English translation of the Holy Quran

923 Pages·2011·3.68 MB·English

by  Muhammad Ali

cover file 7/2/11 18:48 Page 1
ISBN 978-1-906109-07-3
9 781906 109073
ISBN 978-1-906109-07-3
9 781906 109073
English Translation of
The Holy Quran

With Explanatory (cid:2)otes
From the English translation and commentary of
Maulana Muhammad Ali
Renowned author of several works on Islam

Language updated and notes abridged
by the Editor
Zahid Aziz

Ahmadiyya Anjuman Lahore Publications, U.K.
2010
A LAHORE AHMADIYYA PUBLICATION

First Printing, 2010
Earlier editions of Maulana Muhammad Ali’s translation without
Arabic text and with shorter notes were published in:
1928, 1948 and 1951
© 2010 by Ahmadiyya Anjuman Lahore Publications, U.K.
All Rights Reserved.
Ahmadiyya Anjuman Lahore Publications, U.K.
15 Stanley Avenue, Wembley, U.K. HA0 4JQ
Website: www.ahmadiyya.org
E-mail: [email protected]

ISBN: 978-1-906109-07-3
Preface
The English translation of the Holy Quran with extensive explana-
tory footnotes, by Maulana Muhammad Ali (d. 1951), was first
published in 1917. It was the first English translation and
commentary by a Muslim to be generally available in the world.1
The 1917 and several subsequent editions were printed in England
and distributed from the Muslim mission at the Woking Mosque
in England. This work remained the only Muslim English transla-
tion for several years. It was widely acclaimed as being an accurate,
faithful, and true rendering, one which was desperately needed. It
influenced all the major later English translations.
Maulana Muhammad Ali’s translation was not merely an aca-
demic or literary exercise. It was done to refute the vast mass of
misrepresentations of Islam by its Western critics, to convey the
faith-reviving and heart-inspiring light of Islam to the world, to
show how Islamic teachings are applicable to solving the prob-
lems of modern times, and to teach and guide both the Western-
educated Muslims and English-speaking new Muslim converts.
Towards the end of his life, Maulana Muhammad Ali thoroughly
revised his translation and commentary, the revised edition being
published in 1951. The translation was made simpler and the
commentary was brought up to date with the changed circum-
stances prevailing after the Second World War.
The language of the translation was solemn and dignified, as
befits a Divine scripture, yet it was also plain and easy to under-
stand, aimed at the level of an educated reader having a reasonable
standard of English. However, due to changes in the usage and

