Synopses & Reviews
Synopsis
The Quran, a book which brings glad tidings to mankind along with divine admonition, stresses the importance of man's discovery of truth on both spiritual and intellectual planes. Every book has its objective and the objective of the Quran is to make man aware of the Creation plan of God. That is, to tell man why God created this world; what the purpose is of settling man on earth; what is required from man in his pre-death life span, and what he is going to confront after death. The purpose of the Quran is to make man aware of this reality, thus serving to guide man on his entire journey through life into the after-life. The main themes of the Quran are enlightenment, closeness to God, peace and spirituality. The Quran uses several terms, tawassum, tadabbur, and tafakkur, which indicate the learning of lessons through reflection, thinking and contemplation on the signs of God scattered across the world. The present translation of the Quran and its explanatory notes are written keeping in mind these very themes.
Synopsis
The Holy Qur'an (also known as The Koran) is the sacred book of Islam. For Muslims, it is the word of the one God. The Qur'an was revealed to the last prophet and messenger Muḥammad (محمد) from the year 610 until his death in 632 by the angel Gabriel (جبريل). According to the Qur'an, God exists and is unique, and He is the author of all the sacred books of the three monotheistic religions that are Islam, Christianity, and Judaism. He thus revealed the Gospel to the penultimate prophet Jesus and the Torah to the prophet Moses. We read thus in verse 3 of sura 3: "It is He Who sent down to thee (step by step), in truth, the Book, confirming what went before it; and He sent down the Law (of Moses) and the Gospel (of Jesus) before this, as a guide to mankind".
However, Islam considers that, with the exception of the Quran, all the holy Books have been falsified by man. Verse 75 of Sura 2 goes in this direction: "- Well, do you hope Muslims] that such people the Jews] will share your faith with you? while a group of them; after having heard and understood the word of Allah, knowingly falsified it. "
As the influence of Islam grows and spreads to the world, translating the Qur'an is of fundamental importance in order to introduce and explain Islam to anyone interested.
This present work is a translation into English of the meaning of the verses of the Koran made by Abdullah Yusuf Ali. This translation is considered to be one of the most faithful rendering available in English.