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The Noble Qur'an: A New Rendering of Its Meaning in English. By Abdalhaqq Bewley and Aisha Bewley. The Shi'ites have their translation, and so, too, do the Sufis.[66] The creedal bias of the Abdalhaqq and Aisha Bewleys' Sufi-inspired work is evident in the translators' preface: "Acknowledging the complete impossibility of adequately conveying the meanings of the Qur'an in English or indeed in any other language, Allah, may He be exalted, chose pure, classical Arabic as the linguistic vehicle for His final Revelation to mankind because of its unique capacity of retaining and conveying great depth of meaning in a multi-faceted way which is beyond the scope of any other language, particularly in the debased form which they have arrived in at the time in which we live."[67] This creedal statement is not supported by the Qur'an, which holds that the revelation was in Arabic simply because, had it been in another language, the Arabs would have questioned why Muhammad, who was Arab, was issuing them a revelation in a foreign tongue.[68] For all this obvious bias on the part of the translators, the work is in excellent, readable English, rendered in a manner that is neither flowery nor prosaic. The translators seem to have fulfilled their "main objective in presenting this new rendering: to allow the meaning of the original, as far as possible, to come straight through."[69] The lack of footnotes allows the reader to see the text as it is, and despite the creedal issue mentioned at the beginning of this analysis, there is little evidence of sectarian bias in the actual translation. Because of their Sufi leanings, the translators are not likely to be endorsed by the mainstream Islamic religious trusts and most definitely not by the Saudi religious foundations. The result is that an excellent work will most probably remain expensive and unavailable at most libraries and mosques. Abdalhaqq Bewley http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=ntt_athr_dp_sr_1?_encoding=UTF8&sort=relevancerank&search-alias=books&field-author=Abdalhaqq%20Bewley Aisha Bewley http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=ntt_athr_dp_sr_2?_encoding=UTF8&sort=relevancerank&search-alias=books&field-author=Aisha%20Bewley Quran http://www.amazon.com/Noble-Quran-Abdalhaqq-Bewley/dp/1874216363/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1281375235&sr=1-1 The Baha'i Studies Listserv I like Muhammad Asad's translation, because it has a lot of footnotes and he goes into the deep root meanings of a lot of the words. I also like Ahmed Ali's translation because he doesn't accept the interpretation that the Qur'an prescribes husbands to hit their wives (even 'lightly' as Yusuf Ali put it, or "so it doesn't leave a mark.") Most of the Saudi translations are useless, unless you want to be indoctrinated to hate Jews and Christians. It doesn't make them good just because they're free. I have been looking for a Sufi translation of the Qur'an, but haven't been able to find one. I would think there would be some out there. Perhaps they don't want their secrets out in the open or something. On Mon, Aug 9, 2010 at 10:46 AM, Stephen Gray <[email protected]> wrote: The Baha'i Studies Listserv > >http://www.meforum.org/717/assessing-english-translations-of-the-quran > >This article divides tranlations into: >Early Translations >20th Century Classics >Saudi-Endorsed Translations >Bucking The Saudi Authority >Sectarian Translations >Falling Short > >So what translations are you familiar with? > >Examples: >http://www.amazon.com/Holy-Quran-Translation-Commentary/dp/0940368854/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1281364753&sr=1-1 > >http://www.amazon.com/Commentary-Holy-Quran-S-V-Ahmed/dp/9644381734/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1281364753&sr=1-2 > >http://www.amazon.com/Koran-Yasin-T-al-Jibouri/dp/1879402394/ref=sr_1_3?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1281364753&sr=1-3 > >http://www.amazon.com/Holy-Koran-Interpreted-S-V-Ahmed/dp/B000B8K7LI/ref=sr_1_5?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1281364753&sr=1-5 > >http://www.amazon.com/Quran-English-Translation-Mahdi-Puya/dp/B0032DENTQ/ref=sr_1_6?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1281364753&sr=1-6 > > >Previeable: >http://www.amazon.com/Holy-Quran-Translation-Commentary/dp/0940368854/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1281364753&sr=1-1 > >http://www.amazon.com/Holy-Koran-Interpreted-S-V-Ahmed/dp/B000B8K7LI/ref=sr_1_5?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1281364753&sr=1-5 > > >Other books by S. V. Mir Ahmed Ali: >http://www.amazon.com/Husain-S-V-Mir-Ahmed-Ali/dp/B003FQ38WS/ref=sr_1_4?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1281364753&sr=1-4 > >http://www.amazon.com/Saving-Monotheism-Sands-Karbala-Ahmed/dp/094036803X/ref=sr_1_7?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1281364753&sr=1-7 > > > >__________________________________________________ You are subscribed to >Baha'i >Studies as: mailto:[email protected] Unsubscribe: send a blank email to >mailto:[email protected] Subscribe: send subscribe bahai-st >in >the message body to [email protected] Or subscribe: >http://list.jccc.edu:8080/read/all_forums/subscribe?name=bahai-st Baha'i >Studies >is available through the following: Mail - mailto:[email protected] Web - >http://list.jccc.edu:8080/read/?forum=bahai-st News (on-campus only) - >news://list.jccc.edu/bahai-st Old Public - >http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected] New Public - >http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected] __________________________________________________ You are subscribed to Baha'i Studies as: mailto:[email protected] Unsubscribe: send a blank email to mailto:[email protected] Subscribe: send subscribe bahai-st in the message body to [email protected] Or subscribe: http://list.jccc.edu:8080/read/all_forums/subscribe?name=bahai-st Baha'i Studies is available through the following: Mail - mailto:[email protected] Web - http://list.jccc.edu:8080/read/?forum=bahai-st News (on-campus only) - news://list.jccc.edu/bahai-st Old Public - http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected] New Public - http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected] __________________________________________________ You are subscribed to Baha'i Studies as: mailto:[email protected] Unsubscribe: send a blank email to mailto:[email protected] Subscribe: send subscribe bahai-st in the message body to [email protected] Or subscribe: http://list.jccc.edu:8080/read/all_forums/subscribe?name=bahai-st Baha'i Studies is available through the following: Mail - mailto:[email protected] Web - http://list.jccc.edu:8080/read/?forum=bahai-st News (on-campus only) - news://list.jccc.edu/bahai-st Old Public - http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected] New Public - http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]
