English Translation Of The Koran

[AberdeenAl]

Can anyone recommend a good translation of the Koran? I am interested in all forms of religion and would like to read it (or at least parts of it). I have downloaded 2 different versions onto my Kindle but don't like either of them. The first seems to have been written by someone who is anti-Islam (v strange) so I can't think I'm going to get a balanced view and the second is proving to be unreadable. It is so dominated by footnotes that the text just disappears. I would prefer to read the text only if that is possible.

Any advice appreciated thanks.

[goodlife]

Aberdeenai@ The Bible and the Koran are among the religious best-sellers.try amazon.co.uk/M H Shakir

[mikey4444]

Thanks you naomi....I shall add pbuh to my list of new slang words and phrases.

[modeller]

I don't know who actually buys the bible but millions have been given away . Bible societies buy and distribute bibles all over the world. I have several freebies and every hotel I've ever been in have had bibles in every room.
I even remember staying in a down market Arab hotel and there was a Gideon bible in the drawer. All schools , colleges and of course churches have to buy sets of these books . It's all a part of the brain washing we are subjected to. However I have never met anyone who has actualy bought one. There must be some somewhere I expect.

[modeller]

I use to use pbuh when writing to Muslims until someone told me it stood for : "pretty boody useless-huh ! ". but I suppose it's no more useless than saying "Amen !" which means " truth certainty ". Which is the last thing it is.

[goodlife]

This word in both English and Greek is a transliteration from the Hebrew ʼa·men′. The meaning is “so be it,” or “surely.”

The Hebrew root word from which it is drawn (ʼa·man′) means “be faithful; be trustworthy.

[naomi24]

Goodness! A miracle! I agree with Goodlife – at least in part. ‘Amen’ does mean ‘so be it’ – but there is some controversy surrounding his recommended translation of the Koran, so not the best.

[modeller]

Origin:
Old English, from ecclesiastical Latin, from Greek amēn, from Hebrew 'āmēn 'truth, certainty', used adverbially as expression of agreement or consent, and adopted in the Septuagint as a solemn expression of belief or affirmation

[naomi24]

Language evolves.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amen

[keyplus90]

Mikey – You do not have to read Quran in Arabic. Although it is to be able to read it for recitation purpose. I can read Arabic for that reason but I may not know the meanings of all of the words I am reading and therefore people read a translated Quran to understand what it says. To your comparison that how in Christianity translation has done good for Christianity, I would only say one thing. I can go in any corner of the world and participate in 5 times a day prayer and would understand every bit of it as it is all in Arabic for the sake of unifying it whereas had it been in different languages then people would surely had struggled whenever they would have gone somewhere where people spoke a different language. I can go in any part of the world and would understand when it is prayer time as “Azzan” call for 5 times a day prayer is same and always in one language, Arabic. Had it been different then I might have misunderstood it for a local song or something.

Aberdeen – Yes, I did notice that you only made a very simple query but unfortunately our atheist friends always make sure that they give people more than what they asked for.

[naomi24]

Keyplus, looking at your posts here, you seem to have given him rather more than what he asked for too. Have you seen the light and become an atheist?

[EDDIE51]

Slightly away from the question but I used to work with a man who was an Arabic / English translator for the Saudi Oil company Aramco. He told me that to be considered fluent in a European language like French or German you needed to know 2,000 to 3,000 words. But to be fluent in Arabic you need to know at least 50,000. That is the problem with Arabic translation there are not enough words in English or a European language to do it justice.

[keyplus90]

I agree with Eddie, and that is what I have tried telling even in the past. As he (Eddie) has worked in Saudi Arab he most probably knows how vast Arabic language is. In English for example, you have uncle, aunt and cousin and that's it. In Arabic (and somewhat in Urdu too) you have different words for every single relation depending upon how that person is related to you.

[naomi24]

Keyplus, //In English for example, you have uncle, aunt and cousin and that's it.//

No it isn't. Think about it.

[beso]

Uncle, Aunt, Nephew, Niece, Cousin, Second Cousin, Second Cousin Once Removed and so on.

[naomi24]

... and don't forget step children, step-siblings, great aunts, grandmas .... and mothers-in-law. ;o)

[jomifl]

الجهل الحقيقي هو الجهل الجهل

[naomi24]

Indeed Jom. (I confess I googled it).

[sacha.86]

From a spiritual point of veiw and ease of reading and understanding I would say the Mohammad Pickthal Modern english version which you can buy from here for a couple of quid http://idci.co.uk/FreeSection-317. But the the King Fahd version highlights what and who some of the verses are talking about, which would be quite confusing without knowledge of events and people etc

[sacha.86]

The Mohammad Pickthall version is also mostly text only.

[sacha.86]

Mikey 4444. Seek knowledge

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CzYgjC44dhA