1. There were three, slightly earlier, English translations by Muslims in India in
the early 1900s but these were of very limited circulation, and little known.
I-1
I-2 PREFACE
teaching of English in the second half of the twentieth century,
such a reader today is much less familiar with certain forms and
styles of literary expression used in the translation than was the
case with previous generations. To bring the language closer to the
general readership, it became necessary to replace some expressions
by more modern forms. This has been my aim in producing the
present updated version of the translation, while showing reverence
to the original work and remaining as close as possible to the lan-
guage used by Maulana Muhammad Ali.
The factor of greatest assistance during this editing work has
been that the Maulana has himself in some places used more
modern terms and in other places older styles to translate the same
original words. Utilising this, I have been able to select his own
phraseology to replace the older expressions. Thus, in the work of
updating the translation in various places, I have applied the word-
ing used by him elsewhere if such could be suitably found.
The most noticeable change is the replacement of the second
person singular forms, ‘thou’, ‘thee’, ‘thy’, etc. by ‘you’ and ‘your’.
In fact, in the Preface to his first edition published in 1917, the
Maulana wrote: “I have, however, given up the antiquated thou
(except when the Divine Being is addressed)”. In that edition he
added a marginal column on the left of the translation, in which he
indicated whether ‘you’ in the line of text opposite was the singu-
lar ‘thou’. In his revised 1951 edition, he removed this margin as
unnecessary and used the ‘thou’ forms within the translation itself.
I have reverted to the usage of the 1917 edition, but have employed
the convention that whenever ‘you’ is in the singular the letter y is
printed in italics as in: you, your. When God is addressed, which is
always in the singular in the Quran, I have also used “You”, with
capital “Y”, instead of “Thou” and “Thee”.
The next most prominent change is also a reversion to the first
edition, and that is in the use of the negative. In the revised 1951
edition the Maulana has used constructions such as “you know not”,
“they see not”, etc. I have restored the style of his 1917 edition in
which these are of the form: “you do not know”, “they do not
see”, etc.
PREFACE I-3
I will illustrate other changes by giving examples. The Maulana
has used the words aught and naught in many places in the trans-
lation, but in other places exactly the same Arabic text has been
translated using anything, nothing, in the least and at all. The
particle bal is usually translated by him as nay, but in some places
it is translated as rather, but or yet. In some places the more tra-
ditional that which (as in that which Allah has revealed) has been
used by him but in others the simpler what (as in what Allah has
revealed). The word translated as iniquitous is often also rendered
as unjust or wrongdoer, the word translated as tarry is sometimes
remain or stay, and hosts is sometimes forces or army. In each of
these and similar cases I have used the latter words, which are more
common, to replace the former, less familiar ones.
The Arabic preposition min is often used to indicate that a
person belongs to a certain group, as for example in the transla-
tion: “if he is of (min) the truthful” (12:27, 12:51), “he is of (min)
the liars” (12:26) or “if thou art of (min) the truthful” (26:31). The
same kind of expression is elsewhere translated more simply as in
the examples: “if thou art truthful” (26:154, 26:187), “I think him
a liar” (28:38). I have substituted the latter style for the former,
except if the change would not suit the context. Another type of
similar instance is as in constructions such as “of them is he (min-
hum man) who believes … and of them is he who turns away”
(4:55). Elsewhere the construction used is: “some of them
believed and some of them denied” (2:253). Again, I have replaced
the former by the latter.
I have also tried, as far as possible, to make the translation of
the same phrase consistent in all its occurrences by using one of
the wordings employed for it by the Maulana, if he had used
different wording in different places. However, in certain places
this has not been done because there was a clear reason for the
difference, such as better suiting the context.
In some of those cases in which it was necessary to revise a
word or phrase, I could not find a suitable alternative used else-
where by the Maulana. In those instances, I have used my own
judgment to make the revision while restricting myself to the
Maulana’s style and language as far as possible.
I-4 PREFACE
In a Preface I cannot list and explain every type of revision.
Anyone interested in knowing the reason for any particular
changes that are not explained here should contact me.
In clarification of certain points, I have consulted not only the
1917 edition of the Maulana’s English translation but also his Urdu
translation with extensive commentary known as Bayan-ul-Quran.
I would also mention that in case of some verses I have compared
other English translations of the Quran, old and new, to form a
judgment as to the most suitable level of language.
It is clear that Maulana Muhammad Ali produced his trans-
lation to the highest standard of literary scholarship and he used
words, expressions, phrases and styles that reflect the original Arabic
with great precision, perhaps unmatched by any other English
translation. In my effort to update its language, and bring it closer
to current usage, it was inevitable that in some places its high
literary level would be reduced and the new expressions employed
be somewhat less precise than those which they replace.
Maulana Muhammad Ali had also produced two editions of
his translation without including the Arabic text and with much
condensed footnotes, in order to make available a handier book for
the general reader.1 Following the same approach in the present
work, the Arabic text has not been included, and the footnote
content has been abridged although not nearly by the extent of
reduction in the Maulana’s two editions. Taking the footnotes from
his revised 1951 edition (as also found in its subsequent reprints),
I have eliminated the detailed lexical discussion of the range of
meaning of words and the explanation of the variety of views
about the interpretation of the text. Only the conclusion reached
by the Maulana as to the explanation of the verses is retained.
Occasionally the abridgment has required some insignificant re-
phrasing of his original words.
Those who wish to benefit from the Maulana’s full, scholarly
commentary are referred to the reprints of his 1951 edition.

