was only Muslim, for he criticized the sunny blindness of following scholars, muslims lost in adoration of the west, muslims lost in superstitions and nonsense, etc (book this law of ours by mohamed asad).
*He learned the true Arabic of the nomads, which he said would be lost with the introduction of the radio in the early 1900'. also that this will cause great corruption in the original meaning of words (now tv too), here he talks about the beduin nomads ( http//www.youtube.com/watch?v=mtcbukncXvA )
*his commentary on the Qur'an is even sough by scholars.Furthermore From (Assessing English Translations of the Qur'anby Khaleel Mohammed Middle East Quarterly) Not every translation preaches the Saudi line Muhammad Asad, for example, presents a rendering that is simple and straightforward. A Jewish convert to Islam, the former Leopold Weiss (1900-1992) sought to depart from the traditional exegetic approaches and reflect independent thought. Asad, an Austrian journalist, was well-versed in the Jewish and Christian scriptures and brought this knowledge to bear in the form of erudite footnotes. Strangely, though, he chose to interpolate material in his translation of chapter 37 to show that the sacrificial son was Ishmael and not Isaac. This is rather unusual, for while most contemporary Muslims opine that Ishmael was the sacrificial son, early exegetes differed on his identity, and as is well known, the Bible clearly states that it was Isaac (Genesis 229). Indicative of the desire and drive of Saudi Arabia to impose a Salafi interpretation upon the Muslim world, the kingdom has banned Muhammad's work over some creedal issues. Because the Saudi government subsidizes the publication and distribution of so many translations, the ban has in effect made Asad's translation both expensive and difficult to obtain. Nevertheless, it remains one of the best translations available, both in terms of its comprehensible English and generally knowledgeable annotations.
somebody stated
So I think the "safest" translation I know until now is Free-Minds and Reformist translationI answered
This is not true. I have the free-minds and reformist translations, and a I have compared many verses with the traditional translators and they contain the same words. However, being that the traditionalist put brackets around the added word, the free-minds/reformist do not, so, who is lying?although the monotheist(free-mind) translation is OK, the reformist is very bad, and their commentaries are full of nonsensical stuff. By reading their commentaries a sane person will never trust this translators. Also, they don't provide it free in PDF form like all the other translators, and if you want to read it you have to buy it. It seems that what they want is not to spread the message of God but Make money. It takes just a few minute watching videos on you tube about the authors of the reformist translation to know who you are dealing with, you will surely recognize them by the tone of their voices. In contrast, the monotheist translation is anonymous, so you cannot know the translators, they could be either Jews, Cristian, hypocrites, only God knows, for the only way to recognize them is by listening to the tone of their voices, even through books they have authored. But we don 't know who they are.
the reformist denounce themselves as unbelievers
they twist the meaning of words to make them fit their twisted 19neer understandig, just like the Arabic Sunni, or the Shia translators.
211And when it is said to them, "Do not cause corruption on the earth," they say, "We are but reformers."that is why I like Assad translation, because he did not seem to have translated the Holy Qur'an to please anybody but God.
may god increases our wisdom.
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I read multiple translations (Ahmed Ali, Yusuf Ali, Picktall, Asad). I use Islamicity for searches. I also read the one here and other translations. Also use corpus quran.com and word for word translation at http//islamicstudies.info/wordtranslation. Also I read tafsirs.
I look at the verse, the context and the chapter trying to understand what it is about. by reading different translations, you will notice how something is translated. Have come to see that None of the translations of the koran are accurate. Keep in mind that those who translated are not free from bias, influence, and such.
When I read the Koran, I try to understand from the Quran only and use the faculties that God gave me. This is my approach.