Preface

A book of terror or a book of peace? An inspired text or a political agenda? How is one to know the truth about the Qur’an? Where does one even begin? How can an English-speaking reader ever hope to wade through the history, the translations, the sects, and the commentaries to begin making sense of the issues?

During the last decade, interest in Islam and the teachings of the Qur’an has grown globally. In order to provide Westerners with an objective tool to investigate the truth about Islam, this research text was translated from Arabic--allowing English-speaking readers to see and study the Qur’an through clear lenses unfogged by propaganda or missionary zeal. It also presents the text of the Qur’an with parallel commentary, addressing important issues that Muslim scholars have wrestled with throughout the centuries, shedding light on their attempts to solve them and giving a rounded view of the various schools of thought.

The critical methodology used in this book is inspired by the courageous tradition of those who dared to analyze the Qur’an throughout history, while also incorporating the contemporary intellectual productions available in Arabic and foreign sources. The discoveries made through these scholarly critical methods are directed equally to non-Muslims and Muslims:

To non-Muslims who want to unravel the mysteries of Islam, this book presents information that Islamic resources rarely disclose--to allow those seeking the truth to comprehend the full picture with all its outlines, colors, and dimensions.

To Muslims who seek genuine choices far from the culture of “indoctrination,” this book opens a world of understanding to them, so that they can decide for themselves their intellectual and spiritual paths.

Approach of this Book

The commentary provided in this book examines the Qur’ān from three distinct perspectives. First, it systematically investigates and critically analyzes the historical, factual, and linguistic difficulties that the text of the Qur’ān presents to its reader.

The book then investigates the annulment of certain verses. Although, the text of the Qur’ān is said to have been in a Preserved Tablet in heaven from the beginning of time, some of its verses abrogate, or nullify, other verses and render them ineffectual, as evidenced in the following example:

Though it is popular in the West to highlight Allah’s words in this verse, “O ye folk! verily, we have created you of male and female, and made you races and tribes that ye may know each other. Verily, the most honourable of you in the sight of God is the most pious of you...” (Q 49.13), the Qur’ān also instructs Muslims to persecute non-Muslims: “But when the sacred months are passed away, kill the idolaters wherever ye may find them; and take them, and besiege them, and lie in wait for them in every place….” (Q 9.5)

What is the Muslim to do? Have great relationships with the neighbors or kill them?

The answer to this dilemma is in the understanding of abrogation. For instance, the “peace” verses, like Q 49.13 mentioned above, were given when early Muslims were still weak in their own tribal lands. After Muslims pacified the neighboring peoples, gaining followers and strength, they adopted Q 9.5, the Sword verse, as their modus operandi for forcibly spreading Islam and increasing their conquest of surrounding territories. To some exegetes, the Sword verse is viewed as an abrogator (nullifier) of all instructions for peace toward others in the rest of the verses in the Quran.

The third issue that this book addresses is the problem of variant readings of the verses. There were many versions of the Qur’ān prior to the act by ‘Uthman, the third caliph, to force a codified version—the ‘Uthmanic codex—on Muslims and burn all the rest. In addition, this official Qur’ān (c. AH 34/AD 654) did not have diacritical markings in a language that relies heavily on dots and accents. The lack of such markings led to a variety of ways to read and understand the Qur’ān in Arabic. Certain propagators of particular readings became authorities on the proper way to read the Qur’ān. These variations spread throughout the Islamic territories, leading to further disputes among Muslims as to the correct words and phrases for many verses of the Qur’ān.

This book provides, though not exhaustively, examples of some of the variant versions and variant readings. These variant versions and readings present compelling evidence refuting the claim that the Arabic Qur’ān is the same, from its past to its present form—contrary to what the Muslim historical and exegetical records attest.

This book also contains several articles to help the reader weigh and understand the issues surrounding the Qur’ān. These articles deal with such important topics as the treatment of women, the compilation process of the Qur’ān, the chronological sequence of its suras, and the treatment of people of other faiths, to name a few.

Throughout the commentary and the articles the aim of this book is to supply the reader with many original sources from respected Muslim exegetes and scholars, in order to maintain the focus on the issues that are troublesome in the Qur’ān, even to committed Muslim scholars. The citations for these sources will be handled as endnotes rather than as embedded parenthetical references to improve the readability of the text.

The reader is strongly encouraged to read the articles first, in order to gain a deeper knowledge of concepts, such as abrogation and variant readings, in relation to the Qur’ān. A selected proper names list and a list of selected definitions are also provided for the reader in the back of the book.

