The Qur'an: With Sūrah Introductions and Appendices

The Qur’ān is the word of the Ever-living God; it has been sent down to guide humanity for all times to come. No book can be like it. As you come to the Qur’ān, God speaks to you. To read the Qur’ān is to hear Him, converse with Him and to walk in His ways. It is the encounter of life with the Life-giver. ‘God - there is no deity except Him, the Ever-living, the Sustainer of existence. He has sent down upon you, [O Muhammad], the Book with in Truth ... as guidance for the people ...’ (Qur’ān 3:2-4).

For those who heard it for the first time from the lips of the Prophet, the Qur’ān was a living reality. They had absolutely no doubt that, through him, God was speaking to them. Their hearts and minds were therefore seized by it. Their eyes overflowed with tears and their bodies shivered. They found each word of it deeply relevant to their concerns and experiences, and integrated it fully into their lives. They were completely transformed by it both as individuals and as a nation - into a totally new, alive and life-giving entity. Those who grazed sheep, herded camels and traded petty merchandise became the leaders of mankind.

About the translation :
Translated by the Qur'an Project team.

Of all published works, the Qur’ān is perhaps the least translatable. Arabic is not at all easy to translate into a language so widely and radically differing from it in structure and genius as English, unless it be with the aid of loose periphrasis and lax paraphrase.

Even so the fire of the original is quenched, its vivacious perspicuity is lost, and the so-called literal translation looks rugged and dreary. That the language of the Arabs abounds in nuances and both the noun and the verb are extremely flexible, is a fact well known to every student of that tongue. The difficulty is increased hundredfold when one has to render into English, with any degree of accuracy and precision, a work so rich in meaning, so pithy in expression, so vigorous in style and so subtle in implications as the Qur’ān. To reproduce even partially its exotic beauty, wonderful grandeur and magical vivacity without sacrificing the requirements of the English idiom and usage, is the despair of the translator and an ideal impossible of attainment. The result is that every fresh attempt at translating the Holy Writ brings home, in varying degrees, the truth of the old saying that nothing is so unlike an original as its copy.

Nevertheless, as difficult a task as it was, over twenty-three translations of the Qur’ān were consulted in an attempt to render the words of the Qur’ān into the English language and the result is, God-willing, a translation read easily by most. The reader should take note that there exists a number of other translations of the Qur’ān which are more eloquent and richer in language and whilst the current translation may be suitable for some, it may not be ideal for others.