The Quran Beheld

‘The Islamic community, scholars and students of Islamic studies and all those with an interest in human spirituality, its history and the manner in which a sacred text resonates and creates a timeless social milieu will find this hermeneutic approach to the comprehension of the Quranic text to be of immense value. Its response to the question: “How should I be a person,” is as timely as ever. For the first time I have found an English translation that reflects the “supreme succinctness (ijaz)” that resides within the multi-faceted nuances of the Quranic revelation. These inimitable meanings were transmitted to the translator by the traditional method of talaqqi, or ‘personal word-by-word instruction’ from a scholar trained in Quranic exegesis, a master of the lexicology, grammar, and rhetoric of the Quran. There is rarely a verse that does not bring me to pause and reconsider – recalling earlier translations – the degree to which this translation reflects the original language of the sacred text. Each verse has the most subtle turn of phrase that brings forward the voice of the revelation as I have not seen before, and the introduction highlights this manner of beholding the sacred text. Even the typesetting of the Arabic text with the translation serves to preserve to a great extent the flexibility of the Arabic itself. A table of Quranic suras with a brief word after the name of each sura outlining its main themes has been included, as well as a well-done Quranic subject index. A new translation, a new beholding of the Quran. Absolutely the best translation I have encountered.’

‘Rendering the Quran into another language is an act of translating an entire world, with its multifaceted and multilayered meanings, and semiotics of signs and objects. Nuh Keller has already established himself as a reputable translator whose extensive experience is now brought to bear upon the most important text of Islam. This is a well-crafted and methodical translation that conserves to the extent humanly possible poetical effect and linguistic precision all at once.’

‘The Quran Beheld is a worshipful (or, per its style, humbly adoring) interpretation that resists the assumption that a modern language can be on a par with the original text. Its grounding in established athar and glosses makes it a must-have vade mecum for the studious reader, who can now peruse an engaging paraphrase doubling as a close mirror of the tafsir tradition of trusted orthodoxy—the agreed-upon golden-middle way of Quranic commentary sine qua non. No English rendering can abolish the excuse all non-Arabic speakers still have that, unless they become fusha-proficient, lifelong emulators of the first Muslims, they can never truly behold the mu‘jiza of the Last Testament towering over all the mind-staggering miracles of the rest of the Prophets—upon them blessings and peace. Nevertheless this effort might come nearer than all previous attempts and form the prime orthodox reference and best planche de salut yet for the English-speaking public to peruse the Healing as closely as they would without fear of misguidance, opacity or disappointment. It commands gratitude.’