1. The first such edition was published in 1928, which was reprinted in 1951. A
revised version of the same work was published in 1948.
PREFACE I-5
At certain points in the footnotes it was necessary to make
some further comment on a text, due mainly to issues and ques-
tions that have arisen in recent years. To meet this need I have
added my own comments, marked as Editor’s (cid:2)ote. These occur
within existing footnotes and also as additional footnotes. In three
places (21:85, 33:72, 55:33), footnotes have been added based on
suggestions made by the late Mr N.A. Faruqui, a leading figure of
the Ahmadiyya Anjuman Lahore who was much involved in the
Quran translation and publication work of this movement. He had
sent me a brief draft of that material.
The introductory notes at the head of the chapters have had to
be abridged considerably and therefore they have been re-worded.
As in the two editions produced by the Maulana which do not
include the Arabic text, I have laid out the translation in continuous
running form, not starting each verse on a new line. However, for
ease of reading as well as comprehension I have divided most sec-
tions further into paragraphs. Note that the division of the longer
chapters of the Quran into sections is only found in certain parts of
the Muslim world, such as the Indian subcontinent. The headings
given to sections is a feature of our English translations; these are
not in the Arabic text of the Quran.
This edition carries an Introduction consisting of a life of the
Holy Prophet Muhammad and some information about the Quran,
its teachings, and the history of its compilation, all taken from
writings of Maulana Muhammad Ali as indicated there.
I cannot bring this Preface to a close without a mention of my
association with the publication which I have edited to produce
the present work. It was in 1978 that I first carried out a detailed,
close reading of the latest reprint of the 1951 edition of the
English translation and commentary of the Holy Quran by
Maulana Muhammad Ali in order to identify typographical errors
and inconsistencies in preparation for the next reprint. The list of
corrections and other suggestions that I thus compiled was gone
through in detail in Lahore by Mr N.A. Faruqui and Mr Muhammad
Ahmad, son of Maulana Muhammad Ali. In 1981 Mr Faruqui
referred to this in his obituary of Muhammad Ahmad as follows:
I-6 PREFACE
“Muhammad Ahmad’s work in the revision of the seventh
edition of the English translation and commentary of the Holy
Quran, now under print, was equally painstaking. For that
revision, the original spadework done by Dr. Zahid Aziz was
the most thorough job I have ever seen. But to collate and
give final shape to the suggestions made by Dr. Zahid Aziz
and several others, Muhammad Ahmad spent long evenings
with me after his office hours.” 1
In 1990 it was proposed to re-typeset the entire work. I made
detailed suggestions for a new, improved design and layout which
were carefully scrutinised by the Head of the Ahmadiyya Anjuman
Lahore, Dr Saeed Ahmad Khan, the Vice-President Mr N.A. Faruqui,
and other senior members of the Anjuman. The new edition incor-
porating these suggestions was published in the USA in 2002.
I was in charge of the proof reading of the newly composed text.
The index in that edition was also enlarged by me by about 50%
from the previous one by Maulana Muhammad Ali. This back-
ground has been indicated in the Foreword by Dr Saeed Ahmad
Khan and Mr Faruqui, and in the Publisher’s Note written by me,
in that edition.2
I have outlined this history to show that my previous experience
equipped me somewhat, and inspired me, to carry out the present
revision.
I wish to express my thanks to Mr Shaukat Ali, Coordinator
of the Ahmadiyya Anjuman Lahore for the Asia and Pacific
Region, for pointing out some typographical errors.
The responsibility for all aspects of this revision rests with
me, and I crave forgiveness from Allah as well as from the readers
of this edition for any flaws in this production.
Zahid Aziz
September 2010

1. The Light, Lahore, 8 March 1981, p. 8.
2. The year 2002 edition is published by the Ahmadiyya Anjuman Isha‘at Islam
Lahore Inc. USA, Dublin, Ohio, USA.