Reliability of non-Arabic Qur’āns

The Qur’ān states in verses such as Q 16.103 and Q 26.195 that it is an Arabic book that was revealed to Arabs in their own language. However, in order for Islam to grow beyond the limitations of time and space, the Muslims had to translate the Qur’ān and propagate it in a way that would attract the target cultures.

A reader might approach any translation of the Qur’ān with the assumption that it is an honest rendering of the original and, thus, might not be aware of the many differences that might exist between the original and the translation.

The Arabic and English languages are very different, which opens the door for several reasons behind inaccurate translations:

The translator’s pursuit of an equivalent word in another language might prove difficult. Therefore, the translator may choose, out of preference, one word over another based on the translator’s knowledge or linguistic taste. For example, the Arabic word fitna (found in Q 2.191) has several English translations:

“persecution” by Pickthall

“tumult and oppression” by Yusuf Ali

“sedition” by Palmer

Another example, with possible serious theological ramifications upon translation, is found in Q 33.56. The verse, presented here in three English translations, states that Allah and his angels pray on (yusalun ‘ala) Muhammad:

Pickthall: “Lo! Allah and His angels shower blessings on the Prophet. O ye who believe! Ask blessings on him and salute him with a worthy salutation.”

Yusuf Ali: “God and His angels send blessings on the Prophet: O ye that believe! Send ye blessings on him, and salute him with all respect”.

Palmer: “Verily, God and His angels pray for the prophet. O ye who believe! pray for him and salute him with a salutation!”

The translator might belong to a particular school of thought within Islam, which would motivate the translator to choose the foreign words that would be interpreted closest to the religious views of the translator. For example, the Arabic phrase mutawaffika (found in Q 3.55) means “causing you to die.” However, Muslims who believe that Jesus did not die just yet (but was gathered up and will come back and die), translate this phrase as “gathering you,” “taking you,” or “terminating your period of stay on earth.” Again, there are several English translations for this verse:

Pickthall: “when Allah said: O Jesus! Lo! I am gathering thee and causing thee to ascend unto Me....”

Sher Ali: “when ALLAH said, ‘O Jesus, I will cause thee to die a natural death and will raise thee to Myself....”

Yusuf Ali: “God said: “O Jesus! I will take thee and raise thee to Myself….”

Palmer: “When God said, ‘O Jesus! I will make Thee die and take Thee up again to me….”

Note: Some of the authoritative exegetes hold that Jesus died for a short period of time. They disagree about the length of his death, which some hold to be only a few hours, while others suggest that it lasted up to three days. (See also the comment on Q 3.55).

The translator may intentionally attempt to adorn the language to present a better image of the Qur’ān and its rulings. This questionable partiality is a serious issue as it shows that the translator is not necessarily in agreement with what the Qur’ān actually states. Conversely, others might present a worse image than one might get from reading the Qur’ān in Arabic. An example of this possible negative bias is seen in Q 4.34. Note the underlined words in the following translations:

Pickthall: “Men are in charge of women, because Allah hath made one of them to excel the other, and because they spend on their property (for the support of women). So good women are the obedient, guarding in secret that which Allah hath guarded. As for those from whom ye fear rebellion, admonish them and banish them to beds apart, and scourge them….”

Yusuf Ali: “Men are the protectors and maintainers of women, because God has given the one more (strength) than the other, and because they support them from their means. Therefore the righteous women are devoutly obedient, and guard in (the husband’s) absence what Allah would have them guard. As to those women on whose part ye fear disloyalty and ill-conduct, admonish them (first), (next), refuse to share their beds, (and last) beat them (lightly)…”

Palmer: “Men stand superior to women in that God hath preferred some of them over others, and in that they expend their wealth: and the virtuous women, devoted, careful (in their husbands’) absence, as God has cared for them. But those whose perverseness ye fear, admonish them and remove them into bed-chambers and beat them….”

The Palmer translation most closely resembles the Arabic text. Notice how Yusuf Ali translates “beat them,” by adding the word “lightly.” Notice in contrast how Pickthall translates the Arabic word wa’drubuhunna as “scourge.” Yusuf Ali tries to downplay what the Qur’ān states, or maybe inject his own belief, by modifying its words to present a more palatable Qur’ān to the Western audience. Nonetheless, is beating women lightly an acceptable practice when women are not obedient to their men? Both Pickthall and Yusuf Ali show their partiality in their translation, whereas Palmer more closely mirrors the Arabic.

In addition, the Palmer translation more closely aligns with the opinion of the Muslim exegetes on this issue. They hold that men are in charge of disciplining women, and that they are to take their women by the hand and discipline them. They further state that men’s words and commands to women are final. This perspective best supports the Palmer translation, “stand superior.” (For more details, please see the article “Women in the Qur’ān,” page “Women in The Quran”).

Verses Q 3.54 and Q 8.30 also serve to illustrate this point of possible translator partiality in translating the description of Allah as the best of al-makirin, a term, which in Arabic, is considered insulting to the receiver.

Pickthall translates al-makirin in Q 3.54 as “And they (the disbelievers) schemed, and Allah schemed (against them): and Allah is the best of schemers.” In Q 8.30, he translates it as “And when those who disbelieve plot against thee (O Muhammad) to wound thee fatally, or to kill thee or to drive thee forth; they plot, but Allah (also) plotteth; and Allah is the best of plotters.”

Yusuf Ali translates al-makirin in Q 3.54 as “And (the unbelievers) plotted and planned, and God too planned, and the best of planners is God.” Note how for the unbelievers Ali uses “plotted,” but for Allah he uses “planned,” which is inconsistent with the Arabic that uses the same root word for both. He translates al-makirin in Q 8.30 in the same manner.

Palmer translates al-makirin in Q 3.54 as “But they (the Jews) were crafty, and God was crafty, for God is the best of crafty ones!” He also translates al-makirin as “crafty ones” in Q 8.30.

These variances in the translations are due in part because Arab exegetes tried to resolve the issue themselves by offering a different definition for the word al-makirin when it applies to Allah. Al-Baghawi offers two definitions for the word al-makr (singular of al-makirin). When applying this adjective to people, he provides the meaning “malign (be evil-minded), deceive, cheat.” However, when applying it to Allah, he suggests that Allah “lures the person and takes that person by surprise”.

However, the word al-makirin literally means to “con,” “swindle,” “be sly,” “double-deal,” “be crafty,” or “deceive.” Hence, the phrase should be translated as Allah is the best at cunning, or Allah is the best deceiver, etc.

The reader needs to be mindful of these translation issues, especially in such areas as the rulings toward the treatment of women, the treatment of people of other faiths, and the like.

Among most of the compared verses, Palmer is closest, from a literal standpoint, to what the Arabic Qur’ān states. His command of both languages, Arabic and English, is clear. Another advantage to using Palmer’ s translation is its language style. Unlike today’s vernacular, the Palmer translation is written in an earlier form of English, which gives not only unusual spellings and words (e.g., befel, vicegerents) but also the feel that the Arabic reader would have when approaching the Qur’ān with its 1500-year-old Arabic. These qualifications make Palmer the choice translation for this book.

Finally, the reader must be aware that different translations may have different numbering sequences. Older translations might follow a numbering system based on a copy of the Qur’ān (issued in Leipzig in AD 1834) by German Orientalist, Gustav Leberecht Flügel. On the other hand, newer translations might use the numbering system based on a copy of the Qur’ān issued in AD 1925 by al-Azhar Islamic University.For the Palmer translation used in this book, the current Arabic Qur’ān’s numbering system was used to divide and enumerate the verses to make reading and searching easier for readers.

Because of these different numbering sequences, the reader may sometimes need to look at the verses that precede or follow the verse number mentioned in this book if a particular verse in the book is not the same as another edition found online or in print.

Guide to Reading this Book

Before reading the translated suras with their corresponding commentary (Part II), the reader should first review these articles:

Introduction

Critical Analysis

Muhammad’s Jibril (Gabriel)

Compilation of the Qur’an

Chronological Sequence of the Qur’an

Muqatta’at: Stand-alone Letters

Abrogation and the Abrogated

Variant Readings

Key to Reading Part II

These articles will provide the reader with the necessary background to understand the issues addressed in the commentary. The articles will also introduce the Islamic scholars and authoritative readers who wrote down Muhammad’s “revelations,” helped to compile the Qur’an, issued rulings, presented their opinions, and offered variant readings so that the reader can become familiar with the names of the important Muslim leaders involved in these matters.

In addition, the following articles provide the reader with helpful information to better understand the ramifications of Islam and the teachings of the Qur’an on specific groups. It is recommended to read these particular articles before reading the sura listed next to them.

Women in the Qur’an (Sura 4)

The Qur’an and People of Other Faiths (Sura 9)

In conclusion, the reader is strongly encouraged to investigate different translations and read the work presented, keeping in mind the following questions: Who is the author of the Qur’an? And, is the Qur’an in its current form without